• Field trip
  • Jen and E- took us to the Lynde conservation area, where we saw deer, geese, ducks, red winged blackbirds, grackles, wild turkeys, and lots of curious chipmunks.
  • I went for a bike ride with A- in the trailer. Good thing I picked a nearby destination, though, since she insisted on walking on the way back. Even when she got tired, she still didn't want to get in the trailer, so I put her in the carrier and walked the bike and trailer back.
  • A- wanted to go to the Ontario Science Centre. The field trip kids were a bit rowdy, so we hung out in the toddler play area instead. We read all their books and played with the rising toys. Outside, we played with bubbles.
  • We checked out the spider exhibition at the museum. It was pretty cool! A- pointed at the big spiders and asked what they were doing. I learned about lots of different types of spiders. The bowl-and-doily spider is neat!
  • We took the bike trailer to Vermont Square Park. One of the toys she was looking forward to riding was broken, but there were plenty of other things to play with.
  • We visited Ewan and E-. I took ingredients for one of the giant bubble solution recipes I found, and we experimented with that for a bit. Then we went to the park for lunch and playtime. Lots of fun!
• Gross motor
  • A- wanted to practice with her balance bike, and to ride her tricycle with her backpack on.
  • A- practised going up the twisty slide with my help.
  • A- loved putting her feet on the wheel-mounted pedals of a tricycle while I pushed her around.
  • At the playground, A- was interested in climbing up and across the nets.
  • A- slid down the shed ramp backwards on her riding toy.
• Fine motor
  • A-‘s gotten even better at playing with the bead maze at the library. She walked around it while pushing beads along the track, wove her arms around loops, and coordinated passing beads from one hand to another.
  • A- wanted to build a Duplo city. We pretended the blocks were houses. First we started with one line, then another, and then a few towers. Then A- focused on filling the space with blocks, butting them right up against each other. She was momentarily stymied by a small gap that she couldn't fit a block into, but figured out after I asked a few guide questions.
  • A- insisted on locking the bicycle. She threaded the lock through the wheel, the frame, and the post, and I helped her close it.
  • A- started getting interested in fringing. She can also cut within an inch around a figure.
  • A- spent a few minutes methodically popping bubble wrap.
  • A- practised threading a few large beads. I should find or make a few more that would be easier to thread.
• Sensory
  • A-, the babysitter, and I got drenched in a sudden downpour. A- was upset when she was in the rain, but we were able to reframe it as an adventure. Since the power was out in our neighbourhood, I took A- to a restaurant a little further away for dinner.
  • The sandbox had a faucet and a few toys for water play. A- filled the bucket with water and poured it down the ramp.
• Language
  • A- postponed bedtime by cheerily insisting, “I want to talk.” She rehashed her hospital visit and other things that were on her mind.
  • A- quickly adapted to some wordplay: “I'm dizzy!” “Hello, Dizzy, I'm Mama.” “Dizzy has a pocket.”
  • A- talked about the letters on the babysitter's shirt. I gave her a few magnetic letters, and she matched them up. I gave her a cookie tray so that she could play with the letters closer to the babysitter's shirt instead of turning around to the fridge.
  • “Yes, ma'am.” “Yes, Ma'am? Where did that come from?” “From my mouth.”
  • “I want to eat a cookie outside. This is a good plan.”
  • A- successfully negotiated for a cookie by saying, “I want to brush my teeth after having a cookie.” Between that and using “I want to go outside” as a way to ask for an energy bar, I think she's pretty good at figuring out how to work with our rules.
