I Wind

There are two ways to pronounce the title of this blog post.   In this case, pronounce "wind" as you would when talking about a strong breeze.    "I wind" is something my children say.   Of late, they're saying it a lot, because they're having competitions on just about everything.    One of them decides to run up the street, dashes off and then decides to stop seven sidewalk segments ahead, yelling out loud, "I WIND!"  

The other child wants to be a winner too, so they run ahead another five segments and suddenly yell, "I WIND TOO!"  Competitions like this that make no sense to adults, but are totally serious interactions between young children are common occurrences in our house.

Sometimes, this can be good.   Being the first one downstairs in the morning with your clothes and socks on, ready for breakfast and school, is a good thing.   Being the first one to the swing, because you grabbed your sister by the back of her shirt and flung her to the ground, however, is not.

I was an only child, so all this sibling rivalry is new to me.   I'm going to be learning a lot about it as they grow up, I suspect.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is having some difficult times lately with not getting his way.   When this happens, he calls people things involving the words, "poopie," "butt," and "stupid."  He is suffering consequences, which make him very unhappy, but he still can't seem to control himself when he's frustrated or angry.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  There was a bounce house at the graduation party we went to today.   It was an obstacle course bounce house and my children loved it.   It was hot, humid and sunny and my daughter's cheeks got more and more red.   I've never seen her so visibly overheated.   We kept giving her water, whenever we could get her to take breaks from the bounce house.  

Fitness Update:  Ten miles in the park.   I ate enough to counteract all those calories I burned off at a graduation party of one of our favorite sitters this afternoon, though.

Goodbye to the Band

I've run a lot of races at this point.   I was nervous the night before for races that were new to me, such as the first race I ever ran, the first half marathon and the first marathon.   At this point, I just get up, put on my weather- and distance-appropriate gear and drive to the event, wait around until start time and go.    No fuss, just fun.

I realized some time back I was using one specific hair band for races and long training runs.   It was my most reliable band: it held my hair in place, didn't pull the hair out when I removed it and basically did exactly what I would want an ideal hair band to do.  

I have lots and lots of hair bands.  It is rare to find me without one or two on one of my wrists if my hair is down.   It's part of my daily attire, just like shoes.   This one band though, was reserved for performance-based running needs.  I looked at it's frayed little mass of cream-colored fibers the other day and thought, "I'm going to be sad when it breaks."   Then, I stretched it out to put on my hair for a half marathon run I was about to do...and it gave way.  

I put it down, thinking about how it was with me for all three of the marathons I've run and most of the other races, but I couldn't throw it away.    I stuck it in my scrapbook folder with a little note attached.   Maybe someday I'll find it and remember all that running I used to do.

The Big Boy Update:  My son ran into the bathroom this morning while my husband and I were getting ready and asked, "what's a wife?"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to make something today with their kids kitchen set. She got squirt lemon juice, some sugar and water and made me lemonade.   It was pretty good too, because I think she added a lot of sugar.

Fitness Update:  I ran my first 8K race today.   Uncle Jonathan's girlfriend and I ran it together.   The weather was pure delight, other than the heavy humidity.    We had such a good time chatting, the race was over before I knew it.   We also ran faster than I usually do, coming in at 10:05 per mile, with multiple walking water stops.

The Aged Sheets

My pillow case tore when I tried to put a new pillow in it several months ago.   Yes, it was a very fluffy pillow, but the pillow case just gave way when I tugged one time too many.  My mother-in-law saved the day by fixing the pillow case, but that wasn't the end of the sheet issues.

Not too long ago, my husband and I were making the bed.  He was on one side while I was on the other.   During a normal pulling motion, a tear was introduced into an area of the sheet where there was no seam.    Another area that just shouldn't rip.    The tear has been joined by a second tear by now.

I started thinking about the sheets.   I love those sheets.   They are so soft and comfortable.   I know I've gotten more than one replacement comforter since I got the sheets, but when was it I got the sheets in the first place?    I thought back and realized I had purchased them when I bought a house that had a master bedroom large enough to hold a bed bigger than a full.

I got that king-sized bed and some sheets to go with it and since that point, I've been sleeping in the same bed—with the same sheets.     That was 1997.  

So it would appear my sheets are old.   I don't want to get new sheets; I love my current sheets.   Maybe I can ask my mother-in-law to work some of that sewing magic she does and we can extend the life of the sheets by another year or two.

The Big Boy Update:  My son counted to 11,381 today.   He did so with the gold beads and rods used in Montessori classrooms.  His teacher was very pleased to tell us about it when she put him in the car at pickup.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter is a troll.   She likes to curl up into a ball after being wet.   She's been doing it for years after taking a bath.   She does it at the pool as well.  She lays the towel out on the ground, sits on top and pulls the towel over her as she makes herself into a small ball.

Fitness Update:  I went to the gym today and had the nicest time with the other people that work our with Don, our trainer.   We had the usual group today.   Every one of them is nice.   We all laugh at each other, encourage each other and have fun together.   It's nice to be part of such a friendly exercise community.

That's a Gift

My husband and I went to a memorial service this evening for the mother of one of the best friends of my life.   She and I have been close from the point we met in elementary school.  We spent many afternoons at each other's houses after school and I have lots of fond memories of her mother starting from when we were young children, to a Christmas party we saw her at just last year.  

The service was lovely, poignant and yet a happy memory of a life well-lived.   We met with their family afterwards and reminisced with some friends we hadn't seen in a long time.

My friend had done a lot of work to get everything coordinated for the memorial service.   I suppose I hadn't thought about what would need to be done when a parent dies before.   There was so much to be done.    One of the first things was writing the obituary.   How do you summarize a life?   What do you leave out?  How do you capture the essence of a person in a few words?   I don't know, but my mother does.

My mother is an organized person who plans ahead.   My mother has written both her and my father's obituaries in advance, in the case something were to happen to either of them.   My mother has given me copies of these obituaries for future need.     I dutifully filed them with the other important documents of theirs she had shared and thought not much more about them.

When my friend's mother died, she and I talked on the phone.   She was struggling because she didn't know what to put in her mother's obituary.   I told her I could share my parent's if that would give her some guidance and she said that would be helpful.    She told me later how helpful they had been in giving her some direction.   She also told me it was a lot of work to figure out everything her mother had done and get it all summarized.

I happened to be having this conversation in our kitchen at movie night when a friend of ours was listening in.   When he realized my mother had written their obituaries already he turned to me and said, "that's a gift."   I agreed with him completely, it is a tremendous gift.    It is a gift I didn't even begin to appreciate until just recently.

The Big Boy Update:  My son isn't allowed to take toys into school.   The other morning he had something he really wanted to show to his friends, so he asked me,  "could you take a picture of my spy gear so I can show it to my friends?"  I told him I would.   I'm not sure how the picture was going to make it to class, but it was the idea of taking a picture of the item when the item itself wasn't allowed, that impressed me.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Where is Gramp's bear?"   My father got my daughter the smallest little purple stuffed bear I've ever seen something like a year ago.   It's about two inches tall and it's arms and legs move and my daughter loves it.   It gets lost and found over time, mostly lost knowing how my children move toys around.   Last night she wanted Gramp's bear to go to bed.   Fortunately, I had seen it only minutes before.   It's too small to hug, but I think she tried.

Fitness Update:  Five miles and I want to take this opportunity to say I think my neighbor is either testing me or trying to kill me by wanting to run earlier and earlier.  

The Silent Service

I had to take my iPhone in to the Apple store today because there were issues with the Bluetooth for a while.   I checked in, waited in the designated spot for my Genius Bar technician and in short order a man came out and greeted me.  

We shook hands and then he pointed to his iPad, put it on the table and typed to me that he was here to help me and what was the issue I'd been experiencing?   He was deaf, I realized.  He asked if I could type in the iPad as well for our conversation.

