Large Age Gap | Ordinary Moments Link Up

For me witnessing the sibling relationship is extraordinary but the longer my little Lottie is on this planet, the more ordinary it naturally becomes. It's our daily life. You see the reason it is so very remarkable for me to watch is because I was am an only child, so sometimes I play the kid, so that we are 3 (when Daddy is at work) so that I feel part of the lil gang. Every now and again when I'm getting used to our new normal - 2 kids instead of 1 - things happen that show me once again how very special their relationship is. Like a couple of Sundays ago for example.

We had a late afternoon in the park straight after an Aldi weekly food shop. Daddy dropped us and went home to put the food away whilst I accompanied the kids to let off steam before bed. A perfect division of labour we've got better at. I didn't even need to ask Aaron to play with Lottie he was captivated with her, which thankfully 80% of the time he is. He loves seeing all of the new things she can do, because every trip to the park sees a new development and he's fascinated by it. "Look what she can do now Mummy". One of those things being she can now sit on the seesaws even the high up ones. You can see too in this here lil vlog :-) below

There is 5.5 years between them. He was born June 2010 and her January 2016

I started this blog post about 12 days ago but since then a lot has changed. Aaron now doesn't like sharing his toys with Lottie in case she wrecks them and he now needs everything the same as her. To the point where if I do not toast her toast he wants his as bread too. If she is hugging Daddy he wants to too and jealousy has never ever factored in their relationship till recent weeks.

I noticed it first during the Easter holidays actually. I found a Munchkin lidded drinks cup (you know the clear one with an orange lid) and thought it'd be perfect for her. Then I found what I thought could be a spare (I think I got two goodie bags that year and they've been in the cupboard for years) but Aaron wanted them to have one each and they now both drink from them every day to the point where I had to label them. So now I'm that proper Mum who when she buys things has to say "we better get them one each". I'll have to warn anyone that visits too, although to be fair I was amazed at how many people bought Aaron gifts when she was born. People already seemed to know it's important to give the sibling of the new baby attention too. And he's basked in that attention till now, but now, now, he wants everything the same as his Sister, despite the age gap.

They are of course still adorable together.

But as great as they are together they literally could not be more different. Take the face paint above for example (done at a recent The Noise church event during the bank holiday weekend). Aaron would NOT have his face painted till he was nearly 5 years of age. He wouldn't go near it aged 2, 3 and 4 much to my dismay. Wouldn't go near the chair let alone sit in it. Yet Lottie.... we sat her down...she stayed there.... The artist's brush touched her face.... she stayed there.... and so it went on until it was complete. I was AMAZED. I guess it helped that he protectively held her arm the WHOLE time.

Such a different girl. I know when she starts speaking she will be bossy as she is so strong willed. When she was in my tummy I could already feel that. When she was newborn if you held her even slightly the wrong way, she would grunt. It feels like she has been communicating with me in non verbal ways like forever. She's never ever jealous of Aaron. She does the biggest beaming smile if me or Daddy hug him. It's like she's saying "yeah you love him as much as I do". She really does complete our family and I've known that for years which is why Aaron was never going to stay an only child. He's never acted like one either always saying "why has everyone apart from me got a brother or a sister?". We lost Lottie for a few seconds, literally seconds, on 28th April at football and Aaron cried like a baby. She's everything to him. To us all. But he really DOES like to copy her, EVEN getting in a supermarket trolley and I'm not even kidding look:

Now that they both clamour for my attention it is even more lovely to get one-to-one time with each of them. I get that with Lottie everyday when Aaron is at school and we go to a massive THREE baby groups a week which are so great for her development and give me the adult company I often crave. It was lovely at Xmas as our Thursday group allowed siblings to come in the school holidays so Aaron got to see where we go and play with the toys. I felt terrible that on the two Easter holiday Thursdays we just got up late when we could have done it again. He still talks about his visits there and LOVED it. Ironically our Thursday group on school premises goes ahead during school holidays but our Friday one in a church closes, only opening in term time.

During Lottie's afternoon naps and when she's in bed earlier than Aaron I get much needed time with him too. This Thursday night he came bowling with me, whilst Lottie slept. I think I got some cool mum points in his head as I got a strike and with no bumpers :-)

He absolutely adored the burger, the hot dog and the Oreos milkshake. We were there for a VIP event that had been laid on to celebrate the relaunch of Hollywood Bowl Cribbs Causeway.

Watching them together is ordinary. but oh so special.

So I am linking up with Ordinary Moments over at What The Redhead Said in acknowledgement of the fact that my darlings being together is ordinary, it's our new normal, but for me, as an only child it is still extra-ordinary. Plus, during those 2 years I was trying to conceive, on and off, our little Lottie, if you'd shown me these photos it would quite literally have blown my mind and been the equivalent of a lottery win.

I did used to join in with Ordinary Moments a long time ago when its founder Mummy Daddy Me was hosting it, so I'll now have to get back to making that a regular thing, along with a few other linkies I used to also love. I want to start vlogging and blogging often again and getting to 4k followers on Instagram today has spurred me on. I want blogging being part of my day to be ordinary again rather than it requiring a huge monumental effort.