  • The alphabet molds and press-in letters arrived. They were larger than I expected – great! A- was interested in using them to cut out and stamp playdough.
  • A- took my phone and told it, “Please ask OurGroceries to add chicharon to the list.” She also wanted to add carrots.
  • “I want ice cream. The frozen one.” A- asked to buy ice cream and cones at the supermarket.
  • A- played with the -able suffix. She asked for something squishable, and she pronounced something doable.
• Music
  • A- wanted to play the piano. She said, “Mama, listen to my song.” Then she banged on the keys a number of times. Then she said, “All done,” slid off the piano bench, and turned off the piano. Also, when the babysitter was there, she played faster or slower depending on the prompt.
  • A- sang and did the gestures for “Lost my partner, what'll I do?” and “I'll find another as pretty as you.”
  • A- played the piano while singing the cleanup song and the tiptoe song. She asked me to clean up, and then asked me to dance with a scarf.
  • A- participated in music class, running and jumping and tiptoeing along as we sang. She also shook the tambourine rhythmically.
• Art
  • A- drew circles on paper and added lines. I cut it out and said it looked like the letter Q. She rotated it and said it looked like a tree. She asked me to draw and cut out apples. She pasted them onto the paper with the drawing side up, saying, “Just like Science Centre.”
• Self-care and independence
  • We've been practising new bedtime routines, and they seem to be helping a bit. No food after evening snack. Bedtime activities: read books, nurse in the dark, or brush her teeth. Tapping into her desire to postpone bedtime seems to usually be a good way to get her to brush her teeth at least once a day.
  • She really took to the stroller. She likes singing to herself without us peeking in.
  • A- and E- played in the sandbox while Jen and I chatted on a bench a short distance away. It felt like a big milestone. We eventually moved closer to help them with social interaction, but still, this is a start.
  • We went to the ocularist. He polished A-‘s conformer. A- was upset, but she calmed down right away when the ocularist asked if she wanted a toy from the treasure chest.
• Eating
  • We had a Father's Day dinner at Ka Chi. A- liked the dumplings and the bibimbap.
  • A- enjoyed her first ice cream cone. She experimented with eating it with a spoon.
• Household
  • We got a new spray bottle. A- happily sprayed kitchen surfaces and wiped them with a towel.
  • A- helped cook a lot this week: banana bread, shake and bake chicken, sweet potato fries, and even wontons.
  • We helped W- clean the carpet.
  • A- wanted to fold laundry. She also liked answering questions such as: “Mama's or A-‘s?”
  • A- picked out the house key from my key ring.
  • A- enjoyed harvesting basil for pesto. “Ooooh! So many basil!”
• Social
  • A- is more aware of portions, and will defend hers by saying “That's my moira. That's your moira.” and making the appropriate hand gestures. Time to read Beyond Fate or revisit that Ideas episode…
  • A- asked me to transfer her to a swing closer to another kid.
  • I was looking for my keys, and A- helpfully piped up that they were on the floor. Yay! Later, I was looking for my headlamp, and A- got them for me. It was tucked into a corner, which was a little odd. Hmm…
  • We ate at a restaurant because power was out at home. We talked through the process, and A- practised what to say and do. I asked her to say, “Excuse me, check please,” and she tried that at our table a few times before we talked to the easier.
  • At the JFRC, I shared a large bunch of grapes at snack-time, and they were well-received. At circle time, A- brought over a stool and sat on it. She imitated the family support worker's gestures and softly sang words too. She waved the scarf around, and she flapped the parachute up and down. Best circle time engagement so far!
  • A- and E- played in the sandbox…
  • We hung out with Quinn, Richard, and Linda at Vermont Square Park. We blew bubbles, ate snacks, and enjoyed chatting.
