Posted on by wherethejourneytakesme

dear diary >> a play day

We have been home only a few days and already we are in great demand. I agreed to have Master Freddie all day yesterday from 8am -5pm so it was a long day. I had planned to finish the unpacking and the final bits to put away, so that has been put on hold now and I ‘ll get it done over the weekend – well we won’t be venturing out anywhere in this weather.

We had a great day though they are so cute at this age (he is just 3) and it is amazing how much they learn, and how much they copy. We did some water play with doggie and duckie (two tiny nail brushes in the shape of a blue dog and a yellow duck) that he became attached to when we looked after him during the Covid lockdown. Everytime he comes to play he searches them out and I get a small washing up bowl and fill it with water and he will play for hours.

We had a bit of a ‘crafternoon’ after lunch. His mum had sent a packet of coloured tissue paper circles and his tiny plastic scissors so we showed him how to fold the circles up and cut shapes out of them to make flowers and a kind of paper doyley like making snowflakes. We all made some but then what to do with them? After a little thought I had the idea to attach a piece of fishing wire to each circle and hang them on a paper band as a mobile.

I thought it looked quite effective hanging in our window moving in the draught. He has taken it home to show mummy – I am sure she will be delighted.

Once he had gone we whipped all the toys away, made some tea then collapsed on the sofa.

I am now trying to get my head into gear and plan for next week. We have had a call to say our new dining table and chairs have arrived – my brother is having our old pine farmhouse table. I will miss it – it has history marks all over it but it has always been too big for our little dining area and now the kitchen area is a little bigger and the dining area a little smaller we decided we would get something that would allow us more room but would be extendable when required.

We have to give the warehouse 24 hours notice before we collect the new table and chairs. We are not even sure if everything will fit in the back of our estate car and might mean two journey’s to Birstall near Leeds, but we will save £140.00 delivery charges (the table and chairs would have been delivered separately from the warehouse at £70 each delivery as we ordered the table long before the chairs) and that is a big saving for us at the moment.

I also intend to get going on finishing a few craft projects and start thinking about Easter cards. I don’t send many but I do like to make my own. I have more tablemats to make and the patchwork quilt that I began 2 years ago might get a look in again – I found some more fabrics to add to the ones leftover from my daughter’s wedding bunting.

All in all I am hoping for a productive week and I might even be lucky with getting some washing out on the line.

14 Replies to “dear diary >> a play day”

  1. Your mobile is delightful, what a great idea. We used to have crafternoons when my children were little they always made lots of mess but they loved them. I do hope you are able to get some, if not all, of your projects done next week and there are not too many demands placed on you. You are not the only one with a half done quilt languishing in the house I have one here which has been like it for more that two years!

    Like

    1. Master Freddie seem to love making things as much as my two daughters and two granddaughters do – I am not used to little boys at all so I am finding my way as I go along. Playing diggers and car parks is a new thing for me!
      I had a free day yesterday but the weather is so gloomy at the moment I am straining my eyes to see anything in the craft room so nothing is being done very quickly here.

      Like

  2. My grands are all teenagers now but I have happy memories of the years I had them for day care. Some times it was frustrating but mostly good times. Of course, I was much younger then. Can’t imagine doing it now!

    Like

    1. I am wondering how we got through those three months in lockdown last year looking after him for 3 days a week from 8am – 6pm. We went out in all weathers for walks as staying in all day to entertain him was harder work.

      Like

  3. I love how kids can entertain themselves with a bowl or sink full of water! Thank you for the heads up about making Easter cards. It never seems to occur to me until the day before. I have 8 weeks now, so maybe I can accomplish it!

    Like

    1. I am usually at the last push for Easter cards but I am making the effort to think about them sooner this year. As soon as the garden springs to life (which will be quite soon over here) I find my time is taken up outside and everything else seems to end up on the back burner.

      Like

      1. You have given me the idea to make a full-year overview calendar where I can schedule seasonal activities. I keep thinking I need to get to the outdoor skating oval before it closes for the winter (around the end of March).

        Like

        1. I have always used the filofax A5 year planner to jot down future activities, appointments etc. Now I am using more of a bullet journal but still have a written out a year planner at the front. It does help to see a whole year at once. I also have a bit f a list of seasonal tasks month by month as a reminder that I tick of each year as they come round. These include things like MOT for the car, review savings accounts, update address labels, clean down drainpipes and gutters, feed and weed lawn and declutter file folders but you could jot down your seasonal activities as a reminder.

          Like

  5. That mobile is so lovely. Those tissue circles were a great find and it sounds like you were awesome with Freddie. I shall keep an eye out for you around Birstall. Take care, there are a lot of roadworks near there on the A62

    Like

  6. They’re so lovely at that age, a bowl of water will amuse them for ages, all the wonderment of it. Crafting is usually a big hit too, such a good idea to make the doilies into a mobile. I think the delivery charges on furniture is ridiculous, I’d be hoping to collect too at that price. Eleanor and Jacob have ordered a dining set from one of the stores at Birstall, they could choose the level of delivery they required, anything from taking it on the doorstep, carrying it into the house, unpacking it, or setting it up. They opted for having it delivered to the doorstep as it was so much cheaper. I’m sure they’ll manage to carry it indoors, unpack it and set it up themselves.

    Like

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: