Cold Spaghetti

Trip to the Zoo with Dad! Here Will is in one of his favorite sections of the Zoo… Australia! Is it because of the kangaroos, rhinos, and assorted birds??? NO — it is because there are lots of shaded benches to climb on!!

Paul took will to the Zoo on Sunday and had a great time chasing Will, who was sporting his NEW SNEAKERS! (I was nesting in the computer lab downtown with other students struggling through some regression modeling… serious dedication on such a beautiful day!)

With the trip to cold Pennsylvania coming fast (my spring break is week after next and Will and I are going with Granna to PA to see Grandma Betty, Uncle Gus, Aunt Fran, and lots of great relatives!) The weather is looking rough (especially since it was 82 and gorgeous here yesterday) and with Will walking everywhere, we figured it was time to get some hard-soled shoes to better insulate his little tootsies from the cold.

Parenting FYI: barefoot is best. Hard sole shoes cause kids to develop flat-feet and other foot/walking problems. Stay with soft shoes like robeez: (http://www.robeez.com)

So, off we went to buy shoes — taking advantage of Stride Rite’s current spring sale (buy one, get one half off).

Lessons learned:
– Forget trying to get shoes at Babies’R’Us or Toys’R’Us. No selection, just as expensive, and no service.
– If it’s busy at Stride Rite, you sign in. (Watch for mischevious kids who will cross your name of the list to be helped sooner!)
– Stride Rite employees are AWESOME!!!
– Velcro is much easier for parents (ie: in my book, it is then the only option for things that will be worn often.)
– Kids shoes are bought one half-size larger and last approximately 4-5 months.
– Stride rite shoes are all about $40 each. Ouch!

Will is a size 4 1/2, which means we bought size 5 — and he takes them in the wide size. We bought him a pair of sneakers (we wanted blue, but all they had left was white) and a pair of sandals (in brown).

Watching him walk for the first time with sneakers in the store was sort of like putting tin foil on a cat’s paws and watching it walk… in other words, it was hysterical. Lots of pounding his feet, shaking his legs, and doing little tumble-walks. Who knew we would need the video camera?!?

Poster: Herbal therapies for pregnancy and childbirth used by parteras in rural Honduras

In addition to presenting the poster, I found out on Monday that my abstract had been chosen for discussion. So, I presented this qualitative research study to a group of residents, biochemists, and assorted MDs.

Email from Penny Jessop, Clinical Faculty, Tulane University SPH&TM, to Department of International Health and Development student, faculty, and staff:

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Dear All:
One of our students, Holly S — doctoral student, won one of the awards yesterday at the Health Sciences Research Day poster session. She received the Award for Excellence in Women’s Health Research for her paper on:”Herbal Therapies in Pregnancy and Childbirth used by Parteras in Rural Honduras”. Join me in congratuating Holly!
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Unfortunately, I missed the awards ceremony yesterday (didn’t check my email which had a message saying that I should attend, *hint*hint*). So, this was a great surprise this morning. Especially because, in addition to the certificate (and recognition!) there was a cash award!

Tonight, Will used a spoon at dinner — all by himself! We got out the video camera and everything.
We don’t anticipate this being a nightly event (gravity is still something Will is getting used to during the food-to-mouth process) but it was very exciting to watch him put food on his spoon and then eat the food off the spoon. We cheered, “hooray!!” and Will got very excited after every bite and cheered with us. Hooray!

Will copies Mommy’s Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-facing dog) pose. It’s a little harder to do it while holding a golf club… 

Could Will be the newest member of KISS?

Happy Man! Margarita had a family emergency this morning (her son called us at 7 to let us know we’d be without her today) so… I had an unexpected family day. It was a perfect morning for it… well into the 70s, light breeze, clear sky — gorgeous!! Will and I went on a long walk through the neighborhood, stopped in on an interview of a local celebrity socialite, and stepped into Whole Foods for milk and a drink of water. Then we came home and played until nap time. Will is holding his beloved golf club in this picture. 

Paul’s most current project: The Networking Closet! NOTE: this closet is ABOVE the full sized closet in Will’s room… about 8′ up. Paul re-inforced the closet floor, built special shelving, installed outlets, ran wires, added the circuits and is now installing the equipment. In addition to this, Paul has installed another recessed light in the hallway and put up an inter-connected smoke detector system that runs through the attic and into each room. As Will would say, “WOW!” 

Will got a BIG SMOOCH from Granna when she left Sunday afternoon. (He was very sad to see her go!)