Spring is no longer in the air.

The trees have started blooming, some of my tulips bloomed yesterday, it's been in the high 70s and 80s.  And yet...tomorrow we have a "winter" storm warning, 6 to 12 inches of snow expected and below-freezing temperatures. Goodbye, fruit! (Although the raspberries aren't anywhere close to blooming, so raspberry jam is still a possibility.)
On the one hand (men), the water is good; on the other hand (de), does it have to come in frozen form?

Today I was a judge at the undergraduate research poster session. I saw posters on algae genetic engineering, EEGs on children, the economics of NHL team fan bases, imitating blood vessels with PVC pipes, and the benefits of migration for mule deer. The conversations were stimulating, everyone was on their best behavior, and the research some students did was at a very high level.

When I left the venue, I was confronted with posters of a different, horrible kind. They were very large and very graphic and very ugly. It was a shocking contrast to the civility of the discourse I had just left! I can't imagine how these posters will enable good conversations. These posters are so rude and disrespectful of the people who have to look at them. It makes me mad every year. There must be some loophole this group is exploiting to allow them to stay on campus all the time, because it makes a lot of people mad!

To end on a good note, I'm teaching my last lab tonight and tomorrow night - next week is their lab final! So spring will eventually arrive, one way or another.

Spring is in the air

Yesterday we went to the grocery store and bought a lot of snack food. We don't usually have any snack foods around, aside from Triscuits, but it was a fine spring day and that seemed to justify it.
When we were checking out the cashier asked "How old is your little helper?" but I assumed he said, "Do you want help out?" so I said "No thanks." Then he said it again, and Eric said, "He's good." Weird, but okay. Then he said it Again!, and we finally understood he what he was asking and replied appropriately.
We were only buying snack food because of the nice weather, it's not our fault we're both deaf.
Here is the little helper in the kitchen:

He hasn't smacked himself in the face with the spoon yet! He smacks his other hand with it, in a very meaningful way.

He is also learning about petting Pocky.

Jailbreak!

I heard you're getting out today, so here's something special for you. You have to admit it's getting better (a little better) all the time!

baby whisperers

We coerced Oscar into communicating further with us and Grandpa P.

For Grandpa P.

Margaret and I hope you are feeling better today Dad.  Oscar also has a special message for you:

Good Job meteorologists

I don't know who names winter storms but they are doing a bang up job.  Y was Yogi and Z is Zues.  Zues is going to be 3-6 more inches over the next couple of days.  Luckily yogi has come and gone and mostly melted. Bring it Zues!

lounging around

The snow has mostly melted, although we are experiencing flurries right now. Snow is forecast for tomorrow as well. But then it should be real spring weather for a while. I hope the bulbs will recover and give us some flowers! There were buds on the tulips last week before the snow arrived.

We got Oscar a jumpy seat that hangs in the doorway. He has mostly found inventive ways to choke himself with it so far, but every now and then he gives a jump or two. He also spends most of his time chewing on his hands. It gives him an intelligent air.

Cat Update

New laws have been enacted in the cat kingdom as determined by cat vote.
1) Each cat gets his own bedroom:

2) Mo and Raj will be as cute as possible:

We are experiencing winter storm Yogi. I had thought it was Yeti, which would be way better, but Yogi is still pretty good. May it bring us peace of mind.

From the land of always winter and never Christmas

It's still snowing, which means it has been snowing since I woke up on Monday morning, and we haven't even seen a glimpse of the sun. My class was canceled last night by executive decision of my boss (although there really was no need, although it was snowing the roads were clear). School is on today too, so far.

The bench in the backyard is totally covered now, and the weird snow people sitting in the chairs are almost ready to topple over. Eric has quite an adventure going out to see the bunnies every day.

Fortunately I have this chatty baby to hang out with!

There's a movie version of the Kon-Tiki!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/movies/two-versions-of-kon-tiki-in-two-different-lanugages.html

April is the cruelest month!

