“Learn something new. Try something different. Convince yourself that you have no limits.”

 

It kind of felt like 2020 was going to go out in exactly the same grey and stagnant way that it has been festering the entire year. I know I shouldn't moan, we're all going through this but having a mass of other rubbish thrown in to the mix was making this year one I was desperate to put behind us. Even without the lockdown madness this time of year has been a testing time for Opeie, shrouded by a mix of emotions and upset. I tried so hard the last couple of years to make 'Christmas' fun again but with no joy, so this year we talked and said 'no more!'. If this year has taught us anything it's shown us what is actually important and also what ever we decide to do (even if it doesn't fit in with other peoples views)... its okay. 

So instead of 'Christmas' this year we have decided to have a celebration of our favourite little creatures 'Beetles', With the build up being filled with beetle related creative activities to decorate the house 'our way'. We've been busy doing all sorts but my favourite thing so far has been decorating the wall in the LEGO room with a series of hanging beetles. This really got us pumped about the upcoming festivities.

What has really made this for me is how much it has taken the strain off of Opeie and has given him the chance to see the end of the year in a different light. This morning he said 'Dad, I'm so excited about Beetlemas!'... and that is all I needed to hear to feel like we are taking control of 2020 again.

"The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most."

I generally try and pick one thing a day to concentrate on with Opeie's learning. Some days it letters others its numbers but over the last few days me and Mrs M have been working on his colours which is going really well. While doing her usual window shopping on amazon Mrs M spotted some colour flash cards that were perfect for Opeie and and great for us too.

Both being quite arty and coming from a creative background we have both used pantone referencing in the past so these pantone flash cards are great. On the one side of the card is solid colour with the colour name and reference code and in the other side is cute drawings relevant to colour and description (very cute).

  

These have been stuck all around the house and we ask Opeie throughout the day what each colour is. He's getting a lot better at knowing his colours now which were really pleased about. I love watching Opeie develop and he seems to have changed so much over the last few weeks with his speech. Its great to know everything is moving in the right direction and he's not struggling to much with anything.