We have been spending lots of time with our grandchildren this week. It can be very hard work, but is joyful.
Every Monday, we look after Alice in Sileby. She goes to
nursery on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and her other grandparents
(Mikhael and Maryna) look after her on Fridays. We have developed a regular
routine. We go to Thurmaston Shopping Centre around 10am and we go into
Poundland, Marks & Spencer Foodhall and then Dunelm for lunch. Sometimes,
we ring the changes with an additional visit to Next, Boots or Hobbycraft. In
the afternoon, sometimes we go to Dobies garden centre and have an hour in the
soft play area, see if we can find a robin and kill another couple of hours. It
used to be handy when I had the Nissan Leaf because often it would need a
charge to get me home, but the new Ariya has a much better range and so it’s
not vital that we go.
Alice in Dunelm cafe |
This week, the morning game involved finding “the lizard”
which I think was the fire spirit from Frozen II. It was loose in her bedroom
and we had to find it. She doesn’t have a lizard, so I improvised with a little
fluffy sun that we bought at the Space Museum and that worked quite well for a
while. He started imaginary fires and she (playing the part of Elsa) put them
out with magic icy blasts. I had to build her an ice palace by the bedroom door
from cushions and seat pads. A few weeks ago, we were joined by “scary cat”.
I’m not sure what role he was supposed to be playing (he was invisible to
everyone except Alice’s imagination) and I was running out of things for him to
do, so I said: “Oh no! Scary cat has done a poo on the carpet.” This was a huge
success, he did about 10 poos and Alice and I took turns cleaning up the
imaginary poo with imaginary spray and cloths. Since then, poos have become a
regular feature in games.
“Oh no!” she cries. “Fire lizard has done a poo.” We have to
change fire lizard’s pants and clean its bottom. Alice is well into her potty
training now, but accidents aren’t unknown, so I consider this good role play.
“Fire lizard must tell Grandy if it needs another poo …”
I find these games quite tiring mentally. It’s a bit like
being a children’s entertainer without a script. One wrong move and you’ve lost
your audience.
We did the usual Thurmaston run this morning and Alice was
very happy with some new Nike trainers that Margaret had been given by a
neighbour, Trish Winwright. In the afternoon, I’d hoped that we could watch
Frozen II, but Alice wasn’t in the mood for television, she wanted to play. She
had changed into her “Elsa dress” (a frilly party dress that Uncle Tom had
bought for her birthday) and was back in Elsa mode.
She likes to play in her bedroom. Margaret carried her
upstairs and then left us to it. I thought we’d pick up with Fire Lizard but, she
decided the little sun toy wasn’t Fire Lizard, it was her toy pigeon. Soon,
pigeon had done a poo and needed its bum cleaning, then I had to fashion a
nappy for it from a tissue. This game wasn’t going well, but then pigeon found “some
treasure”. The treasure was a plastic medallion from a race (possibly one of
Max’s) but I thought “bingo!” … let’s see if we can find any more treasure. The
bedroom was scoured for anything remotely resembling treasure. Pigeon was
sidelined (still wearing its tissue nappy) and we found about five more pieces
of treasure. Oh, oh! Game over?
“It must be pirate treasure,” I said. “They’ve left it here.”
There was immediate excitement and tension. “I hope they don’t come back.”
Alice’s imagination has put her on a desert island with
treasure and the threat of pirates.
“What will they do?”
“They’ll make us walk the plank. Oh no, I can hear the
pirates coming.“
Alice hid at the side of her wardrobe and I kneeled down
with my head under a cushion. “Be very quiet or they will hear us.” I mimed a
sneeze and then supressed it and the pirates had gone. Phew! Alice had looked
quite frightened when the pirates came into the room and I didn’t want to be
the one to give her pirate nightmares, so I thought we should change the game, but then
Alice heard the pirates coming back again. We had to hide (same place, same
routine but without the sneeze – that was too scary). This time, when the
pirates had gone, I decided enough was enough and we’d go downstairs and show
the treasure to Nana.
There was a bit of dancing with Nana and a quick play with
something called Bouncy Butter (a pit like uncontrollable PlayDoh that bounces)
and then Max was down from the office and it was 4.30pm, time to go.
