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Tips for new parents near High Park, Toronto

Posted: - Modified: | parenting

Getting through the first few weeks:

  • Telehealth +18667970000 – 24-hour access to nurses so you can ask questions and find out if you need to go to the emergency room or the doctor, or if it's perfectly normal.
  • At the first few well-baby visits, your doctor or midwife will ask you about sleep, number of wet / poopy diapers, and bottles / nursing. I found it impossible to remember these things, but an app like Baby Connect makes it easy to track stuff like that. It's even multiuser.
  • You'll also weigh the baby a lot. Since babies tend to protest about being undressed, it can help to use a good scale to weigh the baby's clothes and a dry diaper before you dress the baby up, allowing you to just weigh the baby with everything on (change their diaper if wet). If you want to weigh the baby in between scheduled well-baby visits, you can either schedule a weight check with your doctor or drop by a breastfeeding clinic (https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/children-parenting/pregnancy-and-parenting/breastfeeding/services/breastfeeding-clinics/ – Crossways is nearby, Tue 11-3 / Fri 10-3).
  • It's totally normal to need help figuring out breastfeeding. You can go to the breastfeeding clinic (see above), find a La Leche League meeting close to you, text or email your local La Leche League leaders, or find a lactation consultant.
  • Extra flannel blankets make good burp cloths. A flannel bedsheet can be cut up into soooo many flannel wipes.
  • Stash snacks and water bottles wherever you usually nurse/feed, and figure out which meals you like that can be easily eaten one-handed.
  • The BabySparks app suggests activities and helps you track milestones. In Ontario, we have free access to the Looksee Checklist at ndds.ca. There's a wide range for normal development, so don't worry too much about it.
  • Babywearing is a great way to free up your hands. Carry Me Close Toronto (https://m.facebook.com/myCMCtoronto/) has meetups and a carrier library, so you can try different carriers and get tips on how to carry babies correctly.
  • You can ask Google Maps to show you accessible routes, which is handy for taking a stroller around.
  • There are Facebook groups for pretty much everything. Locally, there's a Junction Parents Meetup and a Junction Moms Meet Up Group. Bunz Kid Zone Toronto can be a good way to barter for stuff (or get rid of stuff).
  • We like using WiFi Baby Monitor as a free baby monitor on our Android phones. There's probably something similar on iPhones.
  • Take pictures/videos even of ordinary moments. It's fun to look back, and kids like reviewing them too. It's totally okay to ask someone to take a picture of you, or to prop your phone or camera up and get a picture of yourself with the baby.
  • Google Photos can automatically back up all your photos, and it offers free unlimited storage for regular-quality images. Definitely good enough for printing 4×6 or 5×7.
  • If you want to share pictures and other updates via Facebook, a secret group or closed group is a handy way to control access and organize the photos. You can add people, and they can remove themselves or unfollow if they don't want to be flooded by kid pictures.
  • Whatever works for your family works for your family. There can be a lot of judging online and in person, and it's easy to feel guilty or insecure especially as a first-timer. Don't worry, you got this, you'll figure things out.

Later on:

  • Once things have settled down a bit, you might enjoy going out with your new baby. The City of Toronto has many free programs and drop-in centres. “Living and Learning with Baby” and “Make the Connection” are both registered programs run by nurses where you can ask questions, learn about stuff, meet other parents, and pick up songs and rhymes. If you can get into the Healthy Babies Healthy Children program, it's great – a nurse and a home visitor come to your house to help you learn how to parent and play.
  • Libraries often have baby storytimes. Also, it can be hard to find time to read paper books with a newborn, but you can get e-books and audiobooks from the library too.
  • There are plenty of EarlyON child and family centres. One of our favourites is the Junction Family Resource Centre in the basement of Annette Library (M 10-1, T/Th 1-4, http://www.centralhealthline.ca/displayService.aspx?id=132493), which even has a toy lending program. They also accept donations of toys and baby clothes, which is a good way to declutter. The Parkdale-High Park Ontario Early Years Centre on Dundas West (near Dollarama, https://www.childdevelop.ca/programs/healthy-child-development) has a baby program on Monday afternoon, too.
  • The Where to Go Kiddo app focuses on the west end of Toronto and lists other free drop-ins. Also, http://kidsprograms.ca/ lets you search programs.
  • The Children's Book Bank (http://www.childrensbookbank.com/) is a great place to get free children's books, or to donate ones you don't need. It's close to Riverdale Farm and the Regent Park Aquatic Centre, so you could pair it with one of those for a field trip.
  • In terms of paid stuff, we liked the Smart Start music classes at the Royal Conservatory of Music. They have programs for 0-12mo, 12-24mo, and so on. The Royal Ontario Museum was a nice place to walk around indoors during the cooler months. Try the biodiversity section: the animals are behind glass, there are some textures to touch, and you can point to things.
  • Shallow pools: Joseph Piccinnini Community Centre has a nice warm indoor wading pool. Regent Park Aquatic Centre has wide steps going into the pool. The indoor wading pool in Trinity Bellwoods has several levels.
  • Baby sign language: We found the signs for “more” and “milk” quite useful.
  • Elimination communication: Surprisingly less intimidating than I thought it would be, or maybe we were lucky. Great way to cut down on poopy diapers and make toilet training easier later on.
  • You can get nutrition advice from EatRight, and you can also sign up for the Peer Nutrition program offered by the city. Toronto Public Health recommendations are generally in line with Ellyn Satter's division of responsibility: you're in charge of what and when, and the kid is in charge of whether and how much.
  • You can still catch movies if you want to – Movies for Mommies (http://moviesformommies.com) runs baby-friendly screenings. Or you can borrow movies from the library, and I think the library even offers streaming.
  • daycarebear.ca is a daycare search engine. Also, ratings for licensed daycares are available through the City of Toronto.
  • It can be lots of fun learning about child development and appreciating all the little things your kiddo is learning.

