Lazy

Wow. My activity level has dropped to an all-time low this week. I told Tim that I don't think I've gone this long without doing anything (running, walking, elliptical at gym, P90X video, or lifting weights) since Will was born. I do have a few "excuses", although none big enough that I couldn't have overcome them to get out and do something. It was Christmas, we've had two waves of house guests (Tim's mom and then Tim's dad and step mom) with only 1 day between them, and I've been sick. I STILL have this horrible cold and I randomly got some kind of stomach thing on Christmas Day that lingered for a few days after. (Don't even get me started on how pissed I am that my whole Christmas was pretty much ruined this year. Lovely.) Anyway, the workout log since my last update would go something like this:

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 3 mile treadmill run at gym
Wednesday - rest (I fully intended to get to the gym that day. Brought my gym bag to work and everything. But got stuck late at work and didn't have time.)
Thursday - 30 minutes at Lunken
Friday - rest
Saturday - busy feeling like I was going to die
Sunday - rest/ran around like a crazy person try to get get the house ready for a 2nd set of house guests
Monday - sat on my butt being lazy
Tuesday - worked hard on gaining weight by eating ridiculous amounts of food and sitting on my butt
Wednesday - continued the quest to get fat and unhealthy

I am determined to do something today. It is, however, 10am and the likelihood of this materializing tonight (after Tim gets home from work and, therefore, my only real opportunity) is slim to none. I have a running date with my running girls tomorrow, though, so I WILL GET OFF MY ASS!

More New Words

Well, now I have the cold and it's miserable. Just in time for Christmas. Yay!

Will's been trying to say lots of new things lately. There's a few big ones that I've been working with him on for a long time that he finally did this week so I was excited.

More - He told me at lunch yesterday that he wanted more applesauce. I've been trying to get him to say this for months.
Ernie - As in Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. He was really excited about this one.
Night Night - He doesn't really say this at nap time or bedtime. It's more of a game. He'll lay down on the ground and say, "Nigh Nigh" several times like he's pretending to go to sleep. Then he pops back up and laughs.
Moooo - When he sees a picture of a cow he moo's. And periodically I can get him to respond by mooing when I ask him what a cow says. I was particularly excited about this one because this is the first animal sound like this he's mimicked and I've been trying to get him to do it for a long time.

Sick Baby :-(

My poor little man has a cold and an ear infection. I suspect this will be the first in a series of lovely illnesses contracted at daycare. He started with a cough on Wednesday. It was dry at first, but got progressively deeper and more phlegm-y over the next few days. It was really bad on Friday. So much so that he was up LOTS Friday night coughing and crying. Then up at 5am for good. Not a fun night for mommy and daddy either. Then he woke up yesterday with a horrible runny nose and congestion. Since he also had an intermittent fever (low - never above 101) from Wednesday afternoon on I went ahead and took him to the doctor. It's a good thing because his right ear was fairly badly infected. So now he's on antibiotics and today he's doing much better. He also had a much better night last night. Hopefully we continue to be on the upswing and are back to 100% by Christmas. I'm also crossing my fingers that Tim and I do not get the cold...

Grandma Gee is here to visit right now and Will is loving it! He's really taken to her. They spend lots of time play and cuddling. It's very nice for him because he has someone to play with while I'm getting things done around the house (when he usually has to play by himself).

Here he is reading with GG














Yesterday, Tim and I took her to see the Nutcracker for Christmas. It was the first time I'd been since I was a kid. It was very nice. I just love the music!

This week's workout log:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 30 minutes on the elliptical
Wednesday - Legs and abs at gym
Thursday - Rest (imposed by ridiculous amounts of snow)
Friday - 2 mile run (very slow in the snow)
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - 3 mile run

Apparently Pushing is Funny

We had a playdate at our house last Friday with the moms and little boys from our stroller aerobics class. Unfortunately, Jacob (who's mom Chrissy watched Will before he went to daycare) was sick so we didn't get to see him. I was bummed because I know Will really would have liked to have seen Jacob. Ben and his mom, Christy, and Jackson and his mom, Kerrie, came, though.

We ordered pizza and the boys played. It was a lot of fun... until Will started shoving Ben. He did it twice and tried to do it a third time, but I got to him before he managed it again. He was almost taking a running start and just pushing him in the chest with both hands. Poor Ben got completely knocked over and started crying both times. And what did Will do? He laughed. WTF?

