Maia Battle Report: Year 2 Month 5

Maia's November was a dramatic acceleration in development, kickstarted by the evil of Daylights Savings Time. She initiated a successful visit to the toilet even though we're not actively doing anything to teach that yet. She managed to climb out of her crib on the 16th, and then opened the nursery door on her own on the 21st. I had to install one of those plastic doorknob condoms that irritate adults more than kids. Now during naps when she doesn't feel like sleeping, she'll just knock on the door saying things like "Trick or Treat!" and "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Come get me."

• "This one says...": What Maia says when she wants you to read something, like a panel in a comic strip or a page in a book.
• "This matches...": What Maia says when she picks out her outfits based on color or pattern.
• "That not a good song, Daddy": What Maia says when I try to invent new lyrics to repetitive childrens' songs.

She sometimes shows favoritism between Mommy and Daddy and verbalizes unexpected connections between the books she reads and the concepts she learns. She speaks in well-constructed sentences like "What are you doing, Daddy?" and when she has to repeat herself multiple times to be understood she gets louder and more exasperated, like Mitch Hedberg telling you about that tree over there.

Between the cold, the rain, and the fact that the sun goes down at 1 PM now, evening activities are a little more restricted. We'll usually hit the grocery store and experiment with some fun type of cracker-based snack, or just stay home and rake leaves. She still loves all of her morning activities and talks about her best friend, Nolan, and his family all of the time (They just moved into a house down Church Road so they can be best buds for a while now).

Of course, the thing she likes most right now is Christmas. She started the Advent Calendar on November 22 and enjoys lying under the Christmas tree and looking up. After helping Rebecca wrap some presents, she proudly blurted out, "DADDY I GOT YOU A PRESENT IT'S A BIG BLANKET!". I will have to refrain from telling her any state secrets about aliens.

Art Day

BU: "Look, Maia, I drew you a cow."

Maia: "I gonna draw his poop."

Advent of Code Day

The annual Advent of Code competition started yesterday morning at midnight. After some dithering about whether to participate in real-time this year, I decided to do it for as long as I can maintain enough sleep to deal with a two-year-old during the day. The hard part isn't waking up in the middle of the night to solve a puzzle -- it's trying to get back to sleep afterwards when your brain is buzzing with speed-coding adrenaline.

It has now been about two and a half years since I last coded for a living. I was worried that my skills would have become permanently crippled (not unlike my trumpet embouchure). Thankfully, the mechanics of coding seem to be ingrained now -- I was able to reflexively write working code even if the problem-solving aspect took a little longer. On our company's private leaderboard, I came in 2nd place on the 1st puzzle, just a minute after the 1st place time.

You can follow my progress throughout the month on my Top 10 Solve Times page, which I update every day. Stay tuned!

End-of-the-Month Highlights Day

New photos have been added to the Life, 2019 album. Google Photos sucks.

• Events
  • Family dinner at Cheng's Asian House on S 11/2.
  
  
  • Raked leaves and had dinner with Car and Ben on S 11/3.
  
  
  • Family "hike" in Claude Moore Park on M 11/4.
  
  
  • Took Maia to vote on T 11/5.
  
  
  • Took Grandma Uri out to dinner at Marumen on W 11/6 while Grandpa succeeded in fixing the ongoing electrical issue.
  
  
  • Had Katia & Ashley, Chih, Sena, & Nolan, and Tammy over for early Thanksgiving Dinner on S 11/9.
  
  
  • Rebecca and Maia went to church and had dinner with Ray and Christina, while I worked and then went to Shrimp Lover for a delicious clam chowder dinner on S 11/10.
  
  
  • Family flu shots followed by dinner at Fireworks Pizza on M 11/11.
  
  
  • The Uri grandparents came over to install new faucets on W 11/13.
  
  
  • Game Night with the Smiths on S 11/16.
  
  
  • Dinner with Hannah on S 11/17.
  
  
  • Family dinner at Ford's Fish Shack on M 11/18.
  
  
  • Work Happy Hour celebrating a $950M win on H 11/21.
  
  
  • Had Ghazaleh and Mike over for dinner on F 11/22.
  
  
  • Watched Maia while Rebecca taught anatomy to Yoga Teachers on S 11/23. The family spent the weekend with colds.
  
  
  • Put up the Christmas Tree and had dinner at Mellow Mushroom on S 11/24.
  
  
  • Visited Emily and her kids in Arlington in the evening on M 11/25.
  
  
  • Sara and Karl came into town and spent the night on T 11/26.
  
  
  • Had breakfast with Sara, Karl, and Car on W 11/27. Had an amazingly mediocre and overpriced dinner at Clyde's in the evening.
  
  
  • Went out to Taylorstown for family Thanksgiving on H 11/28.
  
  
  • Sara and Karl returned for drinks at Rocket Frog on F 11/29.
  
  
  • Solo dad dinner at Burton's on S 11/30.
  
  


• Projects
  • Got a new red maple tree in the front yard on M 11/25.
  
  
  • Wrapping up the work-team Puzzle Boat after over a month (finally finished the final puzzle on M 12/2).


• Consumerism
  • No amazing movies, games, or music this month.

November's Final Grade: B-, too cold and a roller coaster of toddler development

Happy Thanksgiving!

We may have done these holidays in the wrong order.