What followed was one of the best experiences I've ever had in an Apple store.   The technician and I got along very well.   We both were quick typists and were able to get to the bottom of the problem in short order with him asking me questions and me answering via a text editor on his iPad.    He said they would need to replace the phone and he would be right back with a new one.   We erased the old one and I started the restore from iCloud with the new one.   We realized there was an iOS update that had to be installed before the phone install could continue.   We decided I would work on that while he went to his next customer and would check back in on me from time to time, which was fine by me since watching a progress bar progress from left to right is dull business indeed.

During the time we were working together, we talked about the Apple watch.   He picked on me because I was buying a white sports band, why not something with color?   I told him I was boring and we laughed.   We talked about battery life, how we both liked to exercise in the mornings and our concerns on how the battery drained with high-use.   We speculated on after market watch bands, and what the second generation of the Apple watch might be like.    And we did it all through a text editor on his iPad.

The thing is, I did type all that, but we looked at each other's faces and I just remember the conversations themselves, not that I was talking via a written medium.    I shook his hand as I left with my newly working replacement phone and told him thank you.  

If I have to go back for technical support, he'd be the person I'd ask for without a doubt.

The Big Boy Update:  My son told me, "I want to be inside the TV."   It must have been a good show he was watching earlier, I thought.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "You be Anne and I'll be Susan."  My daughter has been asking me to role play with her lately.   Most commonly, she wants us to be her two teachers.   She'll ask me to be one of the two teachers, then say, "tap me on the shoulder."  When I do, she'll say, "you can get ready to go outside now," or something else that I'm guessing is related to what's happening in her classroom.   Sometimes we're also princesses and take turns being Elsa and Anna.

Fitness Update:  I went to the gym today and then ran two miles before dinner.   It was hot for the run.

Picnic Playdate

My children wanted to have a picnic today.  My husband and I were busy with someone who had come to meet with us and we largely weren't doing much to supervise them.   When our visitor left, I went up to find them in their bedroom having an indoor picnic.

They had laid out my daughter's largest blanket in the middle of the room.   There was the toy picnic basket from their cabinets in the kitchen with real food in it—food I had given them without realizing where they were going to take it.   (Usually they're very good about only eating food in eating areas or outside.)

They had a "birthday cake" made out of Duplo Legos and there was a lot of talking about Ghi Ghi, Gah Gah and Pahmer.  I came up and listened in to what they were doing.  I heard my son say, "mama?"  I answered and he said, "no, Reese mama."  I realized my daughter was being the mother in their imagination game when she answered him.   Then he asked, "where's the baby?"  They found a baby, got together with their other imaginary friends and had a nice picnic.   I was given some cake (a Lego piece) and then laughing ensued.

The Big Boy Update:  My husband came upstairs during the picnic my children were having in their bedroom this afternoon.  My son has become interested in whispering things to you of late.  He whispered to my husband, "daddy, tomorrow Reese and me are getting married."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  When my children are doing imagination playing with each other, there's a lot of interaction between the two children.   My daughter, however, doesn't need another friend to play with though.  Yesterday she had an ongoing conversation with her hands, some crackers and some other invisible people.   She animated their actions with her hands and changed her voice for some of them.

Fitness Update:  I ran five miles this morning and then decided to do a quick twenty-five minute upper body workout in the fitness room in our neighborhood since I haven't had any activity for my upper arms lately other than swinging to and fro while I run.

Hot Buns

My children like hotdog cinnamon toast.   Recently I got some of those square, small dinner rolls/buns of the same potato roll brand.   I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but the other morning I decided to surprise my children with a collection of small bread squares when they came down for breakfast and let them pick what they wanted on each one.

As they arrived, they had five small, hot, buttered squares, ready for toppings.   Normally, with their english muffins, they only get two choices.   There are days when there has very nearly been a tantrum from one child or the other because they couldn't have three choices (we do one topping per piece of bread.)  

They looked at the little pieces of bread and...were confused.    They liked the shape but they weren't sure what to select (even though they could pick all of their favorite things.)   I helped them make some choices and then they asked me what the bread was called.    I told them they were smaller than the hot dog buns, but were the same bread.   My son said, are they, "hot buns?"   I told him that that sounded like a good name and that dropping the "dog" out of the name made a lot of sense to me.

Tomorrow I'm going to serve, "hot buns" again and see if they remember the name after several days.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was outside the other day because I had told the children they needed to spend some time outside in the nice weather.   A few minutes later my son stuck his head in the door and asked me, "can I come inside? I don't want a hummingbird to get pollen me."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Head bash.   My children were heading out to the backyard with me to clean up all the balls and random toys they'd been playing with before taking a bath.   As my son and I headed down the stairs, we heard a thump.  My daughter cried out and then she started doing that injury-type cry parents don't like to hear.   My husband came to see what had happened, said there was blood, so we all came inside.    Heads bleed a lot, quickly and then mostly stop.   It was a centimeter gash and a large lump, but she was fine about three minutes later.   She didn't even seem to mind when I carefully brushed her hair as I dried it.  She is my trooper.

Fitness Update:  Fourteen miles in nice, spring weather on Memorial Day.   Running all those calories off made it easy to eat a lot at the cookout we went to later in the day.

Unexpected Comments

We went to a pool party/cook out today at the home of one of our long time close friends.    We got to see many people we don't have a chance to see often.    My children had a blast swimming in their pool, jumping off their diving board and climbing on their retaining walls.

I got to see my ex-husband and his daughter, who has grown quite a lot since I saw her last as an infant.   She and my son had fun playing together.   I had some young boys who were interested in the Apple Watch come over and have a great time trying mine on, feeling their heartbeat, sending drawn messages back and forth to my husband and generally talking enthusiastically about all the features of the watch (they knew more about it than I did.)

What I didn't expect was the comments about how great I look.   Multiple people made very kind comments about how I looked.   I haven't seen some since last year and they asked about what it was like to go to a trainer (they noticed I had muscles in my arms.)   I talked to lots of people about running, because a good number of us are going to the Rock and Roll Marathon in Las Vegas in November.  

I was really surprised by the comments.   I suppose it made me feel good about all the time I've spent in the gym and on the road running.  

I know Brek reads these posts from time to time, so if you read this, Brek, thanks for a fantastic party.   We all had a great time.

The Big Boy Update:  My son watched a Ninja cartoon today I don't think he's watched before.   Several times at the party this afternoon we noticed him off by himself, mumbling and making ninja motions with his arms and legs.   We may have to put him into a martial arts class soon.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Off the diving board.   My daughter can swim well for her age.   Today we just watched them from the side of the pool to see how they'd do.   At one point,  my daughter went to the diving board, jumped off and swam to the edge without a fuss.    We watched it happen and clapped as she got out to go again.

Fitness Update: 2.5 miles in the fading sunlight after a delicious party at which I ate lots of food.

The Patrick Nap

We got up early today—earlier than normal—and put the children in the car at 6:00AM.   We weren't sure if they would wake up, stay away, go back to sleep or sleep through the hour-fifteen minute drive to my in-laws house.   They did wake up and stayed awake for the whole drive.   They were excited about breakfast when they arrived and we talked about the fun things we'd be doing for the day.

They had been up far later than normal last night due to an exceptionally exuberant movie night for the kids who came.   That didn't stop my children from being having a fun-filled day at Nana and Papa's.

My husband and father-in-law left right after we arrived to go to a golf tournament.  Nana and I spent the morning with the children both indoors and outdoors as they played with my husband's childhood toys first.  Then, as the temperature rose, we went into the back yard to play at the, "beach" as my in-laws call it.   It's an area separated from the yard by rail road ties that abuts the edge of the lake on which they live.   Every year or so they have someone come and fill it up with sand again.    We had arrived the day after their sand delivery and their beach was a fantastic play land for my children.

