Thanksgiving itself is probably my third favorite holiday, but I always get a lot done on personal projects and a lot of quality family and friend time during the week, which bump it up in my overall admiration. Thanksgiving Day we hosted another couple who are NY transplants and also have a 3yo who gets…

The cold weather is here, and I am happy to have it. It snowed on Friday, but melted overnight. Given the weather, I’m in full hearty meal mode. Charlie was home sick on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That made for a challenging work week. He was vomiting, but had full energy and was bouncing off…

I’ve been working on other people’s blogs at work all day, time to post on mine. Downtown Peekskill with Amanda and Charlie on Monday evening. We went to dinner at the Irish place, and we also checked on the Little Free Library and exchanged some books. We had another tough weekend with Charlie, so I’m…

Short post this week. I need to get some sleep. It has been a long week and I am tired. This work week was stressful and parenting was difficult. Optimistic that next week will be better. I made my own rosin and fly tying wax this week. I tied a few flies this week, too.…

Charlie worked with me in the shop on Monday night and I got down the hand drill and bit brace for him to check out. I was surprised by how quickly he grokked them. It was cool to see. He drilled decent holes by himself much safer than with a battery drill. I’ll have to…

Charlie and me at Home Depot: “Daddy, what’s this?” “An eye bolt” “Daddy look!” Charlie made a bus out of clay. I worked at the Automattic office in Manhattan on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day, so I had breakfast in Union Square before a phone call. For lunch I went to Thai Diner. Short…

Charlie and I were on our own until Wednesday, when Amanda came back from London. We played outside, got pizza at Baci, went grocery shopping, did dishes, and read books. We also worked through the meltdowns together and took 3x as long to get out the door each morning, because even though I only post…

It feels like fall here. Charlie and I returned home from a trip to cold, windy weather, and a yard covered in leaves. We had to turn the heater on in the house for the first time this season. I’m sipping some cognac while I write this. Nothing fancy, Gilles Brisson VS. Good sipper. There…

The big thing this week is that 159 of my colleagues at Automattic left over three days as part of this ongoing struggle with WP Engine. I stayed. The offer was generous and tempting, but I think Automattic is in the right when it comes to the lawsuit and I believe in Matt’s leadership of…

We moved five house projects forward this week (three big, two tiny): The WordPress world is in uproar this week. It has made work interesting. The WP people reading this already know, and the non-WP people reading this probably don’t care, so I won’t bore you with the details other than to state which side…

Today is the Autumn Equinox. I couldn’t help noticing that the sunset and the light it cast on the Croton Reservoir was brilliant. I’m looking forward to autumn, cooler days, chilly nights, and fewer insects. It was warm enough to feel like the end of summer this week. Warm enough to play with the hose,…

A lot of things this week didn’t go according to plan. That’s okay, we adapted and still had a good week. Monday was the Labor Day holiday and we played a lot outside, trying to soak in that last bit of summer. After a good afternoon of playing outside at home, we got ice cream…

We traveled to north Georgia Monday through Friday to visit my aunt and uncle, grandfather, and cousins (all on my Mom’s side). My parents met us there. We enjoyed catching up, meeting my cousin’s son Maddox for the first time, and introducing Charlie to them for the first time. Some highlights: After we got back…

This week had greater than normal variance. Higher highs and a lower low than usual. The highs: I had some really great moments with Charlie this week. The weather was beautiful. We went for a lot of walks and bike rides by the river in the evenings, and I’m regularly astounded by his memory and…

Hi! I’m back. I’m fine, just needed a break from blogging. I thought I’d return later than this, but I started feeling that blogging itch again, so here I am typing away late on a Sunday night after everyone else has gone to bed. A recap of June, July, and beginning of August This summer…

Busy week around the house. First, the surveyor arrived on Tuesday and staked out our property line. It was warm that day and when Charlie got home from daycare he helped me water the garden, then played with the hose. His favorite outdoor activity! (Compare to the same week last year.) He was also pretty…

Short one this week. I’ve tried to write this a couple times, but keep running out of time. Look at the determination ⚾ Amanda and I started doing lunch dates out once a week while Charlie is at daycare since sitters are hard to get, and it has been great. We never have to make…

Potty training update: We kept Charlie home for four days, then he went back to daycare on Tuesday. Overall he has the gist of it and we are very proud of him. The next thing we are working through is that he sometimes doesn’t want to stop playing, so he has accidents. We keep reminding…

The big thing this week is potty training round two. Charlie is a champ and making good progress, but we are all worn out and a bit stressed. I took naps twice this weekend, which is big because I almost never nap unless I am sick. Despite the protests, each day is better than the…