  • A- shared toys with a few daycare kids who were also playing in the sandbox. When it was time for them to go, A- helped put their toys in the bag. She even wanted to join them as they practised lining up, but we didn't wander over in time.
  • I talked to A- about babysitting. She said, “Stop babysitting experiment. Mama play with A-.”
  • We ate at Swiss Chalet to celebrate W-‘s progress at work. A- wanted sweet potato fries. She also drank a lot of water. When we finished eating, we prompted A- to ask for the check. She raised her hand, and then when the server came over, she said, “Check, please.”
  • Martin kept A- happily occupied while I worked on some code for his project.
  • We went to a neighbourhood party. A- had fun with the neighbours' playset.
  • We had Ewan and E- over. A- had a hard time waiting for a turn with her high chair and shopping cart, but she was okay eventually. Lots of fun blowing bubbles and feeding each other prawn crackers.
• Pretend
  • We had a long pretend conversation with the electric fan. A- asked me to ask it questions, and A- told me what it answered.
  • We played pretend ice cream shop. I described the flavors. She asked for the brown one. I handed her some playdough and told her it would be $3. She fished a scrap of paper out of her handbag and said, “I pay with money.” I thanked her. She kept looking at me expectantly, then said, “Receipt.” I gave her a piece of paper. Then she said, “Napkins.” More paper. Then she said, “Money.” That cracked me up – she made sure I gave her change.
• Cognition
  • We built two towers of Duplo, and then A- wanted to put a block across the top. We built a couple of other tower pairs. I started counting the blocks I added: sometimes one, sometimes two, sometimes three. When we got near the top of the second tower, I asked A- how many more blocks we needed to add. She said a number that happened to be the right answer. She was probably just lucky, but hey, why not incorporate more math into our activities..
  • A- wanted to carry my bag. She tried dragging it. Then she sat down and started emptying it. She said, “Take it all out to make it lighter.”
  • A- covered her ears in anticipation of the arrival of the subway train.
• World
  • The giant bubble maker was a big hit.
  • A- liked stepping in puddles and leaving footprints on the dry part of the sidewalk.
• Kaizen
  • We bought a bike trailer: Thule Chariot Cheetah XT.
  • I took the bike and trailer on a test ride around the block. After I built up confidence, I took A- around too. We survived!
  • I made Tasker scripts for adding descriptions to my pictures, logging them in my journal, and linking from my journal to the pictures. I learned how to call Java functions from Tasker and how to work with images in scenes. I want to use this to create more pedagogical documentation.
  • I wrote some code to watch a directory and add Org links to new files, managing them with Org attachments. I also experimented with org-download and dragging and dropping images into Emacs, and I wrote a command to read the caption from an image's metadata and insert it into the buffer.
  • I installed Resilio and used it to synchronize my pictures with the NAS.
  • I added pictures and printed out last week's review. I also replaced # with Unicode stars and labels in the image filenames.
  • I wrote a shell script to add photo captions for printing.
  • I migrated my blog database to utf8mb4.
  • I resized my Linode server, taking advantage of a cheaper plan.
  • I explored the YouTube Live / Hangouts on Air interface so that I could pass along tips.
  • I stayed up late to try the guar gum giant bubble recipe from http://soapbubble.wikia.com/wiki/Recipes_Guar . Very promising! It made a couple of big bubbles in the cool, still air of our kitchen. Next, I want to experiment with different frames and work on technique.
• Us
  • W- and I actually managed to sit down and play Borderlands 2.
  • I helped Popo with her Android phone while she played with A-.

