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.