The Burtt Family Coronavirus Lockdown Survival …Part 1
So we are on day 21 of our house lock down, and it’s certainly been an interesting time so far. The first thing that springs to mind is how I am actually getting used to this. At 5-months pregnant I am being extra cautious and haven’t left the house. I know I should, for exercise at least, but I want to do as much as I can to protect my little bundle soon to join the world.
And who knows what type of world it will be in 4-months time. Sounds dramatic but it’s true.
Look at our lives now.
A few weeks ago I was getting on with daily life. Louis would go to nursery two days a week, James went off to work in Essex most days, and if I wasn’t working on my website and design company Orange Lamb, I would be writing a blog or on the days Louis was home, having regular play-dates with one of my besties Kelly and her two little ones, or spending time with my Mum, Dad and Nan on our glamorous days out to the shops and for a spot of lunch.
At the weekend we would be getting up to all sorts, maybe going to our local café for a morning brekkie, going for a day out to the coast or maybe, if we were lucky (no offense Louis) going out for a nice meal on a date night courtesy of Nanny and Grandad’s babysitting services! Add on top the regular socialising with our friends, maybe a fun packed weekend down in Swindon having giggles with our mates ‘The Bushells’, heading for walks and daytrips with friends and their doggies, big group roasts and couples catch ups!
All that is now gone. Physical contact replaced with phone calls, video calls and virtual House Parties. We were invited to our first virtual pub quiz on Saturday night, we were so excited, but unfortunately we couldn’t attend as Louis decided to be a little shit and have a screaming fit at bedtime… more on that next time!
My family’s facebook messenger group now pings all day long with conversation. Often it’s my sister updating us with cute photos of her new kitten or my brother in Oz sharing his latest sarcastic updates about family life. Oh and my mum who recently has been spamming everyone with comical videos and pictures as she thought it would cheer everyone up. People were actually messaging me saying that my Mum’s account had been hacked… no that’s just her I had to explain!
But all that aside, during lock down now it’s just, James, Louis and I in our 4-walls, it has made me really sit back and appreciate all the things I have, and of course has made me reflect on all the things I took for granted unbeknown.
Like buying whatever food you want from the supermarket. Now we make meals with whatever ingredients we can get hold of. I am extra creative, I save every single piece of food, and my portion control has never been better. My friend Sam would be proud. I’ve always been that person that adds an extra 10g of pasta even when it clearly states 75g. Actually did I say 10… it’s more like 25g! 100g is just a nice round number!
My mum and Dad, not that I took them for granted but wow do I miss their interaction. Going there with Louis, having them make a fuss of him, preparing him his favourite lunch or maybe Grandad had been to the boot fair that morning and got him a new little toy. I’d be around there 2–3 days a week. It was my respite!
Soft plays and parks yes those places that keep your little ones entertained; never will I hate sitting in them again, even when the sound of screaming children is bellowing in my ears.
Shopping. Now this is a weird one because well, if you know me, I love to shop, but actually now that I don’t leave the house half of my wardrobe just seems excessive and pointless. On our recent frantic spring clean I put away 5 handbags from the downstairs coat cupboard — yep 5 and that was adding to a collection already in my wardrobe. It got me thinking why do I need so many?
Home life is weirdly comforting. All being together and realising that the 3 of us (soon to be 4) are our most important people in the world. We still keep a semi-normal routine. James tries to work as best he can Monday-Friday, joining us for breakfast and lunch during the day. Sometimes he mixes it up and takes Louis out for a walk to the woods …before you start, they are at the bottom of our street and isolation is very much in operation. I try to keep Louis as entertained as possible, mixing up activities with some garden fun, TV and game time.
I wrote out a daily structure and although we mainly stick to it, I am much more flexible in that if Louis wants to paint rather then do Playdoh then that’s what we will do. Or at the weekend plans can go completely out of the window. I mean take Sunday for instance; genuinely Louis wanted to stay in his PJ’s all day. It was cold and even snowed at one point so I thought sod it — lets have an indoors day! He loved it. Mummy and Daddy were tidying the house getting ready for the mother-in-laws arrival (long story but she lives alone and so she will be staying with us for a while whilst the Covid-19 lock down is in force), and Louis just did lots of his own thing with short bursts of playtime with Mummy and Daddy when they had a break. It was a really lovely day overall.
