By the end of June, the summer heat was starting to set in in the kingdom of Arendelle. Even though some people enjoyed the summer weather, there were others that didn't like the scorching temperatures. However, for those that didn't enjoy the summer heat, there was still a silver lining because they could buy ice from the ice harvesters that sold it, and it would help them stay cool.
And the idea of selling a lot of ice during the summer season made one person in particular very happy: Kristoff Bjorgman, Arendelle's Ice Master and Deliverer. This was the time of year when ice was in popular demand, so it was time for his routine of collecting ice in the mountains, bringing it to Arendelle to sell it, and then do the same things again.
At the moment, he was planning on taking a trip in which he would do all of that, nonstop, for an entire week. He was packing all of his things together while Joseff sat on the bed and watched. Out of curiosity, he crawled over to where the tools were on the bed and tried to pick up the tongs when he heard his father say, "Careful, sport! These are my ice harvesting tools, not toys for you to play with. You could hurt yourself with them, and I don't want that to happen to you."
After Kristoff took the tongs from his son, Joseff asked, "Daddy, how come you gotta go?"
"Because cutting ice in the mountains and then selling it in Arendelle is my job, son. Ice is also something that many people want to buy this time of year, and harvesting it from the mountains is the only to get it."
"Can't I come with you, Daddy? I want to learn to ice hawvest, too!"
Kristoff chuckled. "Son, I would love nothing more than to take you with me and teach you the ways of harvesting ice. But I'm afraid I can't right now."
"Why not?"
"Because you're much too young to learn to do it right now-" Kristoff started before Joseff interrupted, "But you took me with you that time when I was still a baby."
"I know, but I didn't make you harvest any ice then, of course." Kristoff paused, then brought Joseff close to him and looked him right in the eye. "Joseff, it's not that I don't want you with me. It's just that ice harvesting can be dangerous work, and especially so when you're this little. So you just have to wait until you're a little older. And also, Mommy was with us that time because I couldn't look after you and work at the same time."
"Well, can't Mommy go with us again this time?"
"Well, now, I wouldn't mind that, but if one of us isn't here, the other has to stay to look after Heidi, and Auntie Elsa shouldn't have to do that all by herself. The other thing is that, when Mommy and I took you that time, it was only for a day. I have to take this trip for a few days, almost a week, and I don't think Mommy wants to bring Heidi up to the mountains just yet or spend almost an entire week away from Arendelle and in the wilderness."
Joseff sighed, feeling there was nothing else he could say. "All wight, Daddy."
Kristoff smiled. "Don't worry, son. You'll have your chance one day." He sighed in relief as he packed the last item in his bag and slipped in around his shoulder. "Now why don't you come outside with me say you can join everyone else before me and Sven leave?"
"Okay, Daddy!" Joseff cried eagerly as he jumped off the bed and into his father's arms, causing Kristoff to laugh heartily.
"You sure are getting big! But I think it'll be a long time before you're too heavy for me to hold you."
"Will I gwow up to be big and stwong like you, Daddy?"
"Mmmm, you might. I got strong from years of harvesting and lifting ice, so if you do it for as long as I have, then maybe you'll get strong, too."
"Yay! Then I wanna do it!"
"When you're older. I promise."
…
A few minutes later, Kristoff and Sven were all ready to go. Sven was in front of the sled and his harness was tied to the reins, while Kristoff sat in the sled, all settled in and holding the reins. Outside the sled, beside him, were Anna, who was holding Heidi, Elsa, who was holding Joseff, and Olaf was also there.
"Bye, honey," Anna said to Kristoff. "Be careful up there."
"Bye, Anna," Kristoff said right before he and Anna kissed on the lips. When she motioned Heidi towards him, he wrapped a few of her tiny fingers around his big one, then kissed them. "Bye, bye, Heidi. You be good while I'm gone, okay?"
Then Elsa held Joseff towards Kristoff, who ruffled his son's hair. "Bye, son. You know, you'll be the man of the house while I'm gone, so I want you to be good for Mommy and Auntie Elsa and do what they ask you to do, including helping out with your sister, okay?"
"I will, Daddy. I'll make you pwoud."
Kristoff smiled widely. "That's my boy."
Before Kristoff could command Sven to go, Joseff asked, "Can I say bye to Sven, Daddy?"
"Of course you can, Joe. And so can Heidi and everyone else."
So then the gang walked up to Sven. After Elsa and Anna patted and scratched Sven to say goodbye to him (as did Olaf), Joseff reached out to pat Sven's mug, and Anna helped Heidi to do the same with her tiny hand.
"Bye, bye, Sven," Joseff said. Then he let out a giggle when Sven licked him. The same thing happened for Heidi after Sven gave her a small lick, too.
"And now it's time for us to head off! Let's go, Sven!" And with hearing those words, Sven began to run, but Kristoff managed to look behind and wave goodbye to his family one last time. "Bye, everybody!" he shouted before he and Sven finally disappeared.
"Bye, Kristoff! Bye, Sven!" everyone called after them until they were out of sight.
…
An hour after Kristoff had left and the family had gone back inside the castle, Joseff was wandering about by himself, looking for something to do. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice behind him say, "Hi, Joseff!"
"Olaf!" Joseff cried, and gave his snowman buddy a big hug. "Let's go see if Mommy and Auntie Elsa want to play with us."
"You lead, I'll follow," Olaf said.
So the two scurried upstairs to Elsa's room first. When they got there, they saw the door was open, so they looked in and saw Elsa sitting at her desk, going through some documents.
"Hi, Auntie Elsa. Will you pway with us?"
