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| Friday May 09 |
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[10:31 pm] travel
We're soon to head out to Woodbridge, California for about a weeklong visit with my parents. It will be kind of nice to get away from things, I think. It should be pretty peaceful since it's not holidaytime with the entire family there, as much as we love them.Recently I've been planning out the details of our ginormous road trip—way longer than we've ever taken, let alone with young kids—coming up near the end of July when we pack up and move East to Hampton, Connecticut. I'm an extreme "J", so getting to plan out all the details for such things well in advance provides me with a mild high. (It's funny, though: as "J" as I am, I appreciate spontaneity too, spontaneously.) In summary, here's the exact route I've planned out. We'll pack up on Saturday, July 26th, into a 26' Penske truck. We were just going to go with the default-option U-Haul, but two people, independently, have urged us not to go with U-Haul. I did a web search on consumer reports for U-Haul and came up with some kind of scary stuff, so that clinched it. Plus, Penske trucks use diesel, so we'll save on gas money. We'll stay the night in a hotel, and leave first thing Sunday. We'll chug away as far we can up to Arkansas, through Johnny's Cash's birthplace, as far as Pine Bluff. Then, the next day, a relatively short drive on to Memphis where we'll get to visit Graceland (something Deidra, the Elvis fan, has always wanted to do). Next day, we'll press on to Hayesville, North Carolina and stay two nights with my aunt Kathleen and cousin Austin to visit and rest up a little. They live in a rural house and property, "Millrace," where my Granddad and Grandma (mother's side) retired to. I haven't been there since I was 16, so it'll be great to be back. D was born in Greensboro, NC and moved away as a baby, and she'll be returning there for the first time when we pass through it on July 31st. Also, my best friend from 5th and 6th grade (when I lived in Singapore), Kyle, lives there, so we might be able to catch lunch with him and his wife— I haven't seen him since I was 12! We'll spend a night somewhere between there and Connecticut, maybe beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia (where UVa, a top graduate school choice I applied to, is), before going on to Connecticut as far as Hartford, having taken the Garden State Parkway from the New Jersey Turnpike in order to avoid the Friday evening traffic going into NYC. Saturday, August 2nd, we knit over to our new residence, finally, and move in! Whew! I just hope the cats, not to mention the kids, will forgive us for dragging them along for just over 2000 miles... |
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| | Tuesday May 06 |
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[10:39 am] John & Laurel
There are pictures up from John's 1st birthday party.John has been crawling! In the time since the last "kids" post, he had gotten really proficient at rolling all over the place. But when something was right in front of him, he would just kind of stretch himself out and reach. But since then, he's figured out the crawling thing, in a few halting steps at first. He was a bit jerky with it, so that his crawling motion reminded us of Maggie Simpson. But he's gotten really fast, and that very soon after picking up the crawling action in the first place. Many kids are already walking by a year old, of course, but factoring in the fact that John was born almost 6 weeks early, he's about where Laurel was at this age. And he's progressing really fast, and has gotten quite strong. He pulls up to things on his knees, and I would guess that he'll be standing in a matter of weeks! His crawling has opened up a whole new world for him. His favorite places to head for are, naturally, the cat food in the kitchen (which Laurel at that age used to do), and Laurel's room, which has tons of interesting and colorful toys for him to investigate. Laurel, being 3 and very opinionated, has overwhelming instincts to manage and control his exploring, so we have to try to rein her in somewhat. Attempting to chase the cats is also fun for him. They look at him like, "Aargh, it can move now!" When he heads for the cat food, he'll stop and look back at us to see if we're looking, and when we come after him, he starts crawling faster like it's a race! So cute. Yep, he is officially "into everything"! John likes the TV and DVD remotes, and the phone too (anything with buttons, I guess). What's so funny is he'll pick up a remote and hold it aloft just as if pointing it at the TV like we do! He must be an observant little guy! Laurel is presently fixated with princesses, fairies, and makeup (at no behest of ours, promise!). Her colored magic markers now primarily serve as "wands," from which imaginary "sparkles" pour forth as Laurel dreamily twirls around while wearing a dress-up tutu and the "Happy Birthday" crown from her 3rd birthday party. Oh yes, and the other role her colored magic markers play is as eye-shadow and lipstick! Laurel likes to put on, most often, green "eye-shadow" and yellow "lipstick." For a long time we were stumped as to how she learned about eye-shadow; Deidra doesn't wear any. But last night as I was reading The Little Ballerina to her, it hit me—there's a part where the ballerina gets all made up for the recital, and puts on green eye shadow. She's also way into lip gloss; she's had a few kids' containers of sparkly lip gloss. At D's last trip to the grocery store, L caught sight of a box of five lip gloss tubes, each a different color and with a different Disney princess on it—so naturally, she insisted on it! Since then, she's been pretty much carrying them around everywhere she goes. Yep, she's a girl. :-) |
