Simon, 11

Like everything in every part of life, it's both hard to believe a year has passed and completely obvious. The challenges were a lot like last year, amplified by the remote learning last year, and not greatly improved since going back. He's basically missed out on a year of social interaction.

Despite the challenges, therapy has been helpful, we're navigating behavior, and at least part of the year we seemed to do OK with ADHD meds. Simon has gone all-in with video games, and we've tried to balance that with other activities to varying degrees of success. What makes me happy is that he continues to develop his creative muscles, gravitating toward games that he has to build stuff. Except when we play Halo and blow each other up, and his twitchy little fingers are getting better than my own.

Parenting has not been a picnic, but we've had some good picnics as parents. Simon is remarkable at times in unexpected ways, and he's an extraordinarily emotional and feeling little person with a lot of love to give. I love that about him, the way he reacts sometimes to a song or a movie. I can't wait for the time when we can all have adventures again, out in the world.

We took a lot of selfies this year. As one does.

Lego was a big part of our year, more than in previous years. He got this sweet Millennium Falcon for Christmas, and I don't think there are any sets he can't build on his own at this point.

At the start of the pandemic, we started riding bikes more, and decided to try frisbee. He's not the most athletic kid, but he's starting to get better at it.

In July, we stayed at a beach place for a few days. This kid loves the ocean, and getting beat up by the waves.

August brought the ragdoll kittens, Finn and Poe, into our lives, with a great deal of love. Poe showed how much he loves belly rubs early on.

Remote learning in the fall was rough, but Poe did his best to help.

Night time rituals were difficult, but one of the things that we should probably do more of is writing things down at night. Purging his mind before bed proved to be useful, and anything to get him writing is good.

He still falls asleep in the weirdest positions. I'm pretty sure he was picking the callus on his foot when he passed out.

Finn is a very patient cat when it comes to a small human that wants to pick him up in awkward ways and get all up in his grill.

January brought an opportunity to go back to the beach, where we crashed in a private rental for five nights. It could sleep 10, but it was just the three of us, and it was glorious.