Climber Update

OK, so today the ottoman was against the couch.  James climbed from it to the couch a few times.  Cracked himself up.

Well, I walked into the living room to find him sitting/kneeling on the end table!  He must have gone from the ottoman to the couch to the table.  He was just sitting there playing with his drummer boy soldier ornament.

Somehow I kept my cool, walked over, and plucked him off the table.  The thought of taking a photo did cross my mind, but the camera was in another room, and I wasn't going to go get it!

Oh, I promptly moved the ottoman AWAY from the couch.

King of the Mountain

So James's latest pastime is climbing.  He likes to scale the ottoman.  

He also really enjoys the Pampers boxes we'd put by the door to take out for recycling.  He can push them around to wherever he wants then climb right up.  Nice.  His favorite spots: against the wall (where he says, "Hot. Hot." because it's by the radiator) or next to the trash can.  Both locations afford him something to hold on to (wall, trash can).  

When he gets atop a "mountain" you hear a funny little chuckle of joy & pride.  

I fully realize that this is a BAD game.  An accident waiting to happen.  The boxes are outside now.  The ottoman, however, is not....  

Little Swimmer

Today we started aquababies swim lessons at the Y.  I decided to sign up because A) our gym class session was over and B) I need to learn not to be such a nervous Nelly with James in the water.

The boy loves to splash.  Anyone who's been around at bathtime lately can attest to this, and it certainly held true for the first half of today's class.  Our teacher found him cute (of course) and thought that with his enthusiasm he'd be likely to pick up bubble blowing quickly.  I tried to show him for most of the rest of the class, but I don't think he was into it much.  Well, he did give a bit of a blow at the end, so maybe next time...

It seems that James might surpass me in the ability to float on one's back.  During the class, we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and let the babies rest their heads on our shoulders and float.  He did it right away (I was holding him).  The cute/funny part was at the end of the song he rolled over to kiss me.  Sweet.

He also seems to grasp the notion of paddling his arms.  At the beginning of the class, he was all about moving around in the water.  However, about halfway through he seemed to get cold, then all he wanted to do was hold on to/cuddle with me.  He did get a second wind right at the end.

Now, the most interesting part of swimming lessons is the chaos in the Mother & Child Locker Room.  One wise mom had her child strapped into his stroller after dressing him which allowed her to change and such.  I had come prepared with one of James's favorite books to look at and a container of Cheerios.  He sat down quietly eating his snack and reading.... for about 3 minutes.  Then he started to take off.  Luckily he stayed IN the locker room; he'd just travel over to the corner of the room and hang out there (leaving a trail of Cheerios in his wake).  Maybe I should choose a locker near that corner.  Next week I'll bring a bagel instead of Cheerios.  And maybe a stroller.

Cuteness

Just wanted to show you James loving his bunny.  He calls it Baby (pronounced "Day-dee").

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, last Friday I finally got around to creating Valentine cards with James (nothing like planning ahead).  I bought some washable paint and colored paper and figured that the kitchen floor seemed like the best place to work.  With a bath towel and basin of warm water at the ready, I envisioned doing handprints and footprints, then dunking the appendage in the water....

Yeah, right.

James got really interested when I opened the paintbrushes, 

so then I thought maybe he'd like to paint.  Luckily I'd already stripped him down to a onesie (hindsight: should've gone down to the diaper).  He sat down with brush in hand, surrounded by sheets of pink and red paper as I prepared dishes of red and white paint.  Well, when I put the paint down, he continued to hold the brush with one hand and dip the other hand

into the paint.  

I realized that while this was not what I had planned, it was marvelous.  Probably better than my vision of controlled printing.  Certainly messier.  I embraced the mess and the moment and grabbed the camera!

When James tired of the fun, I caged him into the kitchen and got the bathtub ready.  That little basin was not going to do the trick!  The bathwater was completely pink when we

 were done, and I still had to take care of the kitchen floor.  Clean James was strapped into the high chair to watch me clean up.  This was practically torture for the b

oy who LOVES cleaning the floor, but alas...

On Saturday, Dan made us yummy pancakes and was thrilled with his homemade card from James.  We all snacked on homemade heart-shaped cookies and spent lots of time cuddling.

Marathon Mom

This post is long overdue, but was prompted by something that happened on my run yesterday morning (and has often happened lately).  While running through our quaint town, I greeted a fellow pedestrian with a smile, wave & "Good Morning."  In reply I get a smile and a "Where's the baby?"  

James has become such a part of my running that the townspeople miss him when he's not with me.  It was pretty warm last week, so I took him out for a few jaunts.  It was great to hit the roads together again.  However, when Dan's home and/or it is just too cold, I have to go it alone.

So anyway, when yesterday's "fan" asked about James it got me reflecting on his many miles with me and our marathon training.  Let's get one thing straight, there is no way I could have trained for the marathon without my Baby Jogger.  James and I put in many, many miles together.  The longest run he accompanied me on was somewhere around 11-13, so I spared him the longer ones.  However, we'd hit the roads for 8 miles together several times a week.  Often he'd nap through it, but there were also many "conversations."  These were mostly me telling him stories or pointing out the sights, but sometimes he'd chime in.