The children got in a kayak with Nana and went for a tour of the lake courtesy of her paddling.   We came in for lunch and then went back outside to feed the turtles and skim their lagoon while we waited for our golfers to get home.  

When my husband and father-in-law arrived, we all got dressed for swimming and took a boat ride around and then to the middle of the lake.   Nana got in the water with my two children (the rest of us stayed firmly in the boat with the warm sun on our backs.)

It was getting close to dinner time so we came back home and my mother-in-law started preparing dinner.   My children were tired, but I didn't realize how much until I looked into the living room.   They had climbed up on Patrick, the larger-than-life-sized dog stuffed animal, who was lying on the floor.   They were covered up with a blanket and had fallen asleep.

The Big Boy Update:  Mohneyboat.   When we're in the pool or lake or other body of water, we've commonly spun our children around while chanting "motorboat, motorboat go so slow; motorboat, motorboat go so fast; motorboat, motorboat step on the gas!"   My son now does the chant himself when he's playing with toys in the water—only he says, "mohneyboat.""

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   Foot splinter.   My daughter would not hold still today so we could quickly and easily remove a splinter she had on the bottom of her foot.   We had to restrain her outdoors and it still took a bit because of all the squirming she was doing.   The moment it was over though, she was fine.   Still, I wonder what the neighbors thought the screaming was all about.

Fitness Update:  Perhaps the craziest run yet.   My neighbor and I had early morning commitments and the only way we could get our exercise in was to run very early.  My alarm went off at 4:00AM.   We got our six miles in by 5:30AM though.

I Hardly Ever Read These Posts Anymore

I made a some commitments to myself when I decided to start this blog.  The first, and foremost, was to add a post here each and every day of the year, without fail.   From the hospital bed with my husband's laptop, not able to lie on my back, to the days I had plenty of time but almost forgot, I've managed to do just that.    Most days, after so many blog posts—I think I'm over twelve-hundred now—I don't even have to think about it, it's just something I do ever day.  Not only that, it's something I look forward to.

The other decision I made was to write the post and not spend long periods of time reading them for typographical and grammatical errors, tense inconsistencies and general flow.   Over time, I think I've gotten better at writing, and for the sake of my three or so loyal readers, I hope my posts are reasonably readable.

My husband and I have gotten into a routine most evenings.  We each have our jurisdictions or areas of preference.  For instance, he'd rather sit on the floor mat in the bathroom and make spiky hair with shampoo on my children's heads and I'd rather clean up the kitchen from dinner, police the rooms of the house and make sure the children's room is ready for bed.

When it's time to have the children go to their bedroom, most commonly my husband will go with them, read them a book or two and tell them a story in the dark before leaving them to fall off to sleep.  During that time, I head to the basement to write this blog post.

I'm fairly fast at writing the posts.   I pull up my the "Reminders" app on my Macbook Air which syncs via the cloud with the Reminders app on my phone and iPad.   During the day when I've had thoughts about something to write here, I quickly put it in my AWP list.   I also have a list for my son's section in this blog as well as one my daughter's.

Armed with that information, I begin to write my post for the day and when I'm done, I press "Publish,"  lock the computer and walk away.

Sometimes I read the posts.  A lot of the time I don't.   So for all the errors and stumbly sentences (and run-on sentences I'm fond of making,)  I'm sorry.    Thanks for sticking with me.

The Big Boy Update:  I asked my son what I should write about him here today.  I told him I write something about him every day.  He requested I tell you all, "Hamburger, Hamburger.  Pineapple, pineapple.  Grape, grape.  Strawberry, strawberry.  That's all.  Wait, Pineapple, pineapple."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The Quiet Award.   My children are getting stars as of today for good behavior in restaurants.   Today at lunch, my daughter was calm, quiet, sat down and ate without complaining.  Not only that, she wanted my salad and ate the whole bowl before eating her meal.   She got a big star on the star chart when we got home.

Fitness Update:  Five or five-and-a-half miles today.  The watch is marking distance differently than the fitness app I've used for several years.   My husband did similar tests when he went for a bike ride today.   It's non-trivial, but since we're not competing and are just out for exercise, we're not particularly worried.

Ye Old Claratin

Spring has sprung, the flowers are out.  I like spring.  I am fond of the flowers.  I particularly like the temperatures and the sun.   But there is this bit where the trees and grasses make a bloody mess of themselves by spewing pollen all about the place.   It's on everything you touch and it's in the air when the wind blows.   And it's sticky.   It's sticky in a spiky, too small to see but adheres to everything and becomes a nuisance to your mucous membranes kind of way.   In short, my allergies are kicking up.

I don't have allergies for long during this time of year; it's just for a short period of some pollination phase of some prevalent trees and/or grasses.   But for the time those particular flora are attempting to reproduce on a massive scale, I'm miserable.

I try not to scratch my eyes, because, wheehoo, that induces all manner of uncomfortable for the next forty-five minutes in my eyes.   Mucous wants to run a race down my upper lip, while simultaneously being annoyingly thick and firmly stuck in the depths of my sinuses.

So I gave in.   I decided I'd had enough and I wasn't going to take it any more.  If my son was taking Claritin temporarily for his mollescum, I was going to take it temporarily for whatever the hell war was being waged outside that I kept getting caught in the crossfires of.

I looked in our medicine drawer and found some Claritin.   I took one ever twelve hours or so for the next few days.  It occurred to me the other night that I hoped the medication wasn't a twenty-four-hour one and I was double dosing.   I mentioned this out loud while my husband was in the bathroom.   He came over and looked at the back of the blister pack for more information.

He said, "It looks like it's twelve-hour medication, but you may want to get some more.  These expired in 2006."

The Big Boy Update:  I told my son where we were going for lunch today when we drove off from school.  He let me know he didn't like the restaurant I'd picked by telling me, "let's take that idea an put it in the trash."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Recognition counting.   I don't know what the name for this is so I made up something.   My daughter can look a number of grapes, buttons, etc. that's five or lower and recognize what the total is without having to count it out.   Tonight we were playing Hi Ho Cheerio again and she could call out the number without counting and then remove the cherries quickly, much more quickly than she could have done just a few months ago.

Fitness Update:  Early morning six-mile run.   If you told me three years ago I'd be getting up at 5:15AM to run six miles in the morning, I would have told you either you or I was or would be crazy.

The Hi Ho Cheerio Variance

Tonight we got the children ready for bed and had enough time left to play a family game together before they headed to their room.   There were a few options, but we settled on Hi Ho Cheerio based on overall enthusiasm for putting the little cherries on the tree and in the bucket.  

We got out the game, sat it on the coffee table and everyone started getting their cherries organized.   I should say at this point that should four players want to play the game we don't have a full complement of cherries so that everyone can have a filled tree at the start.   This in no way bothered my children, even my son, who very much wanted to cheat later on but wanted to make sure he had ten cherries at the beginning.

I told my husband to not worry about it.   He suggested in adult tones—the type that children tend to ignore—that perhaps the cherries were under the piece of cardboard on which we were playing.  I asserted it did not matter, and since I'd never successfully finished a game of Hi Ho Cheerio with the children, due to the stupid "dump all your cherries bucket" option on the spinner, I would welcome less than a full tree for a starting point.

My husband and I got our cherries and sat them on the little holes with the stems sticking up.   Then, as we watched our children, we noticed each of them doing their own cherry management style.   My son wanted the cherries to hang off the holes, "just like cherries do on trees" as he told us later.  My daughter wanted to make sure her cherries were securely held into their positions by putting her stems into the holes and underneath the cardboard.

And then as we were almost ready to start the game, my husband did something he was compelled to do which was followed by something I was compelled to do, both by our natures: he told the children he was lifting the board to see if there were any more cherries underneath and I rolled my eyes.