• Field trips: We made it out to Riverdale Farm, the Science Centre, and High Park Zoo. We also made it all the way out to Hamilton while hanging out with Jen and E-.
• Gross motor
  • We've been practising going for walks in the neighbourhood. A- can walk to the supermarket or the playground now, although I usually need to carry her on the way home.
  • She enjoyed building sandcastles and swinging across the monkey bars with help.
  • A- has been practising rhythmically swinging her feet back and forth on the swing.
• Fine motor
  • So much scissors practice!
  • A- wanted me to trace her feet, her hands, and her arms.
  • A- was interested in pushing and stacking large pegs at the OEYC.
  • A- had fun wrapping tape all around a column of Duplo blocks. She passed the tape from hand to hand and around all by herself.
• Language
  • A- asked for and made up stories about everyday objects.
  • She referred to herself by a nickname and corrected me a few times.
  • A- is learning how to ask questions instead of just declaring that she wants something. “Can I have this?” She's getting better at thoughtfully asking about other people, too.
  • A- and I took turns telling a story that ended up like this: “Once upon a time there was a little girl named A- who wanted to nurse. So her Mama set a timer.”
  • A- talked about something she wished we bought a few months ago: “I have no stars. I have a star at IKEA.”
  • A- lined up random magnetic letters along their baseline.
  • “I did not caught the ball.”
  • “Oh no, hair. That is from you.”
  • “I don't know what that is.”
  • I made a quick book about going to the hospital, and one about babysitters.
• Self-care
  • We've been trying lots of playful tactics to get A- to let us brush her teeth. Improvising silly songs, involving her toys, and playing dentist seem to work.
  • We went to Sick Kids for A-‘s dental surgery to repair cavities in her top four teeth.
  • Afterwards, we hung out with Popo and R-.
  • A- was okay with drinking 1.5ml infant Tylenol diluted in two small glasses of smoothie.
• Emotion
  • A- got a little anxious about Mr. Potato Head and a monkey puppet.
  • A- wanted to play with dolls, and she wanted me to put on a hand puppet.
  • A- didn't want to go to sleep. After trying to insist for ten minutes, I decided to give her suggestions a shot. We went downstairs, played a bit, and even practised a lot with scissors. Surprisingly focused time. Maybe I should trust her a little more when it comes to sleep.
• Household
  • A- dropped a lot of breadcrumbs on the kitchen floor. Unprompted, she got her broom and tried to sweep it up.
  • A- and I made muffins, blueberry scones, and red bean buns, which we've been sharing with the neighbours.
  • A- wanted to water the lawn with the hose.
• Social
  • We've been experimenting with having a babysitter over one afternoon a week so that A- can interact with people who are not me. =) A- handles the transition well, and I can usually get around two hours of focused consulting time. We've picked up a few new games to play, too. I've been working with a babysitter agency so that I don't have to worry about scheduling or screening, and I might experiment with having an independent babysitter once we have more experience.
  • A- has started getting curious about other kids' toys in the sandbox and wanting to borrow stuff. She often asks me to ask, and I also nudge her to try asking.
  • J- stepped in for emergency child care during my dentist appointment, since the independent babysitter cancelled the day before.
  • A- was okay with going to the JFRC, and even stayed there all afternoon one time.
• Pretend
  • I stuck a twig in a sandcastle and pretended it was a flag, and then A- repurposed it to be a candle on a birthday sandcake.
  • A- liked helping her toy dinosaur have a bath, brush teeth, wear its conformer, and read a book. She happily took her turn, too.
  • A- loved pretending to order food from a restaurant.
• Cognition
  • We stayed at the JFRC all afternoon. She played with cars and paint, a matching puzzle with three sets of 18 photos, and a playdough press. She even played with a facilitator while I interviewed a babysitter.
  • A- had fun spotting the cat in the Plume book. I think she's starting to appreciate incomplete images.
  • A- paid lots of attention to stop signs and stop lights, and even insisted on following them while on the sidewalk.
• Kaizen
  • We set up the sprinkler and the timer to help us grow grass in the backyard, and the grass has been doing quite well.
  • I worked on automatically filtering, categorizing, and formatting my journal entries.
  • We got a shopping trolley from Ikea so that we can easily carry more supplies.
  • I tweaked my Memento Database workflow to make it easier to edit the CSVs on my computer in case I have time.
  • I stayed up late to compare the numbers for hiring an experienced babysitter directly or through an agency. Along the way, I developed an appreciation for using Calc's fsolve with org-babel. Nice way to quickly solve an equation.
  • I set up Google Pay and tried it out at the supermarket. It's pretty handy.
• Us
  • J- made chickpea masala. It was yummy!
  • I checked out Persona 5.
  • Lots of gardening: basil in the boxes, peas, tomatoes, and chives in the ground, more seeds started, and thyme and tarragon out back. W- has been putting a lot of work into the backyard. He built a ramp for the shed, a platform for the sprinkler, and three planter boxes.
  • Slowly getting back into consulting.

