One Year On...

Sometime over the weekend, this little blog turned one. That's one year since I started posting here regularly (I had a bit of a false start before that). And though my readership is small (but growing) and I am still finding my voice, being here regularly has made me very grateful.

I'm grateful for having this blog in the background of my often chaotic weeks to bring me back to centre. I'm grateful to have a small record of those chaotic weeks with this little family. I'm grateful to have discovered so many other amazing blogs and bloggers to inspire me to bring creativity into my days. And, most importantly, I'm grateful to have finally, after all these years of trying (and failing), found something that gets me writing on a regular basis. 

Most of my adult life I've been trying to be a writer. I've dabbled in playwriting, screenwriting and journalism. But I never found a rhythm, and I was never disciplined enough to do it often enough to see what could become of it. And now, without even trying to 'write', I'm writing almost every day. And it feels good.

So hip, hip hooray!

Sometime over the weekend, this little pair of peanuts hit the 18-month mark. One and a half years old! How did that happen?

So how about a few facts. 18-month-old facts. Here goes...

Stella:

• runs everywhere, rarely walks
• can sing 'Happy Birthday To You' (but refuses to do it in front of anyone except us, or for a camera, so no-one believes us when we say she can do it)
• calls her big sister 'Wowa!' and her twin sister 'Pow Pow' (Pearl Pearl)
• is into slippery dips
• is overwhelmingly generous with kisses and 'tuddles'. "Tuddle, Mummy?"
• loves books as much as her big sister did at this age
• is incredibly laidback until someone takes something she wants, in which case she shouts, "No, no, no, no, no. Mine! Mine!"
• loves shoes

Pearl:

• waddles about like a little old lady (I call her Doris)
• has a funny little husky voice and is far more reticent than Stella, but often surprises us with a stack of new words she's been saving up
• is the dancer of the family; will start the elbow pump and knee bend at the slightest hint of a song
• will always choose the swing, and will swing for the entire time we're at the park
• needs a cuddle top-up several times a day (much like a car needs petrol) - when she's upset she climbs up, burrows into my chest, has a bit of sigh, then runs off to play again
• still has the longest eyelashes in the land
• loves shoes

Hip, hip hooray again!