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Monthly review: October 2021

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  • I drafted the schedule for EmacsConf 2021, taking speaker availability into account.
  • I got the hang of solving the 3x3 cube without referring to a guide. Now to build up speed and learn more patterns…
  • A- wanted to practise the fish move on the Rubik's cube. We did it 144 times, using the rekenrek in place value mode to keep track of the sums after each round.
  • A- pretended she was Cat Ninja doing 3-point landings.
  • A- was able to hoop around her neck 12 times in a row.
  • A- tried different typing games.
  • A- was reading Astronaut Academy silently. I offered to read it to her, and she chose to read it herself instead. I asked her how many new words she was coming across. She told me she knew all of them.
  • I flipped through a book on teaching kids how to read. A- was able to read many of the sample sentences, although she stumbled over some of the more advanced phonics rules (ex: costly, costlier, costliest).
  • We tried out Teach Your Monster to Read. A- enjoyed playing for almost an hour. I skipped her ahead to the Champion Reader stage.
  • More stomach pain for A-.
  • A- went as a bat for Halloween. She wore the bat wings I made her out of sofa cover scraps, and I covered her leopard headband with the same fabric to make bat ears. She walked pretty far and did several trips, confidently walking to the houses and greeting people. She kept an eye out for the other kids we were going with, making sure the 2-year-old didn't go near the road. Afterwards, she sorted her candy and shared some with us.
  • I showed A- how to use the playing cards to exercise our memories by naming the cards in sequence. I named cards until I started forgetting (~7 cards), and we talked about working memory. Then I showed her how mnemonics could help us remember better by using silly stories. I used the cards to improvise a story using the major number system that I'd modified to use Numberblocks, which I'd taught her previously for memorizing digits of pi. (3 said, "Look at me!" But 5 was too busy laughing at 7, who was riding a kangaroo and chasing 4, who was dressed as a pirate…) She kept bringing me more cards to incorporate into the story, and she said the numbers whenever I paused and prompted her with our mnemonic cues. We got to 23 cards before she moved on to a different activity.
  • A- finished the Pre-reader Express course on code.org. We tried a few puzzles from Course C, but "turn left" and "turn right" were a little difficult for her to think about. We might revisit this once she's more comfortable with left, right, clockwise, and counterclockwise.
  • We played lots of math card games: Garbage (filling in a 10-frame), Make 10 (adding two numbers), and Gain and Loss (black cards add, red cards subtract). She was able to use number bonds to quickly add or subtract numbers on the rekenrek. For example, when she needed to add 8 to 17, she could add it as + 3 + 5 (add 3 beads on the second row, then add 5 beads on the third row) instead of counting the beads one by one.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary - Productive 3.7 10.4 6.8 18.1 11.4
Unpaid work 4.6 5.9 1.4 10.3 2.3
Discretionary - Family 0.0 0.6 0.6 1.0 1.0
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.4
Personal 6.7 6.8 0.0 11.8 0.1
Discretionary - Play 1.7 1.4 -0.3 2.5 -0.5
Sleep 35.1 34.7 -0.4 60.2 -0.6
A- 43.5 39.5 -3.9 68.6 -6.6
Business 4.8 0.3 -4.5 0.5 -7.5

Monthly review: November 2021

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  • We had our first sub-60 times on the Rubik's cube. A-'s now a little faster than I am. She was proud of buying a premium cube with her savings. She loved using the timer.
  • A- was was greatly amused by the challenge I set myself to solve Rubik's cubes and stack them on top of my head. After I did three, she wanted me to do it again, so I said I would only solve it if she could balance a Rubik's cube on her head. She was able to balance it for a few seconds at a time, practising her gross motor skills and self-regulation.
  • I got the hang of swinging the jump rope for A-. A- also figured out waist hooping.
  • A- wanted to help with knitting. After a number of knit 2 purl 2 repeats, we decided to change the pattern to knit the whole row. "Sometimes I think of it as scooping the poop," she said, working the needles. We experimented with different patterns and observed the resulting textures.
  • A- loved the Hamster Princess series and the Princess in Black series.
  • A- was curious about Pirate Fluxx.
  • We made coin sorters and coin-operated candy dispensers using LEGO.
  • W- set up some home automation.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary - Productive 10.4 19.6 9.2 31.9 15.4
Personal 6.8 9.6 2.8 15.6 4.8
Business 0.3 1.0 0.6 1.6 1.1
Discretionary - Social 0.2 0.0 -0.2 0.0 -0.4
Discretionary - Family 0.6 0.2 -0.4 0.3 -0.7
Discretionary - Play 1.4 0.6 -0.8 1.0 -1.4
Unpaid work 5.9 4.2 -1.7 6.9 -2.9
Sleep 34.7 32.5 -2.2 53.0 -3.6
A- 39.5 32.3 -7.3 52.5 -12.2