Thoughts for June:

• Music classes start up again, so we'll see about waking up early.
• I might experiment with requesting the same babysitter again so that we can see what that's like.
• More neighbourhood walks, too, I think.
• Maybe potty training?

Experimenting with more structure to help with tracking progress over time.

• Gross motor
  • A- learned how to ride a scooter.
  • She had fun running around and around.
  • She walked most of the way to the library.
  • She walked all the way to the playground.
• Fine motor
  • We got a lot of entertainment value from a sheet of embossed number stickers and a few sheets of colored paper.
  • She was interested in 12-piece jigsaw puzzles and helped me fit the pieces together.
  • She can peel diecut foam stickers.
  • A- completed the shape sorter easily, naming shapes as she pushed them in.
  • A- was interested in using scissors to cut along lines.
• Sensory
  • I made some bath paint. A- likes using it to paint the bathtub wall and her body.
• Language
  • Asking herself questions: “How can I figure this out?”
  • Identity: She referred to herself by a nickname while drawing.
  • Anticipation: I asked, “Do you want to go to Mind Museum or somewhere different?” She said: “I want to go to Mind Museum. See big dinosaur. I need a wrist band. Mama need wrist band too.”
  • Asking questions: “Why Mama say excuse me?” “What's Mama doing?”
  • Asking for attention: “I want Nanay to focus on me. Put down phone.” (Or pen, if I'm writing.) “Look, Lola, I made it.” She also started learning how to gently touch someone's arm to get their attention.
  • Describing: She said “A-‘s home has Daddy in it.”
  • Talking about missing things: She asked for a marker by saying “Where's the red one goes in here?” and pointing.
  • Coining phrases: She wanted to specifically ask for a baguette, but didn't know the word for it, so she called it finger bread.
  • Rephrasing: When I was trying to get her to change “I want Nanay to carry you” to “I want Nanay to carry me,” she rephrased it as “I want to be carried by Nanay.”
  • We've been talking about babies, kids, big kids, and grown-ups. She said, “Mama is a grown up.” Then she said, “I am a growing up.”
  • She said, “I am two years old.” She repeated it a few times. She doesn't answer the question “How old are you?”, though.
  • She still mostly demands things (“I want a orange!”), but one time, she requested it: “Can I have an orange, Mommy?”
• Music
  • A- can fill in the name of an animal when singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
  • W- came up with a new song: “Vegetables make the poo go down.”
  • So much singing! A- sings spontaneously and when prompted. She sings many nursery rhymes, and she also makes up her own.
• Art
  • A- drew lines up and down while naming them. She also drew wavy lines while saying “W.”
• Self-care
  • We got a helmet and pads for when A- rides her balance bike, and I got a new hat for myself.
  • We went to the ocularist to adjust A-‘s conformer. She liked the ball that she got from the treasure box.
  • A- has a dry cough.
• Household
  • She wanted to trim Leia's nails together, and insisted on holding the clipper with me.
  • She spread the bath mat out carefully while narrating what she was doing.
• Social
  • Photos: She crept under her high chair, smiled up, and repeated the process in order to get a good shot.
  • Cousins: She sat on G*'s lap and asked her to read Go Dog Go.
  • Playing games: She explicitly plays, invents, and modifies games. “I push mama. It's a game.” “I like to play balloon game with Lola.”
  • Modulation: I told A-, “Daddy's room is only for quiet people.” She calmed down and used her quiet voice.
  • Empathy: She gave me a hug and said sorry after I spilled my drink because of Luke.
  • She wanted to sit close to Lola, and she enjoyed reading and playing with Lola.
• Pretend
  • A- mimed releasing the coin lock for a pretend shopping cart.
  • A- had an extended pretend telephone conversation with her tower. Not just hello and goodbye, but quite a few other turns in between.
• Kaizen
  • We took some Duplo to the playground and had lots of fun.
  • I learned that I like honey water much more than an endless stream of cough lozenges.
• Us
  • We sorted out my dad's niche at Heritage Park.
  • We went to Mind Museum several times, usually with Diane's family.
  • I enjoyed getting together with my barkada. We ordered pizza. A- alternated between hanging out and going upstairs for quiet time, so I was in and out of conversations too.
  • We had a nice stay at Hotel Queen. We ate bibimbap at a nearby restaurant, and they gave us plenty of rice cakes.
  • We went to the EarlyON centre. A- had fun playing with stickers, puzzles, and the tunnel. I picked the facilitator's brain about ECE and childcare.
  • W- laid patio stones next to the raised bed.

We managed to get a referral to Sick Kids, so A-‘s dental surgery under anesthesia is scheduled for the end of May. I squeezed in a three-week trip to the Philippines before the next set of medical appointments, overlapping with Kathy's move to the Netherlands. Now that we're back, I can resume working on the night weaning that the dentists strongly recommended. She also got a new conformer, but she isn't too keen on wearing it.

