Still tired

 It's 2 1/2 weeks since I tested positive for COVID, and while I feel a lot better - not feeling sick anymore - I am still tired and get breathless pretty easily.

I continued to rest through the full week of my isolation, and on Day 7 I still tested positive so stayed in iso while the kids went back out and about. I was so blessed to have friends and family drop off supplies and check in on me regularly, and the kids took care of the animals and getting food organised. Tony brought over takeaway several times so food was pretty easy. I was positive again on Day 11 and finally tested negative on Day 15. 

I haven't been doing much - a little bit of tidying up or packing the dishwasher or washing some clothes, and a few trips to drop the kids to work or at friend's houses. I've been doing a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, but even sitting up to do that gets tiring after about an hour. Anything more strenuous and it's more like 10 or 15 minutes. So I've been spending lots of time reading, watching Netflix and Disney+, playing games on the computer, chatting on the phone - I can talk for a bit longer now before I get puffed out and it's usually not as bad as in that first week. Today though I was up for a while and played a board game with Tony - by the end of that I was finding breathing quite hard, it was breathlessness like I'd had early on. Lying down relieves it fairly quickly which is a good thing. There's a lot of smoke in the air today from burning off and a couple of nearby bushfires, so that's probably making the breathing a bit trickier.

It's a concern that there are so many people right now experiencing this. It's a disease that has quite an impact on so many people and I guess it's causing us all to slow down. I hope that people take the rest that they need and that case numbers start to fall, that people remain careful and - I don't know what else. I'd like it to start to have less of an impact on our world, but I do feel like that is a good way off yet.

Lockdown 2.0, Day 61

 Today felt like a very productive day - there seemed to be lots of hours in the day to do things, rather than it suddenly being evening and not knowing where the day had gone. I was in a pretty good mood for most of it - a bit flat this evening, feeling sad about how long it will be until I can see friends again. I know that will happen on and off for the rest of the lockdown, I'm just going with it when it happens and letting myself feel what I feel. Having some yummy food or working with my photos or playing a game helps a bit, I feel content and happier and know that I'll be fine.

I was up early again this morning - not sure if it's because it's getting light earlier or if I've just switched sleep patterns a bit. It was another clear morning, not quite as cold as yesterday. I went for a walk as the sun rose and took some amazing pictures of the sun on the vineyard, the new buds on the vines, and the reflections in the perfectly still dam. I spent some time on the computer, had breakfast then got a heap of dishes washed before anyone else woke up. Amelie and I did some number puzzles (we're both stuck on really difficult puzzles, it's good to have a fresh set of eyes look at them), I uploaded some photos, and tidied up around the house. I spent a bit of time outside and the weather was gorgeous - sunny and calm, and I was plenty warm enough in a t-shirt. Caitlin and Liam went for a bike ride, Caitlin and Amelie did some yoga in the sun, Amelie talked to a friend on the phone. I did some more puzzles, chatted to Tony (he couldn't go to work as Caitlin still didn't have her test results), and did some work on my course. I rang the test results hotline and got Caitlin's results (negative) - they had her phone number wrong which is why she didn't receive a text. Caitlin and I went for a walk mid-afternoon. On the way to the creek we spotted a juvenile tiger snake - it was perfectly still, staring at us (I thought it was dead at first), then it reared back and slithered away. It was gorgeous, quite long and pencil thin. It's the first snake I've seen on the property since we moved here, I was quite excited. It did make us more cautious about where we walked - I've been wading through long grass for a month or so now, and have been thinking that it was getting close to time to stop doing that. I guess that time is now here. We walked across the creek and talked to the cows in the paddock near our back fence. Mum rang to chat about the new plan for easing restrictions. When we got home I rang a friend who'd called while we were walking, and lay on the couch in the carport to chat. It was sunny there and out of the wind which had been steadily increasing through the afternoon. After the phone call I did more course work, and played games on my phone for a while. Back inside (it wasn't quite as warm inside, I wanted to stay out for longer) I did some more tidying up and sorting out of boxes and our filing cabinet. We finally remembered to watch the live stream of the Philip Island Penguin Parade - it was very very cool! After dinner (leftover lasagne) I did some more work with my photos, Caitlin and Liam played Among Us with a bunch of friends online, and Amelie watched YouTube. The wind is ferocious now - such a major change from the still, calm morning.

