Weekly review: Week ending May 12, 2017

Posted: May 15, 2017 - Modified: May 29, 2019| review, weekly

We saw a coyote loping down the middle of our street in broad daylight! Wow. It was surprisingly big in real life. I've seen signs in High Park warning people about coyotes, but I'd never seen a coyote until now. (Aside from the one in the ROM, of course.)

Speaking of the ROM, A- got a lot of exercise going up and down the stairs with my help – from the ground floor to the third floor and then all the way back down again. She's also figured out that going up the steps at the playground will lead to a slide ride down, again with my help. Whee! She's also been having fun standing up and balancing on the mattress before bedtime, and often pushing off the wall so that she can fall. This seems to delight her, and she does it again and again.

Nilda came again. We flipped through the farm animal books I borrowed from the library, and A- obligingly imitated animal sounds: a quick "babababa" like a chicken and something very close to a "woof" like a dog. She matched up the 3D objects with the illustrations, too. She also did the gestures for "Good Morning Train" and a few stanzas of "Roly Poly" – so much progress!

When we video-chatted with Lolo and Lola, A- showed them what she learned about body parts. On cue, she pointed to her nose, ears, and so on. Lots of pointing at the phone, too, where Lolo pointed to his own nose.

A- has gotten quite interested in smelling things. She discovered that furikake smells interesting, and often asks for it at breakfast.

I bought some more Duplo and a couple of books from the second-hand sale in Bloor West, and Michael McGuffin sent us the beginnings of A-'s robot army. Whee!

I took A- to my doctor's appointment. Putting her in a back-carry worked out all right. We got there early, so we had a picnic lunch in the park. She was fascinated by the pigeons.

I forgot my library card and credit card in my pants, and ended up fishing them out of the dryer vent several days later. Fortunately, I already made a checklist of things to do whenever I lose those cards (second time in a few months), so it was easy to update my accounts.

Lots of reading this week, including a print book. I finished reading "How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen" (borrowed as an e-book from the library), and I skimmed the relevant chapters in "Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense" (only available as a print book). I finally got to watch Doctor Strange, and I rewatched Deathly Hallows Part 2.

W- discovered that my seed-starting tray leaked water – fortunately before it messed up the carpet. We swapped it out for one of the roasting pans. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderfully patient and supportive husband who takes a problem-solving approach to things!

I put in a few hours of consulting to fix old data and get a few reports working properly again. I should've checked it two weeks ago. I'm still not happy with the manual way I have to hack around an encoding issue, but it will just have to do for now.

W- has been working on demolishing the concrete pad and planning the stairs. It was fun walking around the neighbourhood and looking at people's stairs and bases. I've also been learning a lot about latches, thanks to the latch board that we borrowed from the JFRC. It's fascinating to see what's in plain sight!

Blog posts

Sketches

Focus areas and time review

Business (3.1h – 1%)
- Earn (3.1h – 100% of Business)
  - ☑ Earn: E1: 1-2 hours of consulting
Relationships (0.4h – 0%)
Discretionary – Productive (4.7h – 2%)
- Drawing (4.0h)
- Emacs (0.6h)
- Writing (0.1h)
Discretionary – Play (6.2h – 3%)
Personal routines (23.0h – 13%)
Unpaid work (75.7h – 45%)
- Childcare (69.5h – 41% of total)
Sleep (54.9h – 32% – average of 7.8 per day)