corona virus – Our Daycation Life

The honest confessions of a mum with a newborn during lockdown

Published on May 12, 2020 by Our Daycation LifeLeave a comment

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2 months old. That’s how old my baby was on 19th March when we had to self isolate due to us all having a persistent cough: a virus symptom. During our isolation, on 23rd March a national lockdown began with no idea of when we can see our families and friends again. So here are my feelings about this situation and my thought process.

I’m worried people won’t love my baby as much as my toddler. As heartbreaking as that sounds, it’s even more heartbreaking to think because it’s true. I am genuinely worried that people won’t love my baby as much as they love our other son. I’m worried that he’s not able to bond with anyone and they’re not able to bond with him. I’m grateful for social media and for family etc to be able to see what he’s up to, but they can’t physically see him and he can’t see them and it tears me apart thinking how much time is slipping away. I ask myself how can they love him just as much without having this time with him, to see his changes and development and to be the reason behind his smiles and laughter. I can’t stop crying about it: in the bath and at night. I feel like I can’t talk to anyone about these feelings because they might just tell me I’m being stupid or something. Of course you can love someone unconditionally without really knowing them, but is unconditional love enough? What about a love that’s built on memories, moments, a bond…..? I want that for my baby and as a mother I should be exposing him to opportunities for this and I can’t. It’s a feeling that physically hurts in my chest when I think about it.

I’m also anxious that my baby’s development will be delayed. Will his social skills suffer? Will he lack confidence? Will he struggle in social gatherings? Will he be cautious of new people? Will he struggle to make friends? Will he trust people? Will he be happy in the company of other people? Will meeting people make him uncomfortable? Will he find it difficult to build relationships – to love and trust people?

So many questions and no answers. People may think they know the answers, but reality is that nobody could possibly know the affect this will have on my baby. It’s not happened before. People can’t time travel. We are in uncharted territory at the moment and as a mum I worry about the impact it’s having on my baby, much more than my toddler who has already developed such skills in this area. It’s only when you have a newborn baby at home with you that you realise how much they take in every day and how everything affects them. Yes he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on in the world, but for him this is normal and that very idea is what terrifies me. His normality is a far cry from our usual, every-day lives as a family. Will he adjust ok when things change for him? I have no idea.

I feel robbed of our time together, just him and I. His older brother should be in pre-school 3 days a week now. This is a reason we waited for this age gap so I could have time one-to-one with him, just like my eldest son had. I had so many plans for the baby groups and play dates we should be attending and memories we should be making- as just a mother and her son. I feel like I’m grieving for those lost moments because although we will have some when this is all over, we would have already lost so much time and experiences we were meant to have together. I’m trying to take the positive from it being that the two boys now have the opportunity to form such a lovely and strong bond together, but I still feel guilt that I can’t give my baby all of me throughout some of the days.

So those are my confessions: brutal and honest. My head and my heart are hurting right now and I’m locked in a battle with myself about what kind of mum I’m supposed to be to my baby. I’m keeping him safe, which is the most important thing, but what is the sacrifice? None of us really know yet.

10 easy activities to do with toddlers using things you already have around the home!

Published on March 20, 2020 by Our Daycation LifeLeave a comment

Unfortunately we have found ourselves during a time where it isn’t safe to leave our homes and so some of us find ourselves isolated in the house with a toddler to entertain. During this period there can also be some uncertainty about money and so I have put together this guide of 10 quick and easy activities you can do with things already around your home. These play and craft ideas are not only intended to keep your little one entertained, but they also encourage fine motor skills too. I hope that you will enjoy trying them out and that they inspire other easy ideas for you too. Please do comment to let me know how you get on!

1) Peg animals

As you can see from the photo, I chose to do this craft with a paper plate I had spare, but this could be done with any piece of paper or cardboard, even an old envelope etc. Just cut out a lion face shape and encourage your little one to position pegs around like a mane. This could also be done with other shapes pieces of paper: hedgehogs, dinosaurs, turkeys, spiders, octopus, monsters, flowers… endless possibilities!