This yielded two more cherries, which were put into empty holes on trees and then our game began in earnest.    The children played well and knew what to do.  We not only finished one game, we finished two.  At this age, the children count correctly all the time without losing count.   And even though my son didn't like his spin outcome many times and tried to change that or the direction in which the cherries flowed from his tree and bucket, we had a successful game and everyone had  fun playing together.  

I'm looking forward to more family game time in the future.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was putting his cherries on his tree in Hi Ho Cheerio tonight and suddenly said, "one of my cherries was out of control."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came down for breakfast this morning, dressed and ready to eat.   I said to her, "I think you forgot pants."  She looked down, saw only underpants on, said, "oh!" and headed back up the stairs.

Fitness Update:  I ran four miles today using the Workout app on the Apple watch and the Endomondo app on the watch at the same time.   The Workout app collects heart rate data and reports directly to the Health app which the Endomondo app doesn't do, although it doesn't map the run.   There are benefits of both apps, so I'm not sure which I'll end up using going forward.

Watch This

I spent most of my adult life wearing a watch.  A few years ago, sometime after starting writing this blog, my watch broke and I decided not to replace it and see how I'd fare, given all the information—and more—was available on the cell phone I kept on me at almost all times.  

It took a bit of adjusting to, but as of today, I don't even think about wearing a watch anymore.   That is, until today.   I decided when Apple announced way back last year they'd be coming out with a watch sometime this year, that I was going to get one. 

Demand was high, there were production problems and the order I placed at seventeen minutes past three o'clock in the morning they first started taking orders put my watch delivery a ways out.   Today, it arrived via Bill, our UPS man.  

I haven't done much with it other than take it out of the box and sync it with the phone and stick it on my wrist.   It feel strange to have a watch back on again.   I'm finishing this blog so I can go figure out how it works. 

The Big Boy Update:  Our pool is open for the season and this afternoon we went for the first time.   My son got his feet in the water and said, "it's good to be back in this pool."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Butt Trail.   My daughter noticed her butt made a wet mark on the concrete while at the pool today.   She decided she wanted to make a trail of butt prints all the way across the pool deck.   Her brother helped her follow the path when she was done.  

Fitness Update:  Six-and-a-half miles this morning in what is fairly like summer weather.   It's getting light so early now it almost feels like I'm sleeping late, even though I'm not.

Alexa

My husband got a new piece of technology that's sitting in our kitchen.   When he told me about it months ago, I was—as I commonly am—skeptical.   It was an internet aware device from Amazon.   I could do things like tell you the weather, your commute time based on current traffic condition, play music and even tell jokes.    The thing is, you couldn't get it yet.

My husband signed up for something like, "put me on the list to be invited to buy one of these cool Alexa things."  That was, literally, last year sometime.   He told me the other day he had, "been invited to buy one" and that the product wasn't generally available yet, but that during this trial period, some Amazon Prime customers who had expressed an interest could buy one and see how they liked it.

We're doing all sorts of things with Alexa.  My favorite is to have her put something on our grocery list.  By saying, "Alexa, put green peppers on the shopping list," the shared shopping list my husband and I use is updated.     You can tell her to do this while listening to music you're having her play too.

We're having fun with Alexa and I think she's going to be both useful and helpful.   This morning I got a glimpse of that when my daughter came into our bathroom and told us Frozen was playing on Alexa.  My son had figured out how to ask her questions and make requests and sure enough, when we came back into the kitchen, Alexa was playing songs from the Frozen soundtrack.

The Big Boy Update:  Poopy.   My son is overusing the word, "poopy" right now.  It's something that happens at his age and through hearing older classmates say impolite words.   Next week with our star chart, it's his next star activity:  Not saying "poopy."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was helping me bring in the groceries the other day when she discovered the five-pound bag of sugar.   She said, "mm, thanks for getting some more sugar for my dad."  I didn't want to tell her it was for me so I could make more candy.

Fitness Update:  Eighty-nine degrees this afternoon and Uncle Jonathan and I still managed to run six miles without becoming too dehydrated.

Snake Season

My neighbor and I went running in the park today.  She has this fear of snakes and for the most part, being in the park isn't an issue, even though there may be snakes around.   The chance of running into one is relatively small and perhaps she just puts it out of her mind as we head down the trail.

Today, we passed a man who was stopped on the side of the trail.   He started running shortly afterwards and caught up to us.   He said, "be careful, there are a lot of snakes out today."   This was not what we needed to hear.   We ran on and I told my neighbor we'd be on the lookout for any snakes.

A short time later, my husband caught up with us on his bicycle.   He said hello and told us to watch out for snakes too.   He was joking, but now two reminders of snakes had us on high alert.   And by high alert, I mean we were telling stories and every now and again remembered we were supposed to be looking for snakes.  

As we turned around to head back, I noticed a coiled up, well-dead snake on its back, being eaten by many insects.     I neglected to say anything to my neighbor about it as we ran past.    Other than that, we had a nice run in the park in eighty-five degree weather, despite it being, "snake season"as we keep hearing.

The Big Boy Update:  The children went to a children's museum today with Nana and Papa.   My son was quite, "the cooker" while there.  He went shopping, bought fifty-six dollars of groceries, went to the kitchen and made Nana and Papa many dishes to eat with the plastic food items he bought.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was finished eating her dinner tonight and sad multiple times, "doesn't anyone want to come upstairs and play with me?"  She had had a busy and tiring day, but she still wanted to spend time with one of her grandparents, playing, before they headed home.

The Big Boy Update:  We ran ten miles today.  I am exhausted.   I lost a lot of water weight and am still trying to recover.   I forgot how challenging running in heat can be.

The Summer Snowball

I was getting dressed this morning when my husband came into the bedroom carrying a large, heavy bag.   He said, "say goodbye to the snowball."  I gave him one of those, "what in the world are you talking about?" looks and then I realized what he was holding.    It was literally a snow ball.  

He had made it during one of the snow falls this winter and, figuring we had nothing better to do with our freezer space out in the garage, stuck it in a bag and left it there.  I'm guessing this morning he went looking for something to make for dinner—my husband likes to prepare early—and decided today was the day the snowball had to go.

There are little areas in our house that are black holes to me.   I'm not big on freezer food, unless it's ice cream or desserts.   As a result, anything frozen that would be used as a component of a meal I don't pay attention to.    And that means the entire freezer side of the garage refrigerator.  

But let's get back to this snowball.   It was big.  It was about the size of a bag of ice you'd buy at the store.   He told the children it was time to go outside (in the seventy-five degree, sunny weather) and see what they could do with the snowball.   My son got his hammer.

The snow ball was made of very dense, easy to pack snow.  This snow ball was more of an ice ball by the time it made it to the back yard in May.   My children had a great time playing with it.   It lasted a long, long time before it was melted away, later in the afternoon.

The Big Boy Update:  My father-in-law was playing with my son recently and they were writing down the names of our family members on little pieces of paper.   I found the one where my son named himself: "Super Greyson in Charge."  This  completely sums up how my son would like to see the world work most days.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got bitten by some ants the other day.   Before that though, she was very interested in the ants.   She carefully picked one up and said, "mom, I got an ant."  Then she moved it from one hand to the other, carefully not harming it as she did so.

Fitness Update:  Six miles in the park late in the day.  I got in just in time for the steak dinner my husband had made for us.

Novelty Inspires Harmony

My children get along fairly well in comparison to stories I've heard and advice I've been given.  But even the happiest of children can get on each other's nerves when they're bored.  My children aren't old enough yet to come and complain to me, "mom, I'm bored.  There's nothing to do.  All my toys are old.  Can I watch T.V.?"

