Siblings – February 2021

Like a lot of other people, we’re struggling with lockdown fatigue at the moment. I’m so glad that Sophie is good at helping keep Thomas entertained and that he mostly adores having her around to play with. Needless to say, I’ll always wish there were three of them to entertain each other but as that wish can’t come true, I’m grateful for what I do have. There are moments of course when they annoy each other and moments when they’re driving me up the wall, but they are good together a lot of the time.

 

 

It’s nice to see Thomas being more able to play with Sophie now. Being a typical toddler, he does get frustrated very quickly if he can’t do something though or if Sophie picks up something that he wants to play with. And while she does tend to be quite patient with him, there are times when she’ll start telling him off for things and I have to step in and remind her that she is not his parent! It is lovely though to see how she looks out for him, and is protective of him and how much the two of them love each other. Jessica would be proud of them both.

 

It is hard though not having social contact with other children and families. Sophie’s had a couple of Zoom chats with friends but it isn’t the same as being able to meet up. I’m really missing the toddler groups that I used to take Thomas to as well. Lockdown has definitely been harder this time around – especially with it being harder to spend so much time outdoors due to a combination of uninviting weather and too much to juggle with home-schooling and work. Thank goodness the snow gave us a little break from the monotony of it all. Hopefully we’ll be able to get out a little more during half-term though.

 

 

Thomas (2 years 6 months)

• Can now do 25 signs and got his 25-signs certificate at Tiny Talk
• Was fascinated by his first time (that he’d remember at least) of seeing snow. So lovely to see the joy on his face as he stood in the garden with snow falling around him.
• Loves doing jigsaw puzzles and can now do a 35-piece jigsaw.
• Likes to sing to himself as he does his puzzles or plays with his toys. It’s usually the PAW Patrol or Tweenies theme songs but for some reason Agadoo is a favourite as well. I’m not even sure where he heard that one!

 

 

Sophie (7 years 3 months)

• Has coped well with remote learning this half-term.
• Was very pleased to get a silver certificate in Mathletics last week.
• Has been very excited that we’ve had snow a couple of times. She built seven snowmen (including recreating our family in snow) the first time it snowed and last week we had fun taking a closer look at snowflakes as the snow wasn’t the right kind for building snowmen.
• Enjoyed making a rainforest in a shoebox for her home learning project.

 

 

Jessica (forever 6 years 7 months)

• This month is heart month so my Timehop has a lot of photos of Jessica from all my posts helping to raise awareness of CHD. It’s always lovely to see lots of photos of Jessica popping up.
• I had a lovely message from Jessica’s best friend’s mum sharing a photo of the school project that Jessica’s best friend made showing something that was important to her. She chose to do a picture of ‘Bunny’ (who was originally Jessica’s but was given to Jessica’s best friend after Jessica died) who was important to her because Bunny reminded her of her favourite friend Jessica. It meant so much to know that Jessica was still so important to her.