The first thing I can remember about 2016 was not sleeping, at least not for more than 90 minutes at a stretch, in early January during Little Bear’s rather spectacular six month sleep regression, which coincidentally or not happened on a trip to Iowa.  That has been the first story of the year, the extent to which our life is no longer in our hands.  LB is maleable, and generally fairly simple (if not easy) to manage, but some times his development runs counter to what we might like.  And if I’m not sleeping well optional things like playing outside get cut.

The second thing I remember about 2016 was our Alpacka Double Duck, the trips we took in it, and especially our first big backpack/packraft outing with Little Bear in April.  It was the most intimidating trip I’d done in a number of years, and ended up being the most rewarding ever.  After spending the winter largely just trying to get by, those four days were evidence that we could do the things we wanted again, at least most of the time.

The rest of the year was an ongoing struggle between those two things.  Our backpack in August, for instance, which was hard and humbling, but which we managed anyway.  Or packing and then moving down to Colorado, which with a lot of very strategic family assistance we accomplished at the last minute, but with less stress and drama than I had anticipated.  It’s a theme which should continue this year, stronger than ever.  I now have what will probably be the best job I’ll ever have, one which both allows and requires me to spend lots of time away.  We’re in a position where I can easily ask M to be the full time parent, but that comes with the mind-altering nature of spending many hours alone with a toddler.  A very active toddler.  It’s a somewhat damning form of higher enlightenment to get what you want and realize that you’ll only want to partake of it partially.

But still, I can’t wait.