"Oh, honey, I would love to play with you, but I have to finish going over some trade agreements before I attend a meeting with the royal committee in a little while. And actually, Mommy has to attend the meeting with me, so it would be a big help to both of us if you and Olaf could keep Heidi company during that time."
"Yay, I'd love to play with Heidi!" Olaf cried.
"Aww, but what Heidi cwies the whole time you and Mommy are gone?" Joseff groaned.
Elsa stood up from her seat and walked over to Joseff. Then she knelt down to meet his level. "Look, sweetie, I know it still doesn't seem like spending time with Heidi is a lot of fun. But you can't always focus on the worst happening in being with her, or even in any situation. If you don't take more chances when they come your way, you could miss out on a lot of great experiences with a lot of great people." When Joseff gave her a look of confusion, Elsa said, "I know you don't understand this, but you will one day. In the meantime, it is good for you to spend some time with Heidi. She needs to get to know and recognize you as her big brother, and believe me, the more time you spend with her, the more you will realize that she's not the annoying baby you think she is. I've been there as the older sibling, but I love your mama and I always have, and I want you and Heidi to have a great relationship, too."
"Okay, I will, Auntie Elsa," Joseff said.
"Aww, now that's my boy. Come here," she said as she opened her arms out for a hug, then Joseff walked towards her and threw his arms around her, while she did the same.
…
Two hours later, Anna and Elsa were in the committee meeting, so Olaf and Joseff were with Heidi in Kristoff and Anna's room. Heidi couldn't sit up yet, so she was lying on her stomach while on a blanket on the floor. Olaf and Joseff sat nearby, wondering what to do.
"Let's show her peekaboo, Olaf. Can you hold her up so she can look at me?"
"No problem, Joseff." Olaf stood up and walked over to Heidi. "Hi, Heidi. Who's a cute little baby?" He then tickled her belly and she giggled happily. She tried to reach for his carrot nose, and when he noticed, he said, "Awww, I see you like my nose, too."
"Here, Heidi." Joseff sat down, then he and Olaf gently picked her up so that she sat up against Olaf while facing Joseff. "Wanna pway peekaboo?" He put his hands over his eyes, then pulled them away as he said, "Peekaboo, Heidi!"
Heidi didn't laugh at this, but she did manage a little smile. This pleased Joseff, so he decided to do it again. Before he did, he moved closer to Heidi, thinking he could get a different reaction if they were in closer proximity. So he did the entire movements with his hands as he said, "Peekaboo! I see you!" He repeated this a couple more times, and after he did, he tickled Heidi's belly. Doing that after peeking did the trick to make Heidi laugh, and Olaf couldn't help giggling, too.
Joseff wanted to do something else to make Heidi laugh, so he lifted up her dress and blew on her stomach. That did the trick, and she continued to laugh when he blew a few more times. After that, to keep her amused, he then tried making different silly faces, and he was delighted that she kept up her joy and amusement at what he did.
However, both Joseff and Olaf were caught off guard when, a short time later, Heidi became fussy and started crying a little. Joseff had never been alone with Heidi whenever she cried, so he instantly became worried as well as terrified.
"What's wrong with her?" Olaf asked.
"I don't know," Joseff answered. "Auntie Elsa said that babies cwying is their way saying something. I wonder what she wants to tell us."
Joseff gingerly took Heidi from Olaf and held her close to him. "It's okay, Heidi. Pwease don't cwy." He patted Heidi's back, wondering if a comforting gesture like this would help soothe her…but what he didn't expect was that his patting caused Heidi to let out a big burp! Immediately afterwards, she sighed and snuggled against Joseff as best as she could.
"You…you…burped Heidi," Olaf said, not really knowing what else to say.
"I…guess I did," Joseff said, who was also very shocked. He looked down at Heidi, who was snuggled up into his chest. She had her eyes closed, and looked very content.
"Aww, I think she's happy you did that for her," Olaf said a cute voice. "She really loves you."
Joseff smiled. "Well, I love her, too." He placed his arms around his baby sister, then closed his eyes and smiled again. Olaf loved what he saw before him, so he decided to get in on the action, too. He walked over to the siblings and hugged them as best as he could.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Anna and Elsa were secretly watching them from the doorway. Their meeting had ended early, and so they decided to check on the kids. They got there just as Joseff had burped Heidi, and like him and Olaf, they were very surprised. However, they decided to remain out of sight when they saw how cute it was that Heidi snuggled into her brother. And now they were even more delighted to see the tender moment between the kids…and Olaf.
"Awww, now isn't cute?" Anna said in an adorable-sounding voice.
Hearing his mother made Joseff widen his eyes and look up, where he saw her and Elsa standing in the doorway. "Mommy, Auntie Elsa. I…I, uh, well…" Joseff trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"Don't say anything, sweetie," Anna said, "and don't feel embarrassed. Auntie Elsa and I saw the whole thing with Heidi, and we're very proud of you."
"Yep. You're being a wonderful big brother, just like we wanted you to be," Elsa said.
"Awww, it was nothin', weally," Joseff said with a wave of his hand.
"Well, I'd say that Daddy will be very proud of you for being so good with Heidi," Anna said.
"You've done a good job being man of the house, honey," Elsa added. "We hope you'll keep it up for the rest of the week."
"I will. I promise," Joseff said. "I'll make you and Daddy pwoud of me."
That night, as Joseff went to sleep, he kept thinking about how proud he hoped to make his father, whom he wondered was doing at this very moment. And it just happened that, at the same moment, Sven and Kristoff were sleeping in a cave up in the mountains. Just before he fell asleep, Kristoff also wondered how his family was doing back in Arendelle.
