New job

I suspect there are few people who haven't already heard our news. But for the sake of completeness, allow me to announce officially that we are moving to Utah. Westminster College in Salt Lake City has offered me an assistant professor position next year in the department of mathematics. For those of you who know me well, you'll know how ironic it is that I'm moving back to Utah after 13 years of not having lived there. Despite our early reservations, however, we are truly excited about the move. The job is awesome: the department is amazing and the school is exactly the kind of liberal arts school I was searching for. The fact that it is in Utah will allow us to be close to both my parents and Kirsti's parents. They, in turn, are excited at having their granddaughter so close.

Now I have to finish my dissertation. The permanence of my position at Westminster is contingent upon me having Ph.D. in hand when I start next fall. So my adviser and I are working hard to try to finish up in the next few months. My last class at Miramar College will be a calculus class this summer which will finish in early August. By late August, classes start at Westminster, so we'll have a few weeks in between to get moved. Fortunately, Westminster is offering me a generous amount of money for moving and start-up expenses.

We'll miss sunny San Diego. We'll dearly miss the many friends we have made here. But I suppose we always knew that our stay here was temporary. I'll be glad to be finished with the ordeal that has been grad school. Real world, here I come!

Knock-knock joke

Tasman learned the famous banana/orange knock-knock joke from an episode of Backyardigans. Well, she sort of learned it. Most of you probably know how the joke is supposed to go. (If not, watch it on YouTube.) Here's how it went this morning, prompted by the fact that she was eating a banana for breakfast.

T: [knocking on her tray] Knock knock.
S: Who's there?
T: Banana.
S: Banana who?
T: Knock knock.
S: Who's there?
T: Orange.
S: Orange who?
T: Knock knock.
S: Who's there?
T: Orange.
S: Orange who?
T: Knock knock.
S: Who's there?
T: Are you going to say banana?

All aboard

Tas has been a bit obsessed with trains since yesterday when she rode on a small one at the mall.

This morning, we were practicing counting with our fingers. After struggling to keep her ring finger and little finger tucked under her thumb, she finally managed to keep two fingers up. To celebrate her success, she started shouting, "Two! Two!" over and over again. Then she stopped for a second. Her eyes widened with excitement, and she started shouting, "Chugga, chugga, two, two!" instead.

This isn't the first time she's been unusually creative with the number two.

Future professions

Sean is forever getting on my case for not posting, so here we go. Tas was really on a roll last night. I was on the phone with my friend Lisa when Tas got out the doctor kit that my mom gave her for Christmas. She's played with it a little, but last night she gave me a thorough check up. She listened to my heart, smacked my shin with the reflex hammer to "check-a-knee." She looked in my throat: "check for the mouf," she says. She used the "autoscope" to look in my eyes and ears, she gave me a shot and a bandage and then said, "Here's a lollipop." Made me laugh. You'd think she goes to the doctor all the time. The last time she was there was about four months ago and I don't remember them giving her a lollipop, but candy is memorable to a two year old.

After her bath she was playing Pat-a-cake with me. She seems to think it involves two people at this point; I'm not sure why. We made it through an enthusiastic round one and on the second time around she said, "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, make a man." I said, "Make a man? Can we make one for Lisa?" (Lisa is our good friend from San Diego who is single.) Tas said, "Yeah!" So I asked Tasman, "What's his name?" She thought for a while ("ummmmmm") and then said, "Santa Claus?!!" What do you say Lisa? It could work.

Lastly, at prayer time, Tasman said her own prayers for the first time. She's been repeating them after us for a few months, but last night she just said them by herself. She opened and closed properly and she thanked Heavenly Father for the day and blessed us to be safe. The rest was pretty incomprehensible, except for something about parachutes. Sean was trying hard not to laugh out loud.

So after yesterday, I'd guess she'll either be a doctor, a matchmaker, or a paratrooper, but maybe it's too early to tell.

I always like to see pictures, so here are some from this morning.

Are we on a first name basis?

Tasman greeted me today as I went to get her out of her crib after her nap. "Hi, Sean! Where's Kirsti?" Hmm...