Running on school holiday time

So we're still on school holidays over here in the Southern state. One week in, one week to go. Now a smidgen over half way.

This means that we've joyfully abandoned our normal schedule. No longer held prisoner to the clock, we're running on a different time zone, the twilight zone 'school holiday' time zone. In this two week break of time, those precious extra hours I normally crave, need, suddenly appear. Problem is right now I don't want them, at least not in these holidays where our plans have been dictated by the weather & our social lives by immune systems.

The first week of the holidays were great. We spent Monday & Tuesday just veg'ing around the house, finding our groove in the freedom of dropping all time constraints. No morning alarms, no lunches to pack, no socks to match, no school uniforms to sort to the relevant little bodies. Kids were free to wear whatever their heart desired (well, mostly. While inside our warm house anyway.) Pj's were adorned for an entire day by the older two boys, & Rianan until a friend came over to see if she wanted to play. We had soup or ham, cheese & tomato toasties for lunch instead of sandwiches. There were kids coming & going (we live on a street with several other families all with children similar ages) tabs were kept on which of our minions were where, & how many kids were going to be here for lunch. Blake & Will had sibling playmates plus their friends to play with everyday. Not just on Saturdays & Sundays.

We didn't have any grand plans that first week, Mother Nature was a little undecided each day in whether to just drizzle rain or have an all out down pour. It was a little disappointing to pack lunch & head to a playground only for the rain to suddenly bucket down two minutes before leaving home. The beach was far too cold. Shopping centers a form of torture. Cinemas are not really ideal with a group of seven people - especially when there is only one adult & the remaining six are all under the age of ten. Three of those aged four & under with an attention span that lasts as long as a bag of chips. So we enjoyed movies from our own expansive collection. Scooters, skateboard & roller blade parties under our own pergola with music blaring (& on repeat - sorry to all the residents on our street for the continuous loop of "Am I Wrong" by Nico & Vinz. I'm certain this song now has the same effect as nails down a blackboard when it is heard. Again.) Being the current favorite song for Ben, Rianan & Jack means that it must be played first time all the time. Even when they aren't outside scooting/skating/blading around while singing to it anymore. I'll spare you all the video footage.

It was a good week, all in all. We were home for a majority of it, but that wasn't a bad thing.

Then we hit the beginning of week two. Sunday evening Will's immune system lost the battle with a head cold. So now he is just a walking glory of snot & red, puffy eyes along with the grumpy, helpless moods that often accompany man-flu. Is it man-flu when the afflicted male is only two years old? Or is it kid-flu? Either way, our social calendar is now free - bare as the day Will entered our lives. All the people we had plans to catch up with have been informed of Will's contaminated & voluntary quarantined status. I don't want to give these germs to anyone else, & I'm certain no one else wants them either.

Before I was looking forward to seeing friends whom we haven't seen for nearly two or three months, now I'm looking forward to our online shopping delivery. 

Instead of managing departing & arrival times between venues, naps & friends' homes. I get to use my time management skills to schedule in blogging among the vacuuming & mopping. 

Instead of gossip & laughs, I get to fold washing & wipe a snot smeared face. Yippee. 

When I normally lament the fact that there is only twenty four hours in a day, I am now questioning why ten of those have to be filled with day light. Seriously, right now, I would love the sun to rise at 9am with an anticipated sunset of 4pm. When there is five bored, cabin-fevered, agitated kids to keep entertained in this dreary, wet, germ incubating weather it really makes you wish the days shorter & the nights longer. Or just a dry sunny day to get some fresh air into our lungs & a little grass under our feet.

Being forced to remain confined to the same scenery & the same people is sending these kids all a little batty, & I'm fast running out of referee tactics, tissues & sanity.

You know things are getting bad when you're carrying out conversations with yourself about the merits of Surf washing powder vs Duo washing powder. For the record, Surf won - there is something about the lingering freshly washed smell unique to Surf, that stays with the clean washing pile as it is transferred from dryer to wash basket, to the table when the basket is over flowing, then to the couch in the second lounge room because we need to serve up dinner. Then eventually back to the dining table where it finally gets folded & assigned to the relevant child's wardrobe. Scented just as fresh as it did when I pulled it out the dryer three days ago. 

But I digress. This post isn't about our horrendous barely under control washing & folding dramas, but about running on school holiday time. 

Running on school holiday time when all your plans change due to a sick toddler & bone drenching rain, of needing to let go of the week that should have been to embrace the week that is. After all, soon enough the next round of school holidays will arrive & we'll get to ditch the clock watching in favor of letting the sunlight dictate our days. The weather should be kinder, everyone vibrant with health & we can enjoy the company of others with sun on our faces & grass under our feet. 

In the meantime, while we're still in our school holiday time warp, we've got a cupboard full of board games & I feel some family time coming up. 

After opening another box of tissues.