It's not hard to tell, though, that things have dropped dramatically on the interesting scale when my two children get in fights over the most minor of things and can't seem to occupy themselves with anything for longer than five minutes without some sort of sibling-based altercation.

Yesterday, the weather was clement, with a nearly-cloudless sky and perfect temperature and humidity for outdoors play.   I packed my two a snack and we went off to the a local eco station and outdoor classroom.

We arrived and had to walk down a winding path through the woods to get to a natural place space designed for young children.   When we arrived, all I had to do was sit back and watch my children play together—happily—for the next two hours.

There was no crying.  There was no complaining.  No one yelled at the other and they were receptive to each other's suggestions on what to do (mostly imagined things) and how to do it.  I read emails on my phone.  I called my mother.   I checked emails again and even had a lengthy text-message conversation, without having to step in or say a single word to my children.

Children need to have different experiences.  Sometimes as a parent, it's hard to work in those experiences while you're trying to get everything else done at the same time, which is okay.   But it's fun to see the what happens when you can.

The Big Boy Update:  I didn't hear the start of the conversation in the back seat so I don't know what the topic was, but I did hear my son tell his sister, "I know how because I'm trained."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got bitten (or is it stung?) by some ants yesterday at the nature center.   They were itching and she was quite unhappy as we headed to the car where I keep some topical medication for itching.   After we had rubbed it all in and started on our way home she told me, "mom, I need some more E-time medicine."   It took me a minute to realize she was trying to say, "antihistamine" and that that's what I'd been referring to the medicine as.   When we got home, I applied more, "E-time" medicine to a bite we missed and she was fine.
 

First Bike Ride

My daughter rode a bike for the first time today by herself.   And by that, I mean she got on a bike with no training wheels that was steadied by my husband, she started pedaling and then he let her go once she got up to speed.   She pedaled on level pavement for a while, then turned into our driveway, used the brakes by pedaling backwards to stop.   At that point my husband had caught up with her because she didn't know how to dismount.

She did this three more times, showing us it wasn't a fluke.    She was ready to ride a real bike.   We had been preparing her.   Still, I'm surprised at three-and-a-half, she can do so all by herself.  

We started both children out with balance bikes.   They learned to push their bodies forward with their feet and when they get up to speed, they naturally lift up their feet and balance.    Balance bikes are very low to the ground and the child feels they have lots of control.

The other advantage my daughter has was her tricycle.   We had friends of my parents give us one and my daughter dearly loved it.   She wore out the front wheel so I had to order a new one.  The thing about the tricycle is you have to pedal it.    My daughter pedaled the tricycle until her knees were close to hitting the handlebars.

So the combination of balance bike and tricycle pedaling made it almost a non-event to move over to a bicycle.   We got both my son and daughter used bicycles at the bicycle shop and he's interested in his too, only he's not got the pedaling thing down yet.  

I am very proud of my daughter.

The Big Boy Update:  I had gotten some outdoor toys for my children to play with when it got warm. When my son saw the plastic bow and arrow with the suction cup tips he immediately called out, "I want the weapon, mom!"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  As mentioned above, my daughter rode a bike for the first time today.   She fell once and scraped her ankle a bit.   And by that, I mean I got nervous and tried to help her stop before she was ready and we tumbled together.   I told her I would help her with a bandaid, but could she please ride the bike back to the house?   She stopped crying, got up and got right back on the bike and rode it all the way into the driveway.   Then, she told me she wanted a, "monkey bandaid."

Fitness Update:  Six miles this morning running.  One mile walking with the dog this afternoon.   The dog was tired.   I need to do more walking with her.

Benadryyyyzzzzzzlllll

Benadryl makes me so sleepy.   There is this little window of pollen that seems to get to me badly.   I don't' see pollen on the ground or flying around, but my throat itches, my eyes itch, and I sneeze a lot.   That phase is happening now.

I didn't want to take a Benadryl, because I knew what would happen.   I decided two-thirds-ish would be good enough, so I broke off about a third of the tablet.    No good, still sleepy.

So, I'm going to finish this post in short order and go to bed.

The Big Boy Update:  My son made sure our sitter knew exactly what he wanted for breakfast in the morning.   I think he was hungry, because he placed an order for enough food for three.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been holding her stomach when we get her in the car lately.   I think she's been doing it at other times.   She's taking an antibiotic for the strep throat she had and I'm wondering if it's making her stomach rumble, but I can't get a clear answer.

Fitness Update:  Ran six miles this morning and then did a test this afternoon, putting on the distance tracker while I followed children around during a play date.   It took me an hour, but I walked a mile in distance just moving around one single yard.

That Was So Five Years Ago

I've been a substitute teacher throughout the last two school years at the school my children attend.   I've had an opportunity through that time to see how Montessori principles are put into practice across the various levels and I've also gained a lot of insight on how to talk so children will listen and respond in a positive way.

As you well know, not all my interactions with my two children are positive, (or I wouldn't have needed that yelling bowl intervention) but I can honestly say I'm a better parent for having the opportunity to experience classrooms of children and watch trained, educated teachers using good practices with those children.

After two years though, I clearly have my favorite level of students.  It's not the cute little adorable toddlers in Toddler House.   They have runny noses most of the year, don't know how to communicate, cry loads and then there's the poop in the pants thing.   Yes, there are the great bits, such as watching them discover something for the first time, helping them master a skill that makes them smile that big toddler smile and then, of course, there's the cute that's only the cute a toddler can offer the world.

What I like though, are the Upper Elementary students.   These students are in grades four through six.   They're smart, they interact with you, that have hobbies, passions and exciting stories to tell you.   They also like having someone come in they can spend their classroom morning with.   It's my favorite age at our school and I have not kept that fact a secret from anyone.

This week I had an opportunity to substitute for two mornings in the Upper Elementary classroom.  I skipped one committee meeting and came late to another meeting so I could be there; I didn't want to miss the opportunity to substitute because some of the students were leaving the school next year and this might be my last time with them in the classroom.

They are such a delight.  They greeted me warmly.  Some of the girls gave me a hug.  They wanted me to help them with any questions or problems they had with their work.  They were excited to show me the article they had selected to do a report on.   I wasn't sure who's table I was going to sit at for lunch, I had so many requests.   And then, there's the corrections.

This might sound like no fun, but I very much enjoy correcting work.   They have literature, grammar, "Wordly Wise," arithmetic, word problems and other subjects they're all handing in during the day.   In the morning, things are handed back out and from that point, the teachers make corrections as necessary and put the finished notebooks back in the pile for the next morning.   I spend my morning walking around, helping students across many subjects and levels within those subjects.   When I wasn't doing that, I was correcting books filing them for tomorrow.

When it was time for lunch, I had one last chance to walk around the room to say a farewell to everyone for the day.   As I approached one table, I noticed some metal inset shapes in wooden forms.   My son had done his first, "Metal Inset" work and brought it home yesterday.   These looked similar, but with many more pieces and more complicated.    I asked the table, "are these metal insets?"  One student laughed and said, "oh, those were so five years ago!"

What I was looking at were visual representations of fraction of a whole and other geometric area and shape configurations.   They were right though, it was about five years ago that they were learning metal inset work themselves.   They commented that it was mostly tracing and drawing (and sometimes coloring in.)   To them today, it's literally child's play, but to a four-year-old, it's meaningful work doing pincer grasp and holding a pencil, doing graceful drawing, for the first time.

The Big Boy Update:  We found our our friends who've gone on the road to live and explore the country in a forty-five foot rig are coming to town this weekend.   When my son heard he said, "oh please tell me Gavin's coming?"  We assured him, he would get to see Gavin, Shealyn and Kaitrinn.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter loves it when I go through the Starbucks drive through.  She invariably asks me if I'm getting a sandwich.   This is mostly because she wants me to hand back to her parts of the sandwich.   When she asked me today, she told me, "make sure you get it with cheese and bread."