That’s a typical Monday. We leave at 7am and get back at 6pm
and it’s pretty full on during the day. I guess we will keep the routine going
until Alice starts school in about 18 months’ time. Heaven knows what games we
will be playing then. She does have an amazing imagination. I don’t remember
playing such detailed games with any of the others. Arthur would do similar
things but, in his games, he was in charge and you had to do exactly what you
were told, there was no input allowed. Maybe Alice will be a writer or some
kind of storyteller when she’s older?
Saoirse in class |
After 20 minutes or so, we were ushered out of the back of
the building where we could see the children’s playground and then through to
their dining hall. The playground has grass, lots of play equipment and little
shelters – it’s wonderful.
The dining room had tables set out with names reserving them
for the right number of grandparents. We got a table at the front where there
was going to be a performance. The children came in wearing animal masks
(Saoirse was an elephant) and then did some poems in turns and finished with a
song. They are well drilled for five-year-olds and very well behaved. After the
performance, Saoirse came to sit with us and we were served tea, coffee and
cakes by staff.
It was a very nice afternoon, we enjoyed seeing her school
and Saoirse was so proud and excited. We walked her back to Barton Road,
skipping a good section of the way and met Lucy there who was picking Arthur up
from his school. King’s seems to have buildings all over the city and Arthur is
now in the middle school, so a different site. It’s a well-trodden path for
Saoirse who finishes a little earlier than Arthur and sometimes takes her
scooter. Athur came out very happy and a gang of children had 10 minutes play
on the grass before parents gradually took them off home. We were lucky to have
a beautiful spring day to enjoy Ely and two of the grandchildren. Arthur and
Saoirse have a really nice environment.
I went to bed when we arrived home. I was exhausted. We’ve
both had rotten colds (possibly courtesy of Saoirse) and I’d run out of energy.
The arrangement for Wednesday is that Tom picks up Julia,
Aureliano and Florencia from school at Sandon at 3-3.15pm, brings them back to
Thorney and then looks after the three of them on Thursday and then taken them
back to Baldock for around 6pm on Thursday evening.
Julia working on her wordpuzzle |
Julia arrived just before lunch and she seemed quite perky
(they’ve all been a bit poorly in the past week), so she had some lunch and
then spent the afternoon with Margaret. I said I’d drive to Sandon to pick up
the other two and Tom wanted to come as well because he hasn’t seen the school
(I’d done a pick-up the previous week).
It’s around 60 miles and a hour and 20 minutes to Sandon, a
tiny hamlet on the edge of the tail of the Chiltern Hills where they taper down
into Hertfordshire. The school has only 45 pupils and they are in mixed-age
classes. Julia seems to like it and the school seems quite friendly. Aure is
positive too and Encha a little less forthcoming.
When we got home, I made sausage and mash for tea, which is
a favourite. Florencia hadn’t eaten her lunch at lunchtime, but ate almost all
of it in the car on the way home and so was not hungry. Thankfully, everyone
else was. In the morning, I made pancakes for breakfast. They went down OK,
although Julia just wanted Hoops (a breakfast cereal). The children love Tom’s
Nintendo Switch and like to play either Mario Kart or Minecraft. There’s only
one machine and so they are rationed to an hour each. In the morning, Julia and
I went to the park to fly a kite. It was a windy day, so the kite worked well
and Julia enjoyed flying it. She was terrified she would let go or the string
would snap and we’d lose the kite. She also had a go on the play equipment and
we spent over an hour and a half in there.
Margaret had taken Florencia to Mo’s in the buggy and when
we go back she’d made lunch with Aureliano’s help. Margaret and Julia had been
playing word games the previous afternoon and Julia wanted to make a wordsearch
puzzle. I’d done a grid on Excel and she worked so hard on the puzzle. Her
letters were really neat and she’d colour-coded them in diagonal lines. It was
really clever, just a shame the hidden words included poo, fart and bum! They
went back Thursday after their tea and I guess this will be the regular weekly
routine during term-time.
This weekend is Easter and tomorrow is Easter Sunday. All
the children and grandchildren are coming, so it will be the first time we’ve
been together in over a year.