Hot'n'sunny, every day, hot'n'sunny - what are you, a [CENSORED] lizard?

[ailbhe]

Today has been hot enough that the children and I have had to be very careful about how much time we spend outdoors. We had breakfast outside, but not lunch. And we're going to eat dinner outside, too. But Linnea got a bit sick anyway.

We started making a sundial at about 1:30pm when Linnea asked who invented clocks (I'm not sure, but we talked about sundials and Egyptian water clocks and things). We marked 3pm and 4pm and then she made a guess for 5pm which wasn't particularly accurate - I really need some kit for managing the solar system better than random objects I pick up and spin around each other in a demonstrative way; we'll have another go at marking times tomorrow morning and try to get a template on card to make a more durable sundial out of something like air-drying clay or something.

I did yet more laundry; the stuff we stripped off beds this morning will go back on this evening, fresh and crisp and ironed-feeling, because of the heat. It's due to be about 24 degrees C until after the kids' bedtime today. I'm glad we still have the portable aircon from Argos in the attic, if July is as hot as this the new baby will really need it.

Rob was out most of the day - he brought Emer to meeting (I couldn't walk from the bus-stop to the Meeting House today, it was too hot for a support belt) and then went back after lunch to attend a first aid course, specifically first aid for infants and children. He learned a lot he didn't know at all and is pleased he went. It wasn't too harrowing, either, which is nice - practising CPR on an infant model is not much fun, after all.

This evening we emptied the huge plastic paddling pool/sandpit thing we were storing the final dregs of topsoil in, and now we can wash it and see how watertight it is. If I have a sandpit or paddling pool in the shade out there, they children will spend a lot less time getting mild sunstroke. There's a limit to how strict about hats I can be, it turns out.

The children are painting a huge canvas and mixing all sorts of colours. We shall see how it turns out. They've painted both sides of it. And, um, their own faces. Ah well.

Comments

[quentinwrites.livejournal.com]

Making a sun dial, now there's a fab idea for when Orion is a bit older! Will you take a photo to show us their painting efforts once they've finished? :o)

[ailbhe]

Not sure, they used ALL the paint and it meant a very long bath later; perhaps tomorrow when my temper has recovered I'll take some photos.

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

http://www.foodrenegade.com/should-you-use-sunscreen/

[ailbhe]

That's interesting, I wonder if it works as well for the sun sensitivity as for sunburn prevention? Sunscreen doesn't, in the slightest - only actual barriers like clothing and being indoors do.

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

Don't know. But a lot of it made sense, as to why some skins would be far more prone to burning.

But I don't burn, just turn oak coloured, so it's not something I have experience of. Hugh's the same, as far as we can tell, in that he's got a light nut brown in the Summer.

We tend not to use sun-screen on Hugh as a matter of course. Hats, clothes, being in the shade. It's rare he has any on his skin: only when the sun really is too hot, and he's not in the shade.

David burns, as he's fair, and he gets slathered. I protect my face, and little else.

[ailbhe]

I don't know whether Emer burns or not - she gets a rash, not heat rash, long before anything like burn appears. I burn when pregnant but not otherwise, I think. Rob burns if he goes from 0-sunshine without a gradual buildup, but he does that less and less as he gets older.

[sfred]

If I promise to be good, will you home-educate me as well? I want to make a sundial!

[ailbhe]

I'm not sure being good is part of the standard deal.

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

My father taught us to *be* the solar system. He's be the sun and then me and my sisters were planets or moons of planets. It's great fun. My favourite bit is being the moon always presenting the same face to the earth.

And you can freeze frame and explain the tricky bits.

[ailbhe]

That sounds cool but not very Emeresque. Perhaps she could be the sun.