Diary of a family in quarantine #8

After weeks in lockdown and home schooling, grade one student Evie McLure went back to Cowes Primary school in this week’s lockdown lowdown.
But not before a few adventures, including a trip to the hospital, explains mum Lisa.
Older son Angus will head back to school next week, marking the final chapter in the quarantine of the Smiths Beach family.

“It’s just so nice to see people again, to dip a toe in normality. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it. You stop for a chat in the street with friends and 10 minutes becomes 20 becomes 45 minutes.

Everyone is orbiting around each other in a weird dance – the social distancing waltz. Someone will approach and you’ll take a step back and someone else takes a step to the side. I have to stick my hands in my pockets because the urge to hug everyone is so strong. A couple of times I might have succumbed to very, very, very close friends where we said ‘bugger it, let’s have a sneaky hug’.

Because it was so hard at the start of lockdown no one wants to wreck it, though. We’re all a bit nervous – we don’t want to go back to the start.

I love my Thursday in the salon every week, although today I have a bit of a headache because Leanne (the owner of Elements Hair Room) and I had a bit of a celebration last night at work and then I came home and had some red wine for dinner. It’s a relaxation kind of celebration, not an ‘I’m losing my mind’ kind of celebration. Just nice to sit in front of the fire with a wine and clear your head.

Evie went back to school and on Wednesday I let Angus go surfing and riding with a friend and so for the first time in eight weeks I was alone. It was weird. I ended up getting in the scissor lift we’ve hired to paint the house. I love painting.

I didn’t even turn any music on, just the silence. No ‘muuuuuuum’ or anything. I even made lunch and ate it, then put the dish in the dishwasher. Normally it’s ‘mum I’m hungry’, or one of the kids has decided to tear the other’s throat out.

By dinner time I felt so calm because I’d had a day of silence. It was nice to feel like I missed the kids too.

Poor Evie had a big week. On Sunday at 5am she woke up screaming. She’d been saying she had a pain in her side the previous few days. I thought it was appendicitis, so I called the ambulance. I’ve called the ambulance once before for me and I was so apologetic for wasting their time, but they said we did the right thing, especially if there’s any concern about appendicitis. So Evie and I got in the ambulance, put on our masks, and they took her to Dandenong Hospital because that’s where the paediatric services are.

It turns out she had a kidney infection and they did a scan and a few tests and put her on antibiotics. We were at the hospital a couple of hours and they triaged us outside. Not once did I feel unsafe or worried about Coronavirus. They explained to us they have different sections of the hospital, so I felt safe the whole time. They were wonderful.

The day after the hospital I woke at 3am with Evie by my head and she’d lost a tooth. Then two days later she woke up and had lost her other tooth. She couldn’t find it, so she must have swallowed it. So both the tooth fairy and the poo fairy gave her $10 for that tooth, which she bought a hot chocolate with.

Because Evie wasn’t feeling well we gave her the first day off school and she went back on Wednesday.

She was excited, then a bit anxious, but we dropped her off just inside the school grounds – because parents aren’t allowed in – and about 10 teachers were waiting there and one could see she was anxious and came and got her. She had the best day because the teachers kept it cruisy and made it fun for them.

It’s eerie to pick them up in the afternoon. Normally it’s laughter, screaming, crazy, so much talking, but it has been so quiet. They have a staggered pick up with the first half of the alphabet (by surname) at 3.15pm and the second half at 3.30pm, which frees up space. It was nice to see the kids tired for the first time.

Angus goes back after the long weekend and it has been nice being able to concentrate on him and tackle subjects together, sit down and have a special lunch together.

The next little thing in the back of parent’s minds is the bigger kids going back. We’ve dipped a toe in with the littlies and oldest ones, but with the rest of them going back, how will that go?”