Oh and only 41 new cases reported today - that's very good news.

Lockdown 2.0, Day 39

 I felt really disheartened today. Everything seemed too hard and I was quite teary. I spent too long on Facebook reading posts that annoyed me, the printer wouldn't work, I got frustrated at people not helping out around the house... I couldn't decide how I wanted to spend my time and was just really agitated. Being outside was good for a while, working hard and being in the cool air (it was raining on and off, but not heavily (there was heavy rain later on)). I did some puzzles then had a long chat with Tony. He suggested I have a bath so I took one of my new library books into the bath and ate chocolate and Tony brought me a big mug of hot chocolate. I felt much better when I got out, although quite tired. I lay down for a while then worked on my photos. I went for a long walk in the hour before sunset - the clouds to the east again had a brownish orange tinge to them, it was pretty spectacular. I was listening to a battle scene and the aftermath in my audio book (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time) and the atmosphere of the dark clouds and the storm front felt quite appropriate. I went over the creek - the water was probably as high as I'm willing to cross, and unusually it was trickier coming back over than going across the first time. I had my camera with me which made me a bit more cautious, I'd like to try it at that height without my camera next time. Once home I tidied up for a bit then we all watched State of Origin Ninja which was quite exciting. 

The girls watched Bolt and Grease today in a bit of a John Travolta marathon (is 2 movies a marathon?) and Amelie played Minecraft on the phone with a friend. Caitlin crocheted a little teddy bear and Liam played on his computer and chatted to a friend. Tony took care of a bunch of housework while I rested.

I wonder if my mood was strongly influenced by my Facebook feed or if I would have been out of sorts today anyway. I felt like there was a lot of complaining this morning - complaining and scapegoating, which I think is the bit that got me. I don't deny that Stage 4 is hard on just about everyone. I don't like it and I feel like on the whole we've got it pretty easy. Everyone is missing out or has missed out on things. And regardless of individual circumstances, some people are finding it harder than others. I think we can acknowledge how hard it is though without having to blame someone for it, or spend a lot of time say 'if only so and so had done this at that point.' Maybe things would have been different if things were done differently earlier on. Interestingly though, a lot of the people who are now complaining are also the ones who were pushing to have restrictions eased last time. For me, the easiest way to get through this is to accept that this is what the situation is right now. We are in Stage 4, regardless of how we got here. So from this point if each of us makes choices that are in line with the restrictions, finds way to bring joy to our lives when we can, acknowledge how difficult it is when we can't, reach out to each other for support and provide support to others - I think that's all we can do. It's what I'm aiming to do anyway. 

Lockdown 2.0, Day 31

 Another good day today. I feel like I've settled in to this lockdown and we're all doing things that we want to be doing, as well as having plenty of time to hang out and relax.

We had waffles for breakfast (home=made on our borrowed waffle maker - they were really easy and very yummy). Everyone was up and about by mid-morning which is very unusual. I spent some time outside working in the yard, Amelie jumped on the trampoline, Caitlin played with Luna. The 5 of us did some quizzes on Kahoot, they were fun and funny. Amelie had spent a lot of time creating a quiz about herself, it was very cool. Amelie and I did some monster sudoku puzzles and a few other types. I went for a walk in the early afternoon while I chatted on the phone to another friend who was also walking. It was such a beautiful day - sunny in patches and just a really lovely feel and everywhere I looked made me feel so happy to live here. Liam and Tony went for a bike ride in the morning and Caitlin did the same in the afternoon. Liam and Amelie and I played Monopoly on the X-box - way more fun than I expected. I spent some time uploading photos, making gifts for people, and working on my course. After dinner I turned one of my favourite dresses, which was stretched and had holes in it, into a big ball of t-shirt yarn. It was fun and it's exciting to think of all the things I can make with it now (I've already made a hair tie). Caitlin used a section of it (before it was cut into yarn) to make herself a top - she's doing things with sewing that I would never attempt!

