H-Town revisited

Today I've driven up to H-Town, our former home during a formative year. It's been interesting to be back. I saw the two other profs in my department. One's become the #2 administrator after the president and the other is the school's official historian and has just published a short illustrated history of the school. It was really fun to see them, especially the more senior historian, who was my neighbor and is just really a wonderful human being. 

What also surprised me was the sheer number of memories I've had. I drove by:

-Our apartment (home of The Great Cat Fight) [which reminded me I had the skills but probably not the temperment to be a lawyer]

-The opening to the path I'd walk or bike to school

-Familiar hangout like the DD, the Marshalls, the BK with the fans where we would go because Sam could stare at ceiling fans for hours (well, it felt like hours compared to everything else).

-I haven't seen it but I was remembering the large cemetery where I'd often walk. At the time I'd often walk to the hill at the top of the cemetery where there was a large grave for a baby that died around the time Sam was born.

-Watching the inaurgural.

-Prepping classes as Sam jumped in his bouncer.

-Long Saturday walks. We had free lunches at the school and I could save one for Saturday. Often we'd walk to campus and I'd take a two hour lunch trying to kill time.

-The courses I taught and the students I had.

-Sam's first babysitter.

-The commute we'd do back to P-Town on Princeton when I was stil TA'ing.

-Laundry (it was really terrible. Emily would go away 7 and do laundry for 3 hours; Sam would get progressively angry; Emily would be exhausted)

-The prized parking pass I had as a town resident.

-Moving (to and from), both aided by Emily's amazing parents.

-The blue shirts we had at the beginning of the year and could wear in lieu of the regular dress code.

-All I learned about changing higher ed (online courses, first year courses, curricula, teaching students in the cell phone/facebook er)

-Teaching in general (especially Western Civ, where I had 20 and 30 point curves on the first exams I gave)

 

This is a pretty interesting area. It's in the NW part of the state, which is more rural and more conservative. It's a fairly white place, although I was remembering that there's a small hispanic population in town. As usually, I saw the steeple of the old Presbyterian church on the way into town. I was remembering how hard it was to find a church that felt like home.

Ironically, the school is again searching for someone in my subject area. I still feelt some guilt at leaving, because I know that it is a solidly good place. Sometimes I've wondered why this didn't become home. Logically, there were some strikes against it (salary and cost of living, distance from support networks, regular job hassles), but it really it is a nice place with good people. At the same time, I don't think I ever fully clicked and even today it is pretty difficult for me to imagine the five of us here. I think probably the bulk of the teachers are still commuters, either from across the river or from the city.

I'm also not entirely sure why I visited today. This year I've been trying to fit in little pilgrimages and returns to places I've lived. I've often thought that my memory is not great, but it may be that I need context for it to work. Anyway, I'm happy to be back for a little while and to see the area.

I'm getting near the end of my to do list. I hope to see college friend Gregg next week and need some more days in the library. Our packing escapades are in full speed. After years of saving and living fairly simply, we've been spending hundreds a week buying all the kinds of things that are a hassle to find in Northern Island. If everything makes it we should be set for a while. 

I will recommence regular blogging at some point. The kids are super cute right now. Yesterday all three were playing together and laughing on the floor. They are all pretty exuberant. More soon!

Eli Updates

Eli is really interesting to watch. Yesterday and today he was around another crying baby and it really upset him. He's tuned into the context and wants to make sure everyone is okay. He seeks out help when it seems like another kid is distressed.

He's a little more shy in new places than he used to be. One of his most frequent exclamations is "people!" which he says like "pee-pool." Often when he is in a new place full of people, or new people (say an uncle and cousins) visit he will run to us and announce that there are people.

Eli has a loud guffaw. I've often said it seems like his volume is set to 10. I hope that when he grows up this will serve a purpose. Perhaps he will be an auctioneer, a famous baritone, or a preacher. Or maybe someday he will see a car about to hit someone hundreds of feet away and his loud scream will save their life. I say this because right now his loud voice can be a little distressing. We're probably a few years from being anywhere that requires quiet.

Eli also loves reading and he plays with many of the same toys Sam does. Sam kindly shared a batman truck with him recently (in part to draw him away from his new toys) and Eli spent much of the day playing with them.

Eli seems quite strong (as does Eva) and he has no problem with stairs or high slides.

These are fun days in the kids' lives. We're looking forward to more excitement as we enjoy these winter months.

Eva Updates

Eva is super entertaining right now. She has such a friendly smile and will ham it up for a camera. She's turned from the slightly shy twin the to the more outgoing twin and will (depending on mood) greet people with "hi" or give an extended goodbye ("bye-bye guys"). She's putting words together and can offer a kind of extended monologue of one and two syllable words. I often hear her cooing or singing in the morning before it is time for the twins to get up.

She has a number of favorite toys. She still plays periodically with her dolls. She likes to play house with the bricks and sometimes plays with action figures also. She's usually game for new things.

She is still our most-difficult-to-dress kid and has an opinion about her clothes (and hat, socks, mittens, you name it). Her new favorite book from the library is "Carry Me," a board book of babies being carried in various backpacks. She's still our most packable kid, not because she's a couple of pounds lighter than Eli but because she will go with the plans more. For a while she's said "carry you" when she wants to be picked up.

All of the kids are ticklish and light to play on the couch and be tickled. Sam competes less with Eva and her relationship with the boys may be different than their relationship to each other. The kids have a lot of fun things they do together. The easiest is blocks, but they also sometimes do cars or chasing each other or wrestling. Fun days!

Sam Updates

Sam is about two months from his 5th birthday. He's loving having his babysitter, Andrew, around. Today we went to church and Emily pointed out that Andrew was also at his church his family. Sam said, "I've never seen his family!", looked very please, and snuggled into mom. All of the kids are pretty independent and Sam had no trouble gong up for the children's time or going out with his class. He's a pretty social being.

He has a host of activities he enjoys. He likes doing drawings--of dinosaurs, superheroes, space, and so on. Last night he played a pbs reading game for a while. The app reads a story and there's a space where children are to pick one of three words. Sam liked the process of trying right and wrong words. He's probably still a ways from reading, but he likes being red to and doing word games. He has started paying attention to rhyming words in the last few months.

For exercise, Sam is trying swim lessons on Saturday. Our hope is that when we go back we might be able to join the pool for six months and possibly get Sam some one-on-one lessons. Sam also went to Yoga this week (with Miss April) and had a fun time. The class is mostly ages 4 and 5 and Sam kept up even thought some of the kids have been doing the class for a long time. He likes to play on the couch and bed, the playground, climb the stairs, climb his father.... He seems healthy and happy and strong. It would be nice if perhaps he could work on riding a bike this coming year.

This is a first start and I may add to t his post in the next week or two. Right now Sam is at Subway with his mom and the twins are asleep. They're bringing lunch back.

Hanging Out

Campus!

Snow!

Cousins!

Presents!