One month in 15 minutes

Yes, it's been a while; yes, I've been busy. I must say, although I love our time in Maine, returning is more bittersweet because it means the end of summer, which means I remember all the things I had wanted to do over the summer, but didn't. And then classes start.

The start of the semester was crazier than usual because I had to get my own research in gear. Both proposals I sent last spring were accepted, and the first conference is the weekend before Thanksgiving. Luckily, the study for both proposals focuses on an assignment in one of my classes, but I still had to get approval to have human subjects - which meant I had to take a 4-6 hour online course on the appropriate use of human subjects. I passed the course (which one could have cheated on - but I didn't!), got approval to use human subjects, and obtained consent from a little over half the students in the class. I also got a digital recorder for interviews. Tried it out for real yesterday. Seems to be fine.

Home life has been crazy, although calmed down a little bit. Nikita started preschool on the same day that I started back at school. We're sending him to a German bilingual school (no, neither Igor nor I picked up German in the summer), and he seems to like it fine, thank goodness. But his going to school means another lunch (and snack) to prepare. So, as soon as I get home, I start making dinner (How to Cook without a Book has been particularly helpful) and lunches for the next day. Somehow, we get lights out by 9 pm.

Like I said, Nikita seems to like school, and it's fun to listen to him sing German songs to himself (of course, never on demand). Ivan is quite communicative these days. He definitely understands most of what we ask him to do (e.g., pick up stuff, look for a ball or book), and has his own words for car (ca), pats the pillow to ask me to lie down, and now shakes his hand for "no" in case shaking his head is not enough.

Igor has picked up baking again, perfecting a recipe for poppy seed cake (origin: Please to the Table). My knit swatch is left untouched, but I've been really enjoying reading Stoner and Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Just bracing myself for the next abrupt change soon to come: the departure of Igor's aunt. She's been such a great help around the house!