2) Leaf animals

This next craft re-uses the paper from my the first craft, only this time I have replaced the pegs with glue and leaves from my garden. And if you have no glue, don’t worry! Your little one will have just as much fun just placing the leaves around the shapes.

3) Mini trees

For this activity, all you need to do is cut out some tree shapes from cardboard. Your little one can then get to work sticking different shapes / colours / types of leaves on them. Once they’re dry, use toilet roll tubes to stand them up by putting a little snip in ether side of the tube!

This craft is a favourite with my little one because he can then use the trees in his play scenes with his animals and cars etc.

4) Threading

Yet another super easy and quick activity to set up! All you need for this one is some old cardboard and a shoe lace. Cut out a shape from the cardboard: this can be anything from a flower to just a strip of cardboard. I went with a simple strip. Make some holes in it with scissors and encourage your little one to thread the lace through the holes. This is fantastic for hand-eye coordination.

5) Rainbow sticks

All you need for this is an old box, some felt tips and cotton buds. Designs a colourful picture on the box that has blocks of colour in it. I chose a simple rainbow. Make some holes in the colour areas big enough to fit cotton buds into. Colour tips of some cotton buds to match the colours on your box then challenge your little one to put the correct buds in their matching colour sections!

6) Colour matching

This activity re-uses the cotton buds from activity 5, but these can be replaced with coloured bits of paper instead.

Create a colour sequence on a strip of paper or cardboard and encourage your little one to match the cotton buds to the spots in your sequence. Engage with them by asking them about the colours and counting them.

7) Washing dishes

Give your little one some responsibility for cleaning up by encouraging them to do their own dishes. Give them a bowl / tub of warm, soapy water and sponges and provide some child-friendly kitchen items for them to wash-up: their own meal items work best for this. After they have washed them, help them use a tea towel to dry them too. They can do this as many times as they want, if they’re anything like my little one they will play with the water for ages!

8) Flower art

This one is lots of fun for those who love to make noise! To begin with, collect some flowers and / or different coloured leaves from your garden. This is nice to do together. Put a sheet of paper on a table and get your little one to position the flowers and leaves on top, however they fancy. When they have finished, place another piece of paper on top and let them bang on top of it with a toy hammer. If you haven’t got a toy hammer, lots of kitchen items are suitable such as a spoon etc. When they’ve finished, life off the piece of paper, remove the flowers and leaves and admire their new piece of artwork.

9) Sock matching

Lay out lots of odd socks on the floor / table and encourage your little ones to find the matching pairs (make sure the matching pairs are all there!) To make this more fun you could even add clothes pegs and get them to peg the matching socks together. Afterwards you can even encourage them to divide the socks by colour and or get them to lay them out by size: shortest to longest!

10) Bath time for toys!

This one is pretty self explanatory really: just set up a mini bath for your little one to bathe their toys. This could be any plastic toys: from dolls to dinosaurs! Give them some flannels, sponges and baby wash and then encourage them to towel dry their toys afterwards too.

Covid 19: Social Distancing

Published on March 19, 2020 by Our Daycation LifeLeave a comment

We are social distancing at the moment. That means: no friends, no play dates, no playgroups, no church, no parties, no football lessons, no moo music, no nursery, no visitors. But I am absolutely *determined* that Otis doesn’t recognise this change. I want him to enjoy every day so much that he doesn’t notice the turmoil the world is in currently. I want his smile to be so big that it banishes even my own anxieties away from my thoughts.

I want him to be as happy as he was on Tuesday. These are the photos from our little family day out on his birthday on Tuesday. I say “little” because we were only out for an hour and a half, but as you can see that was plenty of time for lots of smiles, laughter and happy memory making!

Our kids are watching us. They will remember this time. They are learning how we cope with stress and uncertainty. I want to teach my boys that we respond to it without panic. That we make the most of the opportunities we have to just be with each other: no schedules, no time restraints and no distractions.

Instead we have the chance to embrace fresh air and have a new gratitude for freedom.

We have a chance to look up at the sun, watch the trees move in the wind, listen to the rain on windows and be grateful we are living for today.

We have the chance to be grateful for living and not just existing.

We have a chance to acknowledge what we took for granted and really love the world we have built.