Washington, My Washington: Part Two

After the birthday party in Woodinville on Saturday, we went back to Centralia/Chehalis for the second first birthday party for Charlie and Logan on Sunday. The heat wave finally broke that day (the cooler front moved in during the party, actually), but it was still warm enough to enjoy ourselves. As you can see, Adam was hardly overdressed.

The twins enjoyed opening their presents... well, eventually. They required a little convincing, but they got into it after they realized they were supposed to be making a mess.
Adam watched. He liked the paper.
And grass. Grass is fun. For mom and dad, it was nice to be in an area where we didn't have to worry about chiggers.

And then it was time for the cake. After the experience of the first party (which involved both boys vomiting chocolate cake on themselves and their parents), Amanda and Aaron were careful not to overdo it on the cake. But, after starting carefully, the boys decided that, while cake is probably fine, they weren't entirely sold on frosting.

The next day, we set out for Anacortes. Of course, it would have been nice to be there during the heat wave and down south when the weather was cooler, but you don't always get to make those choices for yourself when you're only visiting for a short time. On our way north, we stopped in Federal Way and said hi to our friend Elis and met her two little ones. We hadn't seen her in about a year, so it was nice to catch up a little.The next update will cover our time in Anacortes.

Note: We've had a little computer hiccup here. That is to say that our old computer is in the midst of dying a horrible, lingering death. I'm typing this on the newly purchased super-duper computer, which does not yet have the pictures from the old one transferred to it. That is one of my projects for this weekend. We'll see if I can get that done and get the next update up before Christmas. I doubt it, but I'll try...

And Now for Something Completely Different

Washington, My Washington: Part One

We begin at the beginning.

We flew to Seattle via Dallas. Why, you ask? Well, you might as well ask why does the sun shine? Why do the birds sing? Why does Hawaii have interstate highways? Some things simply are.

But the trip out wasn't all that bad. Adam was good on both legs of the flight, and he had a nice time rolling around at the Dallas airport and gnawing on a carrot stick:

We were there for 12 days (in Washington, not the Dallas airport), so I won't bore you with too many details. I will, however, note that we arrived during a record heat wave in the Northwest. This allowed for some nice photos of Adam that will come in handy the first time (Oh, who am I kidding? Every time) he brings home a date. And in the first week, we got to see Scott and Katy and the girls, go to the SW Washington fair, visit with Aaron and Amanda and Charlie and Logan on the occasion of their first first birthday party, and celebrate several birthdays at once in Woodinville (and test out a baby pack that Jean's cousin Sarah is debuting soon):

Let's Start Here

Long time, no see

I know I'm way behind, so I'll get all y'all caught up with a series of posts over the next few days. We took a trip to Washington in mid-August, so this one will cover the pre-trip developments, and the trip and post-trip stuff will come soon.

So, Adam was getting a little more active - rolling around, pivoting on his ginormous belly, thinking that crawling would be great, if only he had the first clue how to do it. But at least he gets to grab stuff if he rolls a little too close:

Poor dog:

After his six month doctor's appointment, we got the thumbs-up to start him on solid foods. He likes this development:

He also started to sit up on his own before we left for Washington (to clarify, he remained sitting after we sat him up, not that he sat up on his own - though he's getting close to doing that these days). One day, he simply decided it would be nice to see the world from a different perspective, and he's preferred it ever since. As so many before us have done, we sit him in the boppy pillow for a little support and padding.

As you can see from the video, he likes that sitting up allows him to explore the world a little more thoroughly. He was pulling on that gym support for several minutes before I started recording, and he kept going after I stopped. He just thought tugging on that thing was the most interesting thing in his short life, I guess:

Try, Athlete. Try.

Summers in the KC Metro mean it's time for the KC Corporate Challenge. The KCCC is a series of athletic endeavors - some more athletic than others - in which employees of various companies around the KC area compete against each other to see who can discover and pull the greatest number of muscles they didn't remember they had.