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| | Sunday April 27 |
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[5:25 pm] home in historic Hampton
John is 1 year old today! Speaking of which, I need to do another "kids" post soon.We're moving to Connecticut in August, where I'll be a PhD student in philosophy at UConn. Neither of us have ever been to Connecticut (we've been to Massachusetts, just north of it). But since I found out 11 days ago that we'd be moving there, we've been trying to nail down a place to live when we move. Well, the search is over. We were having some trouble, whether by the off-campus housing listings or otherwise, to find current openings for which a deposit would be accepted for an August move-in. But we did find one such, and it was actually one of the first places we looked at. It's the second floor of a duplex in Hampton, a town (or "village," depending on who you ask) of about 2,000 people, which has a history going back to the early 18th century. At first I was hesitant to go for it because it seemed a bit isolated, but it's actually just about 20 minutes from campus. (Everything's so close together in New England, distances can look deceptive on a map, until you notice the scale legend and see that it's only, say, two miles per inch.) And there's pretty easy access to Willimantic, which has large grocery stores and a couple of gyms that Deidra's looking into. There's a MOPS group that meets at a church in Eastford, just north of Hampton. We'll be located just about equidistant between Hartford and Providence (where my cousin and her husband Megan and Murray live), about 150 miles to the Big Apple where my sister Christie and her husband Josh live, and about 90 miles to Beantown, where a couple of high school buddies, Eric and Scott, and I are planning a Labor Day weekend trip to. It only recently occurred to me that since Laurel is turning 4 this summer, she'll be ready for Pre-Kindergarten. And, it happens, Hampton has an elementary school just up the road from where we'll be. There's also a state park that the listing for the duplex says is walking distance away. The house was built in the 1920s, and has wood floors, of course. The landlady says D can paint walls and make it her own, which D is very excited about. The upstairs half that we'll be in is about 1500 square feet. There's an acre yard. So, I think we're going to love the space. Heat is included, which is a big bonus, as we've been told that monthly heating bills in the winter can be hundreds of dollars in New England! The landlady lives next door and has four-month-old twins and a three year old. The tenant downstairs is a "very active" 88-year-old gal named Clara who "moved out of elderly housing because it was boring." The last tenants were a group of undergraduates that she would invite down to have tea with her. Apparently she'll be thrilled to have a young family upstairs. And Deidra is already scoping out paint colors and radiator covers online! |
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| | Wednesday April 23 |
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[12:54 pm] what a week
In the past week we've been madly Craigslisting and other such websearching to try to find a place to live. There's not that much in Storrs itself, but what there is is listed on off-campus housing directory on UConn's website. And, things become available there in a school-year cycle, which might make finding a place easier. There are a variety of other towns real close by, too, any of which look like they would be good places to live.We're also looking into Manchester, a town about the size of Lodi, CA (where my parents live), and is east of Hartford and just 10 or 15 miles west of campus. It's a big enough town that it'll have a gym and MOPS group close by for Deidra to easily get to. I've gotten in touch with one current philosophy grad student with similar interests, and found out that he lives in Manchester with his young family. He says it's great, and has generously offered to drive by and check out the area and exterior of places we're interested in. The thing is, stuff is being rented out that's available now, and people there might be less likely to accept a deposit from someone who won't move in until early August. We're looking for a house or duplex, in general, with a yard. We're done with apartment living. Deidra's Mom Barbara came to visit this last weekend, and we celebrated John's first birthday on Saturday with a few friends. He actually doesn't turn 1 until the 27th, but we celebrated it this last weekend so that Barbara would also be here for Laurel and John's baptism this last Sunday at church. At that time we were also inducted as members of our church, which we've been attending since September. We really like it, so it's sad that we're having to leave it, and kind of ironic to become members right after finding out that we're moving, but it was still important. I don't think we'll be able to find another church with such a rich traditional liturgy, or a pastor with such good, needful messages, though. |
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| | Wednesday April 16 |
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[7:25 am] moving to Connecticut!
