Settled

We are settled into Sue and Joe's house now and have sort of a routine figured out. Ben is now working full time at the Tufts Labs and I am watching Finley full time. Finley and I spend our time checking out local towns, farms, cooking, playing outside at the local zoo and various playgrounds. She is currently very obsessed with horses, cows and Elmo. Her language skills are growing by the day. It's amazing to hear her put words together. This morning she said "hair mouth", when she wanted help getting a hair out of her mouth and if she doesn't want something anymore she'll say "take this".  She hasn't quite gotten a rhythm to her speech, so there is often a pause between words. She is also getting very opinionated and has an unbelievable amount of energy. She is ready to be potty trained, but it's difficult to do when we aren't at our own house. The other day, she pooped on the toilet, but we aren't pushing for it too hard. We have another two months here.

Things are settled with our house other than needing some paperwork from the Shryock's, but they are cruising the Mediterranean. I am looking for houses to buy everyday, but we really haven't settled on a location and nothing is really sticking out at me. I'm not a huge fan of many colonials or capes unless there is a front porch. I'd really like a Victorian style house. This is definitely not the most important factor, but it's hard to get over a first impression. After being here for a month and experiencing the extreme heat and it's only May, a pool is becoming more of a necessity. I am willing to be more flexible about the age of the house as long as it's well made and the neighborhood is established. There is nothing I hate more than a generic new house plopped down on a freshly cleared lot in the middle of a subdivision.

Another factor to consider in towns to live is that I am thinking about going back to school! I didn't think this would happen and I'm not sure yet, but I am looking into Doctor of Physical Therapy programs. It's a three year program and the pay is so much better than what dietitians make, but I would need to retake the GRE, several prerequisite classes and get lots of shadowing experience. Anyway, if I decide to do this it would be to start around when Ben is done with his school. The dilemma is that I'm not sure if I'd get into a school in Boston or Western Mass. Luckily we have awhile to think about that and for now, I'm going to continue working as a dietitian to get more clinical experience.

We are leaving tonight for Ontario for another flyball tournament. We will stop drive about 3-4 hours tonight and then another 4-5 tomorrow.