This And That

Somebody woke up ridiculously early this morning - 5am, to be exact - and somebody did not take a long enough nap this afternoon, which meant that that somebody was extremely cranky all day long.

The somebody in question is Dante, and he was just a terror today. It wasn't that he was miserable all day long, but if anything set him off, he just completely flipped out and threw a tantrum. He overreacts to everything anyway, but today it was just unbelievable, the way he'd just go from being perfectly happy and content to turning into a screaming, crying, kicking, flailing mess. Just as an example - one of those tantrums occurred when he saw someone else eating a cereal bar at the park, and I told him that we didn't have any, but he had graham cracker sticks and raisins he could eat.

It was a good 3 minutes before he calmed down.

I felt bad for him, because I knew he was really tired, but still.... it was all a bit much.

We had a good day, though, with two different park outings - one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. We met up with the Moms club this morning, so that was fun, although I did cut it short so I could get the tired cranky one home for his lunch and nap. And in the afternoon we went to a park we'd never been to before. It wasn't fenced in, so not idea for us, but we'll go there once in a while anyway, just for a change of scenery.

I've been absent from the gym all week, and although it wasn't really intentional, I'm kind of glad it's worked out that way. I get a little burned out from going there 4 or 5 days a week, and need a break every now and then, so I'm glad I've ended up taking one.

Still running, though - got in 4 miles on Monday, and 5 this morning. Both were right around an 8:30 pace, which felt good. I'm hoping to get in another 10-miler on Saturday, and then the half is right around the corner! I'm going to try to hook up with someone from the running club on Saturday. I know a lot of them are running Boston on Monday, so won't be doing long runs this weekend, but I think there's probably at least a few folks who aren't headed up to Beantown next week who might be willing to keep me company : )

We had a fun, somewhat impromptu visit with the family yesterday in CT. Scott was working, of course, so just the boys and I went down, but it was nice - we were able to see almost everyone, since it's school vacation week.

As we were getting ready to leave, Dante and Gabe had the cutest little conversation. They were both buckled into their carseats, and Gabe said "Dante, we're goin' to visit Grammy and Grampy. Are you excited?" Dante nodded his head and said "yes." And then Gabe said "Dante, I have Ace [his Rescue Hero figurine - do you like Ace? You have Mercury. Do you like Mercury?" And Dante said "Yes. Mercury on his bike." And then they proceeded to have a whole little conversation about their Rescue Heroes. It still really wows me when they talk to each other like that. They're playing together so much more now, it's just awesome. I will never tire of seeing them really enjoying each other's company like that.

Anyway, while we were visiting, the kids all played outside for a while, since it was a beautiful day. And every time we've gone down there lately, Gabe has said how he wished had brought his Cars movie with him, so this time we brought it and he watched it with his cousins. They got a kick out of the fact that he knew exactly what songs and lines of dialogue were coming up throughout pretty much the entire movie. That's what happens when you watch a movie 100 times.

When I was getting lunch ready for them, Gabe started talking about how he wanted some of that "white stuff" he had the last time we visited. I didn't know what he was talking about at first, but we finally figured out that he wanted Fluff. The last time we were there, he had his first Fluffernutter, and of course he loved it.

Once we had figured out that was what he wanted, I started making him a sandwich, and Auntie Chu-Chu wasted no time in giving Gabe a big spoonful of Fluff to eat plain. I think that was probably his favorite part of the entire day!

And of course as soon as Dante heard us talking about Fluffernutters, he piped up from the other room "Want Fluffernutter, too!" So they both had Fluffernutters for lunch. I had a bite of one, and I have to say, it was pretty darn good. I won't be buying any Fluff for our house, but that'll be a fun treat they can have when they visit Grammy and Grampy's.

But in total contrast, at dinner tonight, Gabe was scarfing down grilled chicken like it was candy. He kept shoving it in his mouth and saying "Delicious!" Then he was asking us if he was strong now, since he was eating his chicken. I guess he does listen when we tell him that eating healthy food makes him strong.

It was great to see him eating so well, but I know Gabe, and I won't be the least bit surprised if 6 months go by before he eats grilled chicken again. But hey - you take what you can get. And his eating habits have improved so much over the past year, I don't have anything to complain about.

And seeing as how he's off the charts for height, and in the 95th percentile for weight, I KNOW I don't have to worry about whether or not he's eating enough!

One last thing - the other day we were at the park, and Gabe took a dive on the sidewalk, and he braced his fall with his hands, but apparently, also with his nose, because his nose got all scraped up. But the funny thing is that he was so concerned about his hands, which were actually completely fine, and didn't even get scraped, that he didn't notice his nose was hurt until the next morning when he looked in the mirror and said "Hey, what happened to my nose?"

He looks like quite the little bruiser in this picture I got of the injury, doesn't he?

Comments

[Wes]

I learned early on the young ones do not have to reasonable, and they seem to KNOW it :-) nor would they be little boys without all the bumps, scrapes, and bruises!!