Monthly review: July 2017

Posted: - Modified: | monthly, review

Suddenly a toddler! A- got the hang of walking independently. She still holds our hands sometimes, but she’s also just as likely to want to walk on her own. In the kitchen, she’s been climbing in and out of her Learning Tower to wash dishes, sort utensils, and crack eggs.

August has a number of medical appointments that involve fasting, so we’ve been working on helping A- learn how to wait. We got the blood test out of the way, and we picked up a few tips from the child life specialist on making the hospital experience a bit more positive for A-. Getting ready for all those follow-ups!

She’s been working on lots of self-care skills: rinse and spit practice for brushing teeth, brushing hair, wiping her nose, washing her face, and wearing glasses. (She wanted to wear a ponytail, too.) She gradually got the hang of playing with feathers and gluing things onto paper, and she seems to be developing a pencil grip. Lots of new words: gyo(za), ham, noo(dles), da (down), up, baba (bye-bye). Because we’re not going to music classes in August, I bought bells and made scarves so that we could do some of the activities at home. She seems to like them, and sometimes asks me to strap the bells around her leg so that she can stomp or walk with them.

I managed to go to a couple of grown-up hangouts, not just baby-related things. I spent some time in a park with Jen and Eric, and I attended Tim’s retirement party. A- came along (of course) and stayed close. For A-‘s part, we checked out the Art Gallery of Ontario, the trains at Roundhouse Park, and Maker Festival (where we got a 3d portrait thanks to Alan Majer). Video chats with her Lolo and Lola are more interactive now, too: songs, rhymes, pointing, walking… I made handprint casts using plaster of Paris and a playdough mold. They turned out well. I just need to figure out how to mount and keep them so that we can get all misty-eyed when A- goes off to university.

We’re getting ready to transition out of the Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program. I feel more confident about doing early childhood education now. I still want to set up something like the suggestions I get from Nilda, as I’m often pleasantly surprised by A-‘s capabilities when we present her with the opportunity to explore.

Other things:

  • The 18-month sleep disruption plus teething (upper molars) meant I got

little focus time this month, but that’s okay. I’m looking forward to finishing the data exports and SQL improvements next month.

  • W- passed the building inspection for the porch rebuild, yay!
  • I helped W- and J- with their taxes. All sorted out.
  • I found a decent source of basil, so we’ve been making pesto. Yum yum yum.

My birthday is next month, so it’s time for another annual review and planning session. It’s been a terrific year. I’m learning a lot, and I’m looking forward to learning even more!

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff h/wk Diff h/wk
Sleep 30.8 32.6 1.8 56.5 3.0
Business – Earn 0.7 1.9 1.2 3.3 2.1
Discretionary – Social 0.4 1.4 1.0 2.5 1.7
Discretionary – Family 0.2 1.0 0.9 1.8 1.5
Discretionary – Productive 4.0 4.5 0.5 7.9 0.9
A- 40.6 40.8 0.2 70.8 0.4
Business – Connect 0.0 0.0 -0.0 0.0 -0.0
Discretionary – Play 1.1 0.8 -0.3 1.4 -0.5
Personal 11.3 10.4 -0.9 18.1 -1.4
Business – Build 2.7 0.7 -2.1 1.2 -3.5
Unpaid work 8.3 5.8 -2.5 10.1 -4.1
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