Once before Oliver went six days in a row without an accident, but today marked the first time he went a full week without an accident, as his last accident was last Friday morning at church (during the kids' gym class). A few times over the past week he has had a small wet spot on his underwear, but I don't count that as an accident when he stops himself and gets on the potty in time to finish peeing. He also has been waking up dry almost every time (naps and overnight) so I am going to start putting him to bed in his underwear. I will just start with naps and then if that goes well I will also do the same at night. I had recently ordered a mattress protector for his bed from Walmart (very important) as well as a set of Thomas the Train sheets (which don't go with his bedding but that's what he wanted so who cares, right?). I didn't want to start bed time training without either of these because he's currently using Ian's spare set of sheets. It is such a relief to be over the biggest hurdles of potty training. Most of the time he now tells me when he needs to go, and he has learned how to take off his pants and underwear and get on the potty himself. I still have to wipe him after he poops, and I still have to put his clothes back on after he goes potty, but he's making a lot of progress! He remembers to flush more often than Nadia does.
Today will be his last nebulizer treatment until the next time he has a cold or cough. The pulmonologist said to keep him on the Pulmicort twice a day until he had been on the Singulair for ten days. Oliver LOVES the Singulair. He thinks it's candy and wishes he could have it more than once a day, ha ha! Here's to praying this keeps him out of the hospital the rest of this year!
Yesterday Paul was offered a one year extension on his contract at Bucknell. We weren't sure if his teaching evaluations were good enough to warrant that, but it turns out that typically multiple students come and complain to the department chair about the VAP (visiting professor), and the department was very impressed that not one single student complained about Paul last semester. That was encouraging! Now there was a coach mad at him this semester because he allows students to start their exams at 7:45 to give them a little extra time, but that's another story. They gave him two weeks to make a decision, and if he didn't accept within that time frame they were going to post the job and start an official search. He could apply for the opening at that point, but he'd be competing against whomever else applied. He was supposed to have two phone interviews today, and he had one last week, but there was no way any of those searches would be completed within two weeks. This will be the last extension because they will be converting this position into a tenure track one, and they are looking for someone in a different area of chemistry so he won't be eligible.
Paul quoted the proverb of a bird in hand being worth two in the bush. It is hard to say no to a definite offer in favor of indefinite ones. He has never taught the same course twice, and by accepting the offer he'll be teaching the same two classes next year that he taught/is teaching this year. Hopefully this will enable him to spend more time doing research. A downside is this means I will be submitting applications for him four years in a row, but since we are finding out much earlier than the past two years, I will get about seven months off before I resume submitting applications for him. I was hoping we'd be moving somewhere this summer and feel like we were really going to put down some roots, but it's a good reminder that our true home is in Heaven and we're just passing through here on earth. I never would have guessed when we bought this house in 2008 that we'd live here for eight years! I am 99% certain we will be trying to sell this house in the spring of 2016 because we can't afford to live here any longer than that. This house is too expensive for his salary. I am going to try to find a way to make some money. It doesn't seem prudent to start giving piano or flute lessons if we are hoping to move within 18 months, but maybe I can do some tutoring or teach part-time for a university. It is nice for the suspense to be over. I can start making decisions such as which co-op to have the kids join next fall. Hopefully two years teaching at Bucknell will look good on his resume and make it easier for him to get a job offer for a permanent job that will start in August 2016.
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