Monthly review: August 2021

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  • I wrote a few 11ty shortcodes and Emacs commands to make sketches easier to embed into my blog posts.
  • W- finished hanging up the cabinets in the kitchen. It'll be nice to have more storage!
  • We picked lots of cherry tomatoes and jalapeno peppers from the garden.
  • The Brickloot balls arrived, so we opened a bag and started using them in our LEGO Great Ball Contraptions. I learned how to use the 9V motors, so we were able to rig up the sloped stepper, the pinwheel, the ball pump, the S-capades, and the crane module in a loop.
  • A- was able to tap the badminton shuttles 43 times in a row, starting with 7 shuttles. I was able to bounce my shuttle up in the air 20 times in a row.

Blog posts

Sketches

  • [[2021-08-05 Purrmaid %23art-hub.jpg][2021-08-05 Purrmaid #art-hub.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-05 Skeleton surprise.jpg][2021-08-05 Skeleton surprise.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-09 37 to 38 %23yearly %23review.jpg][2021-08-09 37 to 38 #yearly #review.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-17a Mama, I want to play with you %23parenting %23challenge %23play.jpg][2021-08-17a Mama, I want to play with you #parenting #challenge #play.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-18a What do I want to learn %23planning %23learning.jpg][2021-08-18a What do I want to learn #planning #learning.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-19 Brush lettering - A a %23lettering.jpg][2021-08-19 Brush lettering - A a #lettering.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-19a Playing with lettering %23lettering %23sketchnoting %23drawing.jpg][2021-08-19a Playing with lettering #lettering #sketchnoting #drawing.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-19b Menu of activities %23parenting %23play .jpg][2021-08-19b Menu of activities #parenting #play .jpg]]

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
A- 39.3 41.2 1.9 69.3 3.2
Discretionary - Productive 4.6 5.7 1.2 9.6 1.9
Discretionary - Family 0.5 1.1 0.6 1.8 1.0
Business 3.5 3.9 0.5 6.6 0.8
Discretionary - Play 0.6 1.1 0.5 1.8 0.8
Personal 7.1 7.0 -0.1 11.7 -0.2
Unpaid work 8.3 6.4 -1.9 10.7 -3.2
Sleep 36.1 33.6 -2.5 56.5 -4.2

Monthly review: June 2021

| monthly, review
  • I added more features to my Emacs interface for Plover, including recent suggestions and completion with stroke information.
  • We tweaked the kitchen layout, bringing the cabinets upstairs, moving the cart around, and replacing the big table and chairs with a child-sized table. It's nice to have more storage and floor space, and A- can use the table more easily.
  • I shared seedlings and preserves with our neighbours.
  • I made a splash gown for A-.
  • We started helping A- learn badminton.
  • A- was able to push the merry-go-round, get on it while it was moving, and get off it while it was moving. She was able to match other kids' speed.
  • We harvested strawberries.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time
Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Unpaid work 5.4 7.9 2.5 12.8 4.1
A- 42.1 43.0 0.9 70.0 1.6
Discretionary - Family 0.0 0.9 0.8 1.4 1.4
Business 0.7 1.3 0.7 2.2 1.1
Sleep 31.6 31.8 0.2 51.8 0.4
Discretionary - Play 0.1 0.1 -0.0 0.1 -0.0
Discretionary - Social 0.1 0.0 -0.1 0.1 -0.1
Personal 6.6 5.9 -0.8 9.5 -1.3
Discretionary - Productive 13.3 9.1 -4.2 14.8 -7.1