Lockdown 2.0, Day 30

I didn't even look at the numbers today - I'm having a week or so off reading the news, feels like a break would be good for my mental and emotional health. The only news I heard today is that the school I did Yrs 11 and 12 at (in Newcastle) has also closed due to a positive case.

I felt a lot better again today, could pretty much operate as normal. I had a few rests after doing stuff in the garden or around the house, and I couldn't walk as fast as I usually do on my walk with Caitlin, but otherwise felt great. I'm just about ready to start doing pull-ups again. Well, not doing them as such, but working towards doing a pull-up. 

Amelie and I played Guess Who this morning, and Caitlin and I had a go of it later as well. Liam bought Skyrim on his computer last night so we had lots of chats about how it was to play on the different platform and how much he was enjoying it. He and Caitlin played Call of Duty and Halo for a while. Amelie spent a lot of time on the trampoline and talking to a friend on the phone. I hung out in my room for a while doing number puzzles, very relaxing, then I wrote a poem and posted it on my Facebook page - the first time I've shared a poem with others since I was in primary school I think - scary and exciting. Tony came home late for a Friday because he chopped wood at work before heading home - he'll pick it up in the trailer after work next Friday, rather than making a special trip on the weekend like he usually does. He brought home takeaway pizza and had picked up the mail - which included my first tea subscription box from T2 - I have been SO looking forward to it. I got French Earl Grey, Apricot Jam Rooibos, a sleepy time tea and a Darjeeling. They all smell so great and I'm drinking (and loving) the apricot one right now. Earlier in the evening I had a zoom call with an old friend - I haven't seen her in years (we live on opposite sides of Melbourne and are both busy with kids and life, and have talked about catching up and just not managed it) - it was SO SO wonderful to talk to her and we're planning to do it again soon. We had a beer together and filled each other in on big family news and just enjoyed hanging out.

Here's my poem:

Lockdown Days

Lockdown.

Each day much

The same

As the one before.

'What day is

It, anyway?'

The same activities

To pass the time.

Check the numbers,

Play a game.

Look at Facebook,

Hang the clothes.

Watch a movie,

Go for a walk.

A long walk.

Take as much time

As we can.

Then suddenly -

It's evening!

Where did the day go?

What about all

The very important
Things

I was going to do?

 

Oh well.

They'll be there

To do tomorrow.

Or the next day.

Or the one after that.

As the days pass

Quickly and slowly

And begin

To blend

Into one.

 

 

Annie-Lou Regan 7/8/2020

Lockdown 2.0, Day 4

I took my own advice this afternoon - when I got tired and headachy, I went to bed and watched a movie rather than pushing through. I watched 'The Light Between Oceans' - I knew it would be heartbreaking because I've read the book. It was well made and fairly true to the book. The crying didn't help my headache, but it did shift something and when it was finished I had energy to get up and do a few more things and I feel better than I would have if I'd just crashed and given up on my evening.

I had a headache pretty much all day, including when I was awake during the night. It came and went and I relaxed when it was bad (including having a nice long shower) and pottered around when it wasn't. I enjoyed my time outside patching the driveway and working on my compost. I did heaps of cooking again - finished the lemon cordial, made lemon-infused oil, and 3 jars of lemon butter - it's SO delicious and I'm excited to have it in the fridge. I watched YouTube with Caitlin and then the girls watched a series that Amelie likes for the rest of the day - I popped in and out and watched bits with them and chatted about the plot. I like seeing how they interpret different social situations and it was interesting to compare which characters we all liked and disliked.

