The quad in which we live is now full of students, some 1500 in this complex, as they rolled in Wednesday and Thursday this week. Huge piles of cardboard boxes and packing materials have sprung up as people move into their dorm rooms. Refrigerators, microwaves, particle board furniture, stereos. I’m very glad those days are behind me, although we just moved in here ourselves, and our move probably resembled theirs, except we have much more stuff. We’ve settled pretty well now, with Silas digging all the new attention, and us getting used to the fact of semi-private life. This week temperatures were consistently over 90 degrees, so Silas and I stuck close to the apartment. It would have been claustrophobic except the social schedule picked up here and there were plenty of meetings and meals in the dorm. The next few weeks are jam packed with socials and special events welcoming the students to campus; we’ll be involved in a lot of them.
In one of the coolest marketing moves I’ve seen, the south Philly Ikea opened last night, from 11-1 a.m. exclusively for UPenn students. They even sent buses to campus to carry them down. I don’t know how much business they did, but I’m sure everybody had fun.
I’ve stopped counting the steps Silas can link together, as he can walk a circle around the apartment if he had a reason, like to stick his hands in the dog food or toilet, for example. He’s picking up the visual language now, signing for food, more, all done, dog, and some of his more important body parts. He’s mimicking us pretty well too, at least in syllables and pitch, and sometimes Ella, water, mama, daddaddad, though the last two are probably wishful thinking yet.
We’ve eaten at the dining hall a few times this week, and I can get used to that. The halls which are closer to us will open next week; it currently takes a good while to get over to the only hall currently open, feed Silas, ourselves, and the pile of dishes and dirty napkins that Silas deftly creates. At least I don’t have to clean the floors. Everything is buffet style, so we’d better find some regular exercise or I’ll slide into late middle aged shape real fast.
Paxton, Macavan, and his mom visited for an hour or two this morning as we had an open-house breakfast for the floor. The kids played hard and Silas is now down for a nap.
We’re looking forward to seeing my family tomorrow and Sunday, though we’ll be high-tailing it back here for Labor Day, as the schedule is really heavy on one of the last days before classes start up. I need to pick up a smaller camera soon, as I’m not comfortable schlepping mine all around town. I’ll dig through the picture folder for this week, but I think it’s pretty thin.
You and Silas and Molly did it again, wonderful photos, thanks and more thanks!
1) Great shoes, Molly! 2) Silas grew so much in the last month! Eee!!!
Freshman 15, baby!