Inner-campus Mail

Some parents are the smothering type, my mother and father weren't of that persuasion. When it was time to select a college, I was interested in many, but most of them only held a casual level of consideration for me. Would my academic record put me in the accepted group of students applying? If I was accepted, would I really want to spend four years at that location?

I think the only place i had ever pictured myself going to school was at the college my mother had bee working since I was a small child. And while I did apply to other colleges, I don't remember if I was or want accepted to any of them. What I do know is that I applied, was accepted and did go to the college I has pictured myself going to for as long as I can remember.

But would this pose a problem?  Not only would I be going to school at the same spot my mother worked, I would be living in a dorm one building over from the administration building in which she worked.

Would she pester me?  Would she show up for surprise visits to my dorm room to make sure I was keeping my room tidy and not getting into trouble with my suite mates?  Would she check up on me through my teachers (that we also her colleagues) and then have talks with me if I wasn't working hard enough at my studies?

No to all of those things. Not only was my mother respectful of my new-found independence, she kept her distance just like she would have had i gone to a college the next state over. What did she do to keep in touch?  She wrote me letters via inner-campus mail. 

Some day when my children are older and have gone off to college I hope I'll be able to respect them as they move into their next phase of life like my mother did for me.

The Big Boy Update:  "Uncle Bob is here! Uncle Brian is here!". Uncle Bob and Uncle Brian arrived the other day to join us for the holiday weekend. I have been telling both children about their impending arrival with excitement. The morning after they flew in, my son came over at breakfast and told me they  were both here. He seemed very happy to have them here for their visit. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "No. Stop it!"  This is a new thing she's been saying. She will tell you when she doesn't like something and that she wants you to stop right now. It's charming when she says it in her high, squeaky baby girl voice. 

Some Days You Just Don't Feel It

Today my neighbor and I were suppose to do a long run.  Well, we were going to wedge in as much of a long run as we could manage.  I'm out of town starting this afternoon so we would miss our weekend long run.  We're wimps, neither of us wants to do a long run alone.  But what we are willing to do is get up balls early to get in a run in the dark, in the boring neighborhood, because the monotony is gone when you're running with your Chatty Kathy buddy.

We decided--okay, I decided--that I didn't want to start at 4:45am.  We settled on 5:00am and planned to run until just after seven o'clock, when I would need to be back to get the children ready for school.  I got up at four o'clock and drank the Vespa endurance running booster and then tried to sleep until 4:45am but mostly failed. 

We met at 5:00am and after about ten minutes I think I said, "I just don't really want to be running today."  My neighbor agreed she was feeling the same way.  We weren't specifically tired or winded, we just weren't feeling it for some reason. 

We ran on and strangely, out of character for us, we talked about going to the fitness room instead.  But we never got around to it.  And we kept running.  We kept running until ten miles and then we decided we could fit in one more mile before we both had to be back, so we made eleven miles--all on a day neither of us wanted to run. 

Running is fun for us.  And it normally is.  I'm not sure why we just weren't in the running mood today.  Our next long run is coming up on either Monday (if we come home early) or next weekend.  We'll be able to run in the light then and go to the park which will be nice. 

The Big Boy Update:  Uncle Jonathan was putting my son to bed two nights ago while I was at a Yoga class.  Apparently my son wasn't happy that daddy and mommy weren't there.  He looked up at Uncle Jonathan and told him, "I want my grown ups!"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Superman.  She's been saying "Superman" for a while now.  My son has some superman and other super hero shirts, but my daughter has none.  While helping me with the laundry the other day she said, "Superman!" and pulled out one of his shirts.  The one she pulled out was Batman, but hey, it was close enough.  I asked her if she wanted to be Superman and she nodded, so I put the shirt on her.  She was very happy wearing it around for the rest of the day.

Fitness Update:  Eleven miles, two hours of slow running (because all we do is run slowly) in the dark or mostly dark hours of the morning.

Making a House

I'm not talking about building a house; we did that.  I'm taking about "making a house."  This can be done with sofa cushions, folding tables, pieces of furniture, blankets and sheets.   And these houses are lots of fun. 

My son has been into making houses lately.  The other day I went upstairs to find all the pillow arranged in such a way that a small area was available to climb in and hide.  I think daddy helped with the arrangement and somehow, through the impressive wedging capabilities of toddlers, my son and daughter were able to fit inside.

Uncle Bob came to visit earlier today and my son asked for the baby gate/wall to be brought out.  We wet it up into a spiral shape, then a hexagon and then many shapes in between and covered it with a dark blanket and a light sheet.  Uncle Bob joined him in the various renditions of the house and they did things like hide from the alligators, take a bath and pretend to sleep. 

Mostly though, my son was interested in the opening and closing of the door, and asking Uncle Bob to come in and play with him. 

I had been meaning to put the baby corral up into the attic for a good while, but now that a new life for it has been identified, it's not going anywhere for a good while.