I don't know where he got this. It's a little concerning. I'm worried he picked it up at daycare. He's never tried it with me. This weekend he kept pushing Tim and laughing, though, so I'm wondering if something Tim is doing with him he is interpreting as shoving and thinks it's a game. Tim roughhouses with him all the time and maybe he's taking some of that as shoving? Who knows. Hopefully it stops.

Accountability

I'm having a really hard time staying motivated when it comes to working out so I'm going to see if keeping track on here helps me feel more accountable and, therefore, more likely to get off my butt. So here's this week's results

Sat - Jingle Bell Run 5k
Sun - Rest (This is a nice term for "sitting on your butt and doing nothing active" and, in this case, also included gorging myself on french toast and mimosas at brunch.)
Mon - Arms and Shoulders at the gym + P90X Ab Ripper video
Tues - 30 minutes on the elliptical
Wed - Rest
Thurs - 3 mile run
Fri - Rest
Sat - P90X Core Synergistics video
Sun - 3 mile run

At this point my goal is 5 days a week of working out (3 days of running + 1 core or yoga video day + 1 day of lifting at the gym). If I can get an extra gym day in then great.

My Love/Hate Relationship with this Book

Will is OBSESSED with this book. We read it when he gets up in the morning. We read it at naptime. We read it at bedtime. We read it at any other point during the day when we happen to go into his room. He has to flip through it and "read" it to himself while he's getting his diaper changed. It's getting to the point where I could recite the thing in my sleep. And it's getting kind of old.

It is really fun to see how he incorporates other things he's learning and doing into reading the book. For instance, he started saying the word "duck" this week. There are a couple of pictures in the book of Ernie with his rubber duckie, and every time we read the book Will points right at rubber duckie and says, "duck". He also has to point at everyone's eyes and say, "eye". Believe me, you never realize how many eyes are are in a children's book until you have to sit there for several minutes while your toddler points at each and every one of them and explains to you that it is an eye.

One section has Cookie Monster in it, and I try to do his voice when I read that part. Then there's a picture of him eating cookies all crazy and I make this "num num num" noise like he does. Will finds this very amusing and then tries to make the noise himself. Of course, he's doing it in his little high pitched voice so it sounds nothing like Cookie Monster, but it's so cute! Or at least it was cute the first 50 times...

Don't get me wrong. I love that he loves books. And it's so wonderful to see something that makes him so happy and that he can get so excited about. But oh my god if I have to read this book one more time it's going to push me over the edge!

This Week's New Words

barn
duck
button (although this really just sounds like "but")

Winter Fun

We got our first real snowfall of the year this past weekend. I got Will all bundled up and took him out to play in it. He was not a fan.

First time "playing" in the snow:

















The three of us went downtown to see the Christmas decorations and the train display. Really, he was more excited about the free cookie they gave him at the train display than the trains themselves. I'm a little bit worried that. (I'm creating a bit of a cookie monster, but that's a story for another day.)

Looking at the Westin Christmas tree with Daddy:

















Trains!

New Words

After a period of several weeks where Will's vocabulary didn't really seem to be growing, he added three new words all at once this week:

Eye - Which he really enjoys saying as he pokes his finger into one of mine. I've been the victim of several eye-poking sneak attacks the last couple of days.

Nana (as in a shortened version of banana)

Uck - He has picked this up from me as I use it frequently in my attempts to dissuade him from eating non-edible items such as dead bugs.

So I've been pretty damn lazy in terms of working out the last month or so. Once the Cincy Half was over I pretty much just let the laziness take over and have not gone to the gym, only done one or two P90X videos, and have only run once or twice a week (rather than my typical three). So this week I decided to kick it back into gear and I've done a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself.

Monday - Nothing. This was Will's first day of daycare so I opted to stay home with him all afternoon/evening.
Tuesday - Ran 3 miles in cold, dark, and wet conditions. By myself. That's right, I'm a badass. Just kidding, believe me, that took some motivation. I enjoyed myself once I was out there, though.
Wednesday - Went to the gym and lifted (chest, back, and abs) between leaving work and picking Will up. (I leave work at 1:30 and can't get him until 3:00 because of naptime so plan to use this as some much-needed "me" time.)
Thursday - More running in the dark by myself. Except this time it was way colder. And snowing. And most of my running girls were at a champagne tasting without me. Pity party. sniff sniff. Again, kidding. I had a good run. Running in the dark is daunting, but once you get into the swing of it it's actually very peaceful. A good time to clear my head. My route is fairly well lit and I wear plenty of ridiculous looking neon clothes and blinking lights so it's not an issue. Also, I just dress appropriately and the cold isn't so bad. I'd much rather run in cold than hot. At least you can control the cold. You can always layer clothes.
Friday - P90X yoga video

And tomorrow I'm going to be doing the Jingle Bell Run 5k with Julie and Katie. Five days in a row of getting out there and being active. Yeah! I think I'll reward myself with a big, fattening brunch at Otto's on Sunday with my girlfriends...

seriously??

really, Thanksgiving Day Race photographer? this is the best picture you could get of me finishing? really? ok, then, i guess we now know that taking pictures is not your strong suit. ironic then, isn't it, that it is YOUR PROFESSION?