I got word this morning from UT that they got several acceptances out of those offers still extant, so they didn't move into their waitlist. So we're moving to Connecticut! Holy moley... |
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| | Sunday April 13 |
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[11:03 pm] IN
I'm in at UConn! I just emailed requesting an update, and boy howdy did I get one. Whew! Felt like I'd be waiting forever with this waitlist malarkey—sure is a relief to get a bona fide offer! (The slim possibility of not getting in anywhere was not something I wanted to give much thought to yet.) Since that's definitely preferable to A&M's Master's program, I've told them they can take me off their waitlist, without ever actually knowing if I would have gotten in. I did actually hear from them just today too that there were still six outstanding offers left, and at the top of the waitlist all it would have taken was one of those to decline to get me in.I also got some specific numbers from UT as to offers made and outstanding and whatnot. It turns out they had made 22 initial offers for a class of "about 10 or 11." 5 have accepted, 6 declined, and the remaining 11 are still outstanding. I had pretty much assumed that they made the same number of offers as positions, and then dipped into the waitlist. That would mean that probably fewer than half of the initial offers would have to decline to give me a shot. But, in fact, this new information means that fewer than half of the initial offers would have to accept to give me an in. So that would seem to decrease the likelihood of my getting in. I'm not sweating so much now that I've got a place at UConn, at least. If UT throws an off my way, I'm in... otherwise, it's wagons east! Deidra, who has lived in Texas since she was a few months old: "But it's so far!" |
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| | Thursday April 10 |
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[12:07 pm] the tension mounts...
Only new news is that I've been told I'm #1 on the waitlist for A&M's MA program. So as soon as somebody declines, I get an offer.But it's only recently dawned on me what the ramifications of the April 15th deadline are, as described by the prof at UConn. Basically, it's a game of "chicken"—those who are waitlisted at, or haven't heard from, "one of the top three programs in the world" will want to sit on offers made from elsewhere until they find out their status at their top choices; but, they have to not wait too long (i.e., after April 15) or else an extant offer may be dropped: a bird in the hand vs. two in the bush. And other people deciding whether to accept offers at some of the same places are in competition with them in that blindfolded gamble. (Also, now I begin to understand why some programs, like Virginia does and very possibly Notre Dame, might elect to bypass the whole waitlist rigmarole.) So I guess it's nice not to be in that position now. Like, say, if I already had an offer from UT but hadn't been turned down yet at Notre Dame. But I may be soon if I get offers from A&M and UConn before UT. I mean, UT has me "very high" on their waitlist, but if it takes too long for them to make me an offer, I might have to pass up birds in the hand to hold out for them. Hopefully the "flurry of activity" will, as it sounds like, happen very quickly and it'll be over soon. Deidra's about to climb up the walls waiting to find out if we're staying in Austin or not! Oh, and I realized I had made an incorrect assumption in counting Baylor out: I had assumed that all three of the people in front of me on the wait list would accept an offer if given. On that assumption, if they're looking to fill four slots and, as I'd heard, at least one person would likely accept, then at most three people from the waitlist would get in, putting me right below the cutoff. But, of course, any of those waitlisted in front of me might not accept an offer. Still, it's not one of the most likely eventualities I'm looking at. |
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| | Wednesday April 02 |
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[1:57 pm] and then there were three
Colorado's out. No new news on the waitlists yet (officially, four of them, but I'm counting Baylor out, for reasons stated in an earlier post). |
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| | Friday March 28 |
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[12:40 pm] the kids
First new pictures since January are up.
John is 11 months old! He sure is getting big, and he loves his solid foods. When we spoon it into his mouth, he goes "mmmmmm," and if we interrupt the feeding for a few seconds while he's still hungry, he'll squeal impatiently! High-pitched squeals are his "hey! pay attention to me!" voice, which can get a little grating! John seems to be an excitable, passionate little boy, overall. He often says "ungh!" while tensing up his whole body.
He actually hasn't nursed in 6 weeks or so; at first we were calling that a "nursing strike", since it was very sudden, rather than gradual as babies normally do when they wean themselves. But Deidra never could get him to nurse again, but she's been back to pumping at least twice a day, Lord bless her, so John can get breast milk until he's a year old.
