Ph.D. and Other Happenings

I'll begin in reverse order:

Caitlin is walking. She turned ten months old this week and she now
walks three or four steps before reverting to the crawl. It would be
really nice if she reached the sleeping through the night milestone,
but I'll forgive her only because she's cute. This stage in a baby's
life is pretty demanding for the parent, but I do think to myself
almost daily how I might actually miss it some day. Baby smiles and
baby hugs are difficult to top.

Random Caitlin story: Since she was teeny tiny, Caitlin has loved
blowing on a recorder that Miriam calls her "flute". Miriam too.
Anyway, the other day I was downstairs with Caitlin and we heard
Miriam upstairs beginning to play her "flute"; Caitlin immediately
turned her eyes up to the ceiling, put both hands in front of her,
puckered her lips in a little O shape and made some hooting noises.
Funny girl.

Miriam received her first tricycle this week. She's been saying "go
bicycle store" every weekend for a long time and now she has a bike of
her own which she's crazy about. She's in love with anything with
wheels. I found a used trike for a fraction of the cost and the two
months between here and her birthday just seem too long. I like to
think of myself as pretty patient but I have a particular weakness for
bikes. No secret there. Birthday shopping will have to come later.

Now for a Miriam story that I forgot to tell earlier; While on our
recent trip to Dallas the kids were supposed to be napping in our
hotel room while we were in the adjoining room with friends. I heard
singing so I poked my head in the door and heard Miriam singing "Old
Macdonald had a snake…" and I was then holding in my laughter such
that I didn't hear the rest. Joe had taken her to the science museum
that morning, and she had McDonald's for lunch, so I suppose it all
just fit nicely into a song.

Joe's dissertation is finally off to the publishers. Done, done, and
done. Dr. Joseph Walch Ph.D. is in the house. I was able to attend his
dissertation defense/presentation which was pretty cool but way above
my head. I remember my words were "Joe, I didn't know you speak
German." The part of the presentation I understood was "rats" and
"peeing more/less". Now those words I can understand. I also
understood the part about harvesting their brains… I suppose this is
the time that I try to think of a joke that would have something to do
with increasing my own brain cell count, but alas. In lieu of the
useless joke, I'll just say thank you rats for your contribution to
mankind and congratulations Joe!

Third year medical school starts next week. First on the schedule is
OB night shift delivering babies, followed by psychiatry, gynocology,
and pediatrics. Joe is told to expect eighty-hour work-weeks for the
coming year, to which I say "Buckle up girls".