Have fun! There will be lots of tough moments, but you're in for a great adventure. :)

Emacs tweaks: Export Org checkboxes using UTF-8 symbols

Posted: - Modified: | emacs, org, tips
UPDATE 2014-03-28: Newer versions of org have the org-html-checkbox-type variable, which you can set to unicode. Use M-x customize-variable org-html-checkbox-type to see if you have it.

This snippet turns - [X] into ☑ and - [ ] into ☐.

(defun sacha/org-html-checkbox (checkbox)
  "Format CHECKBOX into HTML."
  (case checkbox (on "<span class=\"check\">&#x2611;</span>") ; checkbox (checked)
        (off "<span class=\"checkbox\">&#x2610;</span>")
        (trans "<code>[-]</code>")
        (t "")))
(defadvice org-html-checkbox (around sacha activate)
  (setq ad-return-value (sacha/org-html-checkbox (ad-get-arg 0))))

To find this code, I searched ox-html.el for [. Eventually I found org-html-checkbox, which is directly called by org-html-format-list-item instead of being a function variable that you can change. So that meant I needed to override the behaviour of org-html-checkbox through defadvice. You can see above how I wrap advice around org-html-checkbox and replace the return value with my own function. For more about advice, read the Emacs Lisp Intro manual.

To find the hex codes for the UTF-8 characters, I searched Google for UTF-8 checkbox and found BALLOT BOX WITH CHECK. I used the hex code so that I didn't have to worry about encoding issues. I tested it by updating one of my weekly reviews. Tada!

Inspired by Grant from Wisdom and Wonder.

More tips for self-directed learning: deliberate practice

Posted: - Modified: | learning, tips

Learning on your own can be really hard. Once you get past the basics, there aren't that many books or courses about what you're interested in. It makes sense. It takes effort to make a book or course, and authors and teachers tend to prefer larger markets. As you gain experience, you need more specialized knowledge, and it can be hard to find existing packaged information or people who can give you good feedback. People around you might not know what you're talking about, and you might not be able to find mentors in the same city. Even figuring out what you want to learn and in what order can be challenging, especially if you're learning about the intersections of topics instead of just one topic. Here are some tips I've picked up for learning on your own:

Look for inspiration. Find people who are doing what you want to be doing. Ask yourself: What do you like about their work? What do they do differently? How can you learn from them? They might never write a book or teach a course–they might not even recognize that what they do is worth teaching others–but you can still learn from their example. You can learn by watching them, and you can even reach out and talk to them.

Review your work. Try to find examples where you've already done what you want to do, even if it was by accident. Ask yourself: What did you do well? What did you like about it? What was different? What can you improve on next time? Look for ways to deliberately practise the skills you want to develop.

Make your own maps. If you're learning about something that doesn't have a clear outline or curriculum, it's easy to feel scattered and discouraged. Make your own map. List your questions, and keep track of your progress as you answer them. Figure out what the next steps are. You might be able to ask mentors to help you make a better map. Mentors can tell you if there are easier ways to learn something, or if there are related topics that you would find useful. Make your own curriculum so that you don't feel lost.

