OK, where to begin...

I can see from my last post that my blog left off where the rest of my life did -- March 31. I began April by starting a 23-day, 6-interview road-show trying to get some poor sucker to hire me. In order, I went to the following:

1. Western Illinois U., Macomb*
   
2. Case Western Reserve U, Cleveland*
3. Wayne State U., Detroit
4. George Mason U., Fairfax VA
5. U. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (you figure out where it is)
6. Xavier U., Cincinnati*

The "*" means that Tina and Ellie-bean came with me. We were at CWRU on Easter weekend when Cleveland got 2 feet of snow and the Tribe had to go play their games in Milwaukee.

As I'd expected, the job market was generally in my favor, as I got offers from 5 of those 6. At the end of the day we (yes, we) chose Xavier U. It has several things going for it, in no particular order:

1. Cool "X" motif in the name
   
2. Very bright students
   
3. Great hoops program
4. Fantastic alumni relations so I can get lots of cool research opportunities
   
5. Cincinnati is our kind of city -- right size, good location, very middle-America. It's actually very much a white-collar, service-economy sort of city, so it's very different from blue-collar , industrial Cleveland where I grew up. Plus the sun shines a lot more, which isn't hard because the sun almost never shines in Cleveland.
6. Jesuit foundation will challenge me to not be so self-centered and make me more service-oriented
   

All in all, we're very pleased with the outcome. XU worked quickly to match the market's timing, as I had some other very attractive offers that had short deadlines.

And the best part is how God made in clear that He was the one that opened the door to get me there. A couple of weeks before the deadline on the offer I was considering, XU had two profs resign to go move nearer their families. So they were eager to hire, which suited me just fine, of course. (I love when people are eager to hire.) Tina and I had been driving ourselves and each other nuts trying to micro-manage all our options and contingencies and what-ifs and then just said, forget this -- we'll let God decide where to put us. And right then is when I got a voicemail from the person at XU who does the hiring. Not a coincidence.

updates

Sorry no updates in the last couple of weeks. I'm really busy wrapping up my dissertation and trying to get a job. I have five interviews in 17 days in April, and all except one involve a few days of travel.

I'll let you all know how it turns out, but in the meantime, just go back through the archives to get your gorgeousest-baby-ever fix.

Finally, I'm a Papa

So our gorgeous little monkey finally started calling me "Papa." She seems to have been able but was just holding it back until she was ready to make me happy.

Now I'm happy.

Close-up of the alphabet soup

Because, of course, if I don't post something else, there will be raging controversy all over the internet about whether the soup in the other picture is truly alphabet soup.

Of course, maybe these are all doctored Reuters photos anyway.

Ellie making alphabet soup

She just put all her letters from her alphabet puzzle into a pot on her little stove. All by her lonesome.

Finally

Ellie's started saying "Papa." Of course, she's a stubborn little brat, and simply refuses to say it when we want her to or to directly refer to me. She's teasing me with it.

She mostly calls me (and Tina and herself, too) "Mommy." Which is kinda funny in itself.

Ellie from on high

I was really just trying to get a picture of the tile on the floor for Mammaw and Pappaw Ron, but Ellie spotted me standing on the chair and started grinning.

Giving the bear a ride

The bear's actually wearing a maternity shirt. I'm not entirely sure why.

Zipping up

Banana phones

We were on a conference call to Lancelot Link.

Ellie reading to her baby

She sits there with a book and reads to her baby. Of course, she's reading in Sanskrit or something, because it's not English. But it's pretty cool nonetheless.

Ellie feeding her baby

Ellie loving on one of her babies

Ellie and Papa...

...looking wistfully out the window, waiting for spring to arrive.

Don't ask why we're wearing hats indoors.

Fun with the dog

I'm trying to show Ellie how to throw the snowball to the dog. She did throw a few but they typically didn't clear her own feet.

When she would wind up, Snickers would go bounding across the yard as though Ellie's last name were Manning rather than Mastilak. Poor dog would just stand there looking for a throw that never made it that far.

Ellie making a snowball

Ok, I made it and she's just holding it. She didn't seem to notice the cold on her hands. Perhaps, unlike her mother, she actually has circulation to her extremities.

