Thank you Covid-19

Dear Covid-19

It has been well over 90 days since you swept through the world, and created this global pandemic that we are all currently living through. Much has changed. More than much actually. Life has changed. In an unprecedented way.

At present, Noah and Eliza are about to start Term 2 of school on Wednesday. For the first two weeks, we are looking at online learning from home, similar to the last 3 weeks of Term 1. On the week of the 11th May, they are expected to return to school, for one day a week. No one knows how this will work, and for how long but that is a clear indication of life right now. Wait and see.

So life through this pandemic has not been easy.  Covid-19 has taken so much. Many people have died. Many people have lost their jobs. Many shops are closed. Cafes and restaurants are only open for take-away.  Finding toilet paper and other staples is like winning the lottery. Holidays have been cancelled. Family gatherings are discouraged. Our country is in lock down. We are asked to socially isolate and when we do go out, socially distance. Say what?!

Oh Covid-19, how you have changed our lives.

While Covid-19 can be accused of having taken so much from all of us, for our family, Covid-19 has also given.

Last night, as a family we each took turns to share what positivity Covid-19 has brought to our lives. Covid-19, here are three things that we collectively are thankful for.

1. Thank you for the opportunity to explore new places, with our bikes and with our feet. These days, we take advantage of the opportunity to get out to exercise. While we continue to ride our bikes and go bush walking around our areas, there have been times when we have used this time to explore new places. Thank you too for the gift of coincidence when we bumped into my brother, sis-in law and kids who were out riding their bikes too.

 

2. Thank you Covid-19 for pushing us to harness our inner creativity.  Who would have thought that I would find myself giving Tim and Noah Covid-cuts and be organising a virtual birthday party for Eliza? Eliza and I also had a go at singing David Bowie's Heroes for Couch Choir, and of course Noah learned to play the Last Post on his trombone to commemorate Anzac Day 2020.

3. Thank you too for giving our family more time to cook. With extra curricular activities all cancelled, home cooking has become a forefront activity for all of us, giving us the opportunity to experiment and cook childhood favourites, with Noah and Eliza also making amazing pizza one night.

So there you go Covid-19.

In the midst of this global pandemic where much of the world today has been overwhelmed with fear and anxiety and in lock down, team Stentiford count ourselves lucky that this time is allowing us to create memories beyond that.

We still have much to be thankful for.

With love
Team Stentiford xox

A virtual party - Happy 8th Birthday Eliza!

Dear Eliza

Today you celebrate turning 8 years old.

As always, you have been looking forward to this date almost immediately after turning 7. I think it wasn't even Christmas when you started planning for your party. Will it be JoJo Siwa themed? Who will you invite? Do you keep it small or do you try and have as many friends as you possibly can. I kept telling you that you had plenty of time.

Then Covid-19 happened.

Shopping for your birthday presents has been very different this year. The bike shop was busting at the seams. I am guessing many families, like ourselves have started regularly riding as our form of family exercise. While I had to queue up to get into both Kmart and Target, something I have never done before, once you get inside it was actually quite pleasant to shop as they were not crowded at all.

I had been thinking about how to make your birthday as special as possible, given that you could no longer have the party you envisioned. While you did tell us that we can still have fun, even if it's just the four of us, as long as you can rule the day, I knew that we couldn't let the day pass without making it as special and memorable as possible.

Cue, let's host a Zoom birthday party for Eliza's Unisquad (your besties at school).

Once I got the buy in of the other Mum's, the creative juices started to flow. Each girl will receive a party bag and a cupcake so that they can all sing Happy Birthday together, blow a candle, and eat the cupcake. I asked Ninang (my sister-in-law) for some party game ideas and she suggested a Scavenger Hunt game, which we turned into a Treasure Show and Tell. While looking at the $2 dollar shop for party decorations and ideas, I thought it would be great each girl could write a message on a card for you which they can post back. I also scored some party props for added fun.

 

Thank you to the random looking delivery team for dropping the party bags to your friends early this morning so that they could prepare for the Treasure Show and Tell.

Needless to say, today's party will go down to be memorable. It was not quite the party that you were hoping for but who knew you can have a ton of fun with your friends despite being in lockdown? Oh Eliza, when you look back at these photos and this message, I hope you realise how much joy this virtual party has brought to your face. It was absolutely delightful to hear you guys laugh, sing Happy Birthday together and tell each other how much you miss each other. Even Noah made sure to join the party!

  

With your Zoom party, and lots of other video calls with family, my heart is bursting as I know that you still managed to have the best 8th birthday you can...and we still are yet to sing Happy Birthday to you as a family.

Cue Eliza's choice for dinner and cake, more cake!

Lots of love

Mum xox

A special song

Eliza has been homeschooling for two weeks now. While our school is still open to accommodate families that need to physically send their children to school, I think most of the children in Eliza's class have been learning from home for the last two weeks.

Late last week, classes started to video chat with each other via ZOOM. Eliza finally saw her class teacher and her classmates, which brought a massive smile to her face.

On Friday afternoon, her teacher sent across a video of her singing a song about her class, 3C. It was so heartwarming and lovely to watch as you could tell how much Miss C is missing her children. It also replicated a routine they had in class where the children took turns asking Miss C to sing them a song at the end of class.

I asked her teacher if I could share this video as it truly is so beautiful. We are so lucky to have such a great, talented, and caring teacher. 

Hopefully it won't be too long until Miss C is singing live to the children again.

Enjoy!  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ROQnW0akqzYvzgEjs1YKoDez3GLDX7O-/view?usp=sharing