As you can see from the first few pictures, Jean competed in a number of these events. I was only able to get pictures from the bike time trial (the first picture - she kicked butt, third fastest Deere person, men or women) and the triathlon (which technically became a duathlon when they cancelled the swim portion - you'd really rather not know why), but Jean also competed in the mile and 800-meter runs, bowling, soccer, softball, volleyball, and the 200-meter freestyle and the 50-meter breaststroke swimming events. And maybe some more; we can't remember them all. It was inconvenient, but it was all worth it. John Deere won its division, and they got a trophy and two parties featuring cake! So they had that going for them, which was nice.

While Jean was melting away the pregnancy pounds and competing in every event known to man, I was having leg problems (Bad IT band! Bad!). I was able to get some physical therapy and was pain-free for our planned triathlon in July (Thanks to Sharon at Select Physical Therapy and Day Care). Of course, being pain-free and being in shape enough to do the hilly Shawnee Mission Triathlon the way I wanted are two different things. So, long story short, I survived, but I didn't post a time with which I was very happy.

It also occurred to me at some point on the run that I'm not a good swimmer, nor am I a good bicyclist, and my running isn't all that, so I'm at a mild disadvantage in the sport of triathlon...

Anyhoo, Jean's cousin Elisabeth and her friend Holly came up from Texas to do the triathlon with us. We had a fun weekend, and Adam impressed our friends/neighbors/coworkers Casey and Kati, who were kind enough to watch him while we did our tri.

The morning was nice - cool, clear, and no wind. The lake was warm (83 degrees) and calm. What we didn't expect was that as soon as the sun came over the horizon, it was directly in our eyes for the second half of the swim. When we turned for home on the swim leg, we couldn't see a dang thing. Oh well. Such is the nature of triathlons and open water swims. You just have to deal with it and move on. Everyone else had the same problem, so there's no point in complaining too much. Just swim 'til you bonk your head on the dock, then turn left, I guess.

About to be "Blinded by the light. Revved up like a Deuce, Another runner in the night..."

And we were as ready as we were going to be.
Overall, things went about as well as can be expected. Jean ran better than she anticipated and was pleased with her time, while Beth and Holly did well, considering they were riding mountain bikes and hadn't been able to train as much as they would have preferred. The course is very hilly, and the bike leg for the long course (the distance we chose) is challenging, so doing it on mountain bikes, not road bikes, was a serious handicap.

But we made it. Now, I'm wondering what's next. Part of me wants to run the Phoenix Rock 'n Roll Marathon in January. Another part of me wants to get ready for next year's tri season and forget about competing for a while. And still another part of me wants to focus on the bike; my recent rides with Casey have shown how much I need to work on that.

We'll see. It may depend on what Adam likes most. Will he like riding in a jogger but not a bike trailer? Vice versa? Neither? We'll have to wait and see.

And That's the Tooth

Adam has had his bottom front two teeth for about a month now. I've been waiting to write something about it until we were able to get a nice picture of his chompers. Unfortunately, as you can see above, Adam has a special talent for hiding his teeth from the camera lens. But today I took matters into my own hands and was able to pry his mouth open enough to successfully document daddy's new bottle openers.

He was great about getting them in. He didn't really complain all that much, mostly just tonguing his gums for a few days and that was about it.

The top teeth don't show any signs of coming in right now, so we'll just have to wait and see. And when they do come in, we'll force his mouth open again for some more pictures.

Six Months

Adam had his six month checkup on Wednesday. Still doing great. No problems. He's not a fan of the shots, but he takes 'em like a champ.

But the big news is his size (Get it? Big news... size... big news... size... 'cause, you see...). The charts have caught up to his weight!!! Huzzah! He's now only in the 90th percentile for weight. So now, on average, only eight out of every ten kids his age weigh less than he does. Of course, there's only one in ten who weighs more, but it's good to know that he's no longer that kid for all the other kids. It's like the old saying about outrunning bears - you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the slowest person in your group.

The vitals:

20.4 pounds

27.75 inches

Waterworld

Adam likes the water. He gets a bath every morning, and he's starting to realize that if he lifts his legs up and then brings them crashing down into the water, it makes big splashes and plenty of waves. This pleases him.