We made it to the farmer Q&A session at Riverdale Farm, had lots of fun with the sandboxes and slides at various playgrounds, and checked out High Park Zoo. A- ran/walked all the way to the subway once – I didn't have to pick her up at all. She also wanted to ride her balance bike outside. She often goose-stepped around the house, too. We went to Ward's Island with Jen and E-, and she had lots of fun at the playground there.

We practiced blowing feathers, and I stocked up on crafting supplies. A- liked the shapes that I cut out of felt.

A- ate some of W-‘s pasta and found it too spicy, so she frequently asks if food is plain or spicy before eating it. She prefers plain food, although she tries spicy food from time to time. She liked the spinach pancakes and breadsticks we made together. I'm looking forward to exploring more recipes with her.

Lots of fun language moments:

• “Nurse more, nurse more, no more monkeys:” after W- saved her from falling off the bed head-first
• “Phone said it's okay to nurse beep beep”
• “I want to nurse in carrier because I tired”
• “Airport sleep in bassinet a long time, because is tired”
• “Flight attendant!”
• a nicely interactive video chat with Lola

My big thing this month was figuring out how to make small books for A-. I traced photos on my phone, laid them out with Org Mode and LaTeX, printed them on a duplex colour printer, and taped the pages together. A- picked up the phrases and ideas so quickly. I made three books last month, and I want to make more!

Lots of other little kaizen projects, too. We kitted out the play room with more storage, and I printed labels for the bins. We got network-attached storage and have been organizing our photos. I set up lots of voice shortcuts on my phone. Lots of tidying up in the basement, too. I gave the iPad Pro and Pencil to Kathy, since she can make better use of it then I can at this time. I prepared our personal taxes and helped J- sign up for NETFILE.

We've been working on being more playful and silly, and that seems to be paying off. A- usually lets us brush her teeth and put her conformer back in if we play pretend or sing silly songs. Looking forward to learning even more.

April is nearly done. The trip, taxes, catching up, and preparing for all those medical things in May… Much to do!

In addition to our usual field trips to the Science Centre and the ROM, we went to Riverdale Farm. A- named the animals and enjoyed talking about them, although she found the sheep a little loud. We also started visiting family more often, for both big things like Chinese New Year and A-‘s birthday as well as small things like an afternoon of hanging out.

A- wanted to build a Duplo tower so tall that she had to stand on a chair to add blocks to it. She got pretty good at inserting shapes into her sorter and screwing together the nuts and bolts in her toolkit.

She walked astride her balance bike all the way to the kitchen by herself. She carried empty containers on a tray. She danced a lot and imitated other aspects of music class. She enjoyed bouldering. She wanted to try out a life jacket while swimming, and she kicked her legs too. She picked up diving rings with her foot.

She sang Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and Hey Diddle Diddle practically in full. I could prompt her to show me a sleepy face, a sad face, and so on. She talked about recent events and how she felt, often revisiting moments that were particularly significant to her. She echoed many of the things we often say, such as “Give it a try.” She asked for specific things using “I need…” and often thanked us.

She played more independently, often amusing herself for a number of minutes or toddling off to a different room while telling us to stop. She confidently touched different textures in books. She asked to be pushed faster while in the playground swing, and she wanted to go down the twisty slide.

Her eye exam went well. The pediatrician is working on referrals to Sick Kids for dentistry and endocrinology.

We replaced our printer with an HP M277dw, and I learned how to use it to make short books for A-. I figured out an Emacs News workflow that I can do entirely from my phone, and I set up Syncthing for my files too. We organized A-‘s toys and clothes into IKEA Trofast drawers. I uploaded old photos to Google Photos. Progress!

March: A new conformer, a consultation with the anesthesia dentist, more children's books, and lots of time with A-. We'll figure this out!

It was one of those big months that somehow manage to contain so much.

We reshot our family picture because my dad wanted us to all wear Columbia clothes. We spent a few days relaxing at home and enjoying family time. Then my dad slipped into delirium and we took him to the hospital, where he died. The cremation, wake, and inurnment were all wonderful celebrations of an amazing life. I've written about most of the things I want to learn from my dad's example and that I want to pass on to A-. I look forward to seeing how they work out in practice.