Fitness Update:  We ran five miles today.  It was over seventy degrees at five-forty-five this morning when we left the house.  I think it got almost to ninety today.

I Want the Darn It Doll

Last night was a bad night.  My daughter is getting over strep throat and has a strained lower leg.   Part-way through the night she woke up and was unhappy.   We think it was he leg that woke her up as she rolled over, but whatever it was, she was angry and loud.  

My children rarely wake up to noise from the other child or anything else in their environment, but her complaining was so loud and long he woke up, and woke up angry.  

We had two, loud children who wanted to complain and blame the other one for not being quiet.   My husband and I tried for some time to get them calmed down, but they were both agitated and irritated and although I don't understand it, needed to complain even louder to alleviate their stress.

Right at the end when I thought they were finally settling down, my daughter asked for something I couldn't understand.  She asked three times.  Finally, my son started explaining what she was asking for.   She wanted the "Darn It Doll" from downstairs.     This little doll can be whapped against things to alleviate stress in a relatively non-voilent way.

I went downstairs, got the darn it doll and let them each have a chance to bop it against the wood on their beds.   And somehow, magically, that was the final thing they needed to quiet down and go to sleep.  

I don't argue with a thing if that thing works.

The Big Boy Update:  My son brought home a square piece of paper with a large circle drawn on it.   To most people, this wouldn't a big thing; to me, it meant he had gotten a lesson with the Metal Insets.   He was very proud of his circle.   He asked me to save it.   The Metal Inset process in a Montessori classroom is an important building block towards writing.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wore a dress to school the other day.   She put a tutu under the dress just for good measure.

Fitness Update:  My best friend from pre-school phoned me today to tell me her mother had died the day before.   I put on my shoes, walked out the door and walked around the neighborhood while we talked and remembered her mother.   I walked four miles during that conversation.    We had a lot of memories to relive.

Motrin Versus Ibuprofen

We took my daughter to see a doctor today based on continued behavior she's displayed with her left leg.   She's been limping and favoring it and sometimes even resorting to a crawl in order to avoid it since Thursday.    We don't know what the inciting event was and she's vague when we try to find out where the pain exactly is, but she's definitely bothered by it.

In general, I don't rush to a doctor the first moment I think something might be wrong.   Children fall down all the time and there are always things that hurt them, but usually not for long.   We watched her and noticed it would come and go.   Not coincidentally, it would come and go with the doses of ibuprofen or tylenol we gave her to help with the fever she had been having.  

Her pediatrician looked at it yesterday while she was diagnosing her with strep throat, and said she wasn't sure it was anything to worry about but if it didn't get better to have it looked at.   Then, this morning, I did some prodding on her lower leg to find out just where the problem was.   I had suspected a sprained ankle, but when I pushed on the bone, higher up above the ankle, she screamed.

Strange.   That's not a sprained ankle.   She didn't want to walk then either.   I looked at the orthopedic clinic near us and found they didn't have Sunday clinic hours so we would wait until Monday.   Later in the day we realized scheduling on Monday was going to be challenging and we weren't sure if school would want her in with a possible broken leg so we looked further and found an urgent care with pediatrics and x-ray capabilities that was open until eight o'clock.

I took my daughter at dinner time, was whisked right in and the doctor came in in short order to examine her.   He thinks its a strained Achilles tendon and didn't think she needed an x-ray.    He told me to give her Motrin every six to eight hours for several days and hopefully she'll be better then.

I got to thinking, doctors invariably seem to recommend "Motrin" and not "Advil" or "Ibuprofen" and I don't know why.   Advil and Motrin are brand names for Ibuprofen, but I can't for the life of me remember seeing rows and rows of Motrin on the shelves at the store.  I see lots of Advil and generic, Advil-colored boxes for Ibuprofen.   From a consumer standpoint, Advil seems far more prevalent than Motrin.     I'm going to ask my neighbor, who is a doctor, if she can shed any light on the whole Motrin recommendation situation.

So, good news on my daughter's leg.

The Big Boy Update:  I was getting the children's bedroom and beds ready tonight when I found the, "Darnit Doll" in my son's bed.   My neighbor gave me this doll—which is really a "Damnit Doll"—to hit things with when I was angry and wanted to swear.   It stays in a specific place on the book shelves but my children know about it and they can use it if they want.   When I asked my son about the Darnit Doll being in his bed he said, "I was feeling very angry."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Strained Achilles tendon.   We saw a doctor today about my daughter's leg limp.  He thinks it's just a sprain and she'll be fine in short order.   We're giving her ibuprofen for a few days to help with the discomfort.

Fitness Update:  Fourteen miles.   Four walking with my husband and ten running with my neighbor.   We thought we were going to get caught in the tropical storm, but got in just as it was starting to lightly rain.

Strep Throat

When I was a child I was plagued with strep throat for many years.   At one point I think I got it every two months and we all had had enough, so I had my tonsils out at eighteen-years-old.   Since that time, I've not contracted strep throat again.    I hope it stays that way, but right now, fifty percent of my house hold has strep.

My husband has been feeling badly for days, as has my daughter.  Strep throat's been going around the school and neighborhood so I'm not surprised someone contracted it.   While I was off doing a Ninja Challenge 5K run today, my husband took my daughter and himself to the doctors while leaving my son next door at a birthday party.

They're both on antibiotics and will hopefully feel better soon.   We'll see if the other half of the house avoids coming down with strep throat.

The Big Boy Update:  My son can put together lego models now.   He reads the pictures in the instructions and can (with some guidance) put an entire model together.    He is very good with spatial relations and loves puzzles so it's a perfect fit for him.   If what he's putting together is a car or a truck or something that moves, even better.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter feels terrible with her strep throat.   She turned or injured her ankle at school during outside play time several days ago, and with the fever she has, the ankle is bothering her so much she limps and sometimes crawls.   The doctor didn't think it was anything to worry about beyond a sprain, so we're just letting it heal while she rests for the next several days.

Fitness Update:  Ninja Challenge.   I did my first obstacle course run today.   I loved it.   Some of the people on our team (members of the group that works with our trainer) had a challenging time with some of the obstacles.   One member didn't enjoy the water-based parts.   Some people didn't like climbing the ropes to ring the bell or climbing the rope walls or doing the jumps over the walls.   I really loved it all.   I want to do more.   It's like running combined with gymnastics with an occasional dump in a pool of water that cools you off.  

The Yelling Bowl

There are things about myself I'm proud of and things I'm disappointed in when it comes to parenting.  One of the things that most bothers me the most is when I get frustrated and yell at a child.   I have had countless conversations (and I do mean I've lost count) with other parents who have assured me, they too, lose their temper at their children.  

And while knowing I'm not alone and in good company with many parents whom I respect and admire, I'm still not happy with myself each and every time I lose my temper with the children.   I feel it's one of my biggest failures as a parent.

What could I do?   I knew some of the problem was I was immediately reacting to situations.   Sure, if a child is about to put their hand on the stove, a fast yelling response would be a highly prized asset.   But this was for little things, things that didn't need yelling to get a point across and things that might leave an impressing on the children that it was okay to yell if you were mad, because mom does it all the time.

If I took a breath, thought about the situation for a few seconds, almost all of those times didn't really require yelling.   If I took a chance to think, maybe I wouldn't be so angry or upset.     So I created "The Yelling Bowl."

I got out a small fishbowl thing we had in a cabinet in the kitchen and stuck it on a high shelf just beside the out-of-reach candy.   I looked at that empty bowl and told myself every time I yelled at the children, I would have to write it down on a piece of paper and put it in the bowl.   Enter date, words yelled and reason behind the yelling.    I would do this without fail, even if the yelling was appropriate for safety reasons.   The next morning I started, wondering  how few pieces of paper I would put in.