Nicknames: My Son the Chicken

Since the day he was born (yes, literally) I have referred to Will by a wide array of nicknames, the ridiculous number of which is surpassed only by the absurdity of the names themselves. I don't really intentionally make these things up and use them. It's just what comes out of my mouth when I talk to him or about him. However odd they may seem, they are terms of endearment. I actually have a long history of this kind of behavior as evidenced by the monikers used for the cats throughout my life. (Molly spent the first several years of her life referred to as Boodle. And then there was my cat growing up, Elliot, a.k.a. Puddin. I also called my mother Nin for some unknown reason during my teenage years.) And I do come by it honestly (let's suffice it to say that my sister was referred to as "Rachel Bob n' Weaver" for some time as a child and, no, I was not the one to coin that).

It's always been in the back of my mind that this is going to do some kind of long term damage to the kid, especially in terms of him understanding that his name is actually Will and not Bug or Mr. Bear. The reality is, though, that I just can't help myself.

As soon as Will was born and I saw that itty bitty little swaddled bundle of cuteness laying in the bassinet at the hospital I had the uncontrollable urge to call him Bug (or Mr. Bug if I was feeling particularly fancy), and it has just snowballed from there. So the vast majority of his nicknames have been some derivation of the word bug.

So I know what you are all thinking at this point: "How can I, too, come up with ridiculous names for my child/pet/loved one/favorite plant??" Well don't worry, dear reader, I'm about to tell you how.

Step 1: Choose a noun that has absolutely nothing to do with the person or thing you are naming. I, personally, chose Bug, but there are plenty of other options out there. (Of course, if you're Gwenyth Paltrow you can just stop here and actually make that the legal name of your child: Apple. But where's the fun in that? Talk about long-term damage...)
Step 2: Transform that word into various other nicknames, depending on your mood or the feeling you want to convey. Here's some ideas:

Add a "y" for emphasis: Buggy
Maybe you want to demonstrate how cute and tiny that little baby is: Bug-let
Feeling a little formal today?: Mr. Bug
Mix it up a bit: Mr. Buggins or Mr. Bugglesworth
Maybe you want your baby to feel like he or she is in a 19th century mystery play: Bugleson
Or just adding an "oo" sound to the end can always be fun: Bugaroo

So what happens when you've exhausted all possibilities with that noun? Well you start all over with another one, of course!

Bear
Mr. Bear
Baby Bear
Itty Bitty Bear

How about Nugget?
Nug
Nuggaroo
Nuggleson

Yes, these are all names that I have used to refer to my poor son.

I have to give Tim credit because he's always turned a blind eye (or ear, I suppose) to the ridiculous nicknames. He's even partaken in a few of them himself. But he's finally put his foot down on the most recent addition to the nomenclature. You see, somehow in the last few weeks Nugget has transformed itself into Chicken McNugget (think Golden Arches). I started to get some raised eyebrows from him on this one, but continued on my merry way. Well, let's face it, Chicken McNugget is a mouthful. It was only a matter of time until it got shortened. I tried out McNugget, but it just wasn't working for me. So now I have arrived on Chicken. And Tim is having none of it. "It's ridiculous," he says. "Chickens aren't even cute." I do have to give him that. While I'm sure there are some farmers, etc. out there that find chickens to be adorable, I've never really gone in for birds that much myself, especially ones who's parts end up on my dinner table. But I have to say that chickens are quite a bit more lovable than bugs, a name which Tim seemed to have no issue with for the better part of six months and which he, himself, still uses to this day. And when I grab that little pudgy toddler up and give him a hug I just want to call him Chicken. Or Chickadee. Or Mr. Chicken...

So now I'm on the hunt for a new nickname. But Tim is just going to have to suck it up and deal with Chicken until inspiration strikes me again and I'm onto some other inappropriate and odd name, most likely having something to do with wildlife.

