4 Miles

I hope everyone is enjoying their St. Paddy’s Day.  If you want an interesting (& short) background on the history of this green holiday, here is an interesting article.

March Madness has arrived! I made up my bracket, and joined a group my brother had started. I am proud to say that after yesterday (before today’s games), I was tied with one other person for first place!  We’ll see after today. I just watched Northwest St. upset Iowa, and I had Iowa going to the Sweet 16, so that’s going to cost me some points.  And it’s still early in the day.  I was never into the NCAA Tournament until I started teaching. There, the excitement of the kids and staff rubbed off, and I started to enjoy this time of year. Plus, it brought out my competitvie nature!  Now that I’m at home, it’s not as fun unless I can join a group, like Doug’s. Now, of course, if I start losing rather badly, it won’t be as fun!

Tomorrow we are celebrating James’ birthday. (It’s actually Sunday). My parents, Heidi & Doug are all coming down to celebrate and to see the kids.  I have really dropped the ball on his gift this year. I have ideas, but things keep going wrong. Today I took the 2 kids out in an attempt to hit several stores to see if they have what I want. I gave up after store #2. (Well, that was a side trip to get Alex a mobile–I realized with Will what a great thing those were, but his homemade one broke, so I decided this time I was going to buy one. We were right by a Toys ‘r Us, and he’s right at the age where he’ll be distracted by really enjoy it.) Anyway, that second stop required carrying Alex (he wouldn’t stop crying unless I held him) while pushing the cart with Will in it. (There were too many things to tempt him, I decided after 30 seconds he’d do better in the cart, instead of “helping me” push it.) After this morning I’ve decided (as I did at Christmas, and quickly forgot), I just need to plan ahead, and stick to on-line shopping.  And this time, I’m going to go out tonight, on my own, to the third store I was going to go to, that I KNOW has what I want. (It was in the mall, and while I was RIGHT THERE, just next to it, I just couldn’t take the kids in. No stroller, too close to nap time, it would have been bad.) So, back I will go, tonight.

Will has learned some things that confirm certain male behaviors are just innate. Neither of us have worked to teach him them, he just suddenly started to do them.
Will thought that it was SO funny when we’d burp Alex, and Alex would let out a loud “Belchâ€?. (No one else was laughing, or suggested this was funny.)
When Will is drinking, he downs a whole sippy cup at once. (Most kids SIP the sippy cup, and it lasts longer for them, I’ve noticed. Will just “chugsâ€? it.) Now, when he’s done downing a cup, he lets out a large burp too. He laughs and laughs. Once again—neither of us taught him how to do this and neither encouraged it. The only thing I can figure is it’s just a boy thing!
Will has also mastered the non-committal “Huhâ€? that can sound like a yes or a now when I’m asking him questions. Already!

These are bills that failed to pass during Indiana’s most recent legislative session. These help show what gives our state a bad name:

• House Bill 1204 woud have prohibited schools from starting the year any earlier than the week before Labor Day. So you’re going to require a set number of days, and then not let the schools start until the end of August, so the students can go until June? July?  I’m not understanding why this needs to be a law in the first place. Why do you care when school starts? We are no longer in the days where we go to school from after Labor Day to before Memorial Day.
• House Bill 1087 would have set statewide dates for hunting squirrels. WHAT?!? I don’t want people running around hunting squirrles in my neighborhood, in season or out!
• Setante Bill 88 would have requird occupants of pickup trucks, and those in the back seats of cars, to buckle up. This isn’t a law yet?
• House BIll 1206 would have required public restrooms in license brances. They don’t have public restrooms? Considering how long you have to wait there, I would think they’d have to! But why does this have to be a law–isn’t this a Health Department issue?
• House Bill 1014 would have required a public referendum on whether Indiana should observe Centeral Time. Can’t we just end the debate now? We’re finally doing Daylight Savings, so I can tell people on the East coast we’re on the same time with them ALWAYS now. Please don’t mess this up and confuse people more! 

 

Tonight, Will pooped in the potty for the first time. It was a matter of Daddy noticing the classic “About To Poop” signs (when he wants to hide) & bribing him with treats, stories and telling him he could be like Daddy.  There were some tears (I guess it’s scary for a first timer), but the thrill of flushing & watching it go down the hole, and the big cookie for a treat made him want to try again.  We’ll see how this keeps going, we may be on attempt #2 of potty training. Oh, and James took a picture of it, but I wouldn’t let him post it. Your welcome. 

Yesterday, it was 70!!! This morning, it was 30. A 40 degree drop!  And a crazy strong wind on top of it.   At least it’s sunny, so it should warm up. But my poor flowers. The tulips and daffodils have been so cautious and slow, they have large buds, but no blooms, so I’m a bit worried between this and the colder temperatures being predicted the rest of the week, they’ll be killed back before I get to see a bloom from them. Not quite far enough along to put in a vase and force, I’m afraid, but not small enough that they’ll bounce back. We’ll see, maybe they’ll surprise me. They are tough flowers.  If you have more experience, feel free to tell me what to expect in the (now working!!!) comments section!

We’re coming out of a busy week. James’ parents were here last week, during his mom’s Spring Break.  It was fun to have them. James, his Dad and Will went to the Shriner’s Circus on Sunday, and I took them to the Children’s Museum on Wednesday. Will and Grandpa had fun playing there! But, I was surprised that Will didn’t want to spend much time in the trains area—I guess he’s had enough fun in that area in the past.  It was fun to have extra hands to hold Alex and someone else to play with Will during the day.  We also had fun playing games in the evenings. We celebrated James’ birthday a bit early, while they were here, and Will was VERY excited over the idea of making (well, eating) the cake. (James’ birthday is actually March 19th—he turns 30, by the way!). We’ll celebrate again this upcoming weekend with my family. My sister is coming, and she’ll also get to meet Alex for the first time! 

Other random things:
Alex is starting to smile more and more. He is also starting to sleep (some nights) 4-5 hours at a time. He was sleeping on his stomach next to me on the couch the other day, and when I looked again, he’d rolled onto his back last Thursday.

James is working on changing this website to a “realâ€? blog (meaning you can add comments, list other sites I like to go to, etc.). I’m not quite sure when we’ll be ready to switch over, but don’t be shocked when it changes.  LOOK!  He got it changed! What a guy! Please be patient as we work out bugs and get the design to a point where I like it. (I don’t right now…but he’s busy with the important stuff that make this work, not silly things like how it looks.)

Here is an interesting experiment with credit card applications.

I think my own method of disposing of credit card applications is pretty good. I used to save all the applications in the office trash can, until I was ready to clean out the fridge. I would dump the office trash can into the main trash bag, and then all the rotten, moldy, smelly food that I’d forgotten in the back of the fridge on top of the applications.  I figure anyone who gets them after that deserves them. Oh wait, not everyone forgets about their food in the back of the fridge? I guess a shredder is in order then!

…and have some time to waste? Here’s a very funny site of Bad Baby Names.

Alex got his hair styled! He’s had very dry skin on his face and head. We put lotion all over his head to help with that, and he ended up with spiked hair. It doesn’t show up well here, but it’s a good picture of him with his eyes open and an “almost smile”.  He is smiling more and more now for me–a big smile that shows his tootless gums.  Of course, never when a camera is near. You can take my word for it–they are cute smiles!