It’s only been 21 days and I am laughing at all the things I am trying to do to keep a 3-year old occupied! I mean I haven’t reinvented the wheel, but it’s never ending! The list so far:
Outdoor
· Football — he has actually got a good kick on him!
· Cones and hoop game — he just cheats and places them on the cone which panes me as I am a stickler for the rules. Stand back and throw from a distance Louis!
· Kids swing ball — its definitely a kids version as it has a foam ball and when me and James were playing it was clear we were too aggressive for the plastic!
· Trampoline — yes it’s an eyesore but it’s a great energy evaporator!
· Messy play with water, stones and mud — basically any old shit I found in the garden went in it!
· Sand pit play — the sand is pretty manky and old but the new lot hasn’t arrived from Amazon! Problems…
Indoor
· Painting — My favourite activity but it makes a massive mess so I have to be in the mood. We did finally get around to painting our rainbow for the window, which was nice. Although watching Louis paint in between the line was stressful. Have I got OCD?
· Playdoh — we love a bit of playdoh. Louis has one where you make Mr Potato head characters, he loves it and it actually keeps him occupied for a long time.
· Cooking — I haven’t been able to get any cooking ingredients so I have been creative, he has made his own pitta bread pizza and scrambled eggs with tomato and cucumber salsa.
· Colouring in — always a standard go to! Easy fun normally until the other day when Louis drew on the office wall and then on his face so he had an orange looking pirate beard.
· Activity books — I got annoyed when Louis wasn’t doing any of the activities properly, scribbling over what clearly states as ‘dot to dot’!
· Phonics — His nursery gave me some websites to look at, he seems to be engaged with them for short bursts. Even if he doesn’t enjoy them it makes me feel like a better parent for following their advice!
· Joe Wicks fitness — 5 minute moves is fab. Louis loves a good old lunge. Thank you Joe!
· Wooden toy trains & track — this ends up all over the living room and can go from fun to boring quite quickly when I am not playing it the way Louis wants.
· Thomas trackmaster toy trains — the electronic trains are fun but the track has been dismantled so many times that we never quite make it fit correctly anymore and so it never works properly! Also Louis often just walks away leaving all the battery trains on their side making an annoying combined humming noise.
· Mini Thomas track games — this is more of a solo game for Louis which keeps him engaged for a good 5 minutes but sometimes I join in.
· TV — I don’t care, call me a bad parent if you want but TV is my night in shining armour, yep I love it. It’s a fantastic time filler and occupies Louis. We do mix it up and as I said it’s not on all day long but at the moment, there is no denying, it’s a god send!
· Films — the other day James dream came to reality when Louis actually watched a full length film of Toy Story 4. It was amazing! Other then that its Thomas the Tank films which are a bit boring when you have seen them hundreds of times.
· Card making — normally he starts, gets bored and I end up decorating them …which I love.
· Bookmark making — this was fun until he wanted to stick a load of googely eyes on them and I was thinking “that is sooooo impractical!”
· Roleplay shops — another favourite of mine. We take it in turns to fill the trolley and then ring the items through the toy till. We have a credit card to pay with and everything, its so real!
· Roleplay chef — this can be good fun requesting different food on the menu for Louis to go and make.
· Roleplay doctors — I mean I suppose if Covid-19 does hit the Burtt house we have our own in house specialist.
· Hide ’n’ Seek — he is rubbish as he can be spotted straight away but it’s a fun game none the less! Normally ends in us chasing each other around the house in circles.
· Puzzles — Louis loves a puzzle and is really good at them.
· Go Fish game — quick fun game with toy fishing rods and magnets. Louis doesn’t get the concept and ends up cheating but hey ho.