My Little Chicken wearing his monkey slippers and playing with his new favorite toy

Turkey Day 2010

I did the Thanksgiving Day Race again this year. This is the third year in a row I've done it and the fourth year I've trained for it. (The first year I got side-lined by a stress fracture.) That made me realize that I've been running for almost four years now. Wow, time flies! Anyway, it was a good race this year (despite the fact that it rained the whole time - boo!). I ran with all of my running girls except Karen, who was off in the Caribbean. Bitch. I did it in 59:35. This was my first 10k in less than an hour. Yeah! PR for me!

After the race I went home to put the finishing touches on my Thanksgiving dinner contributions and we headed over to Mom and Dad's for a small dinner with the immediate fam.

And here is the story of our Thanksgiving in pictures:

This year, instead of a traditional turkey we decided to have a deep fried turkey. And Mike was in charge of it. So Mom, Rach, and I made all of the sides and we put our trust in a 21 year old boy for the main course. Surprisingly... whoops, I mean not surpisingly at all (sorry, Mike!) it worked out well. Here is Mom modeling the "hair net" Mike was to be wearing while preparing the turkey. For those with less imagination, yes, it was the netting from around the turkey.














Here the men are outside "cooking" the turkey. Mostly this seemed to involve sitting outside, drinking beer, and just generally avoiding any kind of responsibility... As you can see, they went to great lengths to avoid the rain.













Mike with the finished bird. Note the apron and "hair net".

















All of the cooks in the kitchen with our aprons. And white trash Will, of course.














The spread.

















The Mikes at dinner. Yes, the "hair net" made it to the table.













The aftermath













And after two straight days of cooking the women are rewarded with clean-up...








...and the men have a nap. Much deserved, of course, after sitting outside watching a vat of oil for 2 hours.













And here's my precious little man who, despite refusing to eat any of the Thanksgiving food other than sweet potatoes, did enjoy Thanksgiving since he got to play in this box.

Report: Will's First Day

Overall, I would say that the first day at daycare did not go great, but definitely could have been worse.

I stayed with him for the first half hour or so, during which time he was pretty clingy. He was clearly unsure about the new place and all of the kids, but still interested in exploring the new toys. He screamed when I left, of course, but the teacher picked him up and (per the director when I called to check on him at about 11am) he calmed down fairly quickly. The teacher had to hold him or sit him on her lap for the rest of the day, though, or else he cried. He refused to eat anything. He fell asleep fairly easily (probably because it was 2 hours past his normal naptime), but only slept for an hour (he usually sleeps for a combined total of 2.5 -3 hours a day between both naps).

He was clearly not very happy when I came to get him. Happy to see me, but just not in a good place. I think he was just exhausted from feeling stressed and uneasy all day. In the past when I have come home from work to get him from the sitter's he's excited to see me, but cheerful and continues to play after greeting me. Definitely a different situation yesterday.

He was fine once we got home. In a good mood and playful. Pretty hungry. He scarfed down a piece of cheese, a sandwich, and some oranges and then was ready for a full dinner only an hour or so later. He was exhausted by 6pm, though, due to the minimal napping and fell asleep early and easily at bedtime.

So, big picture, it wasn't horrible. The teachers seemed to think he did well (I guess, as compared to how other kids do). The little sheet they sent home said "Great first day". I'm not dreading going back tomorrow, but I'm definitely hoping he enjoys himself more on his 2nd day.

Miscellaneous updates:
- Right now his favorite toy is a Hofbrauhaus beer stein I brought back from Germany that we use to hold pens, pencils, and markers in the office. He will sit and happily play with it for extensive periods of time. He takes all of the pens, etc. out, examines them, plays with the mug a bit, and then replaces all of the pens. Then he shuts the lid and says "bye-bye" to it (while waving, of course).
- He has recently learned to unlock my iPhone. We think this is fairly impressive considering some adults can't even figure it out. It's pretty funny to watch. What is not funny, though, is that he keeps getting a hold of my phone and rearranging/deleting the icons on it. Not cool.

The D-Word

So Will starts at daycare on Monday. I have very mixed feelings about this. He's only going for two partial days a week, only slightly longer than I've been away from him for the last 6 months or so. (Right now I leave him at the sitter's at 7:30am and pick him up around 1:30am. Because of the daycare nap schedule I can't get him until 3:00 so he'll be there 1 1/2 hours longer.) There are pro's and con's to this new situation.

