Getting up to speed

Emilia is now about 7 ½ months old. She’s supposedly long and thin with a pretty decent sized head (wonder where she gets that!). She’s been sleeping through the night (11 blissful hours) since she started sucking her thumb at three months of age. Currently she’s very interested in people’s faces (which can be dangerous because it’s difficult to keep up with her fast growing finger nails), drawstrings (which means we always have to check to make sure our bottoms are secure before standing up), glasses (mom is wearing her contacts more often as a result), getting in touch (literally) with nature, playing in the bath or her kiddie pool, banging her hands and feet on the furniture, and eating (yes, eating, not reading) books. She’s shown no interest in crawling yet, but manages to get where she wants by rolling and spinning on her stomach. She has two bottom teeth, as well as one on the top and another poking through the gum. She has been eating “solid” foods (I don’t know why they’re called that because there is nothing solid about them) for almost two months, and is now trying her hand at Cheerios and the sippy cup. The latter is relatively easy, but she hasn’t yet managed to transfer a Cheerio from the high chair tray to her mouth on her own. She can pick it up in her fist, but can’t quite maneuver it into the mouth, so we have to help with that part. Her wavy brown hair is growing like crazy and we pretty much let it do what it pleases. I’ve posted a few photos in small format, but you can see any of them in a larger size by just clicking on them.

Agustin is still enjoying his job as a Senior Business Analyst at Guidant, “a Boston Scientific Company” (really, you’re supposed to say it that way), and he seems well-liked (no surprise there). He got to spend a week working at the plant in Ireland in late May, which he really enjoyed.

I just finished my first year of the PhD program in Comparative and International Development Education (i.e. international education) at the University of Minnesota and am really enjoying it. During the school year I work part-time (from home) as a Teaching Assistant for a course called Maximizing Study Abroad. Students who are studying abroad for the semester or year have a text that they read, then they send their assignments, which are reflections on the text in the context of their cultural learning experience, to me and I give them feedback via e-mail. It’s great because it’s almost like I’m studying abroad vicariously through them. I’ve already started with my fall semester students, who are in New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Iceland and Malaysia. This summer I’m also working part-time on a project at the university that’s funded by the Department of State. There are 17 students from Guatemala, Ecuador and Venezuela on campus for a leadership institute. I’m one of four graduate student mentors, which means we assist them in their adaptation and intercultural learning and get to partake in many educational and fun activities with them.

More photos....