John sits up really well, and when music is playing, he bounces himself up and down a little, just like Laurel used to. Neat to see very small children respond to music; especially one's own! When sitting, though, he soon lowers himself to the floor so he can roll around and explore. He doesn't crawl yet, but undoubtedly will figure that out before long. His default position now, more or less, seems to be on his tummy, pushing his head way up with his arms to give himself maximum field of vision. When we put him to bed on his back, he usually immediately flips over to his tummy before going to his side or back to go to sleep. He does still like to be held a lot, though, so he'll usually only want to be on the floor for a few minutes at a time.
He is so stinkin' cute, I can't even tell you. He may even be cuter than Laurel was as a baby, which is saying a lot, of course! He's so sweet, too... when I hold him, he likes to put one hand on the back of my neck, and sometimes finger my hair back there. One of his really cute idiosyncracies is that he often likes to gently bonk heads with us while we're holding him; he does it soon after being picked up, so it's as if it's some kind of greeting. He also likes to bonk his head, much harder, on the (cushioned) back of his high chair seat, most often while he's waiting to be fed! John is also very ticklish, in common with his Mommy and sister. All I need do is give him the gentlest poke in the ribs, and he chortles, doubles over, and pushes my hand away.
When Laurel was a baby, she did this adorable thing when she was tired and we put her pacifier in her mouth: she would put her flat hand about an inch in front of her face, as if making sure the pacifier didn't fall out. John does something similar, and just as adorable. He doesn't take a pacifier, but instead favors his index finger. When he's tired, and he gropes around and finds some clothy thing (even a wet-wipe will do!), he'll grab it, put it close to his face and grasp it with both hands, with one finger in his mouth, whereupon he does the tired-eyes thing.
Laurel, the doting big sister, calls John "my Johnny-Johns."
And the Laurel-cakes, months from her fourth birthday(!), is getting to be a big girl indeed. The sentence structure and complexity of thought in her speech continues to be refined, although she has some phonetic idiosyncracies. She seems to have an "L" problem, which means she renders her name as "Lowah," which most people understand as "Laura" or "Lola." She also says "Lellow" for yellow. Although Laurel does not exhibit the rhotacism fairly common among children (and certain cartoon characters), she has a unique take on pairs of consonants ending in r. Pr- seems to come out "fr-", while br- as "vr-". Thus, "frincess," "vread," "umvrella," and so on. We're kind of tickled by it.
Laurel's imaginative play runs wild and free: every few minutes, just about, she decides she's something else. Very often this will be directly influenced by whatever she has most recently seen. Also very often, she's a "baby" whatever it is: "I'm a frincess!" "I'm a baby kitten!" "I'm a liddle baby penguin!" "I'm a liddle puppy!" She still very frequently asks us to "Read a story about..." whatever it is that she's doing or pretending to do, which is so frequent that it actually gets kind of annoying! Laurel also officially has an imaginary friend, who shows up from time to time: Maya from the PBS kids' show Maya and Miguel that she's watched.
Laurel continues to be strong-willed and extremely emotional (neither of which in and of themselves are bad things, of course), but she does show signs of becoming a little more obedient. We do try to discipline her as needed (although that is often), and it's nice to see some results from that. Sometimes she surprises us, such as where ordinarily we'd have to threaten a spanking to get her to listen and obey, but she obeys pretty much the first time. Sometimes. It takes all of both of our stamina, and more, to keep her reined in to some degree. But she's worth it!
Here's a funny genetic quirk: both Laurel and John can twist their tongue in their mouth to where it's oriented vertically. Neither Deidra or I can do anything like that. (Nor, indeed, have I seen anyone do that, I think!) My siblings and I can curl our tongues (me only halfway), and neither of our parents can. So those tongue tricks seem to transmit oddly.
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| | Wednesday March 26 |
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[11:36 am] waitlist statuses...
UConn: "You are definitely on our top 10 list, whose ordering is still being debated. It is very likely that we will make you an offer."(!)Baylor: "so far no one has declined [an offer], [and] you are 4th on the waiting list." So, since I was told that they're only filling about 4 spots this year, I guess that means I won't be getting in! That'll be hilarious if I get into top-flight UT but not lowly, unranked Baylor. I plan to get a "kids" post, plus a slew of new pictures, up this week... Currently listening to: Mogwai – Mr. Beast |
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