December 2008

"Terrible 2's" not bad as predicted

COVER STORY: March 19 marked only Liliana's second birthday, yet at the wee age of two she already mastered many talents. In February, Liliana tackled the task of potty-training. After only a couple weeks of dedicated "training," she conquered the potty and never looked back.

Indeed, freed from the baggy confines of her diapers, Liliana developed into into a full-fledged fashionista, forging a dynamic style blending the rugged playfulness of Sesame Street with the refined style of the Disney Princesses. That is, she mostly wears stuff with Elmo, Cinderella, or Tinker Bell on it.

Liliana is also quite the conversationalist. She now speaks in articlate complete sentences, especially when indicating her opinions on matters of dessert portions, movie watching, and hours of bedtime. She's also become increasingly (and somewhat irritatingly) inquisitive: there is not a day that goes by where she questions "why" at least 1,000 times. "Why, why, why you ask?" Because she is two!

Liliana has an active imagination and loves to play games. She likes to pretend to bake cookies and fly like a pixie. Liliana is a creative artist who enjoys painting and coloring at home, and making art projects at school. She is also fond of singing, and spends many days singing new arrangements of "Row, Row, Row, Your Boat" and "So Long, Farewell."

In fact, she's become such an amazing young lady over the course of the year that there's not nearly enough room in this Christmas edition to contain it! Fortunately, these are well documented in Travis' continuing series of Monthly Newsletters.

Happy holidays!

...from the Kowalski family.

Adoption finally complete!

After two years of paperwork and waiting, and then another year of social worker follow-ups, the Kowalski family completed the final steps of Liliana's adoption in January 2008. These final steps involved officially "re-adopting" her in the state of South Dakota, providing her with a South Dakota birth certificate and a constitutional right to say phrases like "Ya betcha."

"Master Mom" and "Doctor Dad"

2008 was a particularly busy year for educators Kristin Bailey and Travis.

Kristin Bailey remains the most popular algebra/pre-algebra teacher at Dakota Middle School. She earned a special feather in her cap in the summer of 2008, when she completed her graduate thesis work and earned a Master's Degree with an emphasis on Mathematics Education. She and her cohort of peers have been repeatedly honored locally for this accomplishment, being pioneers of the new graduate education curri- culum. Far from taking a break, however, Kristin Bailey used her free time to join the Black Hills Community Theatre, making her on-stage debut in a musical production of Cinderella in November.

Travis meanwhile continues to hone his reputation as a great instructor who gives wicked tests. This year he had the article "How to measure angles with a ruler" published in the College Math Journal as well as submitting another pair of other articles. He also advised four undergraduate research theses, some of which he is sure will lead to further publications. Travis has also been particularly busy on the mathematical "lecture circuit," giving presentations in Minneapolis in February and the Black Hills in April, invited addresses at BHSU in South Dakota and CU Denver in Colorado, and an invitiation for MathFest 2009 in Oregon. Travis completed his promotion application in October, and hopes to earn the rank of Associate Professor after the new year.

In memoriam

Robert Paul Kowalski
January 7, 1950-
January 31, 2008.

Beloved father and doting granddaddy. We miss you, Papa K.

Summer notable for grandparents, natural disasters

As is rapidly becoming a Kowalski family tradition, this summer was dominated by grandparently visitations. In June, Judi (Kristin Bailey's mother) stayed with the Kowalskis for two weeks to spend time spoiling her granddaughter Liliana. During her stay, Nana F. and the Kowalski family visited Mt. Rushmore, took a train ride on Thomas the Tank Engine, and survived a viscious hail-storm that did $12,000 of damage to the family's car.

A month later, the Kowalskis were visited by Patty (Travis' mother), who also came to spend time with her favorite grand- daughter and, occasionally, Liliana's parents. (We kid.) On her visit, Nana S. and the Kowalski clan visited the Reptile Gardens, went on a chuckwagon cookout in Custer State Park, and survived a viscious hail-storm that chipped up the deck pretty bad.

The following month, the Kowalski family flew cross-country to Florida to visit the rest of Kristin Bailey's family, including her father Jerry, sister Heidi, brother-in-law Gene, and niece Sara. While in the Sunshine State, they visited the Imaginarium museum, ate fondue, and survived the first landfall of near-Hurricane Faye.

In a related story, the National Weather Service has formally advised against having the Kowalski family together with any subset of their grandparents in any one location for any length of time.

Hello mudduh, hello faddah

The summer of 2008 also marked a milestone of sorts: the Kowalskis first camping trip as a family. Heading into Custer State Park in the southern Black Hills, Kristin Bailey, Travis, and Liliana spent several days hiking in the woods and playing on the shores of Stockade Lake. Being out in nature, the Kowalskis used the opportunity as a chance to master several skills: Liliana mastered the art of messily eating s'mores; Travis mastered the art of crashing outrigger canoes into safety buoys; and Kristin Bailey mastered the art of pretending not to know either of them.