· Lego — we have a lots of lego donated from my Mum and Dad however whenever we get it out we don’t seem to be able to make anything other then a side of a house! His aunt and uncle Linda and Ian luckily bought him a set that had a train and dinosaur in it which has been much more fun making.
· Building blocks — he doesn’t play with these that often but the other day his bedroom was covered in them, I keep finding blocks now.
So in theory, if we are looking at a 12-week lock down I just have to repeat all of the above 4 times! Phew, easy peasy …(help me now!)
During my life in lockdown so far I have also made 10, many of which I am sure you can relate:
1. You hate the post, like the physical being that is the post, that cardboard, potential germ carrier. It comes through the door and you are there masked up, disinfectant at the ready. If you could you would just set it all on fire.
2. You think activities you do with your little one will last 1–2 hours but often its only 30 minutes. Yep time can go real slow on days like these. You think its 3pm, and it’s actually only 1pm!
3. Netflix and box sets are the best thing ever! I have got so many films lined up to watch (if I can stay awake past 9pm) and a few new series in the pipeline.
4. The tablet ‘game time’ allowance is almost every day instead of a few times a week. It just gives you a bit of a breather to go and do something you need to get done without distraction. He plays all sorts of things on there and sometimes reverts to watching TV shows and clips. I would love to say they are all educational but they aren’t. Slap on the wrist for me!
5. I talk about ‘rationing’ a lot and hate the thought of Louis running out of his favourite staples like cheese, biscuits, crisps, tomatoes. I mean are these staples??? Not sure these were when they rationed during the war! How would we cope!
6. Food is the greatest pleasure. Not sure if it’s because you are constantly thinking about rationing food so it’s on the brain or whether it just breaks up the time. I actually made a meal planner, more of a ‘what type of cuisine’ each night like Saturday is family cook a meal night, Sunday is roast, Monday is pasta blah blah blah, but when the hubby comes back from the shop with some scraps you do what you need to do. I even ate a burger that tasted like cardboard the other day as it’s all we could get our hands on.
7. Louis, who used to cry about going to nursery every single time now asks most days “am I going to nursery today” and when I say no he gives a sad moan “ooohhhhh” — I’ll bloody hold you to that when things go back to normal mister!
8. I’ve moved Louis toys around the house on several occasions. His play kitchen is now in our actual kitchen instead of the playroom. It keeps him occupied whilst I am cooking. In fact every room is now an extension of the toy room. And now the toy room is rarely used — he just wants to be wherever James or I am. Like a shadow. A tiny, head strong, funny yet stroppy shadow.
9. Louis tells me he loves me at least 10 times a day. He says I look pretty and that I am lovely. He can be quite clingy at the moment and I think its all the crazy life changes. It must be weird to suddenly not be able to see anyone, what he must be thinking is hard to tell. He constantly asks to see his Nanny and just today he said “shall I go and stay at Nanny’s house to make them feel better”. I think he keeps hearing about people getting ill and wants to help bless him.
10. Even with so much more time on my hands, I still haven’t tackled that pain in the arse kitchen cupboard filled with plastic containers. Yes the one that you can never find a matching lid when you fucking need it!
Life just has to go on though doesn’t it and you have to make the best of the situation. No you can’t spend physical time with your nearest and dearest, you may not know where your next pay check is coming from, or whether the next time you go to the supermarket you will be able to get exactly what you need, but hey let’s stay positive and hope that the panic buying will stop and if we listen to the advice and stay at home, the NHS can tackle this awful virus in a way that doesn’t leave us in complete turmoil.
If you have a little one I am sure you have noticed changes. Louis is definitely clingier. Sometimes he gets quite stressed and angry. And bedtime, which was already never that great has almost gone backwards. Tantrums getting him to bed. Wanting both James and I to sit with him whilst he drifts off to sleep. And there is much more night waking again.
I’m trying to stay patient, as I know this situation is just all so confusing for him. For any one with kids, lets just do our best to explain everything to them as much as their age can quantify. Love them, hug them, have fun with them, and make it a time that they look back on and remember as the time they made great memories spending quality time with their family.
Until next time #stayathome #staysafe