The Big Boy Update:  When I asked my son how old he is, he said, "I'm bigger than half.  My dump truck is three."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Coloring craze.  We got a new easel and she is just mad about coloring.  She's started to like coloring more at restaurants on the children's menu too. 

Fitness Update:  Yoga.  I did my first yoga class last night.  It was great.  I was exhausted.  It was hard.  I was so sweaty.  I plan on going back.

Who is Your Personal Serial Killer?

Wow, that sounds ominous doesn't it?  Serial killers for a blog post title from this lady that likes to talk about her kids doing forward rolls and pooping on the floor.  But it's a valid question I think.

It's largely an age-related thing.  Every so often, there's a serial killer that comes to light, is captured and is the focus of media attention for a period of time.  We're all horrified (well, the vast majority of us are I hope) with his or her deeds and yet we find ourselves intrigued on some level at the same time.

I asked my neighbor, because I wondered if her answer would be the same as mine, Jeffery Dahmer.  I wondered, because she and I are the same age.  And yes, we both clearly remembered the media spectacular when we were twenty-two years old and the utter dismay we felt as the details of his murders came to light. 

On a recent run we talked about other serial killers.  We knew names, and yet we didn't know that many details.  We mentioned Ted Bundy, and we knew he was a charismatic guy that did things to women.  Did he rape and then kill a few?  We didn't really know.  But we remembered very specific details about the Dahmer case because we lived it as it came to light.

That night, I looked up Ted Bundy and read some of the wikipedia entry about him.  I was astounded.  This guy did more terrible, horrible things to women than I had ever had any idea about.  But because it was at a time I was too young to be watching television (especially that kind of news television) I had no idea.

It's been a while since a seriously sensational serial killer has come to light.  Well, that or I haven't been paying attention in a while.  Hopefully that trend will continue.

The Big Boy Update:  Integrating this and that and this other thing over there and mommy, I need more string because I need to "hook" these other things to the mass of things I've already connected in some way or another and then, you see, my plan is to drag them all over the house. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I don't want to go to school.  Okay, that's not exactly the case.  She wants to play on the playground we have to walk through to get to the door to her classroom.  I almost had to drag her to class this morning because she wanted to go play over there instead of going to class and going to play on the playground behind her classroom.  So focused, these children.

Pain Free...Could It Be?

I've had shin splints for some time now.  I didn't know much about them until I read a bit online and discovered that yes, the symptoms I had were consistent with one type of shin splints.  I didn't have degenerative issues, just muscular pain from about a half mile to three miles.  It was consistent and bothersome during that short two-and-a-half mile length.  It didn't appear until around about a half mile and then was gone close to three miles.  The reading I did said that some people experience pain until they're warmed up. 

But it was annoying, and painful to the point that during that period, I would sometimes have a hard time focusing on the conversation at hand with my running partner because it was one of those very annoying type of pains.  It wasn't a damaging or injured type of pain, it felt more like the muscles along the shin bone were trying to cramp, only couldn't quite get there.  It was bad enough that I started to become anxious about running.

I took a break from running to focus more on the work with our trainer.  My neighbor broke her toe during this time so she wasn't running either.  My trainer suggested some exercises I work on to help with shin splints and I worked on those too.  I had been asked if I had old shoes or if I had changed shoes because that could be a factor.  I had gotten another set of my favorite shoes not long before so I was fairly certain it wasn't those shoes.  I'd been told to take anti-inflammatories before running and to roll out the muscles with something like a rolling pin.  And I did all of those things.

And still the pain persisted.  Sometimes, if I would warm up on the elliptical for a half hour before running, I'd have no pain.  But that's an annoying thing to schedule and it's just avoiding the initial distance by running it on another medium. 

Then, the other day, I ran and suddenly realized I was in absolutely no pain.  Zero.  I didn't say anything for the first three miles because I was a bit stunned.  Could it have been a freak shin accident that they didn't remember to bother me?  I hadn't even taken any Ibuprofen.  How strange.  Wait one minute, I'm wearing my very old, very very old, worn out running shoes.  I had forgotten to change before going out into one of my newer pair. 

Could it have something to do with those shoes?  I had several other pair of shoes, different in type.  One pair I had liked running in so much that I was on the third pair of the exact same shoe.  I had another pair of an entirely different brand that I ran in as well.  But this pair of shoes and I'm in no pain.  I need to do more investigation.

The next day I went back out in my old sneakers with no Ibuprofen and I got the same, pain-free result.  Magic.  That afternoon I went to the running store and got the newest iteration of that shoe (version eight instead of my original version five) and ran the next day.  Still pain-free.

Should I start celebrating now or had I better wait until I cross the finish line at the marathon?  For me, I'm just happy to have a solution.

The Big Boy Update:  "A joy" is what one of his teachers told me he was today.  As it was only the second day of school, I think she must have him confused with another one of the children in her class.  Seriously though, she has liked him a lot since last year when he was in her class and she said he has been a great helper and influence on the younger, newer students that just started this year. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Hula hooping.  We have a small hula hoop and somehow, somewhere, she's seen someone try and hula hoop with it.  She tried again and again this morning to make it go.  I tried to get a video of it but I couldn't quite catch it.

