I read a while back about how writing a narrative of your day is a great way to get a bird's eye view of how things are going in life; for your children's education, your home atmosphere, etc. The goal is to randomly pick a day and not just a good one! I hope to write one each month in 2020 - it will be interesting and revealing when I look back in 2021. I am specifically thinking about what the little Meadors are learning as they live in our home, so that's my focus. You can read previous posts here:
Samantha and Rex must be growing. I woke them up at 7:50. That's not unusual for Sammi but for early bird Rex...well, let's just say I could get used to this.
We read stories over breakfast as well as our poem for the month, Try Again by William Hickson. I haven't seen much interest in this poem from the children so I was surprised and pleased to hear Sammi reciting it along with me (I reading it, she from memory). Small people are unfairly quick.
The poem has a line in it about what to do if you don't "win the race". So we have been conducting Youtube research on fantastic races. The Jamaican Bobsled team in the 1988 Olympics is great, certain running ones are inspiring, a skiing one is amazing, and today we watched a four-minute clip from The Return From Snowy River and one of its horse racing scenes.
After that we ran around outside pretending to be racehorses. As I went on to morning chores, they asked for oats to eat - horses eat raw oats after all, as I have shown them using my horsey lips to gum oats from my open palm. They find this intensely fun as I did when I was little. There are still some oats on the sidesteps. Note to self, have them sweep after playing "horse".
Before lunch so much happens. It is incredible when I document the day and the number of conversations, arguments/fights...ahem... teaching moments, frustrations (most often mine), and laughs occur. I am exhausted and ravenous by lunch.
This morning Sammi and Rex played tractors upstairs on the car carpet. We read aloud from James Herriot's book for children. We had reading lessons (Rex: one minute, Samantha: four minutes) and piano lessons (same lengths). And everyone but Bradley who was sleeping this whole time, jumped on the trampoline.
They also played on their bikes and in the yard with the friendly neighbor kids and because they were, we went to pick up free school lunches. Eating outside makes clean up so easy. I'm excited for warmer weather so my personal goal of eating all meals outside can be met.
After the usual quiet and naptime, Sammi and Rex played tractors again and then Rex took a bath while Sammi drew. She has sent some pictures to friends in the mail during the quarantine. Brad got a bath, too, and then we listened to stories on the record player. It had been a hot morning but the weather turned rainy and cold and at one point in the afternoon, Rex asked for hot cocoa. Spring in the northwest!
At five o'clock the sun came back out and suddenly it was still and warm again. Dale came in early to take the kids on a bike ride. Sammi just learned how to ride a two-wheeler and Rex tears it up on the Radio Flyer red tricycle.
While they were gone Bradley took a cat nap and I amazed myself with how much I can get down when it's just me - even with a glass of wine in one hand.
We ate chicken fajita enchiladas and a green salad for dinner and warm peanut butter cookies for dessert. Sammi wanted to show Dale the horse race we watched at breakfast but I asked her to tell him about it instead. It was interesting to hear it from a four year old's viewpoint.
One thing that happened in the clip that generated a lot of discussion was a rifle shot that kills a horse in the race. There was terrific concern over the horse and the man riding it - and if I had remembered that this happened I probably wouldn't have shown them that clip. So many questions! Why was he shot? What happened? Why didn't the horse get up? Did the horse die?
After dinner we took a walk/bike ride. That is about the most pleasant way to end a day. We talked to some young black cows, and several horses; Rex bringing up the rearguard on his trike and telling the cows to go home and not follow him. They were behind a fence but they must have worried him.
These quarantine days (one month and one day in) are not terribly different than our usual days but somehow knowing you can't be with friends or extended family grates on me. We miss our people.
This was a very usual day with squabbles and camaraderie dashed over it like salt and pepper. Keeps life interesting for sure.