We took advantage of an unexpectedly warm, sunny day this week and had some outside time in the backyard, nibbling on the last of the strawberries in the garden. We also went on a few walks to neighbourhood parks. Each park has its own character and mix of resources. I wonder where I can find notes on all the parks in the city. May be time to make our own little travel journal.

Anyway, with the weather getting cooler, I've been thinking about how to keep A- warm and comfy so that we can continue having lots of outside time. The crew socks are too short to cover the exposed part of her legs when she's in the carrier. I'm trying out these leg warmers that I made from sweater sleeves, but they won't stay on. Maybe I'll sew a tighter band? I'm leaning towards making an elasticized carrier cozy out of fleece or flannel, and another one with PUL if the pattern works out. I made a felt pirate hat for her Halloween costume, too. Let's see what the weather is like.

A- has been working very hard on getting her knees under her hips in preparation for creeping. Occasionally she tries straightening her legs, too. We'll see if she takes on creeping or bear-walking first. Anyway, she's been so focused on mobility that nursing and sleeping have been disrupted, but I'm sure things will settle down eventually.

A- has also been developing more expressive sounds. She figured out how to click her tongue this week. She's been experimenting with her range, too. We're getting pretty good at ignoring the screeching. She also makes this adorable slow "haaa?" sound with an upturn at the end, which tends to presage some grabbing and pinching.

We've been playing the ukulele every day. She often plucks or strums the strings instead of grabbing them like she used to. Getting there! For my part, I'm slowly getting the hang of finger-picking Paruparong Bukid. Gotta build that muscle memory.

Lots of social things this week. I dropped by La Leche League to ask about night nursing tips, picked up vegetables at the peer nutrition follow-up, made it to Make the Connection despite sleeping in, and picked Jen and Chris' brains regarding alternative ways of raising kids. It's nice to have mentors who have explored interesting paths.

I finally made it out to the dentist, woohoo! W- entertained A- in the waiting room so that he could take her to me if she started to melt down, but we didn't need to hit the emergency button. My teeth are in decent shape despite the two-year gap in dental attention, although I'll need two fillings done soon. It's nice to be able to book personal care appointments again.

We donated a whole bunch of things, and now the living room feels more spacious. I'm glad we can let go of things knowing that it's usually easy to replace stuff by buying second-hand or online.

W- inspired me to look into resurrecting gadgets, though. There's that TF700T I didn't get to use as much as I'd hoped, since the tablet was underpowered for its resolution. I wonder if I can turn it into a video chat station and information console.

Less sleep this week, including an afternoon of zombie-ing around because I stayed up late helping my clients with their reporting needs. W- took care of A- while I slept. Yay!

This week: the last session for Make the Connection (so I should finish that photo book!), a home visit, and maybe some more work on my consulting project. Depending on how sleep goes, we might try to make it out to other drop-ins to see what might be worth taking transit to once winter sets in.

Blog posts

• Weekly review: Week ending October 14, 2016
• 2016-10-17 Emacs News

Sketches

• Journal
  • 2016-10-15a Week ending 2016-10-14 #weekly #journal
  • 2016-10-15b Saturday #daily #journal
  • 2016-10-16a Sunday #daily #journal
  • 2016-10-17a Monday #daily #journal
  • 2016-10-18b Tuesday #daily #journal
  • 2016-10-19a Wednesday #daily #journal
  • 2016-10-20a Thursday #daily #journal
  • 2016-10-21a Friday #daily #journal
• 2016-10-18a Improving moments with A- #kaizen #parenting #engagement #early-learning
• 2016-10-21b Getting discretionary time back #time #parenting #discretionary

Focus areas and time review

• Business (4.2h – 2%)
  • Earn (4.2h – 99% of Business)
    • ☐ Earn: E1: 1-2 days of consulting
  • Build (0.0h – 0% of Business)
  • Connect (0.0h – 0% of Business)
• Relationships (6.4h – 3%)
• Discretionary – Productive (4.7h – 2%)
  • Drawing (2.4h)
  • Emacs (0.5h)
  • Coding (0.9h)
    • ☑ Disable anonymous feedback for QA
  • Sewing (0.8h)
  • Writing (0.2h)
• Discretionary – Play (3.7h – 2%)
• Personal routines (22.8h – 13%)
• Unpaid work (74.6h – 44%)
  • Childcare (56.6h – 33% of total)
• Sleep (51.6h – 30% – average of 7.4 per day)