Cold Spaghetti

Will as a bumble-bee. This is Will’s costume from last year. It ended up being much too hot to wear and he was miserable. I think he spent about 15 minutes in it before we took pity and stripped him down to his diaper (it was 90 that evening!) This year has been cooler so the temperature doesn’t worry me as much. Also, it fits very well… which is crazy since it’s sized for kids 3-12 months! 

Will as an alligator. This costume belongs to William (son of friends Alex and Margaret) and is technically about 3 sizes too big. But, it seems to fit okay. Will isn’t thrilled by the hat part. It’s very warm, so if the day is too warm it won’t work. But if it’s a chilly night, this one may be it? 

Will’s 2nd birthday is approaching (November 21st). We had originally thought to hold a small party at the Zoo (you can rent the carousel and surrounding area for 90 minutes for kids’ parties with rides). But, since the Zoo is not open, we’re having to rethink.

Problems:
– Our house is very small.
– While we have a nice backyard, it’s a mess. Even if it is clean, it won’t be fenced. Even if our fence is fixed, there is no way our neighbor’s fence (which is fallen over to expose their totally gross green-algae-mosquito-breeding-pool) will be fixed.
– The party will be mostly an adult party with a few playmates for Will. (Unless we asked his class to come, in which case, there would be even more adults and about 6 more kids.)

Anyone have ideas?

With comps on the horizon for December, planning for Peru has begun in earnest. I signed up to an Lima-based expat mailing list and sent out a “seeking housesitting/rental” announcement and within a few hours had great leads… including referrals for pediatricians and OBs! The best news so far: the availability of a 3-bedroom Miraflores house where a family of three lives (including a 2-year old girl!). They will be out of the country for January and February and are willing to sublet to us at a reduced rate. (Hooray!) Paul and I have to talk more about it, but this sounds perfect… great location, high speed internet already set up, walk to parks, shopping, and amenities.

An interesting tidbit from one of the parents who responded: each child in Lima has a nanny. If you have three children, you have three nannies. The pay from expat families? Around $200-250 a month.

The next issue: we need tickets. The problem: flying in early January breaks all the frequent flyer rules, it’s about 50,000 miles per ticket — I checked this morning and it will take 157,000 miles for the three of us to fly via frequent flyer. (Otherwise, it is about $1000 per person for three of us.) There is no way we can get enough rent out of our house to cover that. So… Mom? No Christmas shopping this year! How about frequent flyer tickets for Christmas???

Today was my first true day of studying. It went pretty well, I got to cross three things off my study list:

– Finish answering Econometrics section from June comps
– Email answers to Paul (a professor) for review/suggestions
– Type out notes from meeting with Carl (my committee chair) and send for review and comments

It took me longer than I thought it would to get my head around the material. Granted, econometrics is among the toughest stuff on comps and the section that doctoral students spend the most time stressing over. I started out by reading my early responses to questions and thinking, “Wow, this sounds really good. But I wonder what she is talking about?” It was sort of like nudging my brain out from hibernation. (A stuffy head, victim of the excess NOLA dust, did not help.) A few things I’d really like to sort out:

– What exactly is the estimation procedure with a truncated model?
– A really, really, really clear explanation of the differences between sample selection bias and endogeneity — (with reference to the sampling problems cited in my paper on low birth weight and violence in Peru)

and finally,

– Why is my child obsessed with knocking heads? ouch.

He cried when I opened the door to take him out. I said, “Will, you get to play with all your friends again today! Isn’t that exciting?” He said, “no.”

I brought him to the classroom, hung up his lunch in his cubby, and tried to get him interested in a puzzle. No dice. He was only interested in being in my lap or arms. Other kids — including “Nate” from the other day — came in crying and needed comfort from the teachers. I didn’t want to leave Will until one of them were free (him crying without being held by someone is more than I can handle). So we waited and tried to play a bit. When things calmed down, one of the teachers took him and he started to cry for me. I am sure that things were fine by the time I got back to the car.

Maybe we should try Paul dropping him off at school and see if it’s any different? Mommy separation is pretty rough.

Will opens his “s’prize” from Nana and Grandpa Wisneskey. Grandpa Wisneskey arrived today to help us in our cleanup efforts — and help keep Will occupied in the afternoon hours so that I can maximize study time! 

West End Blvd, Lakeview.

Alex’s first floor. Cleaned out, but still wet. Waiting for insurance companies, engineers, and the city to determine its (and their) fate.

The stuff of people’s lives fill the trash and debris.