Reduce reuse...

In Ithaca you can recycle all kinds of plastic, numbers 1-7, so you usually don't have to worry about whether food containers are recyclable. In Rochester, not so. Only 1 and 2 are acceptable, so there is a lot more squinting at the bottoms of containers to find their number. Some of us in the BleisenMarriage are apparently more adaptable than others, and were able to learn within approximately the first five years of moving to Rochester that there is a different system here. (To summarize: 1 or 2? Yes. Not 1 or 2? No.) Others, rather than subject themselves to all that pesky memorization, relied on first gesturing with the container at their spouse and asking whether it could go in the recycling, then, when instructed, doing the squinty thing, then, after identifying the number (e.g. 3), asking if it could be recycled (see algorithm above).

In Year 6, however, all that is changing, and BOTH of us can now independently determine which containers are and are not appropriate to recycle, although old habits die hard and sometimes the yogurt containers get rinsed out anyway, just in case.

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In other big life changing news, we starting the Potty Training Process last weekend, which we in fact don't care about at all because neither one of us minds changing diapers. We were mainly motivated by not wanting to deal with this issue in someone who is sure to be an incredibly stubborn three-year-old. Aided by M&M's, she is getting it really quickly, but unfortunately only with me, at home, with the potty in the kitchen. (Clue, anyone?) As I was working all week this is not really a sustainable approach, but it's fine for now. When we were out today we saw one of those little toilet seats that you put on the regular toilet and Dylan said it would help and it had Big Bird on it and we are now its proud owners. Aaron took it out of its packaging, and, using his training, checked what number plastic it was. See where this is going? Number 1, of course. He giggled and put it in the recycling.

Our next potty-related challenge: figuring out how to spell M&M without, well, you see the problem?

From the what are they teaching them at daycare file

Dylan came home today, took my face in her hands, told me I was gorgeous, then gave me a kiss on each cheek. Everyone needs a little glamor in their day, I suppose.

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There was a spider in the bathroom this morning that caused Dylan to leap onto my person in a manner reminiscent of that scene in cartoons where, for example, a scared elephant will jump into the arms of a mouse at the sight of a ladybug or something equally terrifying. I know that's not quite apt in that I outweigh Dylan by a good 100+ pounds, but still, it gives you the right idea. At first I blamed daycare again because why would a two-year-old think spiders are terrifying, and...wait, I still blame them, but Aaron pointed out that she has done this with bugs since she was really little. She's also been at daycare since she was really little, so there you have it, the entire nature/nurture debate summed up in a paragraph.

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Speaking of elephants, the example one of my books gave for hallucinations during alcohol withdrawal was pink elephants. Come on, really?

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Speaking of school (remember that old thing?), I finished my rotation today. They try to dampen any relief you may have by having your last experience be a mind numbingly difficult exam to be done in 30% too little time. Let's all hope the answer to the last 20% of the questions is C! It is for cookie, after all.

Neither snow nor rain nor 24-degree weather

My Medicine Rotation: A Week By Week Guide

Week 1: What am I doing? And why have I been doing it for so many hours?

Week 2: Hm, didn't I go to medical school with you people? Why do I still seem to be in medical school, whereas you all seem to be in charge of me?

Week 3: Hey, didn't we go to high school together? Except you were a class below me and now you are my intern and I had no idea you even went to med school?

Week 4: I'm starting to get the hang of this a tiny little bit! Good thing it's my last week here.

Scene change from big university hospital to small community hospital with residents from all over the world

Week 5: My new intern wants to be in a different field, specifically surgery. He is therefore unhappy with life and presumably as a consequence found it too difficult to speak to me for the week and a half I was supposed to be working with him. I guess we've all been there.

Week 6: The people I'm working with are speaking to me now. It's...nicer. It's interesting to see all the advantages and disadvantages of having a smaller hospital. Advantage: 150% less time spent navigating a huge bureaucracy and vast physical distance to get the simplest of things done. Disadvantage: some of the attending physicians are really not interested in working with students or residents and are rude, if not hostile, regarding input/questions/my existence.

Week 7: Good lord, I've been doing this for seven weeks. Thinking back through the haze, I believe I also registered my dissertation somewhere in there. Defense Date: March 16th. Relatedly, I cannot seems to stop myself from getting into epidemiology-type disputes with the residents and attendings in public forums. It is possible my exhaustion is starting to show through, as documented by my current intern this morning on his iphone.
I had heard this before I started, but it really is hard to be judged by everyone, all the time.

Week 8: TBA

kid in bed

Salon, by Aaron

Interlude

If you didn't see this lego exhibit, I recommend it.

