the doctor is in

I have my PhD! After sitting with my committee for two hours with me presenting my findings, and them questioning my findings (in other words, the usual drill), they agreed that I had fulfilled the requirements.

Although I was pretty stressed yesterday, I was calm today. What will be will be, I thought. And what is is a doctorate of philosophy!

They told me my analyses were well-done, my interpretations were good, the writing was excellent, and by the way, could they have a copy of my presentation so they could give it to other students as an example of what a presentation should be?

In other words, this was no pity pass, this was the real thing. Yay for me!

say "please"

Kiddo has now mastered her third sign: "please." She actually learned it very quickly. My husband taught it to her once, then when I brought up the concept a few days later she quickly rubbed her chest (which is the baby equivalent of the sign). So now we request that she says please when we give her things. We are hoping that this will soon replace the insistent "eh, eh, eh" that she does currently.

Yesterday she wanted part of my granola bar, and was pointing and exclaiming her desire. I asked "what do we say?" then quickly realized that while she can sign please, she still doesn't understand when to apply it. So I started explaining to her, "when we want something we don't scream, we say..." At this point Kiddo smiled with understanding and said "AAAHHH!" (her fake scream).

She's so smart. She knew I was looking for a specific action from her, so when she heard scream she knew just what to do.

Laughing, I said, "no, we say please" and then she also quickly rubbed her chest, and I handed over the granola piece. So, she doesn't understand everything I say, but apparently she understands a lot.

monkey on her back

This is Kiddo imitating her mom. Instead of a cute stuffed animal though, I have a dissertation. I get to take mine off soon. (What will I do without it though? I've been carrying it a long time.) She chose to wear hers, finding this monkey and insisting that we put it on. We've only worn it once before (it had a long tail that makes it a baby leash, I bought it for our trip to Texas, but just couldn't use it, maybe for our Utah trip...), but apparently she remembered it, and loves her monkey pal.

Note her intense curls. They are aided by the current humidity. Where are these curls from? Those who know me would suggest me, but I had straight hair as a child (much to my grandma's chagrin as she would try to curl it), and my husband's never had anything but. Is her hair like her maternal uncles (many of who have curly, albeit short, hair)? That should also imply it will be a lovely brown. Time will tell.

just like dad

As we headed out for a walk on Saturday, Kiddo made it clear that we needed to wear this hat. It's her dad's. This is his gardening hat. He has it to a) protect his fair skin, but more importantly b) because it's just like his dad's.

nursery dry run

Since Kiddo turns 18 months next Sunday, we tried out nursery at church today. She's at least five or six months younger than the other eight or so kids, so she's not as mature as them, but she still enjoyed herself. It was obvious that she did not know the rules, and some of the kids indicated that with their stares, but she was merrily oblivious, and did her best to join in the fun. There was puzzle time, marching time, a walk outside, snack time, play time, book time, and singing time. I'll let you guess which part she loved the most.

In fact, she really appreciated all the songs, and clapped enthusiastically after each one. Next week I may even try to leave her there without me. It might work out, and I might be able to listen to church again.

a not uncommon view

Okay, so the picture is sideways, but I'm afraid I don't care enough to fix it.

Kiddo is more than happy to give you whatever she is done with. When out on walks, she will give you her flower so she can get a new one. She holds it out, not looking, waiting for you to see, and respond.

When eating, she passes the food she doesn't want. We're trying to teach her to just leave it on her plate, but that has some interesting side effects. Sometimes, she'll then drop it on the floor. But other times, she turns to another person and offers the food to them (for example, I'm more likely to take the food, my husband more likely to insist she leave it be). Last night, she handed her unwanted broccoli to me, and I placed it back on her plate with an assurance it would be fine. A few moments later I saw her pushing her broccoli towards the missionary eating at our house. "Oh no, I'm sure the Elder doesn't want your broccoli!" and so then I took it.

The evening got more exciting just as they were about to leave. Kiddo slipped and hit her mouth hard on the edge of the table. She started screaming (as she should) and I tried to comfort her and check her mouth for any damage. Once we convinced the missionaries that it was a good time to leave (quickly now) so we could care for the kid, she was lucky enough to get some baby motrin, a popsicle, and extra time with the Little Bear DVD (which she would watch non-stop if I let her). All things seemed to help. No permanent, or temporary, damage.

this morning

This morning I woke up to feet banging on the wall, little covered feet because we live in the northeast, and when it's only been in the mid-50s all day, warmer pjs are required for my little one at night. Bang, bang, bang.

My first thought was that we'd somehow missed our alarms, what time was it? 5:55. We had not missed our alarms at all. I decided to ignore the banging until she got cranky. After all, banging on the wall is not a way to communicate with us, it's just something she does to have fun. (She is truly fond of her crib, especially now with her animal sheets. She points to her animal of choice, and then we sing a song [Yes, that's a giraffe, which reminds you of a horse, "I want to take my horse and buggy...] Sometimes she doesn't want to get out, but she does want company.)

The noise faded as I fell back asleep, and when the alarm went off 5 minutes later, it was gone, and 2 1/2 hours later she's still asleep, which means I got to rethink my wake up time, and sleep in an extra hour, plus take a shower, read my scriptures and pray, and may even get a little work done, all before her day (really) starts. Excellent.