School was canceled yesterday afternoon. This morning it looked like this outside, and it's still snowing:

School is on for today, though.

In honor of the weather, and finishing his thesis, Eric removed the beard and made me trim the mustache. I liked the mustache better before the trim, but he says this way he can eat soup.

Four months old!

Seventeen weeks, though. I realized that months aren't strictly four weeks long when I was pregnant, and it still bothers me.

Today we toured the early childhood center, which is run by CSU and includes CSU students as caretakers. This place is so fancy! The building was remodeled and they moved into it in January. It has radiant heat in the floors and lots of natural light and natural materials. They follow the "Reggio Emilia" philosophy, which sounds great. I'm just glad they have a philosophy to follow. I can't imagine deciding against a daycare place because their philosophy isn't suitable. Maybe for a school it would make a bigger difference. These philosophies all seem pretty similar to me.

Because of all the student teaching and training that happens here, there are little booths behind each classroom where observers can watch what's going on. There are cameras and microphones in all the classrooms. I asked if the children were ever part of research studies, and they totally are! When I asked, the tour-giver said, yes, but of course you can always opt out of them. But I think being a part of research is excellent!

Unfortunately they started taking applications in March, and there is a waiting list. But they give priority to CSU-related people, so we still have hope. It helps too that we'll take whatever slot they can give us. We toured with another couple (the husband is also a grad student in the Biology department, and he recognized us, but we had no idea who he was) whose baby is due in November, and they want to start daycare in January. I wish we'd been a little more on the ball about this, maybe not so on the ball as them.

Here's the little punkus, hanging out with his giraffe, in a duck suit and a bear jacket. Don't they worry babies will get species identity issues?

Comments allowed!

I fixed the settings so that anyone can comment, no ID required.

Someone loves Henry's sun hat! Sometimes now when he's being fussy we can distract him by making faces and silly noises. It's nice to avoid the fussiness but it can be a lot more work putting on a show!

I gave him the soft elephant Mark got for him and his first move was right on: shove it in your mouth! He did it so violently and deliberately, like he had just been waiting for this toy to appear so he could try eating it. He's a little more careful when he tries eating the rings.

Last night Eric was working on his job applications, which of course is the worst. But he was cheering himself up by chewing on the rings himself! He also briefly wore them as a necklace, and then spent some time rearranging them from the chain form to the key-ring form. Good thing he's better at sharing than Oscar!

Little Laughman

Laufman. Whatever.

Men at work

Oscar was sound asleep in that pose.

He continued sleeping even after Pocky joined them.

Look at him, all sitting up and telling his rings what! He doesn't like being interrupted while he and the rings are busy together.

It's the beginning of Oscar's office!

momentous times

We moved into our house a year ago! (A year ago on March 31st, exactly.) After all the papers were signed we skipped Plant SuperGroup and packed up the bed. We tied the mattress to the roof of the car as best we could and drove to the new house with our arms out the windows holding the mattress down. I'll never do that again, but then, I don't have to! It is so nice to be so far removed now from the Plum Street house.

Right now the squill and crocuses are blooming, and some of the daffodils have buds. I can see tulips and muscari coming up too. I took all the bulbs and perennials with me from Plum Street, and it seems like most of them have survived. There are a very few crocuses blooming that were here before us, but almost all the flowers are from me making new gardens.

Now we have a new car and a new cat and a new baby! What a year, what a year.

And finally, yesterday Eric had his defense and passed with flying colors. Today everyone was telling me what a good job he did on his presentation, so I know it must have been really good. I was wandering the halls with Oscar so I did not witness it myself, which is how Eric wanted it anyway.

He never has to do that again! He is an MS - Master of Science (Botany) - or as we like to say, Master Spreadsheet. (His thesis required many spreadsheets indeed - and one was the Master of them all.) I am so proud of him! There will be much celebrating over the next week or so, to be sure.