What I really want to say..

Ironically, even though I set myself up to be on the downhill road to my defense, I'm perhaps more stressed out now than I was the night before I printed my thesis.  The stress of unknown travel plans, the financial implications of cancelled travel, and the prospect of planning a trip in a few days when John and I are just not spontaneous travelers has mounted to some crazy levels today..  It has culminated with my desire to make some ridiculous responses to some odd comments in a review for a journal article.  I can't even post here what I would really like to say in response to some of the comments in the off chance someone ever found this blog.. but one in particular I feel I can post and if that person figures out it's related to them, well GOOD.. Maybe they'll change their attitude.

Reviewer comment: "...blah blah blah  (if he was analyzing his own dataset)"

Indeed?  I didn't know all people generating datasets in this field of science were men.  Thanks for generalizing...I will go tell my women friends exploring that aspect of science with that tool to leave the field.

I am being very cynical from the heaps of stress piled on me right now, but it would be nice if people incorporated in their speech and writing the idea that scientists and engineers could be either men or women.

The good news is many of the reviewers' comments were useful and very thorough.

Watch what you say

Davis continues to amaze us. Although he is still mostly babbling, it's quite clear his understanding is much better than his speech.  Here are some examples:

• Last Friday, our daycare provider told us she asked Davis to bring her the truck he was playing with.  He stopped playing and carried the truck to her two rooms away.
• Sunday, John and Davis were playing in another room and John said "Take this to Mom" and Davis brought me a toy in the office.
• Saturday night Davis was happily eating chicken and pasta, a first, when I said "Wow, he's really eating this stuff up" and John said "Yeah, and he doesn't even know there's tofu on the table".  For reference, tofu is Davis' favorite food, and when we put it on the table we cover it up before he sees it.  Immediately after John said that, Davis pushed all his chicken and pasta off his tray and clapped his hands for tofu! 
• Yesterday, he and I went into the living room to play and I closed the gate to the dining room.  He immediately started to cry and shake the gate.  I said "What do you want?" and he stopped crying and pointed at his cart, which was stuck on the other side of the gate from him.  I picked up the cart and gave it to him and he went on happily to play with it. 

Thesis update

My apologies for not updating the blog sooner, it became clear after the weekend that family members were wondering if I manged to finish my thesis last Friday.  Indeed, I did!  Unfortunately, after that I wanted to have nothing to do with a computer, hence the silence.  My thesis was printed and handed over to my committee members to review prior to my defense in two weeks.  Now all I have left before I get their feedback is a presentation to put together and a poster.  Unfortunately, the poster is for a conference in Europe and our travel plans have us going through Dublin, whose airspace has been one of the slowest to re-open.  The conference organizers seem hopeful that enough will return to normal by this weekend when it starts that they will be holding it.  I just got off the phone with the travel agency and the news is we wait and see.  Until the flight is cancelled through Dublin we can't do anything about changing it to go through a more southern European city.  I'm not doing very well with the waiting process and find myself constantly checking for updates.  I had to go back to a cafe, without internet, this morning to get anything done.

A future scientist

I know, I haven't checked in for a while on the blog.  To say things have been crazy, or that I have been busy, is an understatement of vast porportions.  The good news is that I hope to will have a thesis draft on my committees' desks this Friday!  The end is in sight.

Tonight I just wanted to check in to tell a story about our budding, future scientist.  Uncle James, Aunt Stephanie and cousin Melanie gave Davis a toy for his birthday, which is a collection of plastic rods with magnets on either end and big metal balls you can use to  connect them.  They are a very nice alternative to playing with megablocks all the time.  In fact, tonight, when faced with the decision to play with EITHER the megablocks or the magnetic toys, he chose the magnets.  I was fascinated, a bit alarmed too, when Davis started to pick up every single piece and throw it over the footstool, into a corner of the room that is blocked off for safety reasons.  One by one, he threw ball, then rod, then ball, rod, rod, etc.  Every time he tossed one over he would get up on his tiptoes and watch as the ball or rod settled.  I finally realized that he was fascinated by watching the interactions of the pieces when thrown into a small proximity.  Sure enough, when I looked, all the rods and balls had settled in some fashion with each other, versus being randomly dispersed. 

In addition to being a fantastic observer of all things, Davis has been picking up a few words. Or a couple of words..maybe ... if you listen closely.  Dad and Mom have heard him say "duck" and "ball" in addition to "uh-oh".  Unfortunately, Ma-ma and Da-da, although said frequently, don't appear to be associated with anyone in particular yet.  Despite our lack of understanding, Davis does seem to have an immense vocabulary and can tell complex and interesting stories that often involve much pointing and exclamation.  We think he told us a story the other night of a very large fish he caught while at daycare.  

Recent Photos

Kristen and I have been pretty swamped lately, but we've manged to take a few pictures over the last couple of weeks. With the improving weather, we've been getting outside a lot more.  Davis is enjoying exploring the world.  We've recently been checking out a lot of the local parks.

Playing in the backyard after daycare:

At the park closest to our house:

At a park in Winchester:

Happy Birthday!

Today was Davis' first birthday.  I can't believe its been a whole year, time has flown and I'm still in awe that we made a person.  We celebrated with a small get together, cupcakes and ice cream.

Here are some pictures from the day:

More pictures here and here.