These photos are from the other weekend when we had our first burst of reasonable weather. Naturally we raced straight to the playground to enjoy every moment of it after such a long winter. No thermals, extra socks, snow boots, hats or gloves needed. Let me tell you that getting tiny gloves onto those little squirmy hands tests my patience like nothing else.

We got off lightly for our first East Coast winter last year, but this year really made up for it. We have used every square inch of our apartment keeping the kids entertained and us sane(ish). I am pretty sure that I am now entitled to some sort of level 5 qualification in indoor den construction. Seriously.

We have coloured and coloured, painted, glued, watched far too much Daniel Tiger, ate ALL the popcorn and used the corridors in our building for snow day scooter practice and races. Praise God for our incredibly understanding neighbours. I am done with play dough and stickers. We are all absolutely done and ready to be outside again burning off that abundance of toddler energy.

Now that Freddie is almost one, these two have really started playing together. There are very few things that I love more these days than hearing them chuckle and play together. Freddie thinks that Belle is the best and most entertaining person in the world and spends most of his time and energy speed crawling, chasing after her in a desperate to attempt to join in with whatever she is doing.

Belle LOVES to make him laugh but wow does she make clear that there is a pecking order. She even refers to him as ‘baby Freddie‘ and multiple times a day reiterates that he is “sooo little and cute’” followed by “I’m a big girl and Freddie is a tiny little baby“.

One of my favourite things recently is watching the way that they greet each other in the morning. It is like they have been apart for weeks. They have this huge reunion moment where they cuddle and kiss and Belle asks Freddie if he had a nice sleep. I just cannot even handle it. Their love for each other is on another level and it melts my heart on the daily.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not all sunshine and roses. The flip side of them learning to play together is that they are also learning to fight. They always seem to want the same toy at the same moment and Belle gets so mad when he messes up whatever she is playing with (usually trains!). She has mastered that big sister role and she doesn’t hesitate to put him in his place. Poor boy. I try and correct her when I catch it but I am also aware that this is all part of building that sibling relationship.

Freds cannot hold his own just yet, however I did go in to check on them the other day after hearing some fighting to find Belle pinned down on the floor and Freddie sitting on her, smiling at me. Is it terrible that I was a little bit proud of him?! He doesn’t have the strength yet but he does have the weight! You have to use what you have I guess Freds!?

We are still working on sleep and routine but we are getting there, slowly slowly. We have decided to not send Belle to Pre-K and take a ‘homeschool preschool’ year which we are really excited about. I have been slowly introducing lessons to her over the past few months and she is responding so well. Who knows if longer term homeschool will be for us? All that I know is that for this year for B, this is the right option. So we will take it from there…

Happy Spring everyone!