Updates

I've been staying pretty busy with work and some other stuff lately and haven't had a whole lot of time to post. So what's going on right now?

1. WILL: Will is walking! Officially. He still can't stand up on his own without pulling up on something. But he's pretty steady on his feet now, and seems to use walking as his preferred method of transportation most of the time. And he doesn't forget he can do it until 2pm anymore, either :-) Of course, now that he can walk that's all he wants to do. Whenever I hold him he starts wiggling to try and get down and explore. Very cute, but also very tiring.

2. KITTIES: There's something wrong with poor Molly's (our cat) eye. She keeps holding it closed and it's all pink around the edges and has a lot of drainage. I'm worried about her :-( I'm going to try to take her to the vet tomorrow. That should be a barrel of laughs with Will in tow...

3. RUNNING: I haven't really talked running a lot lately, but I'm training for the Cincinnati Half Marathon. It's in 4 weeks on October 23rd. This is the "inaugural" race and the only local fall half marathon so I thought I'd try it. We ran 11 of the 13 miles of the course yesterday, though, and it's just crap. It's mostly flat, but it runs through some of the most ugly, un-scenic areas of downtown Cincinnati. Blah! Also, because it's the first one I'm really worried about how well-organized it's going to be. They're limiting it to 5,000 registrants, but last we heard there's only 1,000 people signed up. This tells me that not a lot of people know about it. Not very well known + not very many runners = hardly any spectators. This = boring race. Anyway, training is going much better this time around. The tendinitis in my ankle has not reared its ugly head at all (knock on wood). I haven't had has many stomach issues on the days of my long runs either. We did 11 yesterday and I felt really good the whole time. The weather is also helping because it's been in the 50's and 60's on our long runs the last few weeks (versus the 80's we were running in earlier in the summer). We only have one long run left before the race itself. I feel good about it, though. This one starts at 7:30 (an hour later than the Pig_ so it will make it easier for Tim and Will to come out and cheer me on.

4. KNITTING: I haven't really been knitting all summer. Just keeping busy and trying to get out of the house. Now that it's started getting cooler, though, I've been more in the mood to knit. Tim's cousin is expecting a little girl in October so I'm knitting a tiny little jacket for her. I'm very excited about it. This will be the first sweater/jacket I've made so I'm crossing my fingers it turns out well. I'll post some pics when it's done.

Thoughts for the day

1. When I was in late high school / early college I had a part-time job working in a little film developing store. There were two other people that worked there full-time: Bob, the store manager and Ed, the developer. Bob was kind of a weirdo. Well, honestly, they were both pretty weird. But Bob was weird in a creepy sort of way. Anyway, I really liked Ed. He was a nice guy with an offbeat sense of humor and we had a good time. He had a little clock radio that sat next to his chair by the developing machine and he always had it tuned to NPR. I would come in in the afternoon to take over so that they could go home for the evening and that damn radio would just be droning on and on. I remember thinking it was so boring and wondering why in the world he would want to listen to that. And, for some reason, I have very clear memories of the 'All Things Considered' theme song. As soon as they would leave I would change it to Q102. Anyway, now I listen to NPR almost every day. Go figure.

2. I always thought I would really like having an infant/baby over having a toddler, but (despite the difficulties noted in my previous post) I really am enjoying him so much at this age. It's so much fun. He does the goofiest things and has the cutest little personality.

3. Here's a video of my little walker from the other day. Still not walking all the time. He seems to forget every day that he can do it and progressively remembers throughout the day so that by the evening he's walking all over the place. He does, however, walk like Frankenstein...

Being a mom means...

having to drink your coffee out of a travel mug in your own home.

And he still manages to spill it sometimes...

Walker Up!

