Sorry for the delay in posting, but Ezra and Anika have been really sick and we've been up too late! Luckily, they're both starting to feel a little better, so we're keeping our hopes up for a good night tonight.
Today is Anika's half-birthday, which is really exciting! We've been so happy to see her grow and become such a wonderfully sweet little girl over the past six months. We took her to the doctor today and they said she is 15lbs, 8 oz (20th percentile); 26 inches (50th percentile); she has a 46cm head circumfrence (60th percentile) and she is also extraordinarily cute. She's getting so good at rolling around and grabbing the things she wants (you can ask Ezra how good she is at pulling hair!) and she's begun to babble a lot during the day. She loves her swing and her favorite thing in the world is to lay down on a blanket surrounded by toys and play a little "grab and release" with all of them! She also loves to drink water from a glass, and will use her hands to force the cup to her mouth if you are not giving it to her fast enough!
In other news, today Jonathan passed his dissertation prospectus examination, which means he now owns the title "ABD." ABD stands for "All but dissertation," and it means that there are no more hoops the department/college can put you through before you defend your dissertation. The defense consisted of Jonathan sitting in a room surrounded by his dissertation committee, answering questions about his dissertation for around 3 hours. Afterward, while he was basking in the glow of accomplishment, his advisor said, "Now all the work begins." It was a sobering moment to say the least. It is, of course, true; only around 1 in 10 people who are ABD actually finish the dissertation. Jonathan thinks that once people get past the point where others are telling them what to say, they find out they don't have anything to say themselves. In case you are interested, Jonathan is writing his dissertation on Henry David Thoreau and the concept of "privatism." So far, he's written around 40 pages, which means only 350 or so to go! Hopefully, he will finish by the end of the summer.
2 comments:
Congratulations Jonny, we knew you could do it!! 350 pages isn't that bad, You will finish it. Keep up the good work! love Mom
Whew! I thought ABD was some weird disease or something. Glad it's not contagious. And yeah, 350 pages isn't that bad ... think of it in terms of blog postings. Okay, you're screwed. Good luck anyway! :)
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