Siblings – August 2022

One of my favourite things about the summer holidays has always been spending time with my children and watching them having fun together. I love how happy they are in each other’s company (most of the time!) and the way they entertain each other. Most of my favourite memories of Jessica and Sophie are from the summer months – some from special days out, but others from the little moments of just watching them having fun playing with their toys or enjoying time in the garden.

 

It’s lovely to see how Sophie and Thomas have that strong loving bond with each other too. They’re not the equals in play that Jessica and Sophie were that last summer, but Thomas is now more able to join in Sophie’s games and she loves to help him out and make the game easier so he can join in. Every so often, they’ll include Jessica in their games too, which is so beautiful to see. One of the things they like to do when visiting Jessica’s forever bed is to pick up sticks and turn them into magic wands. They have a little dance that they love to do, and then when it’s time to leave, they carefully place the sticks on the wooden carving of Jessica so that she can join in their game later on. I love that they include her.

 

 

I wish I could have the moments of seeing the three of them having fun together in reality, but given that’s not possible, I’m thankful for the little ways that they keep Jessica part of it all. It means a lot to know that she’s part of those little moments too.

 

 

Thomas (4 years 0 months)

• Enjoyed his preschool graduation party.
• Turned four at the end of July and had a lovely time at his birthday party in Grandma and Grandad’s garden. He loved his number 4 cake with ‘four’ written on it in the various languages that he can now count in (English, French, Spanish, German, Welsh and Luxembourgish).
• Has been enjoying playing with all the number-based toys that he received for his birthday.
• Loved seeing ‘In the Night Garden Live’ for the first time, especially the bit when the Pinky Ponk flew over the audience.
• Enjoyed climbing and bouncing in the nets at the Go Ape! Nets Adventure at Black Park.
• Loved having a couple of “beach days at home” with the paddling pool out and the tuff tray filled with sand.

 

 

 

Sophie (8 years 9 months)

• Enjoyed performing some scenes from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in the end-of-term show at her drama group.
• Loved being able to go along to Thomas’s last BilinguaSing and TinyTalk classes.
• Had her last dance festival of the year and got a silver medal in each of the three dances she competed in.
• Enjoyed spending time with her cousins when they were visiting from Luxembourg.
• Has been enjoying lots of nature crafting sessions over the summer holidays, particularly the bug hotel making session and the raft making session.
• Was very excited at being old enough to go up to the top of the church tower in their summer tower tours this year.

 

 

 

Jessica (forever 6 years 7 months)

• Had a visit from her cousins when they were over from Luxembourg as their Grandma’s ashes are buried next to Jessica’s forever bed.
• We had a dragonfly appear at church one morning – Sophie was delighted at the thought that it was Jessica coming to say hello.
• Action Medical Research shared a photo of me and Jessica in their annual Research Review magazine with a quote from me about how research leads to fewer families who are forever incomplete, which is why their work is important.