• Gross motor
  • W- taught A- how to do the running man exercise. She liked doing it on her own, too, and she liked telling me to do it with her.
• Fine motor
  • A- was interested in building with LEGO instead of Duplo. She disassembled the yellow box and tried putting it back together. She managed to put a few blocks in properly before wandering off.
• Sensory
  • A- wanted to bring her backpack on our outing. I used my carabiner to clip it to my bag, which I tucked into J-‘s stroller. When A- wanted to wear it, I unclipped it, but left the carabiner on. My keys jangled as A- ran. I asked her to stop so that I could unhook the carabiner. After a few steps, she stopped and said, “I want my keys.” When I clipped them back on, she went back to running happily and noisily.
• Self-care and independence
  • At A-‘s 30-month checkup, she measured 88 cm and 10.3 kg.
  • A- didn't want me to brush her teeth, but was okay with W- brushing them. Also, she was okay with hanging out in the bathroom while I showered. Progress!
  • We've been working on weaning. Counting down or setting a timer stresses A- out. (“I want to nurse without limits. No counting! No timer!”) But if we talk about having a quick nurse, she delights in having a really really quick one. (“So fast!”)
• Household
  • We went to Sweet Potato for some groceries because A- loves pushing the little cart around. She made a beeline for the nectarines and put one in her mouth while I was picking a watermelon. I added that nectarine to our cart and redirected her to the real bin with free fruit for kids. She walked around munching an apple while pushing the cart. Then she asked me for water. I forgot to bring our water bottle, so I told her we might need to wait until we got home. A employee overheard us and got us a cup of water, so we thanked her for her thoughtfulness and carried on shopping. A- didn't like the 6% yogurt I got, but she liked the new carton of milk because it has a cap instead of a cardboard spout.
  • A large fly was buzzing around at home, so W- sprayed it until it was easy to catch. He wadded it up in tissue. A- had wanted to help, so he gave her the wad and a spray bottle. W- said he felt like a cat teaching a kitten how to hunt. A- happily sprayed it some more, saying “Sorry, sorry,” as she did so.
• Social
  • A- and I had a fun video chat with Lola.
  • We went to the Horse Palace with Joy and J-. J- got a bit overstimulated, so after a quick tour, we went to a playground instead.
  • When I peeked into the room, A- saw me and started hopping up and down. “Private Daddy time!” she said. “Mama go somewhere else.”
  • A- pouted after W- carried her upstairs. She kept pouting for quite a few minutes. It was a hilariously exaggerated frown.
  • I was sleepy, so I decided to have a catnap on the couch while A- played in her play area. A- helpfully brought over a cushion for my head. Then she helpfully brought over a recorder and said, “I play music,” which I found funny. Fortunately, I wasn't desperately sleepy. I had enough energy to cover the finger holes and help her experiment with modulating her breath, and to play the other recorder she brought me.
• Pretend
  • A- asked for pretend ice cream (yogurt). She wanted it in a pretend waffle bowl, so I put it in a cereal bowl. That wasn't enough, but wrapping my hands around the cereal bowl made it pass muster.
• Us
  • I made dashi stock from kombu and bonito flakes, and then turned that into miso soup and furikake.
• Sleep
  • We successfully read to sleep instead of nursing.
  • A- wanted W- to carry her into the house. She was sleepy, so W- practised putting A- to bed. Success!
  • A- was overtired, but she still wanted to stay up. W- and I were firm about us going to bed. A- said, “I want to hang out with the cats.”

Blog posts

• Weekly review: Week ending August 10, 2018
• 2018-08-13 Emacs news

Focus areas and time review

• A- (Childcare) (73.2h – 43% of total)
• Business (0.4h – 0%)
  • Earn (0.4h – 100% of Business)
• Relationships (16.0h – 9%)
• Discretionary – Productive (4.4h – 2%)
  • Drawing (1.0h)
  • Emacs (1.1h)
  • Sewing (0.6h)
• Discretionary – Play (0.0h – 0%)
• Personal routines (12.0h – 7%)
• Unpaid work (10.1h – 6%)
• Sleep (52.0h – 30% – average of 7.4 per day)