Most of the paperwork is underway. There's dealing with the reconfiguration of our family dynamics, too. There's a big gap where my dad used to be, of course. On the plus side, I have an even better appreciation of the strengths of my mom and my sisters. We'll get through this.

A- had a grand time hanging out with her cousins, aunts, and grandparents. She figured out how to sit down and cross her legs. She liked bouncing on the bed and falling down forwards and backwards. She mastered the well-timed shrug. She peeled and ate lots of tiny oranges. She asked Lola and Tita Kathy to read her lots of books. She got over her anxiety about dolls. She often hugged people and accepted hugs.

The flights home were quite manageable, especially since we had the luxury of empty seats beside us during the Incheon-Toronto flight. Sleep deprivation, sniffles, and jet lag hit us hard on our return, but things got mostly back to normal after a couple of weeks.

At home, she quickly went through her favourite activities. She figured out how to build an 8-block-high tower and delighted in knocking it down using different parts of her body. We figured out how to dress for winter and have been making

A-‘s language capabilities really took off. She started saying things like “Thank you,” “You did it!”, and “Give it a try.” She explicitly imitated us: “A- make coffee just like Daddy make coffee.” She picked up lots of adjectives and modifiers: “very very sweet oranges.” She learned how to talk about negation: “Nobody,” “Tita Ching no wear glasses. Only Lola wear glasses.” She talked about recent events and anticipated upcoming ones. She even tried her hand at negotiation and persuasion: “Blueberries! (nod nod) That's okay. That's okay.”

February will be about settling in again and taking care of A-‘s medical appointments. I also want to spend some time rethinking my workflow considering our recent phone and tablet upgrades, and to think about where other upgrades might make sense.

The big thing this month was flying to the Philippines to spend time with family. A- has mostly settled in. She gets quite anxious around my dad, who's a lot sicker than he was when we visited in September.

This month, A- figured out how to sort cans into five groups by colour, label how she was drawing, cut with a serrated knife perpendicular to the chopping board, roll and slice play dough, drop coins into a slot, and turn doorknobs (!). She was interested in stringing beads with help, picking up plastic eggshells with her toes, cutting index cards all the way through with scissors, standing astride her balance bike, and lifting bags of lentils overhead so that she could throw them down. She loved getting shopping bags from under the sink, putting cans in them, dragging them around, and putting everything away. She also loved sliding down an inclined mattress and rolling things down to hit various targets.

We discovered a nice toddler pool in a nearby community centre back in Toronto. Despite the cold, we managed to make it to an outdoor playground too.

A- regularly uses four- to seven-word sentences. She seems to have a few favorite sentence groups – snippets from books, or connected thoughts such as: upset picture; cat pajamas; no wake up all; ni bed. She can name everyone she regularly sees, and she likes labelling their actions. When I offer her choices, she uses more words to describe what she wants.

She wants to be more independent, and sometimes even asks me to wait in one place while she goes and does something. She sometimes gets upset when I eat something she's got her eye on or if I do something for her when she wants to do it by herself, so I'm happy to let her take the lead. She imitates what we do: washing dishes, carrying a stuffed toy in her sling, putting things away, strumming the ukulele strings. She's doing all right.

I'm learning to make the most of the tablet and phone that my dad insisted on giving me. I'm a little intimidated by the thought of dealing with Customs on the way back to Canada, but it's the right thing to do, so I'll just keep a spreadsheet with the gift totals.

My dad might have surgery shortly before our scheduled return, so I'm thinking of extending my stay a few weeks while W- sticks with the original itinerary. We've had a lot of serious conversations just in case this is the end, and we've also had lots of storytelling and family time.

I learned more about estate tax law in the Philippines. I'm reasonably confident that we'll be able to sort this out, especially with the recent tax changes.

We were in the middle of dealing with a flea problem in Toronto, so it's been nice dealing only with the occasional mosquito bite here. We'll just have to get back to vacuuming regularly once we're in Toronto again.

The major upgrade at work went well. I helped with a few bugfixes and problem investigations. I'm glad I brought the work laptop, although it will be an interesting challenge bringing everything back if I'm traveling by myself.