'tis the season

It's the season for leaves changing colors (already!) and cooler weather (except for today), for Paela bonking her head and splitting her lip (count last week was five times), for allergies making sleep hard to come by (and so many allergy medicines are not suitable for a pregnant person...), and for academic job applications for next year.

We spent last Sunday visiting Ian and his family. Paela loved going "to a friend's house", but 45 minute drives are still tough even with a friend to look forward to. Her version of "are we there yet" is to say bye bye to the car and tell us the car is done. Just as ineffective a device as asking if we're there yet, unfortunately for her. And for us. Luckily she had a great time playing with Ian's kids and their toys.

Labor day was spent being lazy, as it should be. We found time to go swimming, and to the petting farm, to the ice cream shop, and to the park. I'm not sure what Paela enjoyed most, since she was loving the entire day. I suspect she didn't like the cow licking her hand (based on how much she hid behind me afterwards), but the pig was nice enough to wake up and come over to say hi before we had to go. And who doesn't like ice cream? Though -- note to future self -- ice cream right before bed is actually much preferred over ice cream just before dinner. The park was great too until it ended in tears and a rather large goose egg on Paela's forehead from the swing hitting her. It's a large plastic chair, and rather heavy. The next day, however, she wanted to go right back to pushing the swing. Either we're not learning from that mistake yet, or the goose egg wasn't as painful after all.

Wayne started teaching this week. The first class was on Thursday, and went rather well. The class seemed engaged and interested, and has better skills than Wayne expected so he'll be able to do more with them in the course of the semester. Paela enjoyed hanging out with Camilla and Cameron while Wayne was teaching.

We can also celebrate now that Wayne's finished thesis (with signatures!) is in our little hands. It arrived Friday. So now it is just coordinating with the department secretary to get one more form taken care of and graduation will be official. Whew. And application season for academic positions has begun already. Wayne put in a few applications last week, but I imagine we'll continue looking for more and more postings as the semester goes on. Anyone know of any art professor openings near them? Or near us...or anywhere really...we'll add it to our list. It is the season.