The Haryana Government issued a directive to all schools, for an extension of the winter holidays. The scheduled 10 day break turned into 25 days, with dismaying consequences for working parents. How great was my timing, that I started work just a couple of days before we learnt of this horrifying development? :( While one part of me was happy that the kids would not have to get up early in this cold weather, nor have to wait in the damp fog for their school bus pickup, another part was apprehensive about how I would manage work and kids-at-home.
The first day was horrible. They didn't allow me to do anything. And have you noticed that when kids are at home, they want to eat...like....all the time???? I was horribly stressed - and this was on Day 1 of getting back to work after a few years!! What did the future hold, I thought?
No worries - the future wasn't all that bad! I took a deep calming breath (yeah, right!!) and figured that trying to work when A&Y were at home was a lost cause. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So I shut down my laptop, and started getting up early mornings so that I got in a couple of hours before they woke up. I worked when Y was asleep in the afternoons, and post S's return from work. For the first couple of weeks, my interaction with the office was through emails and skype. The few days that I absolutely had to go in to work, I dropped them both at daycare in the mornings, for a few hours.
We spent our mornings playing the board games that only come out for an airing when the weather is cold/windy/rainy.
The kids helped me in baking some fruit loaves - banana bread and a dryfruit-and-nuts loaf.
We went cycling/scootering in the warm(er) afternoons and I got my quota of exercise running after/behind them.
Ads learnt to cycle without the support of his training wheels! Big milestone! He got the hang of it very quickly and is pretty proud of himself :)
Buoyed by that early success, he now wants to learn roller-skating. Many aeons ago, we had been passed on some nice Spiderman skates by a friend. He's been taking them out and practising. I know how hard it is to learn skating at an advanced age (I've tried!) so I am hoping it will be far easier for him to pick up. More updates and pics when we have something good to report!
That sounds like a great start, even if it were a bit sticky :) The kids must have enjoyed every bit of the time :)
ReplyDeleteAnd now that they are back at school, I am sure work must be much less stressful!
Yup, I think they enjoyed NOT going to school more than anything else :)
ReplyDeleteI see you are able to comment now? Hope the problem is resolved.
That's a good idea, to work when they are not around/awake :). Great that you made it work.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to hear about Ads and his cycling - I'm jealous, not able to make D learn - she's too terrified and I'm too impatient :(.
Why don't you outsource to the hubby? :)) Also, did u remove one training wheel at a time or both together?
DeleteHubby even more impatient than me in this regard ;). I had actually removed just one wheel and was about to try, but after reading you maybe i'll just remove both together.
ReplyDeleteHey, if she is scared like u said, just remove one for now. It helps their confidence and balance a lot if they can do it with just 1 wheel and then they can manage without the other one also. What really helped ads i think was that he learnt balance on his small cycle and then the big one was easy. If D has a small one, maybe shd shd do it on that first and she won't hurt herself even if she does fall :)
DeleteIn any case, kabhi na kabhi toh aa hi jaayega. No stress :)
Seems like a fun list of activities, although I can truly understand your agony of not being able to concentrate on your work..
ReplyDeletebut the fog still looks bad from what I gather from your FB update..
How did I not mention that banana bread? Looks yumm.. recipe please!
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting to try out that foccacia recipe you posted.. keep thinking about it, and everytime I want to try it i'll be missing one ingredient like cheese so didn't get around to it yet. Did you try it with complete whole wheat - does it work?
Have posted the recipe now :) Did not try the foccacia bread again, need to do so.
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