Siblings – April 2022

The Easter holidays are almost over, most of the chocolate has been eaten and term-time beckons once more. It’s interesting how different Sophie and Thomas are when it comes to Easter chocolate. Thomas has eaten almost all of his now (along with some extra Easter eggs belonging to others that were left in reach). He’s like my husband in that respect. Sophie is much more like me, working her way gradually through her Easter chocolate, eating a little bit at a time. Jessica was somewhere in the middle. Not quite as leisurely as Sophie but not as much of a chocolate monster as Thomas.

 

The Easter holidays are the hardest of all the school holidays for us. Memories of that last Easter and so many other ‘last-times’ with Jessica along with the anniversary of her death. Like all school holidays, I try to make sure they’re a fun time for the children, but it can be very challenging juggling that with the need to make space for grief along with fitting in work around things. I’ll be sending them back to school and preschool tomorrow with a mixture of sadness that the holidays are over and relief to have a bit of ‘me-time’ back again.

 

Our photos this month were taken at our visit to Jessica’s forever bed on the anniversary of her death. It has become our tradition to honour Jessica on that day by doing things to give joy to others in her memory. Sophie and I had baked cakes together to give out to friends during the day. I think it helps all of us to have something positive to hold on to in amongst the intense sadness that comes with this time of year. It also gave her an opportunity to talk about her sister with her friends. She often talks about Jessica anyway, but it’s good for her to have space to do so.

 

 

 

Thomas (3 years 8 months)

• Likes to look at the numbers on the houses we pass while out for walks and ask “what French number is this?” which is brilliant for helping him learn to count in French.
• Has been keeping us on our toes in various ways – writing his name on the wall at church with dry-wipe pen (thankfully it came off fairly easily!) and giving us the slip during the church coffee morning – that was very scary for a few minutes but thankfully another family found him about to cross the road and brought him back towards the church.
• Is now out of pull-ups at night-time and staying dry – hooray for being done with potty training!
• Got his place at infant school and will be going to the same school that his sisters went to.

 

 

 

Sophie (8 years 5 months)

• Loved being able to have some swimming lessons at school just before Easter.
• Has been enjoying days out, getting to join in with Thomas’s TinyTalk class and lots of trips to the park during the Easter holidays
• Enjoyed doing her tap solo in another festival. It was her toughest section so far but she came first in her section and was very pleased with her gold medal!
• Has enjoyed getting to see some of her cousins over the last month at a couple of family celebrations.

 

 

Jessica (forever 6 years 7 months)

• It’s now been four years since Jessica died. Four years since we last heard her infectious laugh, last saw her beautiful smile and last gave her cuddles. As always, we continue to hold on to our beautiful memories but our beautiful girl is so very loved and missed by us all. It was lovely to see others joining in with #givejoyforjessica and giving joy to others in memory of Jessica, including one of her classmates. It means so much to know that Jessica is thought of and remembered by others. Thank you to everyone who joined in and shared some joy in her memory.