We've been slowly recovering from jet lag and some post-trip under-the-weatherness. A- and I both threw up, but that was pretty manageable. I've been dealing with a dry cough. I found that I like honeyed water more than having an endless stream of lozenges, although the lozenges are handy when I'm not in the kitchen.

I realized that one of the things I was missing from the day was a sense of personal experimentation and growth. I've been making an effort to try little ideas every day, and I've been spending more time, attention, and money on new experiences. So, even though I packed snacks for A- and I could have waited to have lunch at home, we had huevos rancheros at The Beet. While waiting for our food, I helped A- peek into the kitchen and I narrated what was going on. I liked the results of preparing for playground trips. I'm looking forward to tinkering with more ideas.

We made it out to both the Annette family centre and the one at Dundas West. A- seems more comfortable with drop-in centres now, hooray! She used to cry a lot, but this time she got interested in the sandbox, the tunnel, the stickers, and the puzzles on the table. I borrowed a wooden mix-and-match animal puzzle to see if she can decide based on pictures when the shapes are identical, since she can do shape puzzles pretty well now. It seems to be at just the right level for her. She names the animals as she completes them, and

As for me, I picked people's brains about child care, toddler activities, free play, and dealing with sick days as a stay-at-home parent. Whee!

Other moments:

• A- can now peel die-cut foam stickers.
• She walked most of the way to the library.
• She wanted to help me trim Leia's nails.
• She liked the Winnie the Pooh book collection.
• I was trying to get her to change “I want Nanay to carry you” to “I want Nanay to carry me.” (She confuses “me” and “you,” which makes sense.) After two attempts, she said, “I want to be carried by Nanay.”
• She makes up her own phrases now. “Finger bread” – baguette.
• She can talk about things that are missing. “Where's the red one goes in here?”
• She likes singing nursery rhymes as well as made-up tunes.
• She had a long pretend telephone conversation with her tower.
• We checked out the pop-up adventure playground and A- had fun digging in the dirt.

I started looking more seriously into having a mother's helper or babysitter in case that capability is a useful addition to our toolkit. It's hard to imagine occasional childcare since A- is hilarious and we all benefit from the time I spend with her, but it's great for her to interact more with people who are not me (especially if I get to eavesdrop and pick up more play ideas), so we'll see. J- is with us this week, so maybe they'll play a little too.

Also, we've all filed taxes, hooray!