Thanksgiving Eve

Hurray! Thanksgiving is almost here. We are all going to Emily and Jeremy’s and we will gorge ourselves (except because of my half on Sunday I get to call it “carb loading”) and everyone will have a few days off. Well, Will and I will. Andy has to work all weekend but is taking Sunday off since I will be running for the first part and likely in a coma for the second. Friday Eli, Will and I are going downtown to pick up my race packet (number, shirt, etc) and do a little Christmas shopping. Saturday my friend Mike is coming over to watch the LSU game and then Sunday is the race. I have short runs this week, just three today and tomorrow then nothing until the race. Will went with me today and made it 2.3 miles before he called it quits. I was impressed at that because on short runs I do speed work so I was doing some hills pretty fast and he kept up for probably 2/3 of it.

Tonight I’ve made a pecan pie, Andy will get his dough for rolls ready, and Will is making oatmeal raisin cookies to take tomorrow. He’s getting quite into making his own cookies and we found a NY Times recipe that claims to be the “ultimate” chocolate chip cookie so he made the dough for that last night. It has to chill 24 hours so we’re all looking forward to it because (of course) we sampled the dough and OH MY. It was amazing. The cookies are topped with a little bit of sea salt before baking and I am very excited about them. I’m trying to encourage the baking in other directions by getting him to think of other things that he likes and we can figure out how to make those, too. He and I have also been talking some about meals he likes and tossing out the idea that he try his hand at cooking some dinners. He’s more excited about the cookies than the dinners at this point but he’s obviously pleased when he receives all the compliments on a job well done. It’s exciting to watch someone learn new things! I also get to eat freshly baked cookies == WIN.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I know I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

 

Walk this way!

I took Eli to the park around 9 this morning to get some play time in. The weather has been pretty nasty lately, all windstorms and rain so I wanted to take advantage of the chance to get him some fresh air and exercise other than what he gets at Gymboree. He seemed mildly amused by the swings, not at all amused by the other playground equipment, and had the most fun just walking. He kept heading for the sidewalks so we ended up walking a few blocks (with several wipeouts on his part but I think he was adjusting to walking with shoes). He was not happy when I put him in the car to come home but it was really cold and we don’t have a decent thick coat for him just yet. He won’t be carried up the stairs to our apartment anymore so although it makes the trip up take longer, it’s quite nice not to have to haul 30 lbs and whatever else up two floors. I also will take him to do the stairs when he’s bored or has some energy to burn off. He loves climbing stairs and we just need to work on learning how to go down them. He’s not so interested in that.

Will was accepted into the Cascades and has his first camp in December. Since his grades have been very mixed lately (more so not in the greatest of directions) Andy has placed some academic requirements around his participation in the Cascades. I am really psyched for Will and this opportunity. I hope that he steps up to the plate and does his work since I know how excited he is about it as well. Andy’s on nights this weekend so Will and I have been watching the Alien marathon on AMC tonight.

I did run the 12 last weekend with a friend and it was great. I am really glad my friend suggested running together because the 12 would have been b-o-r-i-n-g if not. I wish we had gone together for the long runs since at least 5 since chatting was such a nice distraction. I’m running 6-8 tomorrow then all I really have is the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning (a 5K in Ballard) and then the half on Sunday. We’re going to Emily and Jeremy’s for Thanksgiving and I’m looking forward to that, there is always quite the spread there and lots of good fun. One of their dogs, Kayak, is absolutely huge (90 lbs last time I heard) and we’re thinking of seeing if Eli will ride him. It was really sweet of them to invite all of us over since it’s not like it’s just me coming anymore.

Just a couple of videos, it is insane how many videos I take now that I can use my phone to do it. Here are a few I had on there:

This is actually from his birthday, I just forgot it was on my phone. Also, I can’t figure out how to rotate it, so maybe turn your head to the side?

I have no idea why green beans are so funny but kid was losing it. Sorry for the wobbly camera but I was trying to keep doing what he was laughing at and not distract him with the phone. Multitasking makes for jiggly camera:

 

This is what I’m talking about!

See cruel mother offering bites of veggie burger. Witness the demonstrable misery, broken up only by distraction from the television:

I should add that every time I play this video, Eli comes over to watch it and laughs. You and me both, kid.

 

Blink and you’ll miss it

I keep thinking I have just updated the blog and then I will check it and a week has passed. What is going on? The perception of the passage of time is really backwards, it should drag out the older you are and go quickly when you are a child, like when you broke for summer vacation and 3 months seemed SO SO SO LONG. I have haircuts every 8 weeks and it seems like I blink and they’re calling again to remind me of my appointment tomorrow.