Pros:
- He will get to be around other children. I think he will have fun doing it and I think it will help socialize him (learning to share, gaining confidence, etc.)
- He will get to be more independent
- I think he will learn more things and more quickly in a school environment than at home with me (colors, shapes, letters, etc.)
- I will have an hour + to myself after work and before I pick him up to go to the gym, run errands, do stuff at home, etc.
- Stability. I won't have to worry about the babysitter's little boy being sick, her schedule, etc. As long as Will is not sick he can always go to daycare.


Cons:
- Getting sick constantly (at least at first)
- I worry he's going to pick up bad habits being around the other kids
- I have to pay for it even if he's sick and can't go or if we go on vacation. Because I'm hourly this sucks because I have to pay for childcare but am not making any $ to cover it.
- They only take one nap in the afternoon. Will is still on a two nap schedule and I'm worried this will screw him up.
- They eat things like pizza and hamburgers. I'm lucky if I can get Will to eat a sandwich. Plus, he is still not very good at feeding himself. I'm just overall worried that he's not going to eat while he's there. Also, these really are not very healthy things for a toddler to be eating.

The reality is, though, that I don't really have a choice. I mean, I obviously have the choice to not work anymore. I think that me working part-time is a good thing, though. It helps me feel fulfilled mentally and that I still have a self that is independent of being Will's mom. It also helps us be more comfortable financially. I also think that it is good for Will to be out of the house around other kids.

I really liked where he was, though, so it stinks to have to transition him. I know Chrissy. I'm comfortable with her. I've watched her mother her own little boy for almost a year. She's a nurse. Plus, I can tell that she is truly concerned about Will. I just worry that no one at the daycare will care about him like that. I worry about him falling down and getting hurt and no one really taking the time to comfort him. Or that for the first few days or weeks if he gets upset they don't take the time to calm him down and help him adjust. I've met the teacher and really like her. That's part of the reason I chose this particular daycare. But you just never know. Plus, she has 6 or 7 other kids to deal with at the same time. And Will, of course, can't tell me what's going on.

I've decided that I'm going to give it two months and re-assess. I'm sure it's going to be very hard the first few weeks because he's going to be adjusting so I think it's going to take that long to really give it a fair shake. I'm probably worrying too much, though, and, like most things, he will adjust and it will turn out just fine. It's just not in me to not worry, though, so, like everything else in my life, I've needed to over=analyze this.

Will continues to do new things, many of them very entertaining. He figured out how to spin the other day. He kept spinning around and cracking himself up. Then when he would stop he would, of course, be dizzy and fall down on his butt with a very confused look on his face. He LOVES to surprise everyone now. That's his new favorite game. I'm not even sure where he got this, but if I'm sitting on the floor playing with him he will walk around behind me and wait for me to "look" for him. Lots of "Where's Will?", "Where did Will go?", "Has anyone seen Will?" ensues (the more dramatic, the better, of course) until he walks around to the front of you and screeches. You have to act all surprised (again, drama is the key here) and he dies laughing. Also along these lines Peek-a-boo is a big hit. He puts his hands over his eyes (in a very ostrich-like fashion) and then pops out to surprise you. He also likes to hide objects. He hides is blankie in his dresser drawer on a daily basis only to pull it out and shriek with excitement to "surprise" me. It's really fascinating that at such a young age little ones can understand the concept of surprise.

Another funny thing he's been doing is using the word 'back'. He'll want to play with something and then when he's done he says "back" and points it in the direction of where it came from. Then we have to go and put it back in its place together. He's very into things being in their proper place and in order. For example, when he eats he has to have his sippy cup in the right-hand cup holder of his highchair tray. And when he does put things back they need to be standing up and in the right position. They can't just be haphazardly placed. OCD alert! If he starts having compulsions to touch things a certain number of times we're going to have a problem.


I'm starting a new knitting project. I am making myself a sweater. It's SO cute! I have pretty high aspirations with this one, though, and I think I may be biting off more than I can chew. the pattern is just a lot more complicated than anything I've done before and it has cables on it, which I have never attempted before. I figure that I have try it to learn, though, and worst case I have to rip it out and try again in a few months. I had to special order yarn at the yarn store because they didn't have enough of the color I wanted in stock. While I wait for it to arrive and practicing cables. Let's just say it's not going so well...

Workout with Will

This post is care of Aunt B :-)


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15 Month Checkup

32 inches tall - 75th percentile
24 pounds 7 ounces - 50th percentile

Everything looks good. Dr. B said I don't have to worry about getting him off of baby food until 18 months. At this point getting him the calories is the main priority so I guess I can stop freaking out about that.

What a difference a year makes...

Halloween!