It was a twist on the swearing bowl, where every swear word cost a dollar or some other value.    But would it work?   Would it help me be more aware of when I yelled, and more importantly, would it help me to yell less?

The first two days I was very surprised.   I didn't expect it to work as well as it did.   I did yell, but I caught myself more often than not and came up with a different way to handle the situation.  Every time I did yell I would dutifully write it down and put it in the bowl.  

It's been close to two weeks now and I'm still using the bowl.   It's got a fair number of papers in it, but I have seen a big improvement in my approach as a parent—which was the whole point all along. It's affected a change in the way I react to situations.   It's surprising that the simple act of having to write down something on a piece of paper, fold it up and put it in a bowl has made such difference, but I'm glad it has.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was working hard on "using kind words" so at the end of the day he could get a star on the star chart.   I lost my temper and yelled at him about something and he said, "mom, you don't get a star today."  I told him he was absolutely right, I wasn't getting a star today but that I would try harder tomorrow.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has a scrape on her ankle.   But there is something else going on too because she's complaining it hurts and has even been doing some limping.   It's not bad enough to worry about a break or a bad sprain, but a simple bandaid isn't making it feel better alone.

Fitness Update:  I went to the gym today and the group of us running in The Ninja Challenge tomorrow coordinated our clothes for tomorrow and plan to ride there together.   It's going to be fun doing an event with the folks I know from the gym.

Double Crowned

I am almost to the end of my dental journey (at least for now.)   I spent some time at the dentist today having two crowns pulled off in preparation for two new crowns.

The first crown was on tooth number two.  The crown was new, but my dentist had some concerns about the height of the crown and some exposure of tooth on the side so he wanted to redo it.   We waited until today so we could do both number two and number three at the same time.  

Number three was an old crown from many years ago.   I had had some gum recession and there was some decay visible he wanted to address.    He made the temporary crowns of both teeth connected so they would hold in better while we wait the three weeks for the final crowns to come in.

I am looking forward to having my "dental plan" completed.   I'm pleased with all the results so far.

The Big Boy Update:  My son asked at dinner, "daddy, are our tongues a sponge?"   Then he tried to get his milk to absorb directly from his tongue without drinking.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and husband have some sort of maliase going on.   They both are tired, just want to lie around and have no energy.   Today she came home from school with a fever, which only got worse as the day wore on.   My in-laws arrived from California on an early evening flight and just before they got here she miraculously turned into outgoing, peppy and happy child.   It faded just about bedtime.   Tomorrow she gets to stay home per school rules.   She's going to be disappointed because it's bring your parents to school day and she's been preparing for our visit.

Fitness Update:  7.5 miles played out as a speech rehearsal.  My neighbor has a meeting coming up she is preparing for and we worked through the content of the speech this morning.

Smattering

Another month has gone by and it's time for a catch-up post...

When it's Yellow and Green
My daughter has had a head cold for some time.   She's sounded terribly stuffy, only nothing came out when she blew her nose and she could fine.   Two days ago things started draining...unpleasant colored things.  I was telling my neighbor about it and the first thing she said was the thing I was about to say, "that means it's almost over."  With children, when the congestion has changed color and  gets viscous, you know you're nearing the end.  The darker and thicker, the less time you have to go.

The Clean Flip
I love clean sheets on the bed.   I love even more every six months when the calendar alert pops up it's time to flip the mattress.   My husband dutifully helps me strip the sheets and mattress pad.   We carefully remove the dust mite cover, set it aside and flip the mattress.   Then we put it all back on in reverse with clean everything on the top.   The bed feels extra comfortable the first night after we flip the mattress.

The Long Hair Unexpectancy 
I've been growing my hair out for what seems like eons now.  It's getting longer, but it's slow going.   I realized it was longer than I had thought recently because we're in warmer weather now and I'm wearing tank tops and sleeveless shirts.  I can feel my hair on my shoulders in a way I hadn't noticed wearing long shirts, sweaters and jackets.

The Seven Pound Dumbbell
My neighbor running buddy and I are on a swimming pool countdown.   We've put on, coincidentally, seven pounds from our ideal weight.   Dang those pounds for sneaking up on us slowly over the winter as we pretended not to notice.    And none of those "thinsults" out there, please.   We're not drastically overweight, we just want to fit comfortably back into the summer clothes we wore all last year.   Saying things like, "you don't need to lose weight, you're thin" is insulting to everyone trying to maintain a reasonable weight and working hard to do so.    But I digress and rant about one of my pet peeves.   I brought out to the car the other morning a seven pound dumbbell.   Seven pounds when you heft it in your hand is heavy when it's what you want to lose.    That was two weeks ago.   This week I brought out a five pound dumbbell.   Let's hope we can stay on track for four more weeks.

The Coffee House Delightfulness
I go to Starbucks a lot.  It's delicious, there's a drive-through and I know just what to order.   I had a bit of time while waiting for my car to be cleaned the other day, so I walked over to a coffee house.   I ordered their "traditional latte" and was totally impressed with the flavor and depth of the coffee.   I know there are many wonderful coffees out there.   I think I'm going to have to broaden my coffee horizons in the future based on that one sampling alone.

Yogurt Parfaits
I'm always looking for ways to get the children to eat healthy.   My neighbor suggested make-your-own yogurt parfaits.   Her children love to decide what to put in theirs.   I made one with my son yesterday and he loved the process and the result.  I didn't think I'd get him to eat granola in yogurt (which he should like, if only he'd taste it) but lo, he loved it all.   I'm going to make yogurt parfaits for breakfast in the future for both of them.

The Big Boy Update:  My son complained loudly today, "I want to do what I want!"  My husband and I decided he'd just summed up life pretty well in that single sentence.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter can do backflips (back walkovers) over the armrest of the sofa.   It's scary to watch, but she's under control the whole time.   I have got to get her into a serious gymnastics class if this keeps up.

Fitness Update:  Twelve miles biking.  It was Bike to School day today so my husband and I biked the children to school on the back of our bikes.   People still don't believe you've, "biked all the way from your house" even when you explain it's only five-and-a-half miles via the greenway and park.  

The Testing and the Testy

My children are both going through a new phase of testing us and other adults around them.   This is iterative and if you don't keep on it, your little darlings will turn into little horrors.   It may seem at first it's a terrible thing to not let your child have their breakfast until they put their clothes on (including socks) but in the long run, everyone understands the expectations, the children are empowered by their independence and we're all a lot happier.

Only right now, there is a lot of not happy happening.   My children aren't happy because how terrible of us not to let them drink their entire drink at lunch, thereby filling their stomachs so there is no room for food.   They complain loudly and have privileges removed because they want to whine and complain in a shouting voice in a restaurant when other diners are around.    And of course, the typical toddler complaint of the food not being what they expect it to be (or want it to be, more to the point.)

My husband has a more gentle way with the children while mine is more testy.   I don't like being pushed when I've already explained there will be a consequence if the child keeps on pushing.   I really would rather not take the chocolate milk from the restaurant (a treat not given at home) and throw it away, only to have my son wail loudly and uncontrollably, but if he won't eat the food in front of him (option one) or stop whining about how it's not exactly what he envisioned for lunch (option two) then it's going to go.  

There have been a lot of unkind things said to me, about me, that are hilariously funny were it an adult that said them to me, but from my four-year-old are causes for a trip to his room.   Hey, you try to keep a straight face when your son tells you he's going to take all the poop in the world and put it on your head.  

I've been spit on, coughed on, punched and kicked; all of which were room-worthy events.  My son is just getting the hang of postponed consequences: "you will be going to your room when you get home."  "Oh, thank you for apologizing, I'm glad you didn't mean it, but you're still going to your room when we get home.  I'm sure next time you'll think before hitting me."

