This post is a bit belated, but I wanted to document Emilia's first self-portrait, which she did last month. She loves to color and had been improving by leaps and bounds. Several times she handed me pictures when I picked her up at the childcare center at the gym and I questioned whether they were really hers because it looked like someone had actually tried to color in the lines. I'm not quite sure why it didn't occur to me that she might just be improving. Heck, the girl knows how to write half the letters in the alphabet; why wouldn't her coloring skills be improving? Then one day I picked her up and she handed me a picture of Tinkerbell with her signature scribbling. "Nice picture," I said. "No Mommy! Look on the other side...it's me!" Sure enough, when I turned over the paper, there was a very distinguishable human figure. Not just a human figure, but a girl. Appendages, head, face, clothes, the whole deal. "It's me in my orange dress," she explained (although she does not own an orange dress). "I couldn't make the hair curly, so I just drawed it short," she said. Of course. And purple. This is definitely a keeper.
May has come and almost gone. I passed my oral preliminary exam and prospectus for the PhD in April, then completed my final course at the beginning of May. That means I've completed every requirement for the PhD except that pesky little thing called the dissertation. It means my basic research plan for said dissertation has been approved. I will be collecting data in the fall, which will include a trip to Spain and one to Senegal (the former probably as a family and the latter solo). I'm hoping to officially become a "Dr." two years from now, if all goes according to plan. In the meantime, I am going to try not to stress too much over my research plans this summer, and plan to spend a lot of quality time with the family. These are just a few photos from earlier this month to demonstrate we're off to a good start.
Mateo is 11 months old today, just one month shy of his first birthday. Hard to believe. He uses anything and everything (laundry basket, empty diaper box, stools, etc.) as a push toy these days and is practicing his balance, although he hasn't ventured a solo step yet as far as we've noticed. He loves vacuums (yes, vacuums), enjoys climbing back and forth through the side table in our living room until he's dizzy, has given himself yet another bloody lip (well, last time it was a bloody nose) by smacking his face on the hardwood floor, and has learned to sign "more" (particularly handy during snack time; see photo above). And he thinks his sister is the funniest person on the planet.
