Name Practice

For the past few weeks, Nora's vocabulary has expanded rapidly.  She seems to start using at least one new word accurately every day.  She's also getting better at pronouncing her words, including names, and can often point to the person a name belongs to when she's looking at a picture.  Although both of these videos have been shared to various places on facebook, we are so proud of our little talker that I wanted to post them again here!


 



These days, every baby is "Everett" and every bald guy is "Nate," so it pays to have a distinctive look!

Aristotle (and Liz) on Happiness

According to the professor whose class I am TAing this semester, Aristotle wrote that "Happiness is full activity aimed at virtue," if we think of virtue as meaning general "goodness" or "righteousness." As he explained to the students, what Aristotle meant is that we are not happiest when we are "having fun"-- we are happiest when we have found something that we willingly devote our whole selves to accomplishing.  This is why, he told them, you feel exhilarated after spending an entire night finishing a project with your classmates, even though it was hard and exhausting.  He said that for a lot of people, they find this place of potential in athletics, or in music.  It is not a "release" from life, like a fun night out drinking with friends-- if you are living your life well, it is life.

Happiness is full activity aimed at virtue.  This is the simple, straightforward phrasing of a concept I have been beating a bush around on this blog for years now.

This is why I did so well on my exam, even though the preparation was hard, and I hated the time it prevented me from spending with my family.  I wasn't nervous about the outcome because I knew I'd given it all I had.

This is why, when I finished the exam, my way of "relaxing" was to start making a quilt.

This is why I stay in grad school at all, frankly.

This is why I love (and miss) distance running.

This is one of the reasons why I was able to give birth to a posterior baby without asking for an epidural.

This is one of the reasons why I survived long days at home with a colicky newborn.

When I was teaching high school, I can remember one point at which I realized most of my freshmen thought it was uncool to "try."  I made each of them write an essay about the thing they worked the hardest towards and actually achieved.  Then they made license plate shaped signs about them, they had to share with the class the story that gave them "license" to operate in my class, and we used them to decorate the walls.  That was one of my best teaching ideas and moments.  Everyone came up with something, and it made a noticeable difference in my classes from that point onward.  It was like, with one activity, we successfully banished from that classroom the mentality that "cool kids don't try."  But I can also remember standing up there at the end and telling them, "What you may not know until you're older, is that it doesn't matter if anyone else thinks what you've accomplished is cool or impressive. Once you know it in your head, and you can feel it in your heart, nobody can take it away from you.  And the people who cheated to get where you got, or even farther?  They don't have what you have."  They were all like, "Awe, Ms. C, enough with the 'life lessons'."  But maybe a few of them carried it with them.

I wish I'd had this phrasing at my disposal then.  Full activity aimed at virtue.  I'm glad I have it now, for when those moments when I need to remind myself.  And for when we need to teach Nora.

Finally a Snow Day!

Today was supposed to be my last day to get work done on my "Spring Break," and though it is officially spring, we had our first significant snow accumulation since Nora was born!  Billy still had to go into work, so Nora, Oscar, and I were on our own to play in the snow.  Today was not a good day to discover that my DSLR battery was dead, but we did the best we could with my iPhone so we could share this milestone with her family.

First we had to get her dressed in her snow gear.  She was quite thrilled by her snow pants, and I was thrilled that they were not bought in vain.  Though they are still much too long, her belly barely fit!

She was pretty intrigued by investigating the snow on our deck.  As usual, she kept a very serious expression on her face the whole time.

She had trouble standing up when she fell down into the snow, so the deck turned out to be the perfect place to play.  She could use the railings to help pull herself back up.

Once she got herself oriented, we began working on our snowman.  I decided to use mixing bowls to form the snowman's body, which turned out to be a good idea because Nora could participate.  Once I showed her how to pack the snow down she was intent on helping me each time.

She was less sure what to do with the domes when I started putting them together in the shape of the snowman.

Once the body was finished, Nora helped me put in the snowman's parts.  Again, this was serious business.  Patti gave these parts to Nora for Christmas, and each one is on a long peg that you shove into the snow.  We were so glad to have them because they were easy to use, made our snowman look professional, and were probably the only reason I thought to make a snowman in the first place!  Thanks, Gram!

I held out three hats for her to choose from, and she picked the Orioles hat-- a good fit for our man, and the only one with colors that matched his parts.  Once the hat was on, she seemed very proud of herself, and she thought the snowman was too funny!

After her mid-day nap, I went outside to slide the snowman over so his parts wouldn't fall into the neighbor's yard when he began to melt.  When I came back in, Nora was standing at the door, holding her coat, and demanding to go back outside.  Her clothes had all dried off, so we got her dressed again and tried to take Oscar for a walk.  Either he is getting old or he has already shed his winter coat, because he wanted back inside almost immediately, so he watched us from the window.  The snow was slushing up, and we discovered that Nora prefers puddle stomping over making now angels.  She was not a fan of the flakes falling in her face.

