what to do, and the tots

My blood is O negative, by the way.

This weekend we'll be heading back to Louisiana for a wedding.

I am happy working with the school system I'm working with now, but I am also interested in getting my teaching certification, so I am working with an alternative certification program to do just that. Long-term, I'm thinking to teach for a couple years, work on a principal certification, and perhaps an EdD. I would like to stay involved with the school system which got me to Houston, a new school which just opened up to its first students as a college this last month, and will continue on to become a university in the next few years once we have graduates. The language school I teach for is a part of that system. Some of the students I teach now will go to that college to get their bachelor degrees. The school is proud to offer teaching only from instructors with doctorate degrees, so maybe down the road I can be involved with that. Or perhaps I'll be involved with the administration. We'll see.

The thing is, my love for Houston leaves something to be desired. Instead, I say, why don't we live somewhere with mountains and four seasons? Or somewhere not designed around cars. We'll see.

I didn't mention The Kiterunner yet, did I. The words I want to use are affecting or impactful. But for words which describe how something affects you, both of these words just don't do it. I keep thinking about the characters and emotions from this story, even though it's been weeks since I read it. While it's a tremendous story, I actually hesitate to recommend it on account of the depth of universal human emotion it roused, even from my stainless steel heart.

Let me tell you about the tots. Orry started drawing faces, people, and various things lately. He has a little magnadoodle style drawing board, on which he darws these things. The thing he draws most, I must admit, is a union jack or any of several variations. This comes not from the inspiration of the flag, but from the simple symmetry of the four lines in a rectangle. He is big on symmetry.

Isaac is talking more. Still his speech is quite incomprehensible, if it weren't for his antics which help even strangers understand his half syllabic words. "Dinosaur" sounds like "door", "Come on!" sounds like "Khan" and so on. He talks a lot, for being quite unintelligible. And now he seems to be less kranky than he was a few weeks ago. Next week he will undergo some anasthesia and a scope, and if you're more curious about him you can read up on our blog IBD In Our Home.

Annie started babbling in a new gurgly way yesterday, exploring the sounds she can make. She is our little laugher, and she also crawls around to wherever she can get the most attention. She started standing up next to furniture or things. And she's eating whatever food she can get.

Our family is interacting pretty well. We like to spend time at the park near our house and at the museums of natural science. We would like more play time outside now that the weather is agreeable. Food has become a bigger deal lately, as Isaac has a special diet, and of course, so does Annie.

Cheers. Thank you for staying current.