New Year Update

Happy new year!

This has been a tough year for everyone. But our family, for the most part, ended up doing well.

IL2 learned to walk, talk (sort of), and now sits on the potty.

M8 graduated into the 3rd grade, learned to program (a little) at Code Ninjas, and passed two levels in swimming. He is now a Bear Scout. He was diagnosed with an eating disorder, ARFID, which explains why he didn’t respond to standard eating therapy methods (they don’t work with ARFID, and actually make things worse). Now that we have switched to feeding him 6 times a day he went up from 3rd percentile in BMI at 6 to 47th at 8! Yay! I’m so proud of both him and us.

D11 graduated into the 5th grade, passed two levels in swimming, joined a swim team, and joined band (flute). She was diagnosed with a learning disorder, and will FINALLY get the help she needs in her writing. She really blossomed this year, learning how to control her anxiety and really maturing emotionally.

I read a total of 50 books, including a whopping total of 19 books that weren’t board books. I plan on getting that up to 75 next year by adding in graphic novels. My mother passed in September of a fall off the front stoop. I worked most of the year as a PCA for a quadriplegic man.

Aaron taught himself to knit and did an amazing job of tearing down our retaining wall and building a new one. It is beautiful.