I went for a nice long walk late in the afternoon, it was cloudy but not too cold, and Luna got to chase a fox down the back of the property, very exciting for her. It was a glossy red, healthy looking fox, I've seen a few here lately, the rabbit population must be thriving to give them lots of food.

I had a look at the news after my walk, and at Facebook, which seemed to bring on my headache again pretty quickly. The numbers are high again, health workers are getting sick, there's a small outbreak in NSW - too much scary news so I walked away from the computer and relaxed instead. I did a bit of my puzzle, watched my movie, and now that I've tidied the kitchen I'm going to do a bit more writing while we watch a Twilight movie and then enjoy my sleep.

Terraria, horse riding, games

My tiredness continued into yesterday - I obviously pushed hard all last week and then collapsed a bit on the weekend. Tony had yesterday (Sunday) off work though and we had no big plans so I was able to take it fairly easy. It got hot early and I found it quite exhausting, especially when I was in the kitchen.

I was up early and had a bit of time to myself, then LiAM, Millie and Tony came out. LiAM was very excited that Tone was home for the day, and the three of them played Terraria for a while before breakfast.

Caitlin went to a friend's house in the morning, I took her over there and then stayed while she had a horse riding lesson - I hadn't seen her ride much and was impressed at how straight her back was and how comfortable and confident she looked in the saddle. Her friend then had a lesson and I left Caitlin there for the day, and I went to pick up V to bring him back to our place.

Once we got back Tony, LiAM, V and Amelie all played Terraria together and spent a lot of time negotiating with each other to swap armour and weapons, and coming up with team strategies for defeating the bosses. They played on and off all day and I loved listening to the conversations. I don't find Terraria easy (or very enjoyable) to play, but I do know a lot about it and enjoy hearing other people playing. LiAM was reading the attributes of the items that he found too, without any help - he doesn't realise he's reading when he does that, because the words just make sense to him, and he still thinks that reading is difficult. When he understands what something says without having to try hard, he says he wasn't reading, he just knew the words. Which at first was kind of true, he was recognising certain words that he already knew, whereas now he often reads things correctly with no context, and with words that he hasn't memorised - it's quite fascinating (and exciting) to watch his reading develop so naturally.

Amelie watched some more pokemon and finished the series she has been watching. She then watched 'Annie' (the new one from last year), while the boys played Halo on the xBox. I did a lot of work in the kitchen and cleared most of the kitchen table and all of the area under it, ready to reorganise things a bit with some new furniture I picked up from hard rubbish. Tony and I did a scout around the house and yard to see if there was anything we could put on our own hard rubbish pile, and did manage to find a goodly sized pile of broken chairs, a ripped mattress, broken ride on toy and a few other things. Glad that we remembered to do it before things start getting picked up today.

Tony and I did a couple of geography quizzes - we work well together, we remember different things - and were going to play 'Letters and Numbers' but I felt too fuzzy and didn't think I'd be able to think quickly enough. I hope we get another chance to play soon because we both really love playing and it's rare to have an opportunity when we're both home and the kids are happily occupied without us. Amelie spent a lot of time in the afternoon during her elephant puzzle, both as a full puzzle and just making up each elephant separately. LiAM also played with it for a while after V left. Amelie also spent hours playing with her My Little Ponies, they had a great time flying around the house rescuing each other and then having a party on the kitchen table. StarLily (the Magical Unicorn) joined them for a while too.

Amelie and I learnt some signs for colours in Auslan, and refreshed a few other words. Now she can ask for pink milk, chocolate milk and hot chocolate by signing, which is very handy for all of us.

Caitlin stayed at her friend's all day and had fish and chips in the park, then they brought her home and she showed her friend around the property, especially looking at the chicks. Tone met the parents and the guys had a beer and we all chatted for a while. After they left we ate dinner and watched 'Australia's Got Talent', then the kids played some puzzle games on the computer, and Caitlin cleaned up the lounge room a bit to play Just Dance on the playstation - but couldn't find the game so played Book of Spells instead, which then led her to joining the Pottermore site on the computer.

