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Today was a bit if a different day, as instead of a full day of work, I took Smallsteps to the office for the morning. After sitting through a remote meeting with my supervisor, we headed out to lunch for sushi at a restaurant close by the office. Then, back to talk to a friend and colleague that she knows, before heading into the city to wander around and see what mischief we could get up to. 

> We ended up at a music store.

![1000048826.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/23wX3FDKKKWu6e1NkD2TBRAK7NoawbzW1DNGtU7EKujdhEHDEeeXt8xhs2tcK6ZyLRMEr.jpg)

Smallsteps had never been into a music store before, and was pretty impressed by all of the different instruments on display and spent a fair amount of time strumming on the strings of guitars, tapping xylophones, looking at picks, drumsticks and then, *the pianos.* It was a relatively small store, but they had a baby grand Steinway, and she really enjoyed playing *Twinkle Twinkle Little Star* on it. Then, she tried other pianos to see what changed in the sounds. 


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While there wasn't that much to see, we managed to wander around for about an hour, talking about different instruments, choosing our favorite color guitars, and tapping on bongos. It was so simple, but a lot of fun!

With nothing much planned though and the weather not great for walking, we went toward a department store, but with a challenge I made up - *someone was following us, and we had to escape.* This meant taking a circuitous route through various streets and shops, and once in the store, sneaking around the racks of clothes, going up and down escalators, elevators, and around displays.

> Again - a lot of fun!

![1000048828.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/EoK5qfJ6TC8UCyQ1CsXiRfagJWWhT9WWswvGNMEE3MfQ6zSYryg6xF9WAai2dW3PeX9.jpg)

Smallsteps was saying the other day that she felt sad because when the teacher asked at school who was going away for the ski holiday with their family, many children put their hand up, but she couldn't.  

At that point, she didn't know that we had planned a weekend trip for us to a swimming center, and still doesn't know, because we had to cancel it due her eye infection. We often try to surprise her with things that are special, but I think that we should do it less and instead let her know what we are going to do, as she is talking more about these things with her friends, and finding her place socially. Being able to discuss some of these things can help her better build and understand relationships with people. 

![1000048825.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/23wqgZr8GWVmzWz37BXSzN1HYPB5qMxMbSc7veDZ9moFMYYDgomRrvcJMt1St35YjBBAx.jpg)

Tomorrow, Smallsteps will be with her grandparents again for the day, but on Thursday and Friday, she will spend it with my wife, and they will have girl time together. This is valuable too, and I hope that it will lead to a strong connection between them in the future, though I do think that we should spend more time together as a family outside of the house, doing something different - anything. It feels hard in the winter to do much though, especially when the weather is pretty horrible to be outside. 

> We should make the effort still.

It doesn't take much.
Just a walk, with an imaginary adventure attached.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]



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