Of course there were the times he'd get upset-- stinky diaper, boredom from a longer run, ... I'd pick up the pace and head for home.  At this point I wanted to tell those who'd stare, "We're going home.  I'm not a bad mom!"

About 6 weeks before the marathon I got injured and could hardly walk.  I thought it was done, but thanks to a great physical therapist, I made it to the start.  For the first time since my first marathon, I wasn't putting pressure on myself to beat a certain time.  Those goals went out the window with the injury.  I was just thrilled to be at the start, and hopeful to get to the finish.  

Apart from the wind, it was a perfect day for running a marathon (so much so that I didn't even mind the wind)-- sunny and cool.  I successfully found my fans (Dan, James, Mom, Mag, Ali & Preston) three times along the course, and just tried to soak in all the sights along the way.  The miles went by really fast, even when both IT bands seized up on 1st Avenue (thank you to the aid station folks who fed me Tylenol).  Just 3 hours and 23 minutes later I was crossing the very familiar finish line in Central Park and hugging my friends and teammates; I had run my fastest marathon.  After getting our bags & clothes, I saw Preston and then everyone else (including Dan's parents).  Giving James a big hug felt so good.  

I have to say, other than our wedding day & James's arrival, I think it was the happiest day of my life.  I was surrounded by my people and pleased with my run.  

*The photo is me in Central Park with just about a mile and a half to go!

True Fact

Well, as of 10:22 today, our bambino is 61 weeks old.  Yes, my running watch chimes every Saturday at 10:22 AM.  The first 20 or so times, I'd sing to James.  Some weeks now I hardly notice it.  Today Dan & I took a moment to reflect on 61 weeks.  Dan said it seems short when you say it that way.  (Tomorrow is 14 months... does that sound older?)  I am really trying to soak it all up now.  I got teary this week just thinking about how much he's changed even in the past few months.  It goes FAST.  Everyone tells you this, but you just don't get it.  

With that said, let me tell you something amazing.  I haven't really bought the kid any clothes yet!  Seriously!  Apart from the pjs and one pair of cords last fall and his bathing suit last summer (which I believe still fits!), he's been totally outfitted by the wonderful generosity of family and friends.  Being the first grandchild and nephew obviously helps, but many of the items he wears now are things that people bought when he was born.  (This is a marvelous idea; give gifts that are bigger sizes--not everything at the shower needs to be NB or 0-3mo.)  We even have some BabyGap gift cards yet to be used!

I am SO thankful for these gifts.  Of course, there is a part of me that would love to go out and choose all sorts of cute and/or stylish items in which to dress my boy.  However, I am pretty satisfied to open the closet periodically and say, "James, look at this new outfit that Grandma/Nana/Auntie Peg/Auntie Ali & Uncle P/Daddy's boss/Mommy's friend bought you.  Let's try it on!"  

I have the rest of his childhood to dress him.  Thank you all for doing it thus far!  :-)  You have wonderful taste, and he looks adorable.

*On a related topic:  there are SO MANY more clothes in the baby girl area than the baby boy area.  In every store.  Sometimes I'm annoyed/jealous, and sometimes relieved.  

It's all starting to click!

I posted recently about James's growing vocabulary.  Well, he continues to say more words every day.  Some recent additions:

wa-wa (water)

stair

Ginger (his gingerbread boy beanie baby)

ow

yum

dog (which he says for many animals: raccoons, horses, bears, dogs, ...)

Really, he'll repeat almost anything you say!

The past few days he's been appearing to use the sign for "more."  (We've been showing him sign language for "milk" and "more" since he was about 4 months old; "eat" since 6 months and other signs in the past few months.)  He was doing the baby variation (pointing to one palm with one finger) of "more" even though we show him the adult version (bringing all finger tips together).  We praised him and gave him more.

Well, this morning, he'd already nursed and was playing around with Dan and me in bed.  He then came over to me, reached for my chest and did the "more" sign.  The real, grown up, ten fingers together "more" sign.  I was excited and said, "James, do you want more?"  He responded by saying "mo" and doing the sign again!  We were so excited!  

A bit later he was in his high chair having cream of wheat.  Dan gave him one of his Wheat Chex.  James did the "more" sign again, said "mo" and pointed at Dan's bowl!  He did it over and over again, each time Dan gave him one, he'd ask for another.  It was really cool!

It just blows me away how he's truly communicating now.  When I say, "James, do you want to help Mommy do laundry?"  He runs to the basement door and says "door" and "stair."  Then he turns to me, raises his arms and says "up" because I carry him downstairs.  

It's awesome.  

Test Run

OK, if you know me, that title is likely misleading.  This is not about running-- it is WAY too cold for the Baby Jogger these days; my runs have been solo endeavors.  

I am attempting to attach a video to the blog for the first time.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm not promising anything great this time out, but if whatever random clip I select uploads with relative ease, you can be sure that this blog will be rockin' with vids as the month goes on!  Note: for this first upload, I'm selecting a "silent movie" from our digital camera rather than from the (also digital) video camera.  

Please to enjoy James meeting Auntie Ali when he's just 3 days old (Dec. 18th, 2007-- his due date).