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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Back home at last.

Josh and Isaac arrived home Wednesday evening and we spontaneously went to hear music in a local park. It was a lot of fun and Isaac seemed to really enjoy the music--they were really good. Even though it was good reconnecting, at the end of the night, I was sad thinking of leaving them again. So I was crazy and took today off. I rationalized it a bazillion ways and jumped in the car and drove to NH.

We saw my parents at their work and convinced my mom to leave her volunteer shift at the hospital and come home with us. Isaac jumped on the trampoline and walked to the lake with my mom. It was awesome. Feeling good, I checked email around 3:00. Waiting for me in my inbox were several pissed off emails from my boss. The last one began with, "What an unfortunate day for you to have taken off...". Of course! The one day --in months-- I take as a complete vacation day is the one that I MUST be at lab. Only a few more weeks, right?

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Walking in larchmont

Note the whisk and wooden spoon--his instruments.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

As for Mommy?

Prior to this week, Isaac and I had only been away from each other for ~30 hours. Now it's been almost five days. I miss them both so much so each day I look forward to the pictures and stories from Josh and then go back to the pictures later during down-time (and sometimes when I really should be doing something else).

Meanwhile, I've been typing away and have now completed two boss-approved chapters for my thesis! Unfortunately, I have two left to go. With my guys away, I've reverted to pre-Isaac days and I eat cereal, salad or smoothies for dinner to avoid cooking meals--and because I'm sweating from the heat and don't want to turn on the oven. Also, I've got greens coming out of my ears because our full-CSA keeps bringing me more fresh veggies--that's several pounds of produce and I'm just one person!

Think of me and give me good writing energy. This is such a different skill and because science writing is so formulaic, I have to get it just right so that it sounds respectable. At least today I got a "terrific" and "nice" in my track changes from Piali. Baby steps...

In heaven.

Meanwhile, Isaac was at home with Aunt Moriah and Munga.

I've been to the zoo and now i'm getting


Isaac on the slide

Years ago, we went to the Pittsburgh zoo and captured Josh, our good
friend Emily Romero and me each on the same slide.

Isaac proclaims "Everest next."

Isaac at the Pittsburgh Zoo

Happy at the zoo


At the zoo and loving his jeep.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The end of the school year...for everyone

By the end of the week, Josh and Isaac will be out of school (no daycare over the summer). They leave for a one-week trip to Pittsburgh on Monday. In 5 weeks, I may be able to join their fun (at home). My defense is July 16th and my talk will be at 11am at Brandeis. Anyone who wants to come is welcome.

It's been a tough couple of months as Josh pushed to complete the final lessons and finish grading while I prepared my manuscript for press and organized old projects into thesis-ready chapters/appendices. Through all this, Isaac has continued to grow, sing and change.

One of the big change-instigators was that we set-up a toddler bed in Isaac's room. Instantly, he fell in love with his "big-boy bed"and wanted to play in his room all the time. Since we set up the bed, we have struggled with more wake-ups than the crib and don't know always how to handle Isaac requesting to get out of his room, "Please, open the door. Pleezze, open the door!" He also now wakes up about an hour earlier (around 5am) with, "I want Mommy! Open the door!" I just bought a new daytime/nighttime clock that uses a bunny light on a timer to teach when morning should start. I'm optimistic, but not holding my breath that it will work.

Isaac has also become much more of a climber (inside and out). When we go to the playground, he used to prefer to passively sit in the swing. Now it's all about finding bars for him to hang from. He's pretty good at holding on, but I admit I have small heart attacks when he climbs this one particular structure at Victory Fields that's meant for a much older child (my imagination flashes images of his head hitting a bar on the way down or falling from the top). He still is kind of clumsy and doesn't always look where he's going or what he could hit/be hit by--body awareness--that can be frustrating to watch. Last night, we were walking by a basketball game and he was watching it instead of the ground and missed a small hole. Needless to say, he fell over and scraped up his knees.

Last story--the other morning, Josh and I were lounging around while Isaac was reading to himself (an absolute favorite pastime) when all of a sudden he starts singing, "A, B, C, D..." and you will not believe it, but he sang the ENTIRE song. Yes, "L, M, N, O, P" sounded like, "elm, no, pee"but Josh and I were startled. When we tried to sing along, he scolded us saying, "no touching!"--his go-to command to stop talking, touching, singing or interacting with him. So, I guess it will just solos for Isaac right now!

So that's my catch-up. As you can see, Isaac is talking a ton and has plenty of opinions. I just bought the Pierre book because it is a childhood favorite and Isaac loves it. It just reminds me, that's never been a problem for my guy: he CARES!