Day one started too early.  I am at a loss for what to do with a baby at 5:20am when it’s dark outside and we are confined to a living room.  I woke Fred up at 6am and asked him to take over as he had clocked eight hours of solid sleep by then and I have not slept more than two hours in a row in the past seven months.  It’s great that he is willing but really frustrating that when I lie down on my pillow I have to listen to the baby screaming from the next room.  It’s most likely because the baby does not want to sit on the couch and watch Netflix series with Fred.

By 8am we had the children seated around the table eating their breakfast.  By 10am I gathered them together for our first organised pre-school programme.  We started with some action songs.  I really can’t stand it when the song ends and the thumbnails come up and all four children are shouting at me about what song to play next.  Other than that it was a success.  After action songs, I put on story time with some eccentric-looking author wearing a poncho.  He told a story while drawing a picture of a chicken which seemed somewhat confusing to the children but was intended as an introduction to the day’s artistic activity.  We made our own story books.  The children illustrated their books and then dictated their stories to me.

Raphi’s book was titled, “Poop”.  As you can imagine it was a whole lot of nonsense surrounding two central characters who were poops.  Hope’s story was a disparate series of events and characters that would not be out of place on the arts circuit.  Caleb spent a long time drawing really detailed illustrations and his book turned out to be a series of short stories.  My favourite was the one about an unscrupulous zoo which took money from visitors who discovered once they had entered and paid that there were no animals in the cages.  The zoo refused to return their money.

We then did a scavenger hunt and now I’ve used up the one good idea I had for an outdoor activity.

After lunch, Hope put together a really creative bunny costume complete with stockings for ears and white socks for paws.  The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful.  Fred and I had a squabble about who has been doing more housework and more childcare but we kept it civil as at this point we know we really need each other’s support.

Late afternoon was snack time and trampoline time on the lawn.  The dads were noticeably absent.  Unfortunately for them they were discovered drinking beer and eating chips in a private back courtyard and were subsequently called in to assist with some politics surrounding taking turns on the trampoline.

That just about took us to sundowners and this evening’s sunset was spectacular.  We dined on pork ribs, lamb chops and Woolies broccolini.  The first two nights menus have been outstanding but I hope we won’t be on bread and peanut butter by night 21.

The highlight of the day for Fred was when Christopher asked him if he had an axe.  Fred said yes because he does have an axe so that if any one ever asks if he has an axe he can say yes.