Quizzes, McDonalds and house organisation

I've discovered a quiz website that I love - www.jetpunk.com - and over the last couple of days we've all done many many quizzes on it. Lots of geography - I now know all of the Asian countries, including all the -stans and how to spell them, and am getting better at South America and Eastern Europe and Africa - as well as general knowledge, movies, words, sporting teams, and The Avengers and Harry Potter. LiAM and I did an Avengers quiz on Friday - name as many of the 100 people who have ever been on the Avengers list... At first we got about 16, then we looked through the answers at the end, then browsed his Avengers Character Guide book, looked up a few on wikepedia that were listed in the answers but he felt could never have been Avengers (and discovered, for example, that Sandman did try to work for good for a while, and did join the Avengers, then became corrupted again). We tried the quiz again and got closer to 40 - we'll come back to it again probably today and see how many we get. We did a lot of Harry Potter quizzes yesterday, with everyone joining in, and knew most of the answers (all the horcruxes, lots of spells, characters, locations, how characters died). The hardest (and most fun) was to name the 100 characters who are most mentioned in the books. We got around 60 the first time, then Caitlin had a go on her own (she wasn't there when we did the first attempt) and got close to that, then together we all did it and thought of 87. It's been so much fun - and one of the things I like about the site is reading some of the comments at the end of the quizzes - most of the people doing them are really keen to learn and keep trying the quizzes over and over until they have learnt all the answers. Especially the geography ones, I am finding it exciting to see people truly eager to remember all of the countries of the world. None of it is knowledge that is  necessary for getting on in the world, but it's interesting and fun and I love to see people learning because they are enjoying it, and I am enjoying it all so much!

On Friday we met up with another unschooling family, we had planned to go to a park but it was raining pretty hard so we met at McDonalds in Ringwood instead. I tried to use the self-ordering system (partly because our order is always a little bit complicated, and it seemed easier to take on the complications myself rather than explain them to the server) - it was so confusing and I ended up ordering 2 meals for myself and the wrong burger for Millie... The staff were lovely and gave me a voucher as a refund for my extra meal, and I went back and bought the right burger for Millie (although forgot to take off the onions and pickles, so she nearly didn't eat it anyway (I scraped them off and ate them myself, they are actually my favourite part of a McDonalds burger). The kids played with their friends in the very cool playground, and I chatted with the other mum, and once our food was all sorted out it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We were going to finish the visit with mega choc waffle cones - but their ice cream machine wasn't working! So both of us promised our kids we'd get them at a McDonalds on the way home. I was able to use my vouchers which was pretty cool - the kids had a quick play in the new playground at Croydon Maccas, I don't think it was as fun as it looked, Caitlin had been so keen but was a bit disappointed. They ate their ice creams on the way home and that was a lovely end to our outing.

I had a bath when we got home, while Tony cooked spag bol, then he went out to a darts practice night, and the kids played outside on the trampoline and swing, and looked through their binoculars at things, while I ate my tea outside with them and then read my book until it was too dark to read outside. I also took lots of photos of them, including some of them jumping all at the same time on the trampoline, it was very cool. After we came in we watched the christmas bonus episode of Heartland Series 4, then turned the tv off and headed for bed.

Yesterday we had a whole day at home with no plans (my favourite kind of day). Millie and I played Neopets, we all played with the fish/animal puzzle at various times, the girls did their nails, we watched some TV and the movie Rango, LiAM and Millie played with the dinosaur pattern board, Millie and Tony did jigsaw puzzles, LiAM and I had sword fights outside using pool noodles (it was hilarious - at one point L had chopped off my leg so I could only hop, and I had knocked his sword out of his hand, so he was running around trying to get it back while I hopped around it and waved my sword at him - exhausting and really really fun), and we did heaps of work on tidying up, sorting things out, more rearranging of the dining room so that I can start putting things away in there. I felt like I made heaps of progress in lots of areas yesterday, it was a great day. Caitlin has also set up some cool new lights in her room - a long strip of lights that can change colour, and she can operate by remote control! They look very cool and inviting, and she's loving having light again in her room (I broke the one powerpoint in her room a couple of weeks ago, so she's only been able to use battery powered light, it's great that she now has another option, and we've got ideas for how to get her more).