Everything is going well, Eli seems to prefer walking over crawling now. Well, he at least seems to prefer starting walking over crawling. If he takes a few steps and falls then he’ll generally crawl to whatever he was trying to get to. Walking seems to be becoming the default so that’s a new development. He’s getting a lot better, too. He’s got teeth everywhere. A molar on either side on the bottom, one coming in on the top, four front up top, four front on bottom.

His eating habits seem to be falling a bit on the picky side but I think that is more a factor of being ONE and asserting his independence (You CAN’T MAKE me eat THIS) than actually not liking the food. Eggs were great a few weeks ago, now eggs are horrible. Toast is in. Waffles are always in. Veggie burgers are hit or miss whereas they were total joy a few weeks ago. He ate peas like it was going out of style on Tuesday then on Wednesday acted like he was being assaulted with them. We have to offer him food in a particular order since if he is offered vegetables first he will generally ignore and/or refuse anything else he is offered so we try to give him the protein first then the vegetables, then the starch. The only exception is turkey dogs. Kid goes NUTS over turkey dogs.

He seems to be practicing Crying For Effect the last few days and I can’t say as I’m a particular fan. We wondered at first if something was wrong but it really seems like he’s testing us to see what he can get us to do. The other day he seemed to be crying–SOBBING–because he was hungry but he wouldn’t touch anything we offered him. Eventually I shoved some sweet potato into his sobbing mouth and he finally tasted it and then inhaled the entire sweet potato. He cried and screamed at us some more because we weren’t feeding him fast enough and then when we ran out of sweet potato before I shoved a bean in his mouth then he ate a lot of beans. Once he had eaten a decent amount, he was completely fine. I have no idea what this is about. He started to do it again this morning but then mellowed out. He certainly doesn’t seem like anything is wrong otherwise–no fever, fine mood most of the time, good naps, good diapers, doesn’t seem to be teething–so I really just have decided to blame developmental stages at this point. I have no clue. We have pretty much been doing things as usual and trying not to react too much to it so as not to feed into it. I’m sure it’s a phase.

99% of the time, my boy continues to be a dream. He’s so much fun to spend the day with and everyone loves him. He’s giving out a few more kisses these days, even sometimes without being asked! That’s awesome. Every night when I put him to bed he will lean into me and give me a kiss, put his head on my shoulder (which I think to him is a hug) then he’ll dive for his crib. He still goes to bed easily and now that his cold is gone he’s back to sleeping like a ton of bricks. He takes two naps a day, usually anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours and sleeps about 10-12 hours a night.

I have my half-marathon in two weeks and I’m looking forward to it. My hip continues to be tight on cold days but it also seems to loosen up faster which is great. I seem to have broken through whatever was making everything feel so hard a few weeks ago because the last few weeks have been really great, I ran 10 miles this past Saturday and it was just the best feeling in the world. It was really the first time I knew I’d be able to do the 13.1 and that’s pretty cool. My sinuses have been killing me lately and Will’s been having trouble too. I’ve been using the neti pot and taking a lot of advil but I just have this persistent sinus headache. Bah. I’m going to buy Will a neti pot this weekend since he has a lot of sinus trouble and I think it will really help him.

This Saturday I am running 12 miles! It’s the last long run before the race, I’ll be tapering runs down so I can rest up and heal before the half the weekend after Thanksgiving. Very excited!

 

A little bit of walking

 

Catching up on video…

don’t fall asleep with Erin around…..(or when you’re supposed to be playing with the baby)

My friends who have grown children say my sigh at the end really sums up parenthood…

Will and Erin trying to entertain themselves, Eli too entranced by the tv to really notice…

 

Will’s Jazz Band Performance

 

1 year!

Well, we made it through a year! Eli had a lovely little party Thursday night and got lots of good books and presents. He also tore into a cupcake (video coming) and was a doll all night long. He handled a lot of new people really well and really only cried when we accidentally slid him into the oven door (NOT MY FAULT. I’m not naming names but it rhymes with candy) when we were changing him on the kitchen floor. In any case, he was more angry than hurt and cupcakes heal all wounds and insults. Will was also great during the whole party and I received several compliments on how great he was with Eli and how he was a real pleasure to have at the party. I realize I had nothing to do with the boy’s upbringing so y’all did a good job! We ended up having about 10 people which would have been too big for our apartment so June was nice enough to offer her condo for it.

