Empty Nest

I hadn't seen the robin making her usual "million" trips a day to the nest with worms lately; so I peeked in the nest in our bush yesterday, and sure enough, it's empty. I guess the three little baby robins were big enough to fly out of their nest. Baby birds grow up rather quickly! I am glad our babies don't leave the nest for at least 18 years. :-)

Friday I finally decided what to get Nadia for her birthday. Since she LOVES to climb (in fact she can climb most of the way up our big slide in the backyard), we're getting her this toy that could be used indoors or outdoors. Hopefully she'll like it! I also plan to get her a couple of small things like a stroller for her dolls, but this will be her main gift from Mommy & Daddy. Thanks for the suggestions! She enjoys pushing around her "lion" so I think she'll enjoy a doll stroller as well. The lion is such that if we put the seat down it becomes a riding toy instead of a walking toy.

For several months whenever her bath time is almost over I always have said "bye bye duck" etc. to each of her bath toys as I took them out of the water and "bye bye water" as I opened the drain. This past Thursday she joined in with me and started saying "bye bye" after I said it. It was so cute!!!

Paul got good news last week that his advisor's grant is going to be renewed. This means he won't have to be a TA any more; he'll get paid the same stipend "just" to do his research. YAHOO! This is a big answer to prayer. It will make his goal to graduate by May 2012 more feasible. He has one more class to take this fall semester, and then he'll be done taking classes. Last year he took 2 classes a semester plus spent a lot of time grading and such for his TA responsibilities. He will have a lot more time to devote to his research this coming academic year. He plans to take his comprehensive exam next spring.