– 8:38 am

I am currently at Gatwick Airport Gate 1 reflecting, and thinking about you, technology and our role as primary caregivers in your introduction to it. According to this, “When the child is between 18 to about 24 months, they recommend that tech devices can be introduced to the child up to a limit of 30mins per day on the devices, TV screens, and others.”

Inevitably, you’ve seen phones, laptops and tablets but we’ve more or less stayed within these parameters, leaning more towards micro dosage. Our first stance is no phones, screens or tablets. However, as we know, Tiny Desk has a big influence on you sonically, and without being there in person, it can only be streamed. The magic is finding a middle ground between entertainment and overstimulation. That’s no easy thing (given we can’t measure either). In that sense, abstinence seems logical.

To put some makeup on this, you’ve been in Riga (with your mum and grandparents) coming up to a fortnight. You’ll turn two there hence my weekend trip. So far, technology has mediated our interactions via video calls and media-rich texts. Thus, it’s fair to say you’ve had some screen time. Not much but more than usual, necessitated and amplified by distance.

I’m also half thinking maybe cumulatively you’ve had even less time onscreen. Your mum isn’t one to stay put, and from the pictures, there hasn’t been room for Tiny Desk. So perhaps my reflections are more visceral than actual. Anyhow, I’m on the plane. Embrace soon.

– 11:45 am

The last time we spoke, I was at the airport on my way to you. It was a soft landing and Riga hasn’t changed much. (We go too often enough to notice anyway.) We spent your birthday at Neptuns where your mother and I have been frequenting for as long as we’ve been going to Latvia. She coordinated everything from guests to logistics, as she does. I just showed up. All praise to her.

We arrived for lunch and spent most of the day walking the beach with Dace, Kostia & Ginta, their respective kids, your grandma, and Ieva and her mum (besties with your grandma). Your grandpa was the only notable absentee. He was in the hospital recovering from viral meningitis. He’s been plagued with the virus his entire stay, nearly a fortnight now. There’s no cure for it either. But he’s well on the mend and as of the time of writing, seems to be a thing of the past.

Your speech has also massively improved, be it in Russian or English. I’m amazed at the ease with which you use them interchangeably, without much effort (it seems). I guess you know no different so it must come to you naturally. Sentences aren’t a long way away now. But it’s not just your ability to pull from memory that is impressive, it’s more so the ability to apply context when using words like ‘here, there, this or that’. For example, ‘that, over there’. I didn’t think you capable of such framing. But I guess we’re all surprising each other.

The remainder of the holiday was spent restfully, with nothing of note. From age two, the airline prescribes a seat (that isn’t one of our laps). So that’s how we flew back.

In other news, yesterday we visited a nursery a stone’s throw from the house which we think would be great for you. Marc & Jess swear by it. They (well Jess) pestered their way in, calling day in and day out asking for vacancies. They were just a nuisance (her words not mine).

We’ve been on the waiting list for a time and finally got the call of an opening. It’s nothing fancy but everything I think a child needs. It feels like a family raising 20 or so kids, across varying age groups. It’s unrecognizable as nothing more than a house. It’s the perfect setting. The nursery is called Child’s Play (and yes I also rolled my eyes at the originality). We’ll see how you feel about it all.