• Kaizen
  • I updated my duplicate checker to look at package names and allow me to see the next matches.
  • I wrote a batch script to rsync photos, and I freed up space.
  • I cut and glued a wooden organizer for the cutlery drawer.
• Us
  • I applied another polyurethane layer on the kitchen shelf and on the drawer pieces.
  • I asked for cardboard boxes from the grocery store and cardboard tubes from the kids’ clothing store. That will be handy for crafting.
  • I dropped by Melissa’s place to water her plants.
  • Italian dressing: Went well with pasta salad.
  • I tried alternating 15-minute timers so that I could focus on her and also cook dinner. It was nice deliberately making time to focus on her, although she wasn’t keen on letting me focus on cooking.
  • I sorted and scanned receipts for our tax review.
  • CRA wants to review our tax return, so I made a cover letter in Org Mode with a table of the receipt information from my Google Docs spreadsheet. I cross-referenced them with the scanned receipts. Then I used pdfjam to make a new PDF with the cover letter and the cross-referenced receipts in chronological order, updated all the page references in my summary table, and recompiled the PDF. Yay!
  • We learned a little more about temperaments in the parenting workshop.
  • I updated my ledger.
• Fine motor
  • A- wanted me to play the hot potato game the babysitter taught her. She was also interested in practising with scissors. We made hanging shapes and the Japanese lantern from Childcraft.
• Language
  • A- followed along with the sandpaper letter activity, including the parts where I knocked on the letters and when I asked her to take the letters to different places. She was more interested in drawing squiggles on the salt tray than in reproducing the letters, though. I might treat the salt tray as more of a sensory activity until she’s more interested in writing.
  • “Daddy, I have a favor to ask. I want to make things.”
  • A- read the numbers on the scale: 11.
  • A- put a bag of cashews in the freezer to see what would happen. When she felt it had gotten cold enough, she opened the freezer by herself. W- asked her what she thought they would be like. She said, “Look, I’m going to test it.”
  • I asked A- if I could finish her food. She said, “But it has my germs!”
• Music
  • I took A- to the open house for the Royal Conservatory of Music. We made it only to the demo class that I’d signed up for, but that was okay. On the way home, we talked about getting another ukulele. I think it might be fun to try a good make-your-own-ukulele kit, perhaps after the porch. I want something that sounds decent and is enjoyable to play. I could get an inexpensive ukulele that’s already made, but assembling it might give us more insights.
• Art
  • A- got the Childcraft volume on Make and Do, and she turned the pages to the paper towel dipping activity. She got the hang of turning the paper towel to dip different corners.
• Self-care and independence
  • A- got an insect bite on her forehead.
  • I took A- to the doctor because her forehead and eye were swelling up. The doctor said that A- picked up a secondary infection after scratching her bug bite.
  • A- started taking antibiotics and antihistamines for her secondary infection. She doesn’t seem to get unusually sleepy with Benadryl, and she even woke up in the middle of the night to share some of the things she learned about antihistamines.
  • A- asked me to scrape her teeth with the flosser. I usually just do the teeth I can easily reach, but this time, I pulled her lip back and scraped her back teeth too. Yikes! Tooth decay!
  • I took A- to the dentist. She has tooth decay. It’s not yet a cavity, so we’re going to start taking her in for tooth cleaning and fluoride varnishes, being stricter about not snacking throughout the day, and brushing more often. If she can tolerate being at the dentist and we can stop it from getting worse, we might be able to fix it at the dentist with some nitrous oxide. If not, she may have to go under general anesthesia again, which would be tough on her body.
  • I made a concerted effort to brush her teeth after every meal today, offering videos of herself as a distraction.
  • A- sharpened pencils all by herself.
• Eating
  • We made vanilla ice cream using the bag-in-a-bag approach. The first ice bag tore, so I added another bag and wrapped a cloth bag around it too. A- approved of the ice cream and asked for lots of it. That was fun.
  • A- really wanted cartilage. She gnawed the ends off all the chicken wings from the sotanghon I packed for lunch.
• Emotion
  • A- was grumpy. I asked her what could help her calm down. She said, “I want to dance.” She used the demo mode on the piano to select a piece, and we danced for a bit.
• Household
  • A- wanted to help wax the new kitchen shelf. She and W- took turns applying wax and wiping it away. Wax on, wax off.
  • A- used a driver to screw in Phillips and Robertson screws. She liked how much faster it was with the power tool. She also had fun swapping the bits for the stubby screwdriver.
• Social
  • “Don’t forget to say thank you.”
• Pretend
  • A- figured out that the syringe plunger was just the right size to look like a seal for the squeeze bottle, so she liked pretending to make something new.
  • We had fun pretending she was a firefighter and I was a fire.
  • A- put a cloth book on her head and balanced other books on her hands. Then she waved her hands around, reenacting pandanggo sa ilaw.
  • Out of the blue, A- said, “Stanchion!” After I looked it up, I remembered it from the book on milking cows. A- asked me to pretend to be a stanchion, so we had a bit of fun with that.
• Cognition
  • A- pretended to apply temporary tattoos, counting all the way to thirty with just a few hints.
• World
  • We started making a bucket conveyor using the anti-slip mat and the egg carton.
  • We made a water dispenser from a bottle, some tubing, and cardboard. I didn’t need to worry about whether things were food-safe, as A- happily dispensed and refilled the water without drinking any.
  • I finished the bucket conveyor. The conveyor belt slips sideways, but it’s a good start. A- had fun conveying ping pong balls and cat toys into an empty yogurt container. I replaced the yogurt container with a ball return mechanism made out of a guacamole container and a cardboard ramp formed into a V with rubber bands. Yay!
  • We used a triangular prism to explore rainbows.

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• 2019-06-24 Emacs news

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