Thesis Report! Thesis Report! (Thesis Report!)

Andrew has dubbed this week "Thesis Week"—the week in which I make the final push to finish my manuscript...which is currently sitting at 144 pages. He printed out my thesis so that I could go completely old school and read my words not on the screen. That's a thick pile of paper!

My kids cannot wait to get their hands on it in the scrap paper bin. Meanwhile, I've (1) addressed the 95 (NINETY FIVE) comments my advisor left for me in chapter 5 and have (2) been busily marking up chapters 6 and 7—tracking down typos and noting inconsistencies and reordering arguments and...

I'm so sick of this project that I could.... 

Tell you what! 

Maybe instead of the scrap paper bin, we'll use this printout as kindling for a marshmallow roast. 

I'm just that sick of the project. 

Burn it! Burn it all!

(Just let me graduate first, please).

Anyway, since this is Thesis Week, the kids have been tasked with Phoebe interference. Their #1 priority is to keep Phoebe entertained so that I can work in relative peace. 

Andrew had to go into campus yesterday, so the kids were left to run Phoebe interference all on their own. They did great! They read books to her, played with Magnatiles, made DUPLO creations, fed her lunch, gave her a bath, got her dressed (in her Bluey shirt), watched Bluey, played in the sprinkler, gave her another bath, helped her check the mailbox...

At dinner, Andrew started asking people what their favourite part of the day (or, as it's known in our house F-POD, pronounced eff-pod) was and then said, "Wait! Stop! First we need a Thesis Report! How'd it go today? Was everyone helpful?"

So I told him how very helpful the kids were (especially Miriam, though everyone assisted at one point or another) and how far I'd gotten with my revisions.

We returned to everyone's F-POD, which naturally dissolved into a lovely organic dinner conversation.

Then Rachel said, "You know that song from Octonauts? The one at the end...what is it? The one where they give the recap of the show and... I have that stuck in my head and I can't figure out why."

In response all the other kids chorused, "Thesis Report! Thesis Report! (Thesis Report!)"

Evidently Andrew unintentionally made all the kids associate his call for a "thesis report" with the "creature report" song from Octonauts:

Next time I'll have to give my thesis report in the same sing-songy way the creature reports are given!