2014-02-02 Learning on your own

2014-02-02 Learning on your own

If you're learning about things on your own, you'll probably need to come up with your own ways to practise what you're learning so that it becomes part of the way you work. Instead of being intimidated by the size of what you want to learn, break it down into smaller skills that you can practise. Look for ways that you or other people have done it well, and plan your own exercises so that you can learn how to do well consistently. Deliberate practice is the key towards building confidence and skill. Think about how you can practise that skill in a way that gives you quick feedback on whether you're doing it right or wrong. You might be able to check your work on your own, or this might be something a coach or mentor can help you with. Keep track of how you do on these exercises – it's great to feel your progress.

If you're having a hard time with the exercise you've come up with, break it down into smaller pieces and try working more slowly. Improve your accuracy and consistency before you improve your speed. If you find the exercise too easy, take the next step. Think about the results you're getting and adjust the way you practice. Good luck!

2014-02-04 How to create your own exercises for deliberate practice during self-directed learning

2014-02-04 How to create your own exercises for deliberate practice during self-directed learning

How to develop your ideas into blog posts

Posted: - Modified: | blogging, sharing, writing

Do you find it easy to come up with lots of ideas for blog posts, but then find it difficult to sit down and actually write them–or spend hours drafting, only to decide that it's not quite ready for posting?

I know what that's like. On the subway, I jot a few notes for a post I want to write. At home, I add more ideas to my outline. Sometimes when I look at those notes, I think, “What on earth is this about?” Other times, I write a paragraph or two, and then my attention wanders. Over the years, I've gotten a lot better at getting posts out there. I still have more ideas than I can write, but at least a few of them make it into my blog! Here's what works for me, and I hope it works for you too.

Capture your ideas. Write them down somewhere: a text file, an Evernote notebook, a piece of paper, whatever fits the way you work. You don't have to write everything down, but it helps to have a list of ideas when you sit down to write. I use Evernote to take quick notes on my phone, and I use Org Mode for Emacs for my outline.

“Oh no! Now I have this huge list of unfinished ideas!” Don't be intimidated. Think of it like a buffet – you can choose what you want, but it doesn't mean that you have to finish everything.

Pick one idea and turn it into a question. Pick the idea that you're most curious about, perhaps, or something that you're learning. Turn it into a question so that you have a focus for your writing and you know when you've answered it. Questions help you keep both your perspective and your reader's perspective in mind. Remembering your question will help you bring your focus back to it if your attention wanders. Remembering your readers' potential question will help you empathize with them and write for them.

Break that question down into smaller questions until you can actually answer it in one sitting. For example: “How can you blog more?” is too big a question. In this post, I want to focus on just “How do you get past having lots of ideas that you don't turn into blog posts?” Make the question as small as you can. You can always write another blog post answering the next question, and the next, and the next.

When you find yourself getting stuck, wrap up there. That probably means that your question was too big to begin with. Break it down even further. Figure out the question that your blog post answers, and revise your post a little so that it makes sense. Post. You can follow up with a better answer later. You can build on your past posts. Don't wait until it's complete. Post along the way.

I often run into this problem while writing technical posts. I start with “How do you do ABC?”… and get stuck halfway because of a bug or something I don't understand. Then I turn my post into “Trouble-shooting XYZ” with my rough notes of how I'm figuring things out. I'd rather have written a complete guide, of course, but mistakes and false starts and rough notes are also useful in themselves.

Don't think that you have to know everything and write everything perfectly the first time around. In fact, blogging can be more interesting and more useful when you do it as part of your journey.

Perfectionist? Take a close look at that anxiety. See if you can figure out what the root of that is. Is it useful for you, or is it getting in your way? There's an advantage to being outwardly polished, yes, but there's also an advantage to learning quickly and building relationships. One of the tips I picked up from the book Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (Heath and Heath, 2013) was the idea of testing the stakes. Make a few small, deliberate mistakes. Ooch your way to better confidence. (See page 138 if you want more details.)

Tell me if this helps, or if you're still getting stuck. More blogging excuse-busters here!

A no-excuses guide to blogging

Posted: - Modified: | blogging, sharing, writing

UPDATE 2014-02-05: Download the PDF/EPUB/MOBI: A No-Excuses Guide to Blogging (free, pay what you want)

What's getting in your way when it comes to writing?

