Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

This week was busy at work, and seemed busy at home, while we wrestled with decisions. Wayne's grandpa Madsen passed away at 96 years old, and we tried to decide whether we could get away to the funeral or not. My doctor, of course, thinks I'm much too pregnant for travel, and Wayne worries that his class is incapable of being left unattended (i.e. they won't work at all while he's gone) and since he'll be out later this coming week and probably some when the baby comes.... Anyway, tough decisions all around. We would have loved to have us all be able to go. [This is an oversimplification of the decision process and the complex behind-the-scenes considerations.  read more »

Happy birthday to Paela. She turned two years old this week with much fanfare. While I was impressed with how boisterous our festivities were, Rebecca reminded me that some parents invite 50+ guests, rent a moon-bounce house and buy a pony for the toddler. We didn't spoil Paela, but it has been a long time since I have felt a birthday celebration was so ... celebratory.  read more »

Wayne and Paela started off the week by cutting out a pumpkin "smile face". Paela, though she's admired our neighbor's jack-o-lanterns, wasn't so sure at first about her daddy actually cutting the pumpkin. She's a sensitive soul, and doesn't like things to get hurt. :) By the time it got dark enough to appreciate the pumpkin with a glowing candle in it, she seemed appeased by the situation though. 

Wayne worked on his job application materials more extensively this week, proofreading and getting insights from people at work. So hopefully we can get those materials in tip-top shape and send more applications off.  read more »

It seems like we did many activities this week, but we honestly can't remember what.

There were a couple of story times at different libraries. Paela enjoys her craft projects best of all and will actively ask for playdoh, painting, glue sticks and other activities. We made two paper mache balloons and Paela decorated one with her hand paints. Most mornings we would head out to the Lexington playground because fewer people go there and it is surrounded by astro-turf soccer fields. Paela chases me around while I kick the ball and it is good exercise for us both.  read more »

The leaves are piling up outside, so Wayne and Paela explored the leaves one afternoon. They made a big pile and jumped in them, and collect nice ones to make into a collage. Paela wasn't sure what her dad was asking her to do at first...but when he showed her she quickly got into the spirit of things.  read more »

School is moving into forward motion. While my first lecture breezed through a wide arc of our mission for the semester, both Tuesday and Thursday lectures took the entire time permitted and I was barely able to give the required information for the students to complete their first paper. I hope that this coming week we will actually be able to work on visual material instead of theoretical concepts. It is a shame when we have to spend two weeks listening to lecture and theory before we can work with the ideas in a more concrete sense. But I needed to provide a conceptual premise for the rest of the semester.  read more »

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.   read more »

We wanted to go last Saturday to a you-pick place up on the New Hampshire border, but they told us to wait a week for raspberries. I politely asked for prices on their peaches ($30 for 24lbs) and for raspberries ($3.50 a pint). We were so excited to get some canning done and have homemade jam and home canned peaches. It was on our minds when we made a trip to costco to pick up some things Monday evening, until we stopped at the peaches and raspberries at costco to find that they were the same price -- minus a 3 hour drive to and from the state border. So we picked up 30 lbs of peaches and many pounds of raspberries and strawberries.  read more »

Paela's been learning about turn taking. She knows, for example, that when we have a bowl of ice cream or yogurt that we will share with her if she would like. She has figured out that before she can get another turn, we usually take a turn ourselves. And since she likes to narrate pretty much everything she does, eating a bowl of ice cream generally goes like this:

"Mama's turn?" (I take a bite.)

"Paela's turn!" (Paela opens her mouth expectantly.)

"Mama's turn?" (She patiently waits while I take another bite.)

"Paela's turn!" (Paela opens her mouth and leans forward ever so slightly.)

Of course, I'm never quite so eager for these sharing sessions when it is her vegetables or her water cup she's offering to share (narrated with a "Mama's turn?", of course). But it's nice of her to offer. 

We ask Paela to do or not do certain things on certain occasions. Call it "discipline", if you will.

For example, one day during dinner Paela was banging her fork repeatedly on the table. We asked her to stop banging her fork. She was asked several times, until I caught her arm on the way down to the table and grabbed her wrist to keep her from banging (again). I asked her to stop banging her fork (again). For a moment or two she stopped, but I sighed inwardly as her arm came down once more to bang that fork of hers. This time, however, it was not my hand that stopped her fork's progress. Paela reached across her plate with her other arm, and grabbed her own wrist before the fork made contact with the table, and sternly told her hand "no banging."

For the rest of the meal, her other arm kept the discipline in check.