It’s really been a month?? Wow. During my last post I got a notice from Blogger that I was running out of space on my acct and to start using Piccasa or something like that for posting pictures. Don’t know why but that just kinda let the wind right out of my sails. The thought of not being to plop photos in wherever like I’m accustomed to made me not want to blog at all for a while for some reason. Also, it’s been a very busy month and I just haven’t been on my normal schedule where I find spots of time to lay down my mind on the keyboard.
Last weekend on Sept 26th I ran my first 25K race (that’s 15.53 blissful miles) and it went really well. Despite the fact that I actually believed the race course description on the web site that described the course as ‘flat, fast and fun’ and didn’t do any incline training during my 13 weeks of training so having never seen the course I was totally unprepared for the rolling hills during the first 3 miles and then the 2-mile long mountain road that inclined steadily from miles 8-10. Apparently I have much to learn about what is considered ‘flat’ to a runner. Regardless, the whole process of sticking to a set daily training schedule, firming up, feeling fit and proving to myself I was capable of running distances beyond my previous mental limits was actually fun.
I completed the race in 2:52:05 which was good enough for 416th place out of 680 finishers. Not a bad baseline to start from for whatever race I commit myself to next. A marathon doesn’t seem so insane anymore as long as I give myself enough time to train for it gradually and include hills in my routine. Maybe next year. I've gotta really focus my time & energy at work for the rest of this year. We are upgrading our university HR/Payroll system and launching a new timekeeping hardware & software over Christmas week. Fun fun.
September is a big birthday month in my world. With so many siblings and friends born in the 9th month of the year, I have a theory about the Christmas-New Year holiday season and cold winter nights, but I digress. The month starts off with my own birthday which was simple, happy and low key this year, followed a week later by Zeth who is now 2 and is acting his age in so many ways. He is definitely battling whatever demonic force overcomes kids at his age in a battle of wants and emotional volatility. Then again, I suppose being two is kinda like being a woman with PMS – you’re never 100% sure what you want for more than 5 minutes (unless there’s chocolate involved) and your reaction to that thing isn’t totally guaranteed to bring you the satisfaction you were anticipating and you reserve the right to change your mind as necessary or just be completely irritable for no apparent reason at all. So Zeth is an ordinary, conflicted, amazing, splendid two-year-old and I love him terribly.
Despite his 2-year-old demons, he is still unbearably cute and his sweetness is still heart-melting. Some of his favorite antics and lyrics lately include singing (especially ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’), pointing out the ‘moont” in the heavens - be it day or night he’s very aware of the moont, saying “Hi guys!” whenever I come home (I guess I really do say it more than I thought and now I’m one of the ‘guys’ to him), getting overly excited about football (pictures in the newspaper, throwing the football around the house, watching games, whatever), loves dousing himself in the bubble bath, starting to use his ‘potty chair’ more frequently and giving his mostly incoherant interpretation of or input about whatever book we’re reading. He has mastered the use of the words, NO and “I don’t want it” – especially when it comes to brushing his teeth. But we’re working on it and getting a tooth brush in his mouth is becoming less of a battle.
It’s been almost a year since Zeth’s first & last haircut so a couple days ago as I was cutting Ram’s hair, I was planning to give him a trim and even out his ‘fro but it’s like the gods of Sampson heard my thoughts and my old faithful clippers had some sort of electrical short and died just as I was finishing up Ram’s hair. Oh well, we’re letting the ‘fro go for a while it seems. I know I can’t cut it too short cause he has to play with someone’s hair to relax and lately he’s been pulling on his own locks more than mine gratefully. It’s his source of comfort in lieu of a blanket or something like that.
Zana was selected by her teacher as student of the month representing her class this month. So now she’s 3-for-3 in receiving this monthly award in the early part of the school year. She is an excellent reader and is excited about making sense of math. It’s fun to see her learning so quickly. She is still dancing Tahitian and takes gymnastics lessons weekly. Ram is coaching Zana’s AYSO soccer team this season which is about half-way through now. It’s been a good experience learning how to coach and spending that time volunteering for the team. Zana’s having fun playing and it hasn’t been as hard as I’d feared to keep Zeth off the field during the games as I had imagined it would be. It’s all about distractions and keeping him busy.
The local Dept/Board of Education just passed a ridiculous ratification of the current school calendar and threw in 17-furlough days from now until the end of the year to try to save money. So essentially every Friday for the rest of the academic year is a non-paid day off for everyone. What a mess the economy is making for everyone. In light of 17-new school holidays, I just want to say how grateful I am to have good friends here, especially Auntie Maeva, who we rely on heavily for day care during school holidays. In so many ways I feel like a pioneer in our community with no family nearby to fall back on for help with the kids, Maeva is a lifesaver and I can’t thank her enough for always being like a second mom for Zana.
I also can’t say how wonderful it has been to have a completely dependable daycare situation for Zeth with Aunty Mary Jo. Few things are more stressful than having to find a last minute babysitter on your way to work when your regular plan falls through as it so frequently did when Zana was younger. Mary Jo has been a God-send for us in consistently taking care of Zeth while we’re at work for the past two-years. I didn’t ever plan to be a career woman/working mom but that’s the way our life is for now so I’m just grateful that God continues to bless us in our efforts.
No comments:
Post a Comment