I had my first swimming lesson last night. I give it mixed reviews. There are four of us in the class – one fabulous triathlon swimmer, one young man joining the Navy, one teenager who will teach swim classes at a girls’ camp this summer, and me. All of us got one lane in the lap pool. ONE lane. That surprised me, but whatever. We all did nothing but freestyle last night, which is good since that is what I need the most help on. My breathing SUCKS. Or should I say doesn’t suck enough? And I seemed to get worse as the night progressed. But, I hope to get it worked out. There’s nothing that says I can’t side stroke the whole race. The triathlete dude swam about double what the rest of us did (My 20 year-old instructor kept saying…why is he here? I can’t show him anything!). She suggested getting in the pool to practice at least one more day a week, so if any of you have an Olympic-size lap pool in your basement let me know. My bike is in the shop getting a tune-up, so hopefully I will be ready for this race by June 6th! If my swimming doesn’t improve maybe that triathlon dude can tow me through Shawnee Mission Lake…
By the way – 19 more days until the half-marathon! Eek!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Do you know how to slide?
It’s been a beautiful week here. We’ve been to the park everyday. I believe Hattie and I are magnets for weird kids. I don’t know what it is, but always the ‘different’ kid finds us and makes friends. Many we’ve met at the library, and a couple at the park. On Tuesday we met Harry. Here’s an excerpt of how that convo went…
“Do you know my name?”
“Mmmm, no I sure don’t.”
“It’s Harry”
“Hi Harry. I’m Amy and this is Hattie”
“Do you know how to do the slide?”
“Well, I’d like to think I…”
“You just put your feet like this and slide down, see? It’s easy. Watch me. Watch me again.”
“Yep Harry, you sure can slide.”
“Look, I can climb up here. Do you know how to climb?”
“Yes Harry, I’ve done some climbing in my day.”
“Look, you put your feet like this, and be brave and push up here. See? I can do it again, watch. Watch. Are you watching?”
“Yep.”
“Do you know how to do this ladder-thing? You just push like this and (blah blah blah)..”
Obviously, I wasn’t watching close enough (I was trying to play with my own kid here), so I hear a, “Hey, hey, HEY! HEY! Are you watching!?!?”
Um, obviously your dad isn’t. Maybe you should tear him from his romance novel (yes, I typed that right) and get him over here to play.
And no, I didn’t actually say that out loud.
Kids are funny.
Hattie’s been in her ‘big girl bed’ for several days now. She’s very enthusiastic about it. Each night she points us to her room (“this room”), gets in bed and tells us, “don’t get up”. We agree, yes, that’s right, don’t get up. Stay in your bed or we’ll have to get the baby gate. Every night she nods and tells she will stay in bed. And each night it takes all of thirty seconds before she’s downstairs with a super-huge grin on her face. We usually repeat this scenario 2-3 times before we put the baby gate at her door. She’ll get the hang of it eventually. I do LOVE the bedding I picked out for her. LOVE it. We repainted the room, took an armoire out and I am making some curtains and a headboard. The room is a pale turquoise/aqua color with red accents. Not too girly-girly and not too baby-ish. I love it. Did I mention that? Will post some pictures when I get the projects done.
Some new things in HP world….
• She says “That’s much better” whenever you help her with something.
• We’ve just about got the ABC song down. There may be a mumble here or there, but she’s really close. She is also learning what sounds all the letters make. We have maybe 10 down thus far.
• Saying, “So cute!” (sounds like: So toot!) about any baby, baby doll or little item.
• She usually runs to us and gives hugs whenever Brian and I get home (always my highlight).
• We’ve been playing lots of soccer – Hattie has a good kick and dribbles really well!
• She has a wind-up boat in the bathtub that usually gets redirected with a “this way, please”. She sounds like a little tour guide, saying it over and over again. So toot.
“Do you know my name?”
“Mmmm, no I sure don’t.”
“It’s Harry”
“Hi Harry. I’m Amy and this is Hattie”
“Do you know how to do the slide?”
“Well, I’d like to think I…”
“You just put your feet like this and slide down, see? It’s easy. Watch me. Watch me again.”
“Yep Harry, you sure can slide.”
“Look, I can climb up here. Do you know how to climb?”
“Yes Harry, I’ve done some climbing in my day.”
“Look, you put your feet like this, and be brave and push up here. See? I can do it again, watch. Watch. Are you watching?”
“Yep.”
“Do you know how to do this ladder-thing? You just push like this and (blah blah blah)..”
Obviously, I wasn’t watching close enough (I was trying to play with my own kid here), so I hear a, “Hey, hey, HEY! HEY! Are you watching!?!?”
Um, obviously your dad isn’t. Maybe you should tear him from his romance novel (yes, I typed that right) and get him over here to play.
And no, I didn’t actually say that out loud.
Kids are funny.
