A Good Year

I love this time of year, when every blog has a look back at all the wonderful things that have happened, reminding me of the highlights in my own life.

And so I feel the need to add my own thoughts about 2013! I haven’t posted recently because there honestly didn’t seem to be much to post about. We’ve been pottering along from day to day, seemingly with very little to report. It’s only when I look back now that I realise how much Daniel has changed since October. He’s turned into a proper little boy, and his language (sign and speech) has exploded so we can have quite a lot of conversations now. He still only uses one word at a time, but can still communicate most things that way. The biggest step was when he figured out his own name, and then progressed to others’. He’s made up his own signs for a couple of people whose names he can’t quite manage, and comes out with new words every day.

The German and Hebrew have both lapsed a bit over the last few months but haven’t disappeared completely. There came a point where I realised I couldn’t do everything, and that was one of the things that fell by the wayside. I’m hoping I can pick them up again soon.

So this year in review…

I got the veg patch from this 

to this 

We went to our first HE group.

We visited dh’s family in Israel in February and had a great time, despite me being laid out with norovirus for several days. Haifa and Zichron Ya’akov were definitely-visit-again highlights. Daniel also got to meet his great-grandmother, who sadly passed away during Chanukah a month ago.

Daniel learned to climb

and started Forest School.

He turned 1, complete with Very Hungry Caterpillar cake,

and discovered gardening

and water.

A group of us started our own HE group.

I learned to sew.

and Daniel learned to climb into the oddest places.

We harvested veg

and discovered tea (white, black, herbal - he's not fussy!)

Forest School is still a highlight of our week.

Chanukah came and went

knife skills were honed

and Christmas brought good things

books were read (and why not in the tea towel drawer if it’s comfortable?)

and I filmed a Cued Speech version of The Gruffalo in German.

I also took part in a workshop to learn French Cued Speech, so if I put in a bit of practice I could be a trilingual cuer! Nothing special in France or Switzerland but almost unheard-of in the UK.

So that was 2013! There was quite a lot of work too, but more on that another time. Here's hoping 2014 is as good...