First Aid for Dummies

I've only seen Super Nanny a couple times, and I have only based my own life on it once. The kids were running around screaming and not brushing their teeth and they made a new rule that the father would sing "Twinkle Twinkle" twice through and they would have to brush that whole time. We started singing to Dylan as we brushed her teeth and she loves it and we don't have any trouble getting her to sit still for it. Only now she tries to sing during it too, which, you know, presents a logistical problem.

I tried to play hide and seek with her today. It took a couple tries to get her to understand about not following me and watching while I hid. Then she got all sad when I kept hiding in different places instead of the same one as the first time. Which, honestly, I was just in the corner of the room with a towel over my head. She tried to hide once, but standing in the middle of her room waiting for me didn't cut it, so we stuck with me hiding. At one point I hid behind Aaron and he tried to point out to her that the number of feet involved didn't add up, but when he asked her how many feet she had she said four, so that wasn't actually a good clue on his part. Technical issues aside she thought it was the best game ever and it was only halted because we had to go take care of her other love, grocery shopping. Funny that she has trouble with hide and seek but is in charge of administering first aid in our house. Here, she'll give you a demo.

Checking in, notes to self

(written last night, posted this morning, see #7)

1) I should probably stop sending people nerdy medical e-mails at 9PM Saturday night if I want to retain any semblance of cool nonchalance, which I think we can all agree is how I usually come across.

2) Dylan = tall and lanky and talky. Will try to capture on film or moving picture tomorrow.

3) Aaron = rather devoted to housework now that he is the only one doing any. It's just as well, he's better at it. Have you seen me try to wrap a present, make a bed, or fold clothing? It's not pretty. Also, why are you peeping in my windows?

4) Speaking of peeping in windows, does anyway else remember what's actually in that children's classic George and Martha? "George was fond of peeking in windows."

"One day, George peeked in on Martha."

Awesome. Sorry Dylan, we can't play this game because our bathroom's on the second floor.

5) Top Chef: new British food critic judge, ha! He speaks only in full paragraph, somewhat forced metaphors, and the other judges just blink when he talks. I mean, what is the appropriate response when someone announces that "the big bad wolf blew down this little piggy's house" when they didn't like the pork?

6) Medicine rotation: going a lot better than surgery. Which I passed, as I learned yesterday. It's still a lot of hours and hard work and I am very tired, but it can also be pretty fun. I'm getting to see Dylan a reasonable amount. It's just hard to have such a large proportion of what comes out of your mouth be wrong, yet you have to keep doing it or else you won't learn as well.

7) Dylan fell asleep at 6pm while we were out to dinner tonight. I have seen babies and small children just drift off gently to sleep while in their parent's arms, but I have never myself experienced it. Usually she sleeps at lightly as the breath of a big bad wolf who blows down a little pig's house, and takes as long to fall asleep as it takes to build a house of bricks. Unfortunately, she considered it to be the nap that she had skipped earlier that day and woke up at 9:30PM.

Note from the deep

Even tired med students get to watch the inauguration. I was in the atrium at the med school with lots of other people. "Restoration of science" got a big round of applause.

up next...

...I may disappear for a while. I am starting my medicine rotation tomorrow (I know, isn't the whole thing medicine? how can you do a medicine rotation?), which means I am suddenly going to be a lot busier. So we'll see how it goes, but posting may be light around here for a bit.

New Year's Gremlin

Happy New Year

I hope you all found as good a buddy to hang out with as Dylan did

Generous

I ordered presents for all the grandparents on December 18th to bring with us on our trip. Instead they took their time getting going, then embarked on their own trip, with a lengthy layover in Illinois. I hope they had a nice Christmas/Hanukkah/whatever it is tardy presents celebrate. I will have New Year's gifts for everyone though. I am thoughtful that way. Meanwhile Tommy ordered a present for Aaron on the 24th that got there on the 26th.

Candyland: living the dream

I realized that we lit candles for Hanukkah in four different cities this year, so this is what I call a Hanucollage

NYC

La fiesta continues

I'm behind by a couple days, so here, consider this a little time travel to two days ago.

Just like last year we put Annie to work making us a traditional Moroccan meal for Christmas dinner.


Dylan got to meet Young Santa.
Aaron got a Wii fit. It is not possible to capture in word or film how entertaining it is to watch him use it to hula hoop, but I gave it a shot.
When you first calibrate it, it broadcasts your BMI and your obesity status to all who are watching. Then it chunks up your online character accordingly.
I got a pretty pretty scarf that is getting a little mangy from being worn to bed.

Up tomorrow: yesterday.

loot

Uh, sorry about that last post. Things got a little crazy...the fans got a little reckless...the XBOX 360 let the band unlock some wild outfits...it just went downhill quickly.

We're in NYC now and I am too tired to type any more words, so here are some snapshots of us with presents, including 1) a glorified cardboard box, 2) an awfully realistic tool belt with actual hammer, and 3) slippers that got their eyes chewed off (ahem, Aaron) within ten minutes of being received.