Randomness

- An example of really bad timing - Gabe finally got really good at riding his bike now that the weather's starting to get so cold that we're rarely outside. At least he's finally got the hang of it, though. He rode up and down the driveway about 100 times today, and would have gone another hundred if it hadn't started getting dark. The funniest thing is that our driveway has a slight incline, and sometimes Gabe gets a little stuck on that little uphill part, and I had been going over and giving him a push when he got stuck, but then Dante decided to step in and help. That kid is an ox, because he was able to give Gabe, who weighs at least 15 pounds more than him, quite a big push - UPHILL!  He was very proud of himself, as was I!  And I was proud of Gabe, who, when he fell a few times (cornered a little too quickly and toppled over), just picked himself up and started riding again, without so much as a whimper.

- Gabe now has holes in the knees of almost every single pair of pants he owns. That's what happens when you run across the room and throw yourself down, landing directly on your knees. If I did that even once, I'd be hobbling around for weeks, never mind doing it several times a day like he does! Kids really are amazingly sturdy and resilient. Too bad their clothes aren't.

- Yesterday Dante was playing with their toy gas pump outside, pretending to put gas in our cars, and he looked at me with a big grin and said "I'm going to be a gas canner when I grow up!"  I'm not sure where he got the term "canner," but I'm assuming that he was proclaiming his aspirations to be a gas station attendant.  Then, about half an hour later, he told me he wanted to be a pirate. Interesting choices, I think. 

- We went to the grocery store yesterday, and Dante threw a fit because we told him he couldn't get out of the carriage and walk. He was screaming, so I had to bring him out to the car and sit with him while Scott and Gabe finished the shopping. While we were sitting there, he was lamenting how Daddy and Gabe weren't with us, and he said very sadly "My big brother is all gone...." 

- When we go to pick up Gabe after school, we always talk about what he did at school. Well, Friday at school they had chocolate pudding as a special treat (they made the pudding Thurs. and then ate it Friday). So when I picked him up Friday, he came running toward me and pointed to the huge pudding stain on the front of his shirt and said "Mommy, today I made a mess with my chocolate pudding!"  He was so proud of himself. 

- We took them both for haircuts yesterday, and I think I can safely say we're finally over the hump with the traumatic haircut experiences. Once again, they were both good as gold. Gabe was downright happy, chatting with the hairstylist the whole time, and sat so still, and got SUCH a great haircut as a result!  And when he was done, he and I were sitting in the waiting area and Gabe looked over to where Dante was sitting in the chair getting his hair cut, and he yelled over "Dante, you look beautiful!"  Then he made sure to also yell "And I look beautiful, too!"  

- When we left the gym one day last week, I asked Dante who he had played with, and he named a few of his friends, and I asked him what they had all played, and he answered "Oh, we just relaxed." Somehow I seriously doubt that they were sitting around 'relaxing.' 

- We rented How the Grinch Stole Christmas from Netflix, and it arrived Friday afternoon, and I'm pretty sure the boys now have almost the entire movie memorized, since we've watched it 6 or 7 times. We'll send that back tomorrow, and Rudolph will arrive next. And today I found a DVD of Santa Claus is Coming to Town + The Little Drummer Boy for only $9, so I picked that up for them. I know they'll love both movies. All that's left is to get a copy of The Year Without a Santa Claus and introduce them to the Heat Miser.

- Gabe made a holiday wreath craft at school last week, and I hung it up on the window in the kitchen, and as soon as Dante saw me do that, he insisted that he make a wreath (or, as he calls it, a 'ruth') so that we could hang it up on the window with Gabe's. So of course we did just that. I love all the Christmas crafts Gabe is making at school, but I'm running out of places to hang them!  

- I got my running mojo back today. It was coooooold this morning - 20 degrees when I headed out - but it was a gorgeous day, and so nice to be out. I started out just under 9-minute miles, but almost immediately started negative splitting the run - went down to 8:28, 8:21, 7:58, then back up to 8:08. During those few miles, I got that feeling like I could run forever, and it was fabulous. Then I got to mile 7, and of all things, I got a wicked bad side stitch. I can't even remember the last time I had one of those, and I've never had one so bad that I had to stop running and walk for a few minutes. I got past it, though, and although the last two miles were a bit slower (8:28, 8:46), they still felt great. 

- While running this morning, I settled on my next running goal. I'm running the Super 5K on February 1. It's a very flat course, and that's where I set my current 5K PR last year - 23:30.  This year, I plan on setting a new PR, and breaking 23 minutes.  Hopefully that plan will come to fruition. Let the training begin! 

Comments

[Wes]

Aren't the boys just fun? It is so important to enjoy them when they are at this age. You are doing very well at it :-)

20 degrees huh? LOL... Too hard core for me!! I need to pick out my first race next year. I think I want to do a marathon in April. That means I'll be running again the final month of P90X. I think I will be able to handle it by then!