After the sleepover

It was a quiet morning here yesterday, with the girls away on a sleepover, and the boys sleeping in for most of the morning as they'd stayed up playing The Lego Movie game until late. It was raining too which was fantastic, there really hasn't been much rain at all this summer and it was lovely to be out in it, letting the chickens out, checking on my plants etc. 

I was able to get heaps done since I had so much time to myself. I sorted out a lot of the stuff that was piled in our walk in wardrobe, so Tony can now easily get to his work clothes, and heaps of stuff has been put away, put in the op shop pile, or recycled. I also helped Winky get a rat out of the bathroom - she killed it then had no idea what to do with it, it was so much bigger than anything else she's killed before. I'm not happy with the idea that we had a rat inside, although very pleased that Winky was able to take care of it.

When the boys woke up they kept playing games on the xbox. I made them some French Toast for breakfast and had some myself after lunch - hadn't made it for ages and it was fun (and so yummy!). I also made lots of butter with the cream I'd bought on Monday, and doing lots of batches meant I could experiment with adding different amounts of oil and salt and see which version we like the most (I'd prefer no oil, but it does help it spread better, so figured I'd try and find the optimal amount). 

Mid afternoon the girls came back and everyone had a bit of a play here, before the others went home, and everyone collapsed a bit - late nights for everyone and being out of their comfort zone can be exhausting. I got everyone some ice cream (and made some home made stuff for me and Caitlin, with cream and frozen banana and frozen raspberries), and we watched tv, played with the animal/fish puzzle, played on the iPad and had a very relaxed afternoon. Millie wanted to watch Toy Story 3 and the others wanted to watch Modern Family so they went into my bedroom and Millie and I watched in the lounge room. I made some pasta for tea and took it to everyone where they were. Millie and I moved Snowy and the chicks, which was a little scary because Buckley decided to help and made it much much harder! Once the movie was finished Millie wanted to play Toy Story 3 on the playstation, so I played with her until LiAM came back out, then he took over. Caitlin watched the Heartland Christmas Special on the Heartland series we currently have out, and everyone went off to bed fairly easily once that was over.

A day out shopping

Caitlin and her friend woke early (around 7) and lay in bed chatting for a while then played Harry Potter - Scene It, then went outside to play on the trampoline. Her Mum came and picked her up around 9.30, by which time my mum was also here, as I had an appointment and she was looking after the kids for the day.

My appointment was at 10.20, and I didn't get called in until about 11.20, which meant a lovely hour in the waiting room reading my book uninterrupted! (Currently reading 'The Girl In Times Square' by Paullina Simons - it's a kind of sequel to Red Leaves, which I enjoyed, and I am really seriously loving this one.) My check up only went for about 5 minutes, so by 11.30 I was out!

I was going to buy some stuff from a fabric shop in Lilydale, but they were closed, so I went to the Salvos op shop instead. A friend met me there, and we decided to go to the Mustard Tree Op Shop where we could also sit and have a coffee. We sat and chatted for ages, not often we get to talk for so long without kids around. Eventually we had a bit of a browse and bought a few things, then went to Not Quite Right (which I always think is like an Op Shop but for food). I grabbed quite a few things from the dairy and freezer section and it only cost $15, it was pretty handy.

From there I went to Lilydale Market Place and got a big plastic tub from the Reject Shop - I need lots more tubs for tidying up the house, and for when we go away later this year, so I'm working on grabbing one whenever I see a good price. I browsed in Spec Savers for a while, trying to work out what I want for my reading glasses. I did an Aldi grocery shop, then headed back to Yarra Glen to the library, and then home, feeling fantastic after a day of nurturing myself.