Our subdivision has a pool, and it's only a few houses down, so Jean takes him over there when it's hot and she wants to cool down and/or when he's fussing and she wants to distract him for a while. Most of the time, there are plenty of kids in the pool. He likes watching the kids splashing around and playing. He also likes his new sunglasses, which save him from a lot of the glare. He also gets a lot of attention from people who find his sunglasses to be very cute. This too pleases him.

And he's learning to spit. Well, not spit exactly - it's more of a raspberry. We don't really want to encourage too much of this; afterall, it's not the most polite behavior in the world, and it can be... messy. On the other hand, it's cute as bugs' teeth. This pleases me.

Adam Updates

More notes from Jean

When Adam is happy, he's very very happy. Sometimes happiness is swinging in the swing like a big boy.


But when he is sad.... When he is hungry, tired, bored, or doesn't really know how he feels, Adam has decided he doesn't need a pacifer. Why would he when he has fingers that don't get lost and he can always find them?

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Exerpts from the story written by Beatrix Potter, with comments by Jean

"Once upon a time there were 4 little rabbits, and their names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter..."

Yesterday Adam and I met a little bunny who might be named Peter, and this is the tale.

"'Now, my dears,' said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, 'you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.'"

Nice way of saying your father got caught and eaten, isn't it! Starting here, just substitute "Jean" for Mr. McGregor, and you will get the idea of what happened in our garden yesterday evening.

To shorten the story a little bit, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail all went to pick blackberries in the lane, but Peter....

"But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the gate! "

Adam and I walked out to the garden to do an inspection of our crop of vegetables (and get him to settle down and possibly sleep). The dog came with.

"First he ate some lettuces and some french beans; and then he ate some radishes; and then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley."

And when we got out to the garden, there was the little baby bunny sitting right next to the parsley plants in my garden. Hmmm.

"But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet, but Mr, McGregor"

We walked past the squash plants, and there the little varmint was! Skip ahead to Mr. McGregor as he

"...jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, 'Stop, thief!'"

Only I had 20 lbs of baby in my arms instead of a rake, so I couldn't very well shake the baby at the rabbit. I also didn't want the dog to come over and eat the rabbit, so I was just trying to herd it out of my garden. This involved walking towards it while holding Adam, talking about how little bunnies needed to go and find other things to eat than my beets, tomatoes, beans, parsley, etc.

"Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate..."

I had that poor little baby rabbit in such a panic that it was dashing from one end of the garden to the other trying to get away from me. But it didn't want to leave the cover of the plants to get across the yard. Every time it would get close to the edge of the garden, it would double back past me at a run, then slow down when it got to the opposite side of the garden.

"...Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath, and trembling with fright, and had not the least idea which way to go..."

"After a time he began to wander about, going lippity-lippity-not very fast, and looking all around."

I finally stopped chasing the little bunny, because it was useless to just chase it back and forth. I think it gave the little guy a chance to get its heart rate down from 1000 bpm to almost normal.

I MIGHT have left it in the garden had it not recovered enough to take a nibble from a bean plant. That was when I decided he really needed to exit the garden.

"...He went back towards the tool shed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe-scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered beneath the bushes. But presently, as nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a wheelbarrow and peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate."

Our yard is fenced, but there are PLENTY of spaces for little rabbits to get through. Little bunny's life was complicated by his fear of open space, me, and the dog. Up until now the dog was totally oblivious to our dilemma, that could change at any moment. I was pretty sure she would decide that the bunny would make a good chew toy. This would result in a big dog chasing through my garden, and a dead bunny, neither of which I wanted. And I was still holding Adam.

"Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow, and started running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some black-currant bushes. Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the gate, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden."

I regret to say that our little bunny was not nearly as smart as Peter. It finally left the garden and dashed across the yard to the fence, where it promptly ran straight into the fence and bounced off. Then it went over and huddled in the corner with its furry little tail out.

At that point I took pity on it, collected the dog, and went into the house. Adam was getting heavy.

"Peter never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home to the big fir-tree. He was so tired that he flopped down on the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole and shut his eyes."

Let this be a cautionary tale for all little bunnies who think about going into my garden. Although I do kind of hope the little bunny made it home ok.