Where to start? We had just returned home from our holiday to Austria, had one week of normality and then on 16th March 2020 the UK went into lockdown due to COVID-19. We were about to be in each other’s company full time for the next few months and discover a new kind of work – how to amuse a young child day in day out from home without friends.
Biking close to home Being allowed an hour of exercise a day, we did a decent bike ride most days. We had got Evie a new bike seat – a Shotgun- so that she could sit upfront. Although she did keep falling to sleep so quite often for the longer rides we still used the back seat.
Painting faces Early on in lockdown I bought some craft items – sensing that we may be needing them. I think the face paints were the most used to begin with as Evie really liked to be a ‘tiger’. She likes baby to be a tiger to!!
Camping in the garden Having just bought a new tent we decided to put it up. Mainly for something else to play with in the garden, ‘sleeping’, having tea parties, but also to have some nighttime adventures sleeping in the garden. It sometimes felt like being at a festival the next morning!!
Learning to ride the balance bike Early on in lockdown we spent a lot of time on the ‘bumpy track’ where Evie got the hang of lifting her feet up and learning to do big ‘weeeeeee’s’. It was a great time to learn, when no-one was driving their cars, especially the time when she continued out of the bumpy track and straight down the middle of the road!! As we were allowed to start visiting places in the car Evie’s bike rides got more adventurous…. and so they continue.
Local walks like everyone, there were lots of local walks to be had near where we live, with daffodils to smell, rocks to climb on a puddles to jump in. The walks got a lot more exciting and pretty once we could drive or cycle to nearby places. We especially enjoyed the forests of wild garlic and bluebells and seeing the lake again so that Evie could throw stones in.
Building dens The den building spaces at home are not brilliant- but it didn’t stop Evie enjoying those that she did build with her daddy!
Doing art We spent quite a bit of time painting various things to make cards to send to people that we couldn’t see. Although the projects often started and finished well, there was often a painted Evie as a consequence as well! Thankfully only once a painted house to! Evie remains very proud of her rainbow!
Evie’s 2nd birthday Fitting with the general theme of 2020, Evie had her birthday just with us and her party was via zoom. Thankfully at age two, I don’t think she really got it and therefore nothing was missed by her. It was lovely how much her little friends made an effort – even though today of all days Evie refuses to get her face painted!
Easter Although just the three of us we tried to make Easter special. We had had a delivery of eggs from Evie’s Omi with foresight and stuck to my family tradition of painting our boiled eggs at breakfast. After breakfast we set out on an Easter egg hunt that I and a friend had set up earlier in the morning, which Evie and Oliver could then both do separately – good job we had good clues!!
VE Day Maybe not as spectacular as some places, but the villages nearby were definitely worth a bike around to see the efforts that had been made for VE Day. I don’t think many will have surpassed the collection that one of the gentleman had collected throughout the years and was kindly displaying for everyone’s interest, including a babies gas suit amongst many other items.
Digging, wheelbarrows and doing the back garden. Make way for Beans Lodge! We knew that Evie would love her own little playhouse and she had this as a present, but that meant turning the back garden from a winter quagmire into a useable space. Thankfully the local timber yard and suppliers of gravel stayed open through lockdown, so we got some supplies and got digging, wheelbarrowing, sawing, banging and finally painting! Evie got a house and a fence made from pallets, daddy made a golf tee out of pallets and mummy made a table and benches from pallets. Although it took many weeks to complete, it has been well worth the effort.
Helping mummy to cook Evie has her own special knife and is always keen to help with cooking and baking. Learning her vegetables as she chops and especially enjoying putting sprinkles on cakes (that she can then eat immediately)!
Around the world with Evie Bean 