Caitlin and her friend S had arranged to go home with Mum and stay the night in Yea, so they were keen to get going once I arrived home. I helped them get out the door, and LiAM went with them to have a play with V for the afternoon/evening. Tony had baseball all evening so it was just me and Millie at home. We played The Lego Movie game on the Xbox for a while, then watched the Lego Movie. We spent ages playing a new puzzle game I bought at the op shop, where we have to put marked tiles on a variety of base boards, following certain rules (fish can only be on water, animals only on land, nothing on a snake) and it was challenging and lots of fun. We went outside to check on the chickens and Snowy had her chicks in the same corner behind the shed so we tried to move them into the pen. She wasn't quite settled enough yet and ran away whenever I got close, taking her chicks with her. I tried to chase her into the pen but she kept circling around and going back to her spot. (And her chicks kept wandering off so she was much more concerned with finding them then with running away from me). Millie thought that perhaps a trail of chicken food would lead them to the pen, so she spent a lot of effort making a long trail, and it worked for a while, they made their way along about half of it, then got spooked and went back to their corner. We decided to leave it until she had fallen asleep when she'd be easier to move.

Millie played with her Barbies, one of them in the new Dr Barbie outfit I bought today, so she became a vet and was fixing all of Millie's animals. I tidied up for the evening, then when Tony came home we went and moved the chickens. LiAM came home soon after and played Harry Potter Lego - he'd finished Year 7 Part 1 before he went out so was keen to finish the story off completely.  I went to bed to keep reading my book and the others came in after a while.

Make Believe Story Games

Lately Millie has been playing her make believe games a lot, many many times a day. The lego game she started a couple of weeks ago has developed into a complex story with lots of side plots and many changes to the main story line every day. She loves to have people play with her and we've all spent many hours playing over the past couple of weeks. I admit I don't find this type of game very easy - I get distracted quite easily, and I'm not very creative at making up the dialogue of my characters or keeping track of what everyone is supposed to be doing. If I was to choose a make believe game I'd prefer to be acting out the characters ourselves, rather than using lego or toy animals to be the characters, moving them around and making them talk, but even with the acting out games I'm not very comfortable. So I've found this game quite challenging. However I have tried to say yes every time she's asked me to play, and occasionally I've even offered to play when she wasn't asking.

At the moment this type of play, and this game, is obviously quite important to her, and I'm happy to be involved in (and want to be involved in) things that are of value to my kids at any given time. She enjoys the connection that we have when we are playing, and it is going to be much more valuable to her if we have that connection while doing something she wants to do, rather than me convincing her to join me at something I want to do (my game choice would be a board or card game, or a puzzle, or building something. Something more concrete...). I love listening to her making up the story and rejecting or changing ideas as she goes, and keeping track of who all the characters are and what they are doing. She will accept new ideas from other people sometimes, or say no if they don't fit with her idea of where the story is going. She becomes completely immersed in it at times and is really talented at setting up the story and developing her characters. Just being with her while she is having so much fun and doing amazing things is worth it even if I am not enjoying playing the game myself - I can concentrate on being with her and watching her, and then the playing bit can happen without me thinking too much about it and I no longer feel so self-conscious or uncomfortable.

I often find that after I've been playing with her for a little while, one or both of the other kids will join in as well. After another little while, they will tend to take over my characters (because they are both good at this sort of play as well and they all get a little frustrated with me when I can't keep up with the story) and there will usually be an opportunity for me to move away and do something else, without anyone being upset that I am leaving. Sometimes I can incorporate what I'm doing (cooking, cleaning, playing the piano, tidying up) into the game as well, I can be contributing something without needing to sit on the floor and move the figures around.

