Is it just me or did January feel like an incredibly long month?
Christmas and New Year’s eve already feel like they were so long ago, it’s hard to believe that they were really only a month ago.
And the thing is, I can’t even really think of what we’ve done to fill those long, long weeks of January. It feels like we had rainy day after rainy day, mainly consumed with school work and work work and the occasional bit of baking.
We’re still trying really hard to just do the one food shop a week, instead of popping into the local little Tescos for top up shops during the week. Which means we’re making our white rolls most weeks when the bread runs out. I’m seeing it as a good skill for the children to learn while they’re at home with us for all this extra time!
There were a few dry days in January when we managed to get out for a walk, grabbing our opportunities between live lessons and work meetings. Last week was almost constant mist and rain, but it broke long enough on Friday for us to head out for a wander around Singleton Park and take a quick few family photos.
I’ve been reminded again during this lockdown how lucky we are to have different places within walking distance of the house that we can go to.
Over the past month we’ve been able to walk different routes through Singleton Park, circuits of the lake in Brynmill park (sometimes stopping to feed the ducks), and all the way down to the beach to run from the incoming tide and try to skim stones on the water.
Having different options for where we can go (even when we’ve been to all of them hundreds of times before) does help the monotony of lockdown feel slightly less monotonous.
The children have been managing school at home really well so far this year, and they’re both really enjoying the live lessons they get with their teachers each day. I’m not sure how long we’ll need to keep doing it all for though.
The welsh government announced on Friday that they’re hopeful that some children will be able to go back to school after the half term holiday. From what I’ve read it’s likely that the children in foundation phase will go back first, so that’ll mean that Nerys could go back in to school but Rhys would still be at home with us for a while longer.
What I hadn’t read until just now though is that attendance won’t be mandatory in these early stages of the children going back in, which is quite nice to know. I still don’t know how I feel about the children being back in school, so it’s a relief to know we can keep both of them at home for longer if we want to.
How do you feel about your children going back in to school?