Will got dressed up in his lion costume (which I made - What can I say? Apparently motherhood brings out the Martha Stewart in me.) and we went to the Underhills' house to trick-or-treat. They were having a fire pit in their cul-de-sac, and the Surfaces were coming over with Rylee (2 years) and Owen (5 or 6 months). We walked around for about a half hour. Trey went to several houses. Will only went to two and had absolutely no idea what was going on. He had fun petting some of the neighbors' dogs and opening and closing mailboxes (WTF?). Then we hung out for a little while and ate hot dogs and Busken cookies and headed home. We had lots of fun. Going with friends made it a lot more fun than it would have been if it were just Will and me (since Tim is in Florida).

Hallzooween with Beth and Claudia

We kicked off the Halloween celebrations with a trip to the Zoo with Beth and Claudia. Claudia was a peanut. Will even had his first carousel ride.

.
He really loved this cow.

Visit to Grandma and Grandpa's

On a nature hike


















"Driving" the tractor

15 Months

Wow, this was the most difficult picture I've ever taken. This, literally, is the only one where he is actually sitting on the couch next to the bear. Now that he has a mind of his own and has the mobility to back it up, things got much more complicated than they have been previously. Sitting still to have his picture taken with this bear was NOT on his agenda for the morning.

1. Communication - He says a few words pretty well and in the right context:
mama (although this also is used to indicate that he wants something)
dada
ball (He loves balls.)
up (This is a favorite of his.)
uh-huh (He uses this in place of yes to respond in the affirmative to something. "Do you want to go outside, Will?" "uh-huh" I'm not a big fan of this. I think it's my fault, though, because I'm realizing I tend to respond to him in this way a lot.)
bye-bye (always accompanied by waving)
ba ba (bottle)

He definitely understands a large amount of what we say. If I tell him we're going bye-bye or outside he bee-lines it for the door. If I tell him we're going upstairs he walks over to the stairs. When we read certain books I ask him where the sun, barn, etc is and he points to them. He has also started to identify body parts on others. He can point to my nose and eyes. He also has an odd affinity for belly-buttons... I haven't been able to get him to point to anything on himself yet, though.

2. Mimicking - He wipes his nose with any tissues he finds around the house. He brushes his hair with anything that even remotely resembles a brush. He likes to "talk" on anything he thinks may be a phone(tv remotes, baby monitor, etc.). He doesn't actually babble into them. He just holds them up to his ear (or sometimes even the back of his neck) like he's on the phone. He also waves and blows kisses.

3. Eating - He's been feeding himself toast and other finger foods for awhile, but he's now started to try to use forks and spoons. He's been able to get the food to his mouth on them for a month or two but is really working on getting the food onto the fork or spoon now. He has yet to do it successfully without help, but he keeps trying. I'm having a lot of trouble getting him to eat table food. He does fine with certain things, mostly breakfast and lunch foods (he eats oatmeal, toast, sandwiches, cut up pieces of fruit, whole bananas, etc.) but am really having issues with any kind of dinner-type food. I really make an effort to sit him in his highchair with us while we eat and have him eat our food, but he absolutely refuses. Won't open his mouth for it. I've found in the past that once he actually tries something he may like it and actually eat it. So I try to force at least one bite into his mouth. That, of course, elicits serious screaming and crying. And now that he's learned to spit things out the food doesn't stay in for more than a second. And if he can't successfully spit it out for some reason he sticks his hand in there and rakes it out with his fingers. He won't even eat typical things that most toddlers will eat like pasta. Wants nothing to do with them. I even bought him the little Gerber ravioli things that lots of my friends' kids eat. No go. The only thing he will successfully gobble down, oddly enough, is quiche. So I'm faced with the dilemma of him not eating (in which case he gets really hungry and starts melting down) or feeding him baby food. I generally choose the latter. But I think it's ridiculous that the child still eats baby food for his dinner most days. I'm just not sure what to do. I'm sure that me breaking down and feeding him baby food instead of what we're having for dinner just perpetuates the problem (he's no dummy)...

4. Teeth - All 8 of his front teeth are in (4 top and 4 bottom). He's working on his molars now. The molars on his top and bottom left have broken through and the gums on his right side are pretty swollen in that area so I think it's only a matter of a few weeks on those. No signs of his canines yet, though, which I find weird. He got the side top teeth before the ones in the middle, though, so I guess it's normal for him.