The more I play with Millie like this the calmer she is. She has seemed to strongly need the connection lately and there were a few days when we played this game nearly all day. The last couple of days she's still playing but for shorter periods and less often. The game has moved on a bit too from using the figures to her sometimes being a seal and me trying to find her. It's been a great reminder to me that saying yes as often as I can and meeting the kids where they are can be beneficial to all of us. It deepens our connection, it shows that I value what is important to them, and it can meet other underlying needs and help everyone be calmer. Millie is playing by herself a lot more over the last couple of days, or asking for books to be read or to do other activities together (we've done puzzles and some great drawing) - so that is also good to remember - sometimes it feels like an interest will last forever, I had moments of thinking I'd be sitting on the floor playing lego stories every day this year - but interests peak and flow, and immersing myself in the kids interests as much as I can when they are peaking will always be an investment that will pay off - they will feel valued and know that their needs and wants are important, and they are able to move between interests without leaving one feeling that they didn't quite receive their fill.

Busy Lazy Sunday

I love Sundays - Tony is usually home, we usually don't make any big plans, so we can hang out at home or go out as we wish, and recharge a bit.

I was up early again and Millie joined me again before sunrise - we checked on the sun's progress several times and the best bit was when a mist came up and obscured the mountains and we could see the sun shining through behind it and over the top. Millie did some colouring and printing out from the computer, presents for Tony (a bird and some chicks, I helped her with the chicks) and once Caitlin got up the girls played Harry Potter - Scene It. When LiAM emerged the 3 of them played in the lounge room for a while, then LiAM sorted his Skylanders so that he could decide who he wanted to play with in what order.

Tony had a sleep in, then agreed to take Caitlin busking. She practiced her violin after checking it was in tune, then learnt some new notes and songs on the recorder, then practiced her old recorder songs. While they were gone, LiAM and Millie and I played another game I picked up at the op shop this week, a game of logic/puzzle cards. Some of them were pattern questions, or ones where you lay out the matches and move/remove a certain number to make a different pattern - LiAM and I had a lot of fun with those - or playing card arrangements, figure out the missing card (we did a hard one of those and figured out an answer although we weren't completely sure why that would be it - and we were right! Very exciting). While we were doing the harder questions Millie made her own very cool patterns with the other matches. We also talked then about whether it was safe to be using matches, and situations where it would or wouldn't be safe, the chances of a match accidentally lighting, what to do if it did light and so on. Having had wood fires for most of their lives, and several experiences of lighting outdoor fires, my kids know how to use matches safely and the consequences of not being careful - they are quite respectful and also comfortable around fire.

Caitlin came back with the remains of her haul of $53 from busking!!!! She had bought herself and the others a few treats, and also bought herself an iTunes card as she wants to buy the movie Frozen for her iPad mini. The kids had competitions then to see if anyone could eat a sour warhead without making a face - no one could.

The kids were playing sword fights with their swords from the circus showbags, and Caitlin made up a beautiful song about sword fighting and then walking away and keeping the peace.

Everyone played outside for a while - it was a beautiful sunny day, reasonably warm, perfect weather to be outside in. They played obstacle courses and races, and then Tony mowed the lawn with a bit of help from the girls.

In the meantime I had made up some cake mix to use for cake pops, so Millie and I put them in the cake pop maker. They didn't rise as much as I'd hoped - I think I didn't put enough mixture in each one. They looked like little mushrooms when we had them on their sticks once they were done. Oh - Millie did lots of number crunching figuring out how many sticks she needed, she had a tray with 3 rows of 4 spots and she asked me what was 4 lots of 3, then she had 3 sticks so counted all except 3 to see how many more she needed. Its so cool to see her having the mathematical concepts to figure out what to ask, and to start to figure out the answers she wants.

Millie with the cake pops before decoration

After the cakes were cooked I made vienna cream icing in green and blue and iced them, and Caitlin and Millie decorated them with the sprinkles Caitlin gave Millie for her birthday. They looked fantastic and most of us thought they tasted fantastic - Millie wasn't thrilled with the taste so we'll try some different cake recipes and/or decoration options.

Decorated cake pops

The kids watched Scooby Doo then we all watched House Rules, then Big Bang Theory until most of us drifted off to bed. Caitlin practiced her high leg kick while she was watching TV. LiAM and Tony connected on Terraria for a while before they went to bed.