She was a fan of doing face plants into the snow.  She did it three times in a row.  She would just get this curious look on her face, put her hands in front of her, and lean forward.  The first time she kind of kneeled into it slowly.  The second two times she just flopped.  This actually made me laugh out loud.

When we came back in and got out of our snow clothes, I decided it wasn't a real snow day until everyone has some hot chocolate.  I put some in her warmed milk, and she played along long enough to pose for this picture, but after about three sips she threw her cup to the ground.  I guess she was not a fan.

Needless to say, I got much less reading done today than I had planned, but our snow day was definitely worth it.  Now I have at least one reason to look forward to next winter, but I am more than ready to say goodbye to this one.  I can't wait to have her in warm clothes again so I can see her chubby little arms and legs!

The Toddler Room: Effects on Toddler and Mama

Nora loves the toddler room.  Why wouldn't she?  Yesterday when we walked in, one of her friends said "Nono!", rushed over to her, gave her a hug, and then led her by the hand over to the play carpet.  Her "friends" in the toddler classroom are actually her friends.  She gets a snack or a meal every twoish hours.  She blows bubbles, completes art projects, reads books, sings songs, plays outside with toddler-appropriate equipment, and dances to music.  She no longer even considers crying when I leave or when I return.  Mama, that's for babies, I imagine her thinking.  She has even started regularly napping for over one hour on her cot because her teachers had the good sense to place her next to their best sleeper.  Evidently, when she wakes up, looks over and sees that he is still sleeping, she pretends she is, too.

Nora started in the toddler room at 15 months, so she would've had a considerable amount of language development since that time anyway, but we feel like she's had a language explosion.  I couldn't even begin to create a comprehensive list all the words she says regularly with increasingly better clarity.  She is a little parrot, repeating everything we say and every noise she hears.  When Billy clears his throat, she clears hers.  When I lock the car as we walk into the house, she chirps "beep!"  When she pets or kisses Oscar she tells herself "nice, nice" because we are always emphasize using "nice touches" with him.  After we sing about the people on the bus going up and down, she walks around chanting "uppydown, uppydown, uppydown."  When her Uncle Nate is on FaceTime and asks her what's on TV in the background, she says "I dunno!" with perfect inflection, like she means it. This ear for sounds and pitches comes from Billy, I am sure.  He hears background noises that I am completely oblivious to, like when we are watching a sporting event and he gets annoyed by the pep band playing the same songs too much.  "There is a pep band?" is what I am always thinking.

As a working mom, most of the guilt I had about leaving Nora with others during the day has been eradicated by her sheer excitement about being at school.  Now that she is at an age where social interaction is more beneficial for her than my one-on-one doting attention would be, day care is a good place for her to be.  This should be good for me, too, and emotionally it is.  But professionally, I am realizing that guilt is a powerful motivator.  I got so much more done every day when regret about leaving her to complete my exam reading was dripping out of my pores, when the sight of every young child out and about with its mother made me cringe, and when Nora burst into tears nearly every time I arrived to get her at the end of the day.  But Liz, you couldn't have maintained that level of productivity much longer without losing your mind, you might be thinking.  I hear you.  (If you are actually thinking, Liz, operating at that level of productivity has already caused you to lose your mind, I politely decline to hear you.) My hope is that it's just taking me a little bit longer to adjust than it's taking Nora.  Now that she has settled into school, and I have settled into teaching, and I am beginning to settle into my library job, I hope this will lead to me settling into prospectus writing.  This week we are off for Spring Break, so I have made some good progress.  Time will tell, I guess.

Did you catch the part where I mentioned that she dances now? Over the weekend we discovered that she is especially partial to "Jump in Line" by Harry Belafonte.  Whether she likes this because of its beat, its instruments, or its prominence of what she thinks is the word "Nora," who knows.  But since her other main preference is for electronic music and rap songs about thrift shops, we gladly watch her pretend she's a hurricane in all kinds of weather... on repeat.

Beautiful Weekend

This weekend we had beautiful, sunny, moderately warm weather, so we took advantage of the opportunity to get out of the house!  On Saturday, we took Nora to a local park that has a lot of play equipment and several types of farm animals.  She loved going down the slide and took watching the animals very seriously.

Last night we also got to see most of Billy's family at a party hosted by Billy's newly engaged cousin, Heather, and her fiance Jeremy.  It started after Nora's bedtime, so we had to do some schedule juggling, but she was mostly cheerful for the better part of two hours, which gave us a chance to visit with everyone.  (Though not a chance to take pictures, unfortunately, since I didn't take my phone.)  Maybe by next year she'll really be the life of the party!

Today we went down to a park along the Chesapeake Bay for a picnic and to wander around.  Nora loved running all over the place and she was tickled by how many dogs she saw there.  Each time we would happen upon another one, she would shout "HI!" and try to run over to it.  She was quite the hit in her sunglasses, and most of the dog walkers invited her to pet their dogs, so I think she found today's park visit even more fun than yesterday's.  When we took her out on the fishing pier, I was thankful it had safety cables because she did not want to be carried.  She wanted to run all around on her own!