5. Other stuff: He LOVES being outside. A friend of mine from work gave us a big plastic barn he kids used to play with. We put it up outside and he really likes going out and playing in it. He's obsessed with signs for some reason. Every time we go outside or on a walk he wants to touch all of the stop signs, etc. This is particularly irritating right now because it's election season and there are political signs up all over that he wants to touch. When we go on walks he spends the whole time pointing his little finger at all of the signs saying, "Mama, mama, mama, mama..." He still loves books. He has two, in particular, that he got for his birthday that we read right before naps and bedtime that he really likes ("Down on the Farm" and "The Going to Bed Book"). He gets really excited when we sit down to read them. And sometimes when we're playing in his room he'll go get one of them and bring it over to me with his blankie and want to sit in my lap and read. He is very affectionate. He loves giving kisses. Sometimes he just walks over to me and leans in for a kiss. It's so cute! All of his stuffed animals get frequent kisses. As do some of his puzzle pieces (not sure what's up with that). His new project is figuring out how to open doors. I think once he gets another few inches on him we're going to be in trouble. And finally, he's obsessed with the show "Cash Cab". He gets really excited if we turn it on in the evening and likes to watch it while he plays. The only other thing on TV that really gets any response out of him is Elmo on Sesame Street. I generally don't put the TV on much during the day, but when he was really little I used to put it on in the evenings when we were waiting for Tim to get home just for some company. The only thing really on at that hour is "Cash Cab" so I guess he's grown up on it??

Cincy Half Pics

My Masterpiece is Complete

The sweater is done!! Tim is going to take it with him to Florida this weekend to give it to its intended recipient, baby Piper. I'm very happy with how it turned out. There are some rough parts about it (the seams on the arms, there's a spot on the back of the collar where I knitted instead of purled, the ribbon attachment, etc) but I think it's pretty good considering it's my first attempt. And I think it is some of those rough things that make handmade stuff so cool anyway.




Now onto my next project: Will's Halloween costume. Coming down to the wire on this one...

Cincinnati Half Marathon

I completed my 2nd half marathon on Saturday, the Cincinnati Half Marathon. It was the race's "inaugural" run so we all thought it would be cool to be in on the first one (so that we could be "streakers" later) and support a fall race in our hometown. Turns out this wasn't totally the best idea. Everything turned out fine in the end, but there definitely were some planning and organization hiccups that the race director ran into.

Things about the race that sucked:
1. There were only like 2 port-o-lets on the route. There were a fair amount in the first 3 miles or so that were put there for/by construction crews that some of the race participants were stumbling through construction sites to get to. I only counted 2 actual planned port-o-lets along the route, though. And when I say 2 I don't mean 2 stations with groups of them. I mean literally 2 port-o-lets. Now, I get that there were only 1,600 people running this race (versus the 20,000+ that run the Pig) but that's still a bit ridiculous. There really wasn't anywhere to go along the full 4 mile stretch of Eastern Ave. Not to mention the lines that were created at the ones they did have. They also didn't have any at the start/finish area so everyone had to use the park bathrooms which were not equipped for that number of people.
2. They gave out discounts and perks for people that registered late in the game. I've always had issues with things being fair so this really bugged me. I get that they were trying to increase their registration numbers, but screwing the people who actually chose early-on to support you and got their shit together and registered early is not the way to approach this.
3. The course was horribly boring. We knew this going in. And, to be fair, they were trying to create a "flat and fast" course which is a bit of a challenge in Cincinnati.
4. Not many spectators. It made the race pretty boring. I was actually surprised at the number that were out there, though. More than I anticipated, especially with some of the access issues to Eastern. This isn't really their fault. It's to be expected given this was the first year.
5. The medals are just ghetto.

Things they did well:
1. There were a TON of volunteers who were all very friendly and helpful.
2. Adequate and well-manned water stops.
3. Course was well-marked.

Bitching aside, it turned out to be a great race for me. I did the Pig in 2:20. My goal for this race was a 2:10. (I'm not really sure why. I guess I just wanted to at least maintain what I consider to be my appropriate 10:00 pace. Yes, I realize that a 10:00 pace is a 2:11, but I like round numbers.) Anyway, my chip time was 2:08:40. (Which matched what I clocked myself at on my watch. Maybe that's another thing they did well: Did not eff up my time.) Hooray for me! I beat my goal. That's a 9:49 pace. I am super happy with this. It's a big improvement from the Pig (although, in fairness, that may very well be due to the flatness of this course).

