Friday, October 15, 2010

Cross Country team 2020

Yesterday, Saben had a Jog-a-thon at his school as a PTA fundraiser. Parents were invited to stay and cheer the kids on as they ran and since his class was running right when they got to school, I decided to stay with Annika.

We went outside and the "race" began - two kindergarten classes and a couple first grade ones as well. The kids were so excited and of course all took off sprinting and cutting corners at the beginning, even though they had to run for 30 straight minutes. It was super fun to see their excitement, cheer, clap and they even had music playing loudly like it was all a big party.

Saben ran one lap pretty fast, then sped by us on his second lap. By his third lap he had slowed a bit, I figured he'd get exhausted and be walking in another lap or two. But no....he kept going. And going. I couldn't believe it. Every time he passed we cheered him on and even ran with him a couple times.

He basically ran for almost 30 minutes straight and got the most laps of any kid in his class. Occasionally he would walk for 1/4 of a lap and each time he got a rubber band to count his laps he slowed down to a walk for a few seconds. I was so proud of his determination and completely shocked by his endurance!

I decided the course was about 200m, maybe a tad less and he did 28 laps. So...aprox 1 and 3/4 miles is probably about what he ran.

At the end of the time he was so completely exhausted, he just sat down, wrapped his arms around me and said "I want to go home and take a nap mom". I ran and got him a couple orange wedges immediately and that started to perk him up. By then we really needed to leave - we were running late for Annika's preschool. Of course right at that moment they pull out popsicles for all the kids and Annika starts screaming "POPSICLE!!!!" We fled through the school with her screaming. so fun.

Seriously though, that race made my day, I just couldn't get over how well he did and how earnest he was about the whole thing. So proud of my boy.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

No more dirty diapers

It is quite possible that I have put the very last diaper on my children. Last night, after weeks of sleeping "dry" in his pull-up, saben slept in underwear for the first time. Annika was dry almost immediately after potty training and has slept in underwear with no accidents for months.

This morning I contemplated moving the diaper pail out of their room and realized I had no remorse or sadness attached to that...unlike every other baby thing we've slowly gotten rid of this year.

For the last 4 months I've felt a sick pit in my stomach everytime I think about the infant things I got rid of in April. Probably one of the hardest "goodbyes" I've ever done and I deeply regretted just sending them off to a garage sale for weeks. (I love it when friends/family takes stuff, hate turning it over to strangers)

I just realized today that I am finally uh...healed...and can think about it somewhat unemotionally again. I remember when our suburban was loaded up, I felt like the last five years of my life were in there and I was getting rid of it all. It was Kyle's birthday present to clean out the attic of all that stuff and he will never know that it was probably the most emotionally traumatizing gift I ever gave him. (definitely more traumatizing than the xbox I got him for christmas)

Thankfully getting rid of the diaper pail will be much easier. Other than the guilt of sticking a huge piece of plastic into the landfill.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The Blue House

It has come to my attention that our house has officially won the title of "best house being painted blue right now in our neighborhood" as judged by the guys who work at our neighborhood market.

Yes, you heard right, there are currently THREE houses being painted blue in our neighborhood. The competition was fierce, so first, lets take a look at the runners-up. First there is this beauty, which artfully mingles purple, light blue and blue with seeming random abandon.


Next up is what I like to call "smurf house on steroids". Some have argued our house could also be in the running for "smurf house of the year", but those people seem to have forgotten how turquoise a smurf is. This house immediately catches your eye as you drive up the street and elegantly captures the simple theme of "let's paint everything blue!"


Last but not least, our humble entry, which is still quite blue...but makes me happy everytime I drive up to it and will look amazing when I get some fall leaves planted up near it.

And yes, they are still working on it...I think this is the fourth week of work, although they had some days off here & there.