Thursday photo #310

Isn’t it amazing how well children can amuse themselves when they need to? The toys they rarely played with become firm favourites. The garden they hardly used is suddenly their favourite place to be. Even the dog is getting more attention. They’re still missing their friends, but they’re happy to be at home. I couldn’t ask for more from them really.

The singing exam

Libby was supposed to have a singing exam this month, which was of course cancelled. To her credit though, their singing teacher has continued to teach the girls via zoom. That, along with piano and ballet lessons are the highlights of their week now. They’re even practicing a bit more.

A couple of weeks ago, the singing teacher told us that Libby would still be able to do her exam. Instead of going to the exam room, we’ll film Libby singing her songs. We can then send those over to the examiner so they can mark her. The only problem is, the teacher has to prerecord the accompanying music instead of playing along with them.

For one of Libby’s songs in particular, this was a problem. She had learnt the song with the teacher keeping time with her. Now, there were unexpected pauses and parts where she needed to sing on her own. She practiced it and was getting there, but it was hard going. So, I suggested we tried a different song. The teacher sent over the music and Libby got the hang of it straight away, and loved it. So, with the exam likely to take place within a couple of weeks, she has completely learned a new song. I’ve been so impressed with her dedication, it’s amazing what children can do when they put their minds to it.

The tooth fairy is a key worker

Did you see Jacinda Arden’s press conference for children recently where she declared that the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are key workers? They may not be able to work quite as normal, so children shouldn’t be surprised if they don’t get Easter eggs. But they’ll try their best.

This came as a relief to us all when Lia lost her first tooth this week. It has been wobbly for a while and finally dropped out on Monday. I honestly thought she’d be really late to lose her milk teeth. When she was a baby, her teeth were so late arriving that we were googling to see whether babies could have dentures.

Lia also went through a stage where she really worried about losing her teeth. Luckily, she got over that before one became wobbly. The only slight issue we had was her realising that losing her milk teeth was a sign of growing up. We had a few tears about not wanting to be a grown up and wanting to stay a child forever. I don’t blame you kiddo.

Thursday photo #310

This week, the girls have been playing with the BT code a cake app as part of a collaboration on my social media. I wasn’t asked to share it on my blog, but couldn’t resist sharing this as our Thursday photo. It’s such a happy, sunny photo of the girls.