Unfortunately, he also got his first real cold for his birthday. He started having a dry cough a few days ago but yesterday it developed into a pretty nasty one and today the head congestion started. We had a one year check up at the pediatrician anyway on Friday and his ears and chest looked good then. I’m crossing my fingers that this just passes without ear involvement. His mood has really been in the toilet the last few days and it’s obvious he feels terrible. The cough wakes him up quite a bit so he’s tired and also some of the coughs sound really painful which wake him up and scares him. I’ve let go of my no-going-in-at-night rule and I’ve gone in there a few times when his coughing has gotten bad to help him calm down. I feel terrible for him. Apparently Cough Medicine + Toddler = Instant Death because everything says I can’t give him any at all. So I’ve coated him in a thick layer of Baby Rub (I told him it was made of babies and he started crying if that gives you any indication of his non-joking mood) and we also got a eucalyptus-y liquid to put in his vaporizer in his room. The poor kid and his room smell like a menthol bomb went off. We left Sharron a message inquiring as to her comfort at sitting a sick kid tomorrow. None of us have had any cold symptoms at all so it seems to be restricted to just him. So I don’t know, I might end up with a few involuntary days off.

His check up went great. He was a flirt with the nurses as usual and quite the charmer with the doctor. He measured yet again at the 95% of everything. He was 32 inches long and 28 lb 10 oz. I can’t remember his head size but I do have the sheet in his baby book (well, it’s in the box with his baby book which is still wrapped in plastic. At least I have it all together). He got some more vaccinations but they said if he has any fever or anything from it that it shouldn’t happen for 7-10 days after. That’d probably be right around the time he’s getting rid of this cold. Awesome!

My running is going well. I did end up running 8 miles on the treadmill (bad weather, improper running clothing) but it was hard. It was hard and it hurt and hurt a lot afterward. After that I pretty much decided my entire running career will consist of maybe a half marathon once a year or so. I just physically don’t think a full would be a good idea for me. I ran 5 a few days later and did another 8 yesterday at Green Lake. It was a LOT LOT easier and the recovery has been tons better but I still just don’t think my body was made to take a full.

Everything else is going reasonably well. For reasons unknown to us, Will’s grades have taken a sort of gentle nosedive so I’m really hoping he can buckle down and pull it out. He doesn’t seem that worried about it which is a little concerning. He’s going to be auditioning for the Cascades in the next few weeks and if his grades aren’t headed up I don’t know if that will happen. I sure would hate it for him.

Eli is sort of walking. He can go 5-6 steps at a time before he sits down. He’s definitely better at standing and even ate a whole turkey dog while standing in the kitchen today. I think crawling is easier for him so it continues to be his preferred method of locomotion but walking is definitely exciting to him. He can walk throughout the apartment by just tapping the wall or furniture for balance with his hand. He’s pretty fast! His habit of Getting Into Things is reaching nightmare (for me) proportions. He’s a 32 inch tornado that wanders throughout the apartment, just pulling things out of their places only to fling them about and move on to the next thing to throw/dislodge/try to eat. Our living room is an unbelievable wreck after about 20 minutes of Eli after he wakes up. It’s pretty amazing.

Here’s the video of Eli and his birthday cupcake. Pretty cute stuff, even if I am really now uncomfortably aware of my goofy laugh now. I need to work on that.

 

Lost and…still lost

It’s been an odd week. Wednesday I forgot my phone at the gym and someone stole it. I am virtually certain I left it sitting on the treadmill and it has never been turned in and it’s never turned up anywhere else. For an iPhone owner, this felt akin to losing a limb for the first day. So we went to the mall yesterday and got the new iPhone–the 3GS. It’s pretty nice although I wasn’t really all that happy over the necessity of a new phone. The big advantage is that it takes video and pretty nice video at that! I can post directly to YouTube which sort of makes the Flip camcorder useless. Now the Flip has so many steps compared to my iPhone(plug it into computer, download off flip, publish to web). I am amazed that something makes the Flip look like a lot of unnecessary work.

We went to the mall and I had to show my ID to have the phone set up. That’s the last I saw of my ID. I lost it. I have no idea where it is, we’ve talked to every store we went into, left our contact info with mall security–nada. The timing was terrible since last night June came to babysit for our night out and Andy was playing a show at a bar. I have never seen his band play and we haven’t had a night out in some time so we were looking forward to it. Needless to say, I stayed home and watched a horror movie with June since I couldn’t get in anywhere without ID.

Despite my determination, Eli isn’t walking yet. He can stand unsupported for quite a while and will take half steps from a stand before he goes to a crawl but that’s about it. He likes pushing his little truck around quite a lot now and he walks behind it. He’s all about holding fingers and walking around. It’s getting harder in situations where we can’t just put him down and let him tear about. We went to Will’s annual band competition in Everett today. Eli had to sit in his car seat the whole way there (about 30 mins) then had to be held because we were in bleachers. I did record and post Will’s band performance but you can hear Eli voicing his displeasure at being restrained. It’s worth mentioning that the video is from my iPhone. Pretty nice, huh?

