Photo A Day MAY | Where I stand

My two year old is on a growth spurt, cutting her last four molars, and developing her mind at a fast pace – all this makes for occasional wake up calls in the middle of the night. Thankfully, she’s all smiles and easily placated with a couple of crisp breads with Marmite (thankfully we’ve still got some after the factory crumbled in the Christchurch earthquake – so Marmite Stocks are running low!), a piece of fruit and a little time in the lounge watching Peppa Pig (or some such DVD – whilst I try to drift in and out of sleep on the couch). Nevertheless, sleep deprivation is a reality in my current life (for some nutritional advice to help aid the pain – this recent post, by a super-Mum in the neighbourhood, is really worth a read!).

So, this morning, after being woken at 4am and not getting much sleep thereafter, my short term memory was shot to pieces, my organisational ability fuzzy (like my head) and my happy face was trying its best to make an appearance, but struggling some what. A good breakfast helped to fuel my body into motion – but my mind had a lot of catching up to do!

Thankfully, mid-morning started to look better when I found my feet planted on the sand, in the sunshine, at Lyall Bay. There is nothing quite as cleansing as an autumnal dip (combined with coffee running through my veins, thanks to a pit-stop at Maranui Cafe).

Alice joined me for a little paddle, before deciding the waves were a little too ‘awesome’ – and got her trousers soaked through.

There were lots of surfers and paddle boarders catching the surf (I thought of hubbie working away in the office – and who had so kindly made a pit stop back home mid-morning to help me – with my muddle head – find my keys to get in the car!).

I certainly felt a whole heap better after walking bare-foot on the sand and dipping my toes in the surf. After a mid-day nap with Alice, and some down-time for Sophie, the afternoon was much more productive!

Home-schooling notes for the day:-

On our home-schooling today we’ve covered Monet for art and talked about how he would paint similar scenes hundreds of times in different light and at different times of day (we have some artwork to do later in the week!); we touched on different light sources for science (using ‘Start Right’ Y3 Science workbook), reading was ‘Wind in the Willows’, sport was an afternoon swim (we’re working on breast stroke and freestyle for Sophie and lots of leg kicking, arm splashing, bubble blowing and laying flat on back in water for young Alice). Reading and comprehension was on pumpkins for our factual learning (Sophie loves pumpkin soup!) and a humorous short story by big sister, Charlotte, with questions, for fiction. Right now, as I type, Sophie is playing ‘schools’ with our neighbour’s daughter and Alice is watching ‘Spot’. Dan and Charlotte have just returned home from their busy days – with Charlotte full of chatter about an energy efficient home she’s designed for her home-work.

Time to get dinner prepared… Tomorrow is another day 🙂

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