• Feeling: Tired
• Listening to: Pentatonix
• Watching: Hawaii 5-0

Went to sleep around 2am, so very tired this morning. Got up at about 9am, B was stressing that he wasn’t up yet and claimed he absolutely had to be “at school” by 9:15. Happily he did eventually calm down – although not until he was actually working. I’m ashamed to say I was pretty grumpy all round, and perhaps especially with B, in the morning due to tiredness and that having a knock-on effect on my own work.

Both kids seemed to have a pretty good day school work-wise, and B had to watch an Alice in Wonderland adaptation (the Tim Burton film) for Drama, which F was very happy to watch with him. F did some great writing (with a bit of moral support and encouragement from us) for her English, and did some drumming practice very happily (which doesn’t always happen even though she loves drumming).

One of the excitements of lockdown is when we get deliveries – and I seem to be ordering enough things that this is a regular, if not quite daily, occurrence. This morning’s treat was an iPad stand (well, actually a microphone stand with an iPad adapter) which I’m hoping will be the solution to having the iPad in a good position while the kids have drumming/piano lessons.

B and F go to “Explore Learning” which is an English and Maths tutoring company which have centres in various places – including our local Sainabury’s. Since their centres are all closed at the moment they’ve been doing one-to-one online sessions with the kids (1 hour a week) and these have been very successful with the kids. D and I had a “parents consultation” with one of the Explore staff today to have an update on how things were going with B & F. They are both doing really well, and working rapidly through materials – so the tutors want to move them onto more challenging materials which we are happy to see happen. Its always nice to get good feedback on the kids and how they are doing, and also to be reminded how great B & F are (which is too easy to overlook when you are dealing with day-to-day dramas and stress).

Since I cut back the hedge we’ve been able to see the birds perching, mating and collecting nesting materials really clearly from the kitchen window. At the weekend D had a plan to setup her phone to film them, and I managed to get it setup so it was concealed in the hedge. We got 90 minutes of footage, and I went through looking for some good “action shots”, and today edited the video down. The clip here is one of my favourites of a blue-tit just perched in the top right of the picture.

The kids have been watching lots of “comfort” TV over the last few weeks – re-watching (for the third time) the really great “Avatar: Last Airbender” cartoon series, and yesterday evening we watched the last episode in the new BBC Malory Towers adaptation which has been a gentle ride although with genuine emotion and tension in each episode. F is already asking if they are going to make a second series – so definite approval there.

And now time for a Parks and Recreation episode before bed – comfort TV for D and me.

Stay safe, stay strong.