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Homecoming
[For some reason I’m having a lot of trouble getting videos on here this week. I’ll keep trying, but may have to put them on another day.]
The first week of school is officially gone, and the verdict is… Avey loves it! Each day she came home and, when asked how school was, she replied, “Great!” She loves the new teacher, their library, and the fact that she gets a desk to herself instead of sharing a table. Her homework load has also decreased significantly from her previous school. They had her doing all sorts of busy work every night, but now she has less of that. In brief, she’s thrilled.
My first week of students went well also. One of my courses is Forensic Science, and I am working on scheduling a tour of a forensic science facility in the area. That’s turning out to be a big hassle, but if I can just get it to work I think it will be a great experience for everyone. This would be an easier semester, I think, if I didn’t have a couple of deadlines coming up for my research. Add onto that the fact that I am chairing another student’s dissertation and supervising a graduate research assistant, and I’ve got a lot to do. I need a couple of more weeks to get settled into the schedule and timing, and I’m sure it will all be okay.
Part of the pressure for everybody is a looming deadline this week. On Thursday, I fly back to Colorado for a very exciting reason – my youngest brother is coming back from an LDS mission to Japan! I haven’t seen him in 2 years, so it will be great to reunite and hear all about his shenanigans. I wish the kids and Kira could come too, but flights were just too pricey.
Hakan has really been working on his words lately. He seems very focused on the sounds we make when we speak. He now says words like, “go,” “car,” “cat,” and so on. He also tries really hard to say things like, “squirrel,” and “banana.” His latest obsession is Kix cereal. Just a moment ago, Kira put a plate of it down in front of him. He was holding a pen in one hand, and took a moment to decide how best to proceed. He then threw the pen to the floor so that he could shovel fistfuls of the cereal into his mouth. At the moment, his cheeks are stuffed with them like he’s a chipmunk saving for winter. Good stuff.