Right after we passed our cheering section at the Delta turnaround Julie needed to stop for the port-o-let. Katie was going to stop with her to stretch, and Karen decided to wait with them also. Beth and I kept going, figuring they'd catch us at the next water stop. Unfortuantely, though, because of the too few port-o-lets issue, they were waiting longer than expected and never caught us. So Beth and I did the last 4 or so miles on our own. We were feeling good and kicked it up a notch as our 2:10 goal seemed do-able. I'm glad I beat my goal and I'm glad I got to finish with Beth, but I'm still sad that I didn't get to finish with the other girls. I did get to do 2/3rds of the race with them, though, so it's OK. And they all got to finish together. How cute is this? Katie, Julie, and Karen finishing.














Beth did a nice job of tracking our splits so here they are. You know, for posterity :-)

Mile 1 - 10:02 (Nice work, right on pace. It was nice that there weren't that many people because it was so much less crowded at the start and we didn't have to speed up later to make up for it.)
Mile 2 - 10:12
Mile 3 - 9:49
Mile 4 - 10:07
Mile 5 - 9:56
Mile 6 - 9:49
Mile 7 - 9:27
Mile 8 - 10:40 (We suspect the mile 8 marker was in the wrong spot because mile 7 was way too fast and mile 8 was way too slow so these are probably wrong.)
Mile 9 - 10:28 (Our hubbies, babies, and doggie were cheering mid-mile 8 so we lost a little bit of time to stop and visit.)
Mile 10 - 9:39
Mile 11 - 9:19
Mile 12 - 9:15
Mile 13 - 9:05
.1 - 44 seconds (We hauled ass to that finish line. I felt like I was going to die for several minutes after.)

This was just a great run. I ran it the way I always try to run them. I managed to maintain a good pace at the beginning, but reserved enough energy to make it through. And managed my energy so well that I still had it in me to pick it up at the end. We averaged a 9:20 pace on miles 10-13. That's significantly faster than my typical 10:00 pace, but I still maintained it for 4+ miles after already having run 9 miles. So a pat on the back to me. And a great way to finish out the 2010 race season. I probably won't be doing any big races in 2011 so I'm really happy I met my goals for 2010.

First Haircut!

Will was looking a little shabby so he got his first haircut yesterday. We've trimmed the hair above his ears before since it was itching him, but this was the first full-on cut. My mom came over and did it (since neither of us had any idea what we were doing). He was such a good boy!!! He just sat there, very still, the whole time playing with Grandma's cell phone. The whole thing probably took 20-30 minutes. That's a long time for a little guy to sit still and be good. I was very proud of him. And I think his hair looks pretty darn good given the fact that no one in the room has ever had any kind of formal training on this. Nice work, Grandma!

















The finished product:













He does look like such a big boy now, though. It makes me sad. We went out for dinner last night to celebrate finishing the Cincinnati Half Marathon (that will be a post for another day). We dressed him in jeans and a polo sweater that was a gift from Grandma Gee and he looked so cute and so old!

So I guess I'm supposed to run a half marathon tomorrow...

Tomorrow is race day and, to be honest, I couldn't care less. I'm not excited about it at all. I can't really say that I'm dreading it, I'm just not really looking forward to it. I can't get into it. I keep having to remind myself that I'd better drink a lot of water today, pack my race bag, etc. I feel totally under trained (not sure why because I've done all of the long runs and have been training for 3+ months), I have a horrible cold, and I've gotten totally crappy sleep this week (although when I think about the sleep I was getting back when I did the Pig and Will STILL wasn't sleeping through the night it's really not that bad). The weather's supposed to be good, though, and I've put in the time training so I might as well get my ass out there and make the best of it.

The Many Faces of Will

feeling a little sassy:

















happy guy:













REALLY excited about something (this face is usually accompanied by shaking):













looking like he's about to take a dump:













and the classic retarded pirate face:

Music Man

OK, I don't want to sound like a crazy mother here, but I really think that Will is musical. He loves music and dancing, and he really likes sitting and poking at the piano. Maybe all kids do this. He just seems to take a particular interest in it above other things. Anyway, I definitely see some piano lessons in his future...

Pumpkin Patch!

We went to the pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins today. It was 80 degrees, though, so it didn't feel very fall-like. We had fun, though. We went to a farm down on Route 8 along the river. It's a lot closer than the one we've been going to in Milford in past years. They had a bluegrass band playing, and we were able to go out into the patch and pick our own pumpkin. Will wasn't actually very interested in the pumpkins. He kept pushing them away whenever we tried to get him to pose with them. He wanted to run around in the patch, but kept tripping on all of the vines. We got a big one to carve and a little "spooky" for him. Too bad I still have no idea what the child's going to be for Halloween...