I am so ready for spring!  Nora has been mobile for more than four months now, but since we've had to spend most of that time inside, it feels like we are just now getting to experience how much fun leisure time can be with a toddler.

... and now, back to grading papers.

Down the Carpet Hill

Billy taught Nora how to carefully navigate her way down the stairs on her belly.  He showed her how to look to her side, take one step at a time, and secure each foot carefully before stretching her foot down to the next stair.

She has had enough of that.



I would say this is a mid-speed slide.  When she's wearing her fleece jammies, which seem to present no friction at all, she goes so fast that she can't help but squeal with delight.

New Work Opportunities!

Another reason for the lapse in blog posts lately is that we're in a bit of a transition period around here while Billy and I both adjust to exciting new opportunities at work!

Billy was recently named the Science and Operations Center Test Team Lead for the James Webb Space Telescope.  He has been working as a member of this team since he began working at STScI almost exactly five years ago, and in the past few years he has taken on an increasing number of supervisory roles.  He and his team work on making sure the "ground segment" portion of the telescope will work properly-- or, in other words, they test all the computer systems that will control the telescope and make sense of the data it collects.

I think Billy was a little unsure about how the news of his promotion might be received, since most of his coworkers are older than him and have been working on the project longer.  However, it sounds to me like the transition has gone very smoothly.  But since it's my blog, I will speculate for a minute: I would guess nobody who works with Billy on a daily basis could possibly be surprised when smart people put him in charge of more things.  Putting Billy in charge of things is what smart people should do.  And if you are a person who has to do smart things, and someone has to be in charge of them, you want Billy to be that person.  His work ethic came to mind a few weeks ago when my professor was emphasizing of a passage about a bull fighter from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. He writes, "Romero never made any contortions, always it was straight and pure and natural in line.  The others twisted themselves like cork-screws, their elbows raised, and leaned against the flanks of the bull after his horns had passed, to give a faked look of danger.  Afterward, all that was faked turned bad and gave an unpleasant feeling.  Romero's bull-fighting gave real emotion, because he kept the absolute purity of line in his movements and always quietly and calmly let the horns pass him close each time."  Billy keeps an absolute purity of line in everything he does.  This is such a part of him, actually, that he sometimes fails to recognize that other people resort to twisting themselves like cork-screws in their attempts to achieve the effects that he achieves naturally.  But the spectators who get to spend a lot of time around him, like me and his coworkers, can easily see the difference.  I'm very fortunate to have a husband who is so smart, and who works so hard, and is employed by people who continue to foster his excellence.  To say I am proud of him is such an understatement.  I admire him and learn by his example so much every day, that most of all I am happy for him in moments when he is rewarded for being who he is.

For my part, I've picked up a new part time job with the Special Collections department of our library system.  As you may know from my earlier posts, the University of Maryland holds the personal archive of Katherine Anne Porter, one of the authors whose writing figures prominently in my work.  The libraries have received funding from her literary trust to digitize a portion of her personal correspondence.  Eventually, the hope is to secure outside funding so that all of it can be digitized and hosted on a sophisticated online database.  They've hired me to work as the graduate assistant on this project, so I'll put in about ten hours a week.  For the next few months, it will be my job to organize and itemize the letters, prepare them to be shipped out for digitization, check the letters and the digital files for quality and accuracy when they return, and help to get the digital images posted to our library's KAP site.  Thereafter, I'll get to help with helping to create web interest for the project and its contents. For this portion of the project, we'll only be starting with the letters Porter wrote to her family members, which is roughly 5,000 pages of correspondence.

Those of you who are interested in my academic work can already imagine how unbelievable this opportunity is for me.  It will provide me with invaluable access to the Porter collection, a chance to learn more about archival research and digitization, and help me get my foot in the door in the field of Digital Humanities studies.  Since I'm approaching the point where I'll have to nail down the topic of my dissertation, the timing is also perfect.  One of the most thrilling things about archival research, for me, is the likelihood that you can discover a tidbit of information at any given time that will radically transform your understanding of the subject.  The opportunity to spend this much time with the materials and the people who can help me learn how best to make use of them is something I couldn't have even dreamed up if I'd tried.  Once again, someone has agreed to pay me for something I would gladly do for free if time permitted.

A note to future Nora:  I sometimes worry about what you will think when you discover that the universe planted you in this house with these two nerdiest of parents.  This basically ensures that the things you will be wildly passionate about in your life will be perceived as super lame by a large portion of the population.  But I will promise you this: Here, in this house, you will be encouraged to follow whatever paths those wild passions lead you down.  For however long you want.  With the force of our combined nerdiness and passion behind you.  When you look back up, you will be surrounded by people who understand why those wild passions are super interesting and valuable.  And that, little one, is exactly where you deserve to be.

A view of the Katherine Anne Porter Room inside Hornbake Library; or, Where My Nerdy Passions and My Parents' and Husband's Encouragement of Them Has Led Me.