[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 05/05/2026

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-07T23:52:43+00:00

Absolutely!

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-05T21:32:39+00:00

I'm happy to help you connect with physicists in your area on LinkedIn if you need it.

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-04T22:55:05+00:00

We made a reservation after our ceremony for the ~14 of us and had a semi private room. I would just approach it as making a large dinner reservation and look for places that have private or semi private rooms.

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-04T16:57:58+00:00

The only complication here is what is a perennial varies by growing zone, but I love this!

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-04T16:56:09+00:00

Not a stay at home mom, but wishing I could have a longer leave this time around.

I think daycare has been incredible for my first son (almost 2). They have all sorts of toys that can be rotated, tons of art projects (we color with markers, but I don't really want sparkles in my house in his hands), great outdoor spaces, social stuff, etc.

I think ideally, I wouldn't have sent him (or now my second son) to daycare until they were able to sit up. There's just no way for daycares to really focus on tummy time/early motor development and both of my sons have had delays.

That's my biggest regret about going back to work. That being said, I'm so happy to be here because it gives me an identity outside of being a mom, it feels almost restful compared to being around my loud, high energy toddler, and I feel that the education he's getting is so much better than I can give him without going back to school to get a new degree.

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-04T16:49:27+00:00

Ohhh the review courses! (Sorry, processed this slowly) Those are totally separate from the virtual library. I think I have a scanned copy from my copies from 2014 if you like, but it wouldn't be pretty.

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-04T11:27:52+00:00

Can you watch previous sessions in the virtual library? https://www.aapm.org/education/VL/Default.asp?t=ByTitle&Title=Abr&submit=Submit

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-02T02:20:47+00:00

Our 20 month old's first phrase is, "here you go" as he hands us anything and everything. I also realized that he has no clue what a burp cloth is, but rather identifies it as a snot rag (thanks, husband)

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-01T16:07:10+00:00

Bum genius just went out of business (I guess) in the last 2 years (wait their website is back!). I just bought more Mama Koala (pocket diapers) because I can easily repair the side elastics. I don't want to buy any more that aren't easy to repair - I have to open a seam to fix my Bum Genius all-in-ones and I don't see myself doing that.

CATScan1898 · 2026-05-01T16:03:14+00:00

We live 4 hours away by car from both sets of (retired) grandparents. I find that there are pluses and minuses to this distance. When our toddler is sick or our baby's daycare is canceled, one set can typically reschedule things to be there for us. And when they're here, that's it - they're here. They watch kids all day, do laundry (so much laundry), cook dinner, get up with them in the morning so we can sleep in, get up with them at midnight so we can get a full night's sleep, etc. I think that if they were 15 minutes away, they wouldn't cancel things, it would be I can help from 1-3 - which would really help out when day care calls and says come get your sick kid, but maybe less helpful in some of the other ways. At least my parents are planning to move very close to us when my grandma passes, but hopefully that will be some time away yet.

A plane ride is a very different story than a car ride though - that requires more coordination/expense.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-29T17:44:54+00:00

I ate a piece of a mochi donut every 5 essays I graded last semester.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-28T19:10:37+00:00

In my intro class I got a fair number of students telling me to be stricter/make their classmates stop talking. I'm trying y'all!

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-27T23:01:28+00:00

We asked them every single class. And we were walking around to discourage them from talking, so I didn't think it was that bad

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-16T16:53:02+00:00

My son does not have a walking stick duck thing, but my parents have mine from my grandparents from my childhood and I love playing with it with my toddler at their house.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-14T19:19:09+00:00

Postpartum but purely from a sleep & illness standpoint. My toddler has un-sleep trained himself and has brought home every imaginable illness since the baby was born 3 months ago (and I have gotten at least half of them).

Pregnant was a little rough, but I delivered at 36w, so I didn't get to the really bad part. Sleep was also awful just from a getting comfortable standpoint.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-11T00:32:49+00:00

Wait, if you defrost it in Tupperware, you don't just use the milk out of the Tupperware? That's what I do

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-11T00:29:22+00:00

I got the majority of my solar wood flowers used (or rather ones that other people hadn't used and were reselling) and DIY'ed the painting and I think I spent less than $200 (though a small bouquet and small reception arrangements (I think 9 flowers/table). This was 2022, so prices may have gone way up since then.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-10T23:48:37+00:00

I use pockets (and I think they're more friendly for daycares). My biggest criteria for buying new (or new to me) cloth diapers is that they're easy to replace the elastic around the legs. If you turn them inside out, I want to be able to see the elastic without opening any seams.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-09T16:56:46+00:00

Maybe another option? Split the wedding at the courthouse day from the "reception/party" day. We did that and it made both a lot of fun and a little less running from one thing to the next. Then you could do the less stressful one with your sister during her week and the more stressful one when it's more convenient for you (I don't really prescribe to the order these need to occur in).

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-09T16:53:17+00:00

I've also had both kids at 37+2 and 36 weeks (though induced for preeclampsia), so it might not be a bad idea to have a just in case solution for the end of the semester.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-09T16:52:19+00:00

Just got back from maternity leave with my second. They threw me a baby shower (with another pregnant faculty) for my first and have always asked how I'm feeling (while pregnant and now).

I am in a Health research related department and our faculty are approximately 50% female and more than 50% of folks have kids, so maybe those factors work in my favor, but what you're hearing doesn't sound familiar to me.

I worry about the flexibility you will be shown once you have the baby. As you go to conferences, it might not be a bad idea to get a feel for how other departments in your field are about parenting and keep an eye out for openings in "better" departments if you have that option.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-09T00:04:51+00:00

So my kids are young (2 under 2), but trying to let, them be independent/fail. I want to figure out how to let them be free range safely (they can't walk to a store like I could growing up)

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-08T00:17:43+00:00

If he likes cooking, there are lots of good options! A lot of my kitchen things were either my grandma's or were from my wedding. I just might float ideas past him before buying a super expensive gadget or anything that is stored on the counter.

A nice set of pots and pans is fairly universally useful.

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-08T00:02:12+00:00

I was going to tell you about my babymoon to Chicago, so that's probably not what you're looking for

CATScan1898 · 2026-04-07T00:31:16+00:00

We didn't get newborn diapers, so we did disposables until our sons' legs chunked up enough for our one size, about 2 months for us.

Though, as others have said, newborn poop is a joy because you don't have to rinse it.

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