Of the many things I learned this month, perhaps the most surprising is to learn that Nikita is red-green colorblind because I didn't discover it earlier when Nikita was learning his colors. The condition apparently comes from my Dad, whom I also didn't know was colorblind. Interestingly, the trait allows him to be able to perceive things in camouflage, such as the photo above (answer at end of post).
Colorblindness certainly didn't hurt Nikita's ability to put together the 240-piece New Moon puzzleball. But then again, he didn't have to look at the picture, either, because the pieces were numbered. Does Ravensburger think Twilight fans are idiots? And, no, Nikita is not a Twilight fan - my parents mistakenly thought I am.
Colorblindness will also have no impact on any of the new activities Nikita recently picked up. The first one is Japanese. None of us speak it, but he likes the way the characters look. The second one is building ships - out of wood logs, nails, and using a real hammer. He got so into it that he even suggested throwing out his Legos. Like that was really going to happen. Igor has supplemented both activities by buying anime DVDs (Miyazaki films and "Bamboo Blade", which has a cheesy but catchy theme song) and a model ship - more opportunities for father-son bonding. Thank goodness we've got chess down to 3 times a week.
Ivan continues to pester us with his dress-up requests, as my previous post showed. Recent movies included the Russian miniseries "Liquidation" and one of my favorite films, "The Princess Bride." I'm so proud of him for memorizing Inigo Montoya's speech, but he calls himself Olya Montolya.
Language mangling aside, Ivan was a real trooper this month: he survived multiple trips to the dentist's office AND a haircut from Nikita. Ivan didn't flinch while he got four (!) cavities filled in (I flinched watching the dentist inject anesthesia with a huge needle). He was fine afterwards, too, but at one point got really annoyed with his numb mouth, "Mommy, just rip this off!" In addition to numbness, Ivan doesn't handle hot weather well. When the temperature hit the upper 90's for a few days, Ivan was so uncomfortable that he asked Nikita to cut his hair. Once I made sure that Nikita didn't hurt Ivan with the scissors, I just had to laugh. And Galina was glad that her haircutter was able to hide the nearly bald spot without a buzz cut.
I didn't get a haircut, but I did a little teaching. I gave a workshop at Harvard Medical School - my first one exclusively for postdoctoral researchers, and it was a lot of fun. The room was quite memorable: leather chairs, paintings of dead men on the walls. It was like giving a PowerPoint presentation in the 18th century. I also conducted my first practice poster session. I don't normally teach the scientific poster during the school year, so it's nice to have such opportunities in the summer.
This month wasn't all work, however. The boys, Galina, and I went to the MFA Chihuly exhibit which was really cool. Nikita previously saw it last month through a school trip, so was eager to guide us through the exhibit. Afterwards, we marveled at the model ships (which inspired his shipbuilding) and spent a little time at the Japanese rock garden, but the boys weren't too interested in being peaceful.
We also roasted marshmallows on the grill for the first time. Igor isn't fond of marshmallows, so he stayed inside building the model ship, and I showed the boys how to make s'mores. Nikita was actually more interested in roasting marshmallows than eating them. Ivan, on the other hand, ate so many marshmallows that he got a stomachache.
Okay, now to end with a little Glee - actually, "The Glee Project." I was stunned to see one of my faves, Cameron Mitchell, quit. I admire his self-awareness, however, and am confident I'll hear more from him. Check out his cover of "Stop This Train":
Answer: NO