I'm making it sound like it's all bad, but it's not.   It's just a lot of testing and it's tough being tough sometimes, especially when the consequence you have to impart is more frustrating on you than it may be the child.

My daughter is in the, "I'm pretending I don't hear you even though you darn well know I can," stage.   It's one we've been through before and since she's the easier child, it's not as much of a stresser as my son's defiance.    Oh, and my son still wants to be in control of everyone and everything.  

It's shaping up to be an interesting year as a parent.

The Big Boy Update:  The Darvay.   My husband called me today and said excitedly, "I have something to tell you, I know what The Darvay is!"  Back at Christmastime, my son wanted nothing more than a large boat toy he referred to as, "The Darvay."  We didn't figure it out and he was happy with the boat toy he did get.   Today he was talking to his father about something he'd seen in one of the Transformers: Rescue Bots show.  He said, "It's the most magnificent ship in the harbor, the Darby Eva."   My husband couldn't figure out what he was saying, but after looking up that phrase with the show title via Google, we finally had the answer to what The Darvay was.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  There was a small black ant on the ground.  I pointed it out to my daughter.   She said, "that's my friend, Sheffie."

The Dark Hair Discrepancy

I've been experiencing something strange since close to the beginning of the school year.   I had had highlighted hair since I was in late high school when I was introduced to the hair stylist my boyfriend's mother used.    Since that time, I think there have only been one or two occasions where my hair hasn't been lightened by highlights—never full color—until recently.

When the pool closed this last summer and school had begun, I decided to darken my hair with a single color, hopefully the color that matched my natural hair.   It took us two tries to get it right, but we were fairly close the first time.   I had plans to have lower-maintence hair, only to find out I had enough grey hair that recoloring every six weeks became the new hair regime.  

Ever since I darkened my hair, people have been commenting on it.   Some comments—most of them—have been complimentary, saying they like the darker hair on me.   Others have been about not recognizing me from behind or initially.    I have to agree with both, I do like the darker color and I have been caught off guard when looking at pictures, because I don't realize it's me in the photos initially.

But here's the conundrum: people continue to tell me how much they like the new color change.   People tell me this who have seen me multiple times since the start of last fall.   People will tell me this that I haven't seen in a month (but catch up with again at the next board meeting) and I've even had people comment on my hair that see me on a regular basis.   These are comments I get about my, "new hair color change" that isn't new or even newly refreshed at the salon.

The color I get put on is a semi-permanent, so it does fade a small amount from the day it's put on until I do a wash or two to get out the excess color, but most hair colors do that.   If I was getting comments during that timeframe I would be suspect, but typically that's not when it happens.

Do I look strikingly better in darker hair and people comment on it because, "wow, I'm sure glad she figured out highlights didn't suit her."  Or is it that the look isn't a natural one with my skin tone and people comment on it because it's strange or different looking?

People are sometimes surprised when I tell them the color is as close to my natural color as we can get (albeit a less "boring" version of my hair color) and can they see all the grey in the half-inch of growth since I last had it done.  

The mystery may persist until I decide to go crazy blonde and short haired or maybe something in the purple and spiky spectrum of hair styles.   I wonder what kinds of comments I'd get then.

The Big Boy Update:  My son needs an audience.   He likes to talk, show off, tell you what to do, complain loudly and make sure you're paying attention to him.   He is also not shy.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My next-door-neighbor was asking my daughter what her dad does for work saying, "what type of work does your dad do?"  She said, "he works in the basement."   Then she followed up with some specific details, "he does strawberry work."

Fitness Update:  Late to the gym!  I thought I hit the snooze but it was the off switch instead.  I made it, but had to have a shortened workout.

The Treasure Hunt

My mother had a fun thing for my children to do today.  She had crafted a complete treasure hunt for them, where each would find a multi-piece treasure and put it together in the end to make a surprise.

She arrived at the house while our children were outside and set up her "treasure hunt" by hiding things all over the house.   When she was done, we called the children in.   They were happy to see Mimi, and suddenly interested in this treasure hunt thing she was talking about.  

She sent my son first; she told him where to go in the house to look for something unexpected.    My son ran off to check in his shoe drawer by the garage and came back grinning, holding a piece of lucite with the letter 'G' on it.    She sent him on additional trips, his sister trailing behind him, to find all the letters to spell his name: GREYSON.  

When he was done, he got a completion prize (a snake car he's nuts about) and then it was his sister's turn.  

She was excited, but wanted her brother to come with her to help her find the things.   She could have found the letters herself, but she just wanted to do it together.   When they were done they had letters to spell out REESE.

We talked about all the sounds the letters make and then my son started rearranging his name and asking us what word it made now, which was interesting to watch.

We like the large letters a lot.   I'm wondering if we can find a place for them somewhere in their rooms?

Thanks for a fun afternoon activity, Mimi!

The Big Boy Update:  Click Click Whistle.   I was listing titles of the show Wild Kratts the other day to my children and decided to play the one about dolphins.   My son said out loud, "click, click, whistle" and I didn't know what he meant until a few minutes later the narrators were saying that very thing and explaining how dolphins communicate.  My son must have seen the show before and remembered the sounds.   Tonight as I put him to bed he said to me, "click click whistle."  I asked him if he was a dolphin and he nodded.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  At dinner my daughter had shell pasta with red sauce.    We weren't paying attention for a bit as we did that adult talking thing and when we looked over we saw her with shells on the fingers of one hand and an attempt to get the shells on the tips of the fingers on her second hand.

Fitness Update:  Ten miles in lovely spring weather this morning.   I was slow though, but we had a nice run.

Pahmer's Birthday Party

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Imagination Update:

My children have three imaginary friends: Pahmer, Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah.  They don't play with them all the time, but they definitely factor into their play on a regular basis.    This morning, I went up to their room to find out what the noise was and why they hadn't been interested in coming down to breakfast yet.

They told me they were getting ready for Pahmer's birthday party.   There was a Duplo Lego cake, lots of presents made from Legos and a full spread for the party itself with a large picnic-like blanket arrangement in the middle of their floor.  

I sat down in the chair and heard all about their plans.   Pahmer was going to have a nice birthday surprise from the two of them.

They left off to come eat breakfast.   I wonder what fun imagination games they'll come up with tomorrow?

Marriage

We had a wedding at our home today.   It was not altogether unexpected to hear our friends were getting married, but we didn't expect them to want to get married at our house.   I was thrilled to hear they were getting married (I cried) and we said of course, we'd love to have the wedding here.

Everyone hoped for good weather, but alas it rained almost the entire day.   We rearranged the basement (which sounds dreary, but is open on the back and is nice and light) to have the ceremony here, right beside where I write these little posts each night.  

My neighbor lent us some decorations and chairs and made the overall feel of the event one that was more elegant and beautiful than what I could have come up with myself.  Guests arrived at six o'clock and the wedding was at seven.    

There was food and wine with champagne and sparkling cider.  One of the bride's close friends who is also a professional baker, made the cake and one of her long-time friends married the couple.   Shortly before the ceremony, the sun came out, affording an opportunity for pictures in the wet, but springtime-green backyard.  

The ceremony was touching but short.   The cake was delicious and the toasts were, memorable, heartfelt and sometimes funny.    Congratulations to Jen and Darren!

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Marriage Update:   My children have been asking and talking about marriage of late, knowing we would have a wedding at our house today.   This afternoon they decided they should get married so they go on the bed, asked me if I could put some music on and held hands.   I was right in the middle of something so I asked if they could sing instead.    They sang a song while holding hands and jumping on the bed.   I'm not sure if they completed the marriage ceremony or not because the doorbell rang and they ran to see who had arrived.

Fitness Update:  Gym this morning with one of those Friday workout specials our trainer likes to do to us before the weekend.