I've been slacking on the blog posts lately and in a way it's a good thing because it means that I've been busy working on my dissertation. I'm happy to report that I've made great progress. I'm 2 weeks behind on my "ideal" deadline for finishing up interviews but I think if all pans out well I should be done with interviews this week. That does not mean I'll be ready for analysis since as of today I'm 5 interview transcriptions behind (I did 4 interviews alone yesterday). So, I'm hoping to catch up and be ready for analysis and writing sometime next week. There are only 7 weeks left in the summer term which means I need to write a chapter a week. Although I had 3 chapters "done" for my proposal, they all need to be redone because the plan changed. I no longer have a quantitative component (bummer!) and I need to add a lot of stuff on the issues that I've encountered with the qualitative stuff that I did not foresee (e.g. reflexivity issues- like men not being as comfortable disclosing info as women, translation- I've translated a good chunk of interviews and the participant's "voice" may be lost some in the translation, etc). So far I'm happy about my progress, I just hope I can be as productive when it's all on me. I'm not a fast writer and I need to just get over it and do it. Nick keeps reminding me, "it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to get done!" and he's right. There will be plenty of opportunities to polish it up once I start sending stuff out for publications.
Nick is back in SC for summer teaching. He came this past weekend to visit and will be back this weekend for father's day. Then it's 2 more weeks on his own to get work done before he returns for the remainder of the summer....to be on "daddy duty" while I get this thing done. I don't think I officially announced it here on the blog although Nick did post it on Facebook but Nick got a book deal! In February he came down to FL for the SWS conference where he presented a chapter of his dissertation on what he calls "the queer apologetic" (in a nutshell and I hope I'm not butchering it here: it's about how most of the people he interviewed came out initially as bisexual thinking that would ease the transition for their families only to get negative responses when they did come out as completely gay because then the families/friends were even more confused). Anyhow, Nick did not know that sitting in the audience was a rep from a publisher who thought his presentation was so interesting it was worth a book proposal. He contacted Nick to write a proposal, the rep pitched it to his team and they approved it. So, Nick is under agreement with the publisher. That means that he will write the book and as long as the book gets two positive reviews, it will get published. The catch: the book needs to be done by December 15th! Hence, why Nick is in SC alone, without cable or internet at home, chipping away at this book thing because come Fall and school gets back in session it'll be a lot harder to get any side work done.
On to the boys....they are doing fantastic and enjoying their time in FL. Liam has really taken well to being with my mom all day and not seeing me around. He is such a happy baby. Gavin has had his bouts of jealousy and we're still working on how to get him to be ok with not being the center of attention all the time and being nice to his brother ALL the time. I think we figured out a reward system that may work. It's only the second day but it seems to be working well.
Here are some of Gavin's new sayings:
"Mama, you are making up rules" = most often he uses this anytime I tell him he has to do something in order to get something
"daddy/mama, are you kidding me?" = this cracks us up anytime because I just don't expect him to say it. Nick likes to mess with him and tell him wrong "facts" and that's when Gavin fights back "daddy, are you kidding me?" with great intonation. It's those times when I do see a little Sheldon Cooper (character from The Big Bang Theory show) coming through.
"Actually"= another Sheldon moment is when he uses "actually" to correct others and even himself sometimes. For example, last week we were at Magic Kingdom. He didn't want to go home so instead of telling him we were going home, I asked if he wanted to ride a boat and he said yes. I meant the ferryboat back to the parking lot! So, we get on the ferry and he tells me, "Mama, actually this is not a boat, this is a ship" to which I replied, "Actually, it's called a ferryboat". Ha! This time I won. I will say that most times he is actually pointing out a mistake. I hope his teachers know their stuff because I don't think he'll hesitate to call them out in front of everyone.
His imagination disturbs his dreams. There are two common imaginary "attacks" that occur. 1. Dragon kites chase him and 2. Dinosaurs try to get him. The dragon kites come from a Little Einsteins episode but I don't know why he's afraid of them because they're friendly kites on the show so there's nothing scary about them (except that they are DRAGON kites!). The dragon kites haven't been a problem as of lately. A couple of night ago after I put him in bed, he called for me and told me "when I go to China, sometimes the dragon kites come back with me and play." What has become commonplace lately is for dinosaurs to chase him in the middle of the night and for him to come up to my room and ask if he can sleep in my bed so they don't get him. For a couple of nights I allowed him to sleep with me since Nick is not here. Last week I explained to him that dinosaurs are extinct, that they don't live on Earth anymore and they can't get him b/c he is just imagining them. He seemed satisfied with the explanation and he did not wake up at all through the night. He has not woken up in the middle of the night now for a week so I hope we're past this stage.
Gavin is spelling everything and tries to read everything. Sometimes he figures things out. Yesterday, we were sitting in the dinette having dinner with my mom and Liam. The pantry door was open and he saw a box of Cream of Wheat. Gavin pointed and said "hey, that's cream of wheat" and my mom asked "how do you know that is cream of wheat if you don't know how to read yet" and he said "it's cream of wheat because it has a C, R, E, A, M and a W, H, E, A, T, it says ccreeaamm of wheeaat" and we both just laughed. He insists on me reading every word he can't figure out. He also loves to rhyme and will go on rhyming "races" with me where we go back and forth with rhyming words. He does really well and if he can't think of a word....well, he makes one up. Like my mom says, he will win or tie but he won't loose.
Liam:
Now says Mama although not necessarily for me. But he says it a lot. Says papa and dada, although again not necessarily for Nick. He just makes the sounds.
My mom taught him to put his arms up on cue so when she says "manos arriba" (hands up), he does! It's pretty cute.
He's been letting go of his hands while standing a couple of times. He can balance himself for a couple of seconds before he holds on to again. My mom said she saw him walk side to side on the crib while holding on. He hasn't done that on the floor yet. He will pull up on furniture but he won't walk the couch.
He still likes to do "the Hulk"....that's when he closes both fists and flexes until he's red in the face. This happens at the high chair, when he's done eating and wants out and no one gets him out, he turns into The Hulk. I've also seen him do it in the car, trying to get out of the car seat! :)
He still only has two bottom teeth but has been eating everything. He pretty much eats whatever we eat. Last week I even gave him fish and he ate it up. My mom made him scrambled eggs and he devoured them. He eats his greens: broccoli, green beans, peas. Eats brown rice, corn, carrots, sliced turkey, pasta, cheese and of course his fruits, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, bananas, oranges. Sometimes he refuses to eat baby food/purees, he much prefers to eat with his hands. I hope he continues to be a good eater like Gavin. I don't know what I would do with a picky eater.
So that's it for now....gotta go transcribe now!
No comments:
Post a Comment