Monthly review: July 2021

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  • I got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, hooray!
  • We built LEGO Great Ball Contraptions.
  • A- and I played with a lot of math by extending Numberblocks: squares, cubes, greatest common factors, least common denominators, and memorizing numbers.
  • A- had lots of fun with forward and backward rolls.
  • We worked with kitchen clay and papier mache.
  • We harvested lots of basil and tomatoes. We also picked a few bitter melons.
  • I accidentally cooked my sourdough starter, but I was able to revive it from my backup in the freezer.

Blog posts

Time
Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Sleep 31.8 36.1 4.3 62.8 7.2
Business 1.3 3.5 2.1 6.0 3.6
Personal 5.9 7.1 1.2 12.3 2.1
Discretionary - Play 0.1 0.6 0.5 1.1 0.9
Unpaid work 7.9 8.3 0.4 14.4 0.7
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.0 -0.0 0.0 -0.1
Discretionary - Family 0.9 0.5 -0.3 0.9 -0.5
A- 43.0 39.3 -3.7 68.3 -6.2
Discretionary - Productive 9.1 4.6 -4.5 7.9 -7.6

Monthly review: May 2021

| monthly, review
  • I got my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine!
  • A- got interested in making friends at the playground. She usually found one or two kids to play with. She also started trying out the splash pad.
  • My Georgi keyboard finally arrived. I can slowly write journal entries on the couch. It will take me a long time before I can get fast enough to keep up with videos and presentations, but hey, a journey of a thousand miles and all that… I've also been learning how to modify Plover and write plugins. Yay Python!
  • The garden is starting to take off. I moved many seedlings outside and started more. We planted flowers, too.
  • We sold A-'s old bikes and bought her a 16" one. She had lots of fun biking with us.
  • I sewed dresses for A-.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary - Productive 9.6 13.3 3.7 23.1 6.2
Unpaid work 3.4 5.4 2.0 9.4 3.4
Personal 5.3 6.6 1.4 11.5 2.3
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2
Discretionary - Family 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1
Business 1.0 0.7 -0.3 1.1 -0.6
Discretionary - Play 0.7 0.1 -0.6 0.2 -1.0
Sleep 33.3 31.6 -1.7 54.9 -2.8
A- 46.7 42.1 -4.6 73.1 -7.7

Monthly review: April 2021

| monthly, review
  • I switched from Wordpress to a static blog.
  • Lots of Emacs tweaks: getting the hang of Lispy, asynchronously tangling and compiling my config, posting to Eleventy.
  • I sewed grow bags for the strawberries and we worked on the garden. It's still a little chilly, so we've been moving plants in and out.
  • I'm still in the stage of reading a gazillion books out loud to A-. I've been sneakily using it as first-letter-of-words steno practice with the hand that's not pointing to what I'm reading, which has the side benefit of slowing my reading down so that it's easier for her to understand things. Mwahaha!
  • I bought a used Maxi Micro scooter for A-. She liked it a lot. I ordered new handles for her, too.
  • A- was excited about the big feathers I bought for use as quills and has been practising with them.
  • We made a couple of cakes because A- wanted to experiment.
  • I worked on a few more long dresses and a couple of fabric flowers for A.
  • We saw a squirrel nest fall. The mama squirrel came back for the baby squirrel.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
A- 44.4 46.7 2.3 76.0 3.8
Personal 4.6 5.3 0.7 8.6 1.1
Discretionary - Play 0.6 0.7 0.1 1.1 0.2
Unpaid work 3.4 3.4 -0.0 5.5 -0.0
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Discretionary - Family 0.2 0.0 -0.2 0.0 -0.3
Business 1.8 1.0 -0.8 1.6 -1.3
Discretionary - Productive 10.4 9.6 -0.7 15.7 -1.3
Sleep 34.6 33.3 -1.3 54.2 -2.2