2014-01-31 Getting good ideas out of your head - a path to publishing

2014-01-31 Getting good ideas out of your head – a path to publishing

Here are even more excuses, and some tips for dealing with them. =)

Excuse: “I don't know what to write about.”
Write about what you don't know.
Pay attention to what you're learning.
Figure out what you think.
Ask for feedback.
Deal with writer's block
Find tons of topics
Excuse: “There's so much I can't write about.”
Focus on what you can't help but sharing.
Excuse: “But I'm not an expert yet!”
Share while you learn
Excuse: “I don't want to be wrong.”
Test what you know by sharing
Excuse: “I feel so scattered and distracted.”
Don't worry about your strategy
It's okay to write about different things
Plan, organize, write, improve
Excuse: “I have all these ideas, but I never finish posts…”
Turn your ideas into small questions, then answer those.
Excuse: “I don't feel like I'm making progress towards my goals.”
Be clear about your goals and possible approaches.
Excuse: “It takes too much time to write.”
Make sharing part of the way you work.
Excuse: “I'm too tired to write.”
Figure out what you can write better when you're tired.
Excuse: “No one's going to read it anyway.”
Focus on selfish benefits.
Get other people to read your posts.

See also other tips for new bloggers, and other posts related to blogging and writing. (Plus this list of WordPress plugins I use, if you're curious about tech!)

Feel free to comment or email with more excuses and tips!

How to read blogs efficiently with a feed reader

Posted: - Modified: | learning, reading, tips

Books tend to be better-organized and more in-depth, but these days, I get more current information and insights from blogs. Reading lots of blogs can take time, though. Worse, it's easy to get distracted by the interesting links and ideas you'll come across. Next thing you know, it's two hours later and you haven't even started working on your project.

Here are the tools and strategies I use to read blogs. I hope they help!

I subscribe to blogs I regularly read, and I read them using a feed reader. Some blogs are great for inspiration and serendipity. Other blogs are written by people I'd like to learn more about, and I don't want them to disappear in my forgetfulness. Instead of subscribing by e-mail, I use a feed reader to organize the blogs I want to read in different folders, so I can prioritize which folder I want to read first.

You might not have come across feed readers yet, or you may already be using one without knowing what it's called. Feed readers (also known as aggregators) are tools that go to all the blogs you've subscribed to and get a special version of the blog updates formatted so that computers can easily understand it. The tool then displays the information in a form you can easily read.

 

Many feed readers allow you to organize your subscriptions into folders. For example, I have an “AA Skill Development” folder for professional development blogs that I skim when I find myself with a moment of time. I add “AA” to the beginning of folders that I'd like to see first in the list, since the folders are alphabetically sorted. Organizing your subscriptions into folders is great because that allows you to quickly read through lots of similar topics together.

I read most blog posts on my phone, quickly paging through headlines and excerpts. I rarely read blogs when I'm at my computer. After all, I could be doing something more productive instead, and I don't want to get distracted by the links. The Feedly app isgreat for this because it can synchronize across devices. Many feed readers even let you read while you're offline, which is great for learning things when I'm on the subway. Lately I've been skimming through everything, newest posts first. It doesn't take me a lot of time to do so, and it means that I don't forget to read the folders down the list.

When I come across something I find interesting, I use the Save for later feature in Feedly. I can then follow up on it when I get back to my computer by checking my Saved for later folder. I usually save this for my weekly review. In fact, I have an If This Then That recipe that copies my saved items into Evernote, and I have an Emacs Lisp script that exports that list and makes it part of my weekly review. That's probably the geekiest part of my setup, so don't worry if that makes you gloss over. =)

You don't have to read everything. You don't even have to skim through everything. Feel free to use the Mark all as read feature, or to ignore the unread count.

Most feed readers can autodetect the feed for the site you want to subscribe to. For example, if you want to add this site to your Feedly, you can try putting in https://sachachua.com/blog and it should show you the recent posts. I write about a lot of different topics, so if you want, you can subscribe to just one category. For example, if you only want my learning-related posts, you can subscribe to https://sachachua.com/blog/category/learning/feed .

I like using the free Feedly reader, and there are many other options out there. I hope you find something that works for you!

Canadian winter tips

Posted: - Modified: | canada, clothing, life

Coming back to cold weather was not particularly fun, but I'm learning to deal with it. I've got the thermals, the sweaters, the jackets, the scarves… There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to figure out how to cope with winter. =) Anyway, here are some tips for people who are new to Canada or other cold places:

2014-01-06 Canadian winter tips

Canadian winter tips

If you like this, you might like my 2009 blog post with some more notes on what makes winter better.

Other winter notes: My insulated winter boots have sprung a leak. I still have a pair of leather boots and a pair of rubber boots (in bright red!), so I think I'll make it through this winter. I shopped around for a replacement pair this weekend and didn't find anything I liked, despite the sales. I was thinking about whether I should get a pair for when these boots wear out, but I'll probably move away from wearing insulated boots and move towards thick socks and hiking shoes or regular boots instead. It's also a good time to see if I can repair the boots I have. Oh well!