Isaiah is scared to death of taking a bath. I'm not sure why or when that fear arose. He used to love bathtime, but lately he won't sit down in the tub and stands there screaming the whole time. Last time Dan bathed him he came out of the bathroom and his ears were ringing for the next 30 minutes. He vowed to purchase a pair of earplugs before the next bath. This morning Isaiah buried his face in my lap as I did my best to wash him while he was standing ankle deep in the water. That helped with the noise quite a bit, and I was thankful. I finally gave up trying to get him in a good mood and at the end, knowing that there was no other way to get him to cooperate with the hair-washing part, took the shower (which terrifies him the most) and made him endure several seconds of that while I washed and rinsed his hair.
After he recovered from that abuse and terror, he went back to playing with his acorns. He was entirely cooperative and enthusiastic about going to bed for a nap, but didn't realize it meant that he had to part with his treasures. Alas, Mom was not in a patient enough mood to allow him to play more or say farewell to the acorns, as the Good Parenting books recommend ("Give your child notice well in advance when they need to stop playing so that they have enough time to mentally prepare." blah blah blah). As far as I'm concerned, he's sleeping now, and I will give him ample time to mentally prepare for his joyful reconciliation with his beloved acorns when the time is right. I also think he's got enough of his Daddy in him that I'm going to need to establish early on (yesterday, even) who is boss. We'll see how that goes.
Speaking of figuring out who is boss and not spoiling Isaiah, we will be headed to Arizona on Tuesday to see my Mom and my grandparents (her parents) and my sister, Mo. This will be the first time my Mom (and grandparents) will meet him, so we are greatly looking forward to this. We'll be there for two weeks, during which I am sure Isaiah will undoubtedly receive the highest levels of discipline from three adoring grand- or great-grandparents.

Speaking of Dan, which we weren't really doing at all, he had a very good lab meeting yesterday and a good talk with his advisor afterwards about his experiments (which are being completely uncooperative) and writing his dissertation. At some point in the Ph.D. career, you have to call what you have good enough, write it up, and move on with life. There is little wisdom in continuing to kick the dead horse, as you are learning little from that experience (except frustration) and sometimes it IS best to just let something rest for a bit before trying it again. That was the conclusion that he and I have come to recently, but it was good to hear that his advisor agreed with him on that. He is still hoping to write his dissertation and defend it this fall sometime, but is hoping to give the experiments a few more shots here. Continued prayers for wisdom, perseverance, and yes, good luck!! would be much appreciated. We are hoping he can become a slave to the lab while Isaiah and I are in Arizona, so hopefully things will line up so that he has enough to work on during those two weeks.