Ellie & Papa in the snow

She had snow-proof pants on.

I didn't.

Ellie in the snow

Today was the first time there was snow on the ground yet it wasn't too cold for Tina to take Ellie outside. They both had a good time out there.

My mom will be happy to know that Ellie had plastic bags on her feet inside her shoes.

Ellie feeding the dog alphabet soup

Dog doesn't seem too thrilled, does she?

Where's the balloon, Elizabeth?

Note: do not adjust your set. The balloon isn't really round anymore.

Developmental update

OK, Ellie's got some more things to say lately. She said "ice cream" after seeing a picture of a cone. (Plus she licked the card.) She's all over "owl." She also says "Frosty" -- not as in the frozen treat, but the snowman. OK, it's more like "Drosty," but it's Frosty. She's added "Oh no" to "Oh shoot."

She can pick out and identify Jesus in a picture -- I'm wondering if she's picked up on the fact that He's the center of attention in pictures. It must be something because there are usually six bearded guys in robes and sandals and she can pretty much always tell which one He is.

She's also doing pretty well at Memory, the upside-down card picture-matching game. She remembers about half the time where an upside-down card was to match the one in her hand.

And she's doing really well with puzzles too. She has some with animals and little knobs to hold, and some with squares, circles, etc. and no knobs, and some with letter or number pieces. And she's putting them in place really well.

She's also doing animal impressions (hissing like a snake, waving her arm like an elephant's trunk, flying like a bird).

She gives kisses and hugs on request.

And best of all, when I say "do you want to go nighty-night?" she kisses Mama goodnight, jumps into my arms to get carried upstairs, polishes off her bottle, gives me a hug, points to her crib, and goes to sleep. Just perfect.

I'm sure there's more -- it's really a whirlwind of development, too fast for us to keep up with. We're guessing (conservatively) that she's probably in the top 0.00000632% of most smartest babies ever.

Ellie's Ikea igloo

So Ellie has this igloo-tent from Ikea. She really loves it. All her stuffed animals and the punch-ball balloon have to go into it and stay, as do we.

Unfortunately, the door is a little bit shorter than we are. I can't tell if my back is hurting from shoveling snow or from continually crawling through the eye of the needle.

Ellie finding a chair

She must think her papa always needs help identifying things in books, because he always asks her to point them out to him.

And she usually does!

Ellie, sharing her tea

...with a gorilla, in an igloo.

What's so weird about that?

Sipping her tea in an igloo

Tea, Earl Grey, hot.

Inside joke.

All ready for a tea party

If you can believe it, her tea set is made of Melmac.

Ellie loves her stuffies

Here she is hugging her cow. She loves her cow big-time.

Elizabeth being cute

She doesn't always like when we put a hat on her, but she loves to put this one on.

Mama likes her to wear this hat.

Ellie's vocabulary

So people have been asking us what words Ellie can say, and we can never think of them all on the spot. So here's a more-or-less comprehensive list of her more reliable words. A lot of the time other people might not recognize what she's saying, but that's the way it goes with toddlers.

• Mama
• all gone (she holds her hands up in the "baby sign langauge" way)
  
• clock (sounds more like "ca" but we know she means clock)
  
• cat
• dog (sounds like "doh-doh," in a sing-song style, but we know it's "dog")
• cheetah (she has a toy that names animals and a cheetah is one of them)
  
• duck
• moo (upon seeing a cow or a picture of one)
• meow (really, "nleow" but it happens when she sees a cat or a picture of one)
• baby (sounds like "mommy" but we know better)
• teeth, cheek, cheese, Jesus (these are all mostly the same sound but it's used in context so we know what she means)
• eyes
• shoe or shoes
• Oh shoot (seriously -- when she drops something or pulls her mitten off her hand or does something similarly unexpected, she says something very much like "Oh shoot." It was really funny when I realized what she was probably saying)
• Elmo (it really doesn't sound that much like Elmo but it's very consistent when she sees him, which is pretty often because he's on some of the diapers she wears) Oh yeah, just to warn ya, the link has annoying an Elmo voice)

I think that's all for right now. I may have forgotten something but I'll put it up as soon as I'm reminded of it.

Ellie just being cute

She's as happy as that chair behind her.