Siblings 2021 – April

April has been a busy month. My husband celebrated his 31st birthday, we had the school Easter holidays and restrictions eased in the UK allowing us to have a day out at an attraction for the first time this year.

I look back on April last year and am left wondering why it’s still so cold this year. We were in the first lockdown and spending time in the garden, splashing about in the sprinkler! I am desperate for warmth. Although I can’t complain too much as it’s been relatively bright each day.

Let’s get on with what my three daughters have been up to this month:

Freya

Motivating Freya through the Easter holidays felt like a battle. She just wanted to lay around all day long and her lack of motivation was beginning to worry me. Thankfully we managed to get out for a socially distanced walk with one of her school friends and this lifted her mood! I’ve said it before that she finds it hard to spend time with her sisters now that she’s getting older but I really enjoyed watching her smile as she talked with her friend.

Freya has been doing Forest School once a week at school for a few weeks now. It’s to help her social communication and teach other important skills too. She seems to be really enjoying it. The school also invited her to join a short Creative Intervention Programme which is certainly her thing. I’m excited to see where this takes her and how it might help her.

Talking of school, we had our first Secondary School parents evening this month. It was done over video call and the system was actually pretty cool. I managed to get booked for all 13 of Freya’s teachers. All of them said the same thing “Freya is quiet, gets on with her work, isn’t afraid to ask questions and is a polite girl”. Freya masks so well at school but can come home and have a meltdown over homework. This has happened a few times since returning after Easter but I’m trying my best to keep her calm and explain things for her.

Eva

Probably one of the biggest changes for Eva is that her horse riding lessons have been able to start again. She was counting down the days. The riding she’s been learning has intensified too and we are excited for her to progress.

Eva is still having a hard time grieving the loss of her Nanny. Watching her in so much sadness and pain is heartbreaking to see because she’s such a bubbly person full of joy normally. The school have organised for her to see a bereavement teacher once a week where she’s learning skills to cope with her emotions. I haven’t been fully on board with the idea of “put it in the box and pop the box on the shelf and we’ll talk about it later” but I’m trying to be available to her whenever she needs to chat at home.

Parents evening went really well for Eva. There are places where she struggles more – lack of confidence in herself for maths and sentence structure mainly. One thing that came above all was how kind and caring she is towards those around her. Every afternoon, before she leaves the classroom, she thanks her teacher for teaching her that day. I’m sure that makes her teacher feel so appreciated and I’m so proud of Eva for continuing to shine through a really difficult period in her life.

Elsa

In the March siblings post, I shared Elsa’s new confidence. This has continued to improve and she’s talking so much more, even to us actually. In fact, she talks so much that she’s beginning to interrupt conversations I have on the playground. I’m finding it hard to find that happy medium where I want her to talk, but I also don’t want her to be rude and interrupt. 

Although her confidence is shining through more and more, we did have a moment of anxiety when we went to an indoor climbing wall centre. She froze. That’s the only way I can describe it, there was a blank expression on her face, she held on tightly to our hands and wouldn’t communicate for those few minutes that the staff member was securing the harness on to Elsa. She soon came round but it was that gentle reminder that not all is overcome just yet.

Elsa is a little bit behind academically but has been improving so well since she first started Year 1. Her phonics knowledge is greater, she’s giving everything a go and the teachers are impressed with her progress. I think it helps that she’s made a beautiful friendship with a little boy she sits with and they bounce off of each other in terms of confidence and their learning. A little team! At home we are noticing how much more confident she is in reading, in fact, she read an entire book with no help and rather fluently. Hubby and I stood in amazement!

Sisters

The slightly (barely) warmer weather in April, the restrictions now allowing us to meet with up to 6 people or two households in the garden have been welcome here. We’ve been spending more time outside because that’s the only way we can socialise.

My girls are happiest when outside. Weather permitting of course! They enjoy each others company far more too and even Freya has been getting involved which is an improvement to last month.

I find it fascinating how different my three girls are. Relationships are fragile and being able to think about what they’ve achieved as a team that month is quite special. It changes every time.

Check out our previous Siblings Project posts here!