Social distancing – how are you coping?

Last Friday Estonia announced a lockdown due to the spreading of COVID-19 until 1st May. Schools closed for two weeks today, concerts and other public events are either to be postponed or cancelled, if possible, people should work from home, strict entry controls have been put in place at all airports, seaports, and land borders. Play rooms, spas etc. are also closed till further notice. Restaurants, cafes operate on individual basis, there’s no set rule for that. Yet. Small businesses are suffering, we just don’t know to what extent. There’s a slight panic buying (toilet paper for all things like everywhere else…) but I‘m just glad that our government has taken this decision, people have guidelines and rules to follow, compared to what seems like a slight chaos back in the UK. 

We’re missing out on our weekly play room visits, we were planning to go to a few spas and next month’s theatre visit has to wait until the institutions are open again. Luckily these are just small problems and for now we, our families and friends are all well and healthy and for this reason I am not complaining at all.

As a stay at home mum I’m used to the pressures on keeping my toddler entertained and her brain stimulated. In my last post I was getting worried how I already had to up my game because she is napping less meaning I need to find more things to do for her! 🙂 So now, without the play rooms and activity centres there’s even more pressure, especially if the weather doesn’t hold up like today… Otherwise we can visit our local park and the beach. I’ve started breaking up the day to hourly chunks and have plenty organised activities at hand so we don’t end up sitting on the sofa watching TV all day. This was today’s schedule:

• Woke up at 6.30am because of my husband’s alarm (our walls must be quite thin 😦 ) so I brought her to our bed where she snuggled up to me until 8am. Loved the cuddles! Even I snoozed and woke up to her poking my eyes.
• Lazy hour in bed until 9am. We do this when we’re in no rush to go anywhere. I drink coffee, check emails, read a book while she snacks and watches Blippi on my iMac.
• 9am proper breakfast followed by some painting and playing with sticker books at the table.
  
• 10am by then we’re normally in a play room or outside but it was raining heavily so she watched some cartoons while I showered and tidied the place up.
• 11am play time – I just open all the toy storage boxes, lay puzzles out and let her play with whatever she wants. I join in every now and then while also getting lunch ready.
• 12pm lunchtime followed by some more playtime and book reading.
• In bed by 1pm and today she only napped for an hour. Normally I have some peace and quiet till about 2.30.
• 2pm reading books in our bedroom followed by some puzzle time. She’s really getting better at them. I like those that have frames so a bit less guesswork for her but it still says 3+ and she’s already mastering them.
• 3pm we would normally head out again but the rain persisted so we did this. I love the look of concentration on her face when she cuts paper and uses the glue. I’ve started sending her out onto our terrace where there isn’t much to do yet but the other day a perfect puddle formed on our lounger and that kept her busy for a good 15 minutes 😉 in the afternoon.
  
• 4pm cartoons in Estonian! She’s a pro at getting cosy in the sofa corner.
• 5.30-6pm dinner followed by bathtime, which is her favourite and I can easily keep her there for half an hour.
• 6.30pm quiet play in her room and reading books.
• Normally she’s in bed by 7.30pm-8pm.

I see tomorrow being quite different because it promises to be sunny and we’re going to buy bikes in the afternoon. I’m so excited! Something totally different for us to do. The last time I owned a bike was about 15 years ago…

I slightly panic bought quite a few new toys for her over the weekend so I’m better prepared when we have to play at home the whole day. I rotate her things quite often so she can rediscover but I think it’s handy to have some surprises ready, like water toys, wooden beads and string, and water (gel) beads. She’s afraid of slime (?!) so I’m excited to see how she reacts to those.

I also got loads of plasticine, marbles etc. and aiming to make something like this:

I’ve noticed her fine motor skills are excellent so I’ve got lots of things that aren’t yet suitable for her age but she plays with them under my supervision – scissors, beads to make necklaces, small Kinder egg toys etc.

I think I’m prepared and ready to entertain. We’ve also stocked up on wine and so far are coping well. Keep strong!