Fitness Update:  Mid-week medium run of eight miles.  We're still slow, but we're getting there.

The Change in Street Dynamics

At first when we moved to our neighborhood, we lived on a quiet street.  We lived in a quiet neighborhood as well, which was due to the number of empty lots and un-built houses surrounding our general area.  We had land (although it wasn't ours,) and we had quiet (although it was lonely at times). 

Now, we have noisy, busy, messy construction all over the place.  And I'm not just talking about the tremendous amount of construction happening all around us.  There's construction and all the messy mess that comes with it, the nails in the tires and the muddy streets and the noise.  But it's glorious noise because it means neighbors, friends and playmates.

At first we had one playmate, Madison, who is right between my two children in age.  She then had a little brother and other younger children moved onto our street.  As the houses were completed, more small and young children arrived and the existing children were happy.  The parents were happy too as we'd meet out on the street by random happenstance after a meal or during "beer hour" on Saturday evening--I just made up "beer hour" but if there is such a thing, you can bet my neighbors and I will be part of the event.

The children would run up and down the street in their little push plastic cars or inch worms or wagons.  In short order some children a few years older moved in and then there were battery-powered cars that my two children looked at with awe.  They got to ride in them and my son has even learned how to drive one of them now.   It's a happy neighborhood.

Then, within the past two months, two more houses have become occupied and it's changed the dynamic once again.  This time, these children (six in total) are all older.  They can play on the street without a parent there to warn them to watch out for cars and to make sure everyone is playing nicely together.  And these kids are all friendly and like small children too. 

My son was watching with big eyes as the older children rode bikes up and down the street and chased each other on skateboards.  He excitedly wanted to be involved, although he couldn't pedal that fast on his push-motorcycle.

We have only one house left that's not occupied and those two children will be part of this older, more independent group of children.  All in all, with eleven houses on our street, we have nineteen children, enough for fun for all ages.

The Big Boy Update:  Throwing.  He is throwing things to keep them away from you, me or anyone that wants the item.  Or, just for the fun of throwing.  It's not safe or appropriate and we're working on it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I want out.  She wanted to go out the back door, but it wasn't a good time.  She saw me come in and turn the bolt behind me.  A few minutes later I saw her lugging her dinner table chair across the room.  What was she doing?  Oh, she was pulling it up to the back door so she could reach the deadbolt knob.  And she successfully unbolted the door.  Sadly though, she doesn't have hands large enough to turn the handle yet to get out.

Fitness Update:  A quick three mile run this afternoon in less than broiling hot summer weather, which was nice for a change.

The Thirty Dollar Glass Mistake

We printed a photo my husband took on his cell phone and decided to have it framed on advice from my neighbor.  She has a good eye, and this particular picture she said would be perfect in black and white--and she was right, it was.

It was an odd size because my husband's camera takes pictures in wide screen mode, so any standard frame wouldn't fit it.  Cropping wasn't an option because one child was in one corner and the other child was in the other corner and while the proportions looked pleasing to the eye in the shot itself, cropping it to a more standard frame size would have ruined the effect (or cut off someone's body parts in the process).

So off to the store to get a custom frame made.  The sales person helped me with selection of mat and frame and I was feeling confident this was going to be a nice picture, hanging in the spot my husband and I had already identified.

Then she asked me what kind of glass I wanted.  I had her price it out and the "non-reflective" glass was thirty dollars more.  "We don't need that fancy schmancy glass," I thought to myself and told her the regular glass was fine.

When I picked up the picture it did indeed look great.  Her mating suggestions and framing advice was right on and I couldn't wait to hang it at home.  But guess what, the spot we picked out for the picture is right slam in line with lots of things that make reflection not a minor issue.  I was irritated with myself for being cheap.  I was annoyed with myself for not thinking about the position of the picture and how it's in a bright area of a room with lots of windows.

Wait, what did I just hear you saying?  Was it, "we live and we learn."  I know, I agree.

The Big Boy Update:  "Here mommy, this is for your wrist."  I commonly wear a small elastic band for my hair around my wrist, that is, if it's not in my hair holding it up.  I didn't realize my son paid attention to it but when found a similar elastic band on the ground at the pool yesterday, he picked it up, gave it to me and said, "here mommy, this is for your wrist."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter and I were eating a snack at Target the other day when an older man walked by and said to me, "she's precious, enjoy the time while you can."  As parents, it's not uncommon to get comments about how cute or adorable your children are.  The other thing that's very common is to hear from parents of older or grown children that these young years are something to cherish because they're gone altogether too quickly.

Fitness Update:  Three miles today.  Small run, but I can see the benefit now of the small runs after larger runs during the week.  It was a more tiring run than I would have expected from that short a distance and duration.  Is it only two months until the marathon?  Oh my.