Wackiness in Wilmington

Ok; so...yeah. Here are the last few weeks here...in a nutshell.

On January 23rd at 3am, Paul woke up thinking that he was hearing rain. In actuality, our second floor bathroom had flooded and leaked down to our first floor and then to the basement (thanks to the city of Wilmington working on the pipes up the block). When the city turned the water back on, our 109-year-old pipes couldn't handle the water pressure. We are still dealing with the mess and it will take some time to get back to normal around here. The insurance company is taking care of everything but it will take time before all the repairs are completed. Here is our first floor knotty-pine ceiling leaking from the second floor:

And my books. My precious books...wet, wet, wet. See the picture frame the in the upper right-hand corner of this picture...our undergraduate diplomas were on the wall in those frames and they also got drenched. We were able to save them, but they are pretty wrinkled:

But we were able to get our minds off things that Saturday by spending the evening with some of our Birth Center friends:

Emmeline sitting on Haley; tee-hee!

Alison, Haley, Elisa, Deborah and Emmeline

having story time

On Superbowl Sunday Paul went to go play poker and watch the game with friends and Emmeline and I went to the Delaware Museum of Natural History. We had a great time there but it was nothing compared to the Natural History Museum in NYC!

Emmeline working on an underwater

puzzle

Learning how mosquitos work

Oooo! Dinosaurs!

Emmeline sees the turtle shell hanging

on the wall and does the sign for "sleep".

She thinks that the turtle is napping in

his shell

The museum had an underwater display under

glass on the floor. Emmeline was a bit

apprehensive to stand on it alone and hugged

the wall

The best part of the museum for

Emmeline was the outdoor garden.

It was one of the first nice days here,

though there was still a bit of snow on

the ground

What a pretty face against a clear blue sky.

We visited the park last Monday (and every day

since then). We are loving the nice weather here.

She couldn't stop giggling when I put her in the swing.

In other news, Paul has started a Masters program in Education at Wilmington University. He has class once a week and should finish the program in a year and a half (or so). He and I have also started running again. Paul is doing better than me. When he gets home from work, he changes clothes, puts Emmeline in the baby jogger and runs to the park while I get ready for class. I am so jealous when they disappear around the corner as I hoist my heavy teaching bag to the car.

I have just finished teaching the winter session and started the spring semester this week. On Friday I also had a phone interview for an assistant professor of English position and on Monday I was offered a second on-campus interview. I am very nervous about the second interview as it also includes a teaching demo. I feel quite a bit out of my league here and also feel conflicted about what will happen if I am offered the job.

This past Monday, Emmeline and I got to babysit Milly while Kate went off to teach her first class since last spring. At 3pm I made the mistake of telling Emmeline that Milly and Kate were coming over; she then asked about them every two minutes for almost two hours. Every little noise on the street prompted her to run towards the door, yelling "Mini! Tate! Mini! Tate!" Once they did arrive, Milly was a very good baby but she did scream for about 20 minutes at one point. While Milly was screaming, Emmeline said: "Mini, bye-bye?". It was so cute. Emmeline spent the rest of the time trying to hug and kiss the baby. She has such a nurturing disposition.

Lately Emmeline has become more interested in "big-girl" books. Those little board books just aren't gonna cut it anymore. She likes the longer, more involved stories now. She has five favorites:

This is a very sweet book about a father and

daughter going "owling" in the night. She and Paul

like to make the "who who who who" sound together.

I was introduced to "Little Hoot" on my friend Erin's blog. It is

about a little owl who feels jealous about all of his little animal

friends who get to go to bed at a reasonable time and, because
he is an owl, he has to stay up late playing. The illustrations are
so cute.

I love reading this book with Emmeline because I used to read it

to Jacy when she was little. It is also a rhyming book, which

makes it even more appealing. It is about a family with seven
children who all have very different demanding culinary tastes.

This is another story about a daddy and a daughter. Trixie's bunny

ends up in the washer at the laundromat and the traumatic
event causes her to say her first words: Knuffle Bunny!

This is my favorite. I can't find a picture of the cover but

this is from the inside. It is called The Cat at Night by Dahlov

Ipcar (1975). We bought it from the Goodwill for 50 cents

about a year ago and it is the best 50 cents I have ever spent.

It is about the fun adventures that a cat has at night and all

of the things that he can see with his kitty eyes in the dark.

The story is cute and I love the bright colors and fun pictures.

Emmeline loves that the kitty looks like our Rudy.