Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Ms Personality
Words that Montana recognizes include: outside, "lights [off] please!" (we teach energy efficiency early), bottle, book, puzzle, mama, papa, little p, pants. Words that she tries to say: "outside" (hard to replicate but we're pretty sure this is going on), ooooooo and ohhhhhh, mamamamammama, padadada. Things that she loves: walking behind the stroller -- she will not release the stroller until she is good and done --; still infatuated with cottage cheese, though now also appreciative of chicken and chicken sausage, Siobhan, bread, pacifier and cuddling in bed from 5:45 - 6 a.m., her black patent leather shoes, opening and closing cupboards, and pulling all of mama's sweaters out of her dresser, eating leaves.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
back up to speed!
some new photos that we are delighted to share with you. computer restored, hard drive intact!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Electrons on the loose
Hello everyone. You might (understandably) surmise that the break-in-postings is due to my general proclivity to very belated postings. However, this time it's actually due to the fact that our house was very nearly struck by lightning last Tuesday. Amidst the bright white and florid orange streaks and the enormous "boom" that scared Montana mightily, the lightning also took out our desktop computer, modem/internet connection, and television. Hello, State Farm Renters' Insurance. We're still sorting through the virtual carnage, but luckily no one was hurt and no data was lost. I'm now online a bit more frequently than before owing to our kind neighbors who are letting us be parasites on their wireless connection, but pictures likely won't be forthcoming until we get the computer situation sorted out.
In the meantime, Montana has gone to daycare at Bright Horizons and, on the whole, is doing very well. She does not love being dropped off, but as we tell her, we always come back; and she usually protests for about 2 minutes before becoming very interested in oversized legos, the grass outside, or her new BFF Liam. She adores her teacher, Jen. She also adores cottage cheese and yesterday ate some lasagna made by Alice, which she also loved.
As for her parents: Michael is teaching a course at Yale College this fall, entitled "Influential Women of Early Christianity." Very interesting and exciting syllabus with a small group of undergraduates (it's a seminar). Michael is also on the job market this year, with the aim of being hired to teach somewhere for academic year 2009-2010. There are a number of really fitting jobs that are conducting searches, so we are hopeful. We won't know more on that front until the winter: academic hires do not proceed at corporate paces!
I'm a Teaching Fellow for a course on Faith and Globalization, which has been the subject of much intellectual and organizational effort as well as much expectation, and it's an honor to be part of it. Pedagogically it's quite interesting: There are two mandatory sections prior to the two-hour seminar, so the bulk of the conceptual material is digested and critiqued prior to the formal class meeting time. I think this is a suggestive way of doing interdisciplinary work.
We hope you are all well as September draws us toward the change of seasons. August/September are much more a "new year" for the Peppards than is January. There is always much energy, delight, and anticipation that accompanies the return of students to a college campus, and it is lovely to be caught up in that annual cycle of return. We love what we do!
In the meantime, Montana has gone to daycare at Bright Horizons and, on the whole, is doing very well. She does not love being dropped off, but as we tell her, we always come back; and she usually protests for about 2 minutes before becoming very interested in oversized legos, the grass outside, or her new BFF Liam. She adores her teacher, Jen. She also adores cottage cheese and yesterday ate some lasagna made by Alice, which she also loved.
As for her parents: Michael is teaching a course at Yale College this fall, entitled "Influential Women of Early Christianity." Very interesting and exciting syllabus with a small group of undergraduates (it's a seminar). Michael is also on the job market this year, with the aim of being hired to teach somewhere for academic year 2009-2010. There are a number of really fitting jobs that are conducting searches, so we are hopeful. We won't know more on that front until the winter: academic hires do not proceed at corporate paces!
I'm a Teaching Fellow for a course on Faith and Globalization, which has been the subject of much intellectual and organizational effort as well as much expectation, and it's an honor to be part of it. Pedagogically it's quite interesting: There are two mandatory sections prior to the two-hour seminar, so the bulk of the conceptual material is digested and critiqued prior to the formal class meeting time. I think this is a suggestive way of doing interdisciplinary work.
We hope you are all well as September draws us toward the change of seasons. August/September are much more a "new year" for the Peppards than is January. There is always much energy, delight, and anticipation that accompanies the return of students to a college campus, and it is lovely to be caught up in that annual cycle of return. We love what we do!
Friday, August 29, 2008
August Miscellany
August: California, Vermont, childcare, Obama, Palin, headlong into Labor Day, the advent of teaching. A whirlwind! Some photos that give a sense of where we've been...
Friday, August 15, 2008
Montana does not stop. Ever. She is constantly in motion (so you can imagine the delight of a cross-country plane flight...), unless she is sleeping, which she only does with a fair bit of resistance. After all, every moment is a new opportunity to pull herself up on something, chew a corner of furniture, or pull a piece of fabric out of the laundry basket!
In California this past week for Lauren and John's wedding, Montana met her second cousin Gretchen for the first time and had her first photo shoot. This season's style: red gingham, featured on a backdrop of striped beach furniture.
She goes to childcare (aka "school") three days per week for six hours a day during the first week of September, which will probably be a mutual liberation of parents and child, although I predict some ambivalence on the part of myself and Michael. As for the two parents in this family unit, we are ensconced in pre-semester plannings, both conceptual and logistical; and are looking forward to some time in Vermont with good friends and good books in anticipation of the fray that September is sure to bring.
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