I’m going to schedule Eli to get checked out by a dentist here soon. We’ve got a bit of a birthday party for him next Thursday, several friends from work are coming. It’s really only going to be an hour or two of after work drinks and snacks at June’s house (she has more room and kindly offered to have it there) and it’s really more of a celebration for ME! (I made it through a year!) since Eli will need to go to bed about 7:30. It’s a good opportunity for pictures and I’m going to need some support around my baby turning one. It’s just all gone so, so fast.

He’s cutting another molar and bottom incisor. For those keeping score, that’s four up top (all in the middle) and four on bottom in the middle (although really only the middle two are very obvious so far) and a bottom molar on either side. We’ve got him down to mostly only one bottle a day (bedtime bottle, see previous entry, he will be at least 9 before I give it up) and he’s thinning out some although he still has the delicious rubber band wrists. He has his 1 year checkup on Friday the 30th.

Will’s band placed 14/15 but Will warned me they wouldn’t do well as they are focusing on another competition in a month rather than this one. He’s also going to audition for Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps in November. It looks like an amazing experience if he gets in.

My running is going okay, finding time to run the longer runs with Andy’s work schedule is challenging. I have about a month before the race and I’m supposed to run 8 miles tomorrow. Hopefully I can sucker June into taking Eli for two hours so I can get it done. My hip has been mostly fine although when I run outside it takes a while to warm up now that it’s cooler again. I don’t know what it is, running just seems harder since I hurt my hip and it’s not really even that my hip hurts, it’s like 5 weeks off added to the paranoia of hurting myself again is mentally making it harder. One of those things I need to work through I guess.

I’m going to put up pictures and whatnot tomorrow. I’ll link to Will’s video.

 

Determination

If determination has anything to do with it, I’ll have him walking in the next week. He is making more effort to balance himself and he really enjoys being walked around while holding someone’s finger or using his walker. He made the first little wee step to striking out on his own tonight. Will was in the recliner and Eli was standing next to it and I was sitting on the floor a few feet in front of Will. Eli let go of the recliner while standing and took one step to turn to me then looked like he was debating a full out walk but then crumpled and crawled the rest of the way. I am going to guess that everyone knows what I’m talking about when I say you could see he was thinking about trying to walk to me.

Along with the independence the challenges grow as well. When he was wee I could put him in his car seat on the floor in the bathroom while I showered (at the risk of hate, I never really understood why new moms say they can’t shower. Eli was always pretty chill sitting in his car seat but now I realize I have a mellow kid). When he was too big for the car seat, some toys on the floor in the bathroom worked fine to entertain him long enough for a shower. The last few weeks, he enjoys watching the shower run and will mostly just stand outside the tub and squeal while I shower and really the only thing I have to do is play peek-a-boo behind the shower curtain throughout my shower. Today, he took it to a new level. He’s gotten a new skill the last two weeks I like to refer to as Getting Into Things. A few days ago he broke a bottle of sea salts into the bathtub. Today while I was showering he managed to toddle around and throw (1) a hairbrush (2) a pen and (3) 2 towels into the tub while I was showering. He knows how to swat the toilet paper roll to make it unroll so I took that off. Then he figured out how to take the tube that holds the roll off and split it into its separate pieces so now it seems that there will be no TP on rolls for the foreseeable future.

He is downright indignant over not being allowed access to the fridge. Anytime he hears the fridge or the dishwasher open, he will crawl as fast as he can to them so that he can pull as many things out of them as humanly possible before he gets carted away or the baby gate goes up. I’ve taken to feeding him in his high chair in the kitchen when I need to straighten up because then (1) he’s restrained and (2) he doesn’t care about Getting Into Things because he’s eating. It works pretty well.

He’s down to two bottles a day, one when he wakes up and one before bedtime. Admittedly, the one when he wakes up is only on days he goes to Sharron’s because a bottle is a little quicker than an actual breakfast and that allows me a little more sleep and Sharron gives him breakfast when he gets over there. The one before bedtime really isn’t even that needed but I like it. It’s the one guaranteed time he’ll relax and (sort of) let me hug on him and I’m not in any rush to lose that. He sleeps on his own, he has no binky, I feel like I don’t need to be in any rush to break him of a bedtime bottle. The morning one can go but I’m keeping the bedtime bottle until he’s nine, at least!

Andy’s on the next two weekends so I’ve got a lot of things to do. We missed Gymboree last week because Auna (teacher) was sick so I’m looking forward to that tomorrow.