Hattie’s been in her ‘big girl bed’ for several days now. She’s very enthusiastic about it. Each night she points us to her room (“this room”), gets in bed and tells us, “don’t get up”. We agree, yes, that’s right, don’t get up. Stay in your bed or we’ll have to get the baby gate. Every night she nods and tells she will stay in bed. And each night it takes all of thirty seconds before she’s downstairs with a super-huge grin on her face. We usually repeat this scenario 2-3 times before we put the baby gate at her door. She’ll get the hang of it eventually. I do LOVE the bedding I picked out for her. LOVE it. We repainted the room, took an armoire out and I am making some curtains and a headboard. The room is a pale turquoise/aqua color with red accents. Not too girly-girly and not too baby-ish. I love it. Did I mention that? Will post some pictures when I get the projects done.
Some new things in HP world….
• She says “That’s much better” whenever you help her with something.
• We’ve just about got the ABC song down. There may be a mumble here or there, but she’s really close. She is also learning what sounds all the letters make. We have maybe 10 down thus far.
• Saying, “So cute!” (sounds like: So toot!) about any baby, baby doll or little item.
• She usually runs to us and gives hugs whenever Brian and I get home (always my highlight).
• We’ve been playing lots of soccer – Hattie has a good kick and dribbles really well!
• She has a wind-up boat in the bathtub that usually gets redirected with a “this way, please”. She sounds like a little tour guide, saying it over and over again. So toot.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Here comes me!
I’ve been told by my reader (a.k.a. Mom) that I need to pick up the pace on my entries. It has been awhile. As I’ve said before, I guess I don’t have as thrilling a life as I initially thought when beginning this blogging experiment.
Things are going well. I spent a month in physical therapy trying to get my knee back in shape. I had to stop running during the therapy, which was long, since I had pretty much slowed to a stop around Christmas anyway. But, I graduated (hooray!) and am back at it, though much slower than before. It’s amazing how quickly you lose your endurance & speed! I have committed to run the Lawrence Half Marathon in April. It should be quite a tough race for me, since my training will only encompass about 10 weeks and the race route is h-i-l-l-y. I have to run from downtown up to the campanile, out to Alvamar, and then back up campus to finish. There are 3 separate steep uphill stretches that are a mile and a half to two miles long. Eek! Needless to say, my time probably won’t be great, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless. I am anxious to get a half under my belt, and then I am going to focus on completing a triathlon in June. Wish me luck!
Hattie is doing great as well. Our quirky girl is still cracking us up all the time. She is growing up so fast. Brian and I are asked several hundred times a day, “What’s this?” or “What’s these?”. I’d say 99% of the time she knows exactly what ‘this’ is, but must really enjoy the question. The other day she was looking out the window and asked me what something was. I couldn’t tell what she was looking at, so I asked as much. She pointed at the tree and said, “What’s this tree?” Hm. How to answer that one? I told Mom it’s a lot like an ongoing Abbott and Costello act at home. Brian says it’s like the beginning of Nightmare Before Christmas (it’s a song Jack sings, for those of you who haven’t seen it). We’re still very much into Max & Ruby (also known as Max, Booby), wearing accessories (she can sport 10 necklaces, 10 bracelets, a cape, hat and purse all day long) and playing with her ‘friends’. She has several stuffed animals and babies who get fed, pushed in the stroller, kissed, and snuggled with all the time. She also likes climbing on Mom and Dad. When she comes near, she says…”Here comes me!” I know there are a million other funny quotes, but can’t pull any from the muck of my brain today. Hopefully this will suffice, Mom!
Things are going well. I spent a month in physical therapy trying to get my knee back in shape. I had to stop running during the therapy, which was long, since I had pretty much slowed to a stop around Christmas anyway. But, I graduated (hooray!) and am back at it, though much slower than before. It’s amazing how quickly you lose your endurance & speed! I have committed to run the Lawrence Half Marathon in April. It should be quite a tough race for me, since my training will only encompass about 10 weeks and the race route is h-i-l-l-y. I have to run from downtown up to the campanile, out to Alvamar, and then back up campus to finish. There are 3 separate steep uphill stretches that are a mile and a half to two miles long. Eek! Needless to say, my time probably won’t be great, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless. I am anxious to get a half under my belt, and then I am going to focus on completing a triathlon in June. Wish me luck!
Hattie is doing great as well. Our quirky girl is still cracking us up all the time. She is growing up so fast. Brian and I are asked several hundred times a day, “What’s this?” or “What’s these?”. I’d say 99% of the time she knows exactly what ‘this’ is, but must really enjoy the question. The other day she was looking out the window and asked me what something was. I couldn’t tell what she was looking at, so I asked as much. She pointed at the tree and said, “What’s this tree?” Hm. How to answer that one? I told Mom it’s a lot like an ongoing Abbott and Costello act at home. Brian says it’s like the beginning of Nightmare Before Christmas (it’s a song Jack sings, for those of you who haven’t seen it). We’re still very much into Max & Ruby (also known as Max, Booby), wearing accessories (she can sport 10 necklaces, 10 bracelets, a cape, hat and purse all day long) and playing with her ‘friends’. She has several stuffed animals and babies who get fed, pushed in the stroller, kissed, and snuggled with all the time. She also likes climbing on Mom and Dad. When she comes near, she says…”Here comes me!” I know there are a million other funny quotes, but can’t pull any from the muck of my brain today. Hopefully this will suffice, Mom!
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