Ok, so maybe it's a little premature to call him full-on walking, but he's damn close. And I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

He's been on the verge for SO long and really just seemed scared or that he didn't realize that he COULD do it. Every time he didn't have something to hold on to he would immediately plop down on his butt. Then about two weeks ago he figured out that he could stand on his own. Still refused to take a step, though. About a week ago (Labor Day weekend) Tim was out of town and I left Will with my mom to go to the fireworks with some friends. Well, of course, he took his "official" first steps while I was gone :-( That's right, mom of the year over here... Anyway, I tried so hard for the next few days to get him to walk for me, but he just wouldn't. Finally this past Friday night (9/10) he started taking a few steps between Tim and me and has been doing so sporadically all weekend. Well today when my parents were here he was walking like a pro and I really think he's about to take off. He even walked all the way across the kitchen. We took some video, but it's too long (the file's too big) to post here. I need to figure out how to get some video editing software so that I can trim these things down...

I think now it's just a matter of him doing it without prompting and we'll have a tiny little walker on our hands!

13 Months, Weaning, and Attack of the Killer Ducks

The Little Bug turned 13 months last weekend. I feel like the older he gets the faster the months go :-( I guess in my mind I'm not officially counting him as a 'toddler' until he can start walking - which he is STILL NOT. At this point it's not a matter of can it's a matter of won't. I think he's just scared.

Anyway, I've started to realize this week that the transition from baby to toddler is rolling along even without the walking component because he is starting to have a serious ATTITUDE. All of the sudden my sweet little baby that happily went where I wanted and cooperated with what I wanted him to do has turned into a very opinionated, back-arching, yelling, monster. That's right, folks, I think we officially have a toddler on our hands. Time to change his diaper? Screaming and arching on the changing table. Time to eat? Screaming and arching in the high chair. Want to play in the kitchen while Mommy makes dinner? Lays face down on the floor and cries. WTF??? I don't even know how to deal with this. I tend to believe that all parents have certain stages that their parenting skills work better for than others. I'm definitely a good baby parent. I think I dealt surprisingly well with the sleeplessness, 15 diaper changes a day, uncommunicative baby, etc. I do not, however, see myself being a particularly good toddler parent. I somehow managed to keep my cool very well when I was running on 2 hours of sleep and being projectile-pooped on. But this whiny, throwing himself on the floor because I won't let him play with the iron business is about making me lose it. Hopefully I'll grow into it???

It's like he's suddenly changed all of the rules and I can't find the new rule book. He used to be such a good eater. Now he's all picky. Sometimes he'll eat. Sometimes he won't. He's not napping well. It takes him an hour to go to sleep at night. He's sleeping way later than usual. And the pointing and grunting is just getting out. of. control. It seems like all the kid does is point and do this grunt/whine thing to indicate that he wants some indeterminate object somewhere in that direction. So I carry him over and pick up everything in sight to try and determine what he wants. Usually by the time we've gone through every possible option I think he's actually forgotten what it is he wanted in the first place and is now pointing at something in a completely opposite direction. Not to mention the fact that 90% of what he wants he can't have. Hot irons, knives, framed pictures, glasses - all things he wants and then melts down because I won't let him have.

Other big Will news is the he is officially weaned. I nursed him for the last time on Monday night. I never thought I would be upset about it (I couldn't wait to stop wearing nursing bras, for example) but I was pretty sad actually. I almost think he was more ready for it than I was. He's not a very cuddly kid and that was the only time that I really just got to sit and hold him. I'm still giving him bottles (because he won't drink milk out of his sippy cup, which is a whole other frustration) but it's just not the same. It is also just another symbol to me that he is no longer really a baby and is growing up fast. Overall, though, the weaning process went very easily. He was already down to only nursing 3 times a day. I just replaced one feeding a day with a bottle of milk each week for a few weeks until we were done. He wasn't bothered. My boobs weren't bothered. Thumbs up for breastfeeding!

Finally, I have to share this (after the fact) amusing anecdote. Given how much Will loved the ducks, we went back to the lake with some bread to feed them. Long story, but we ended up driving instead of walking, which turned out to be a good thing. Because as soon as I threw a few pieces of bread we got SWARMED by ducks and geese. I'm talking like 50 birds or something. They came from all corners of the lake and the sky and descended on us in a crazy, squawking mass. It scared the shit out of Will. He was crying and grabbing onto me. I was scared too. These things were out for blood. By the end of it I was actually jogging towards the car carrying him as this hoard of water fowl ran towards us. I'm sure anyone looking out their windows watching us got a good laugh. Those must have been some seriously hungry ducks.