Illinois Marathon - again!

Yeah! Today was the second annual Illinois Marathon, held right here in CU, and I was part of it! (The half marathon, that is, not the full.) So fun! Soooooo tiring.... I have to say that I was NOT in as good shape as I should have been to run this one (three episodes of strep being my biggest excuse), but I'm still glad I did it! I absolutely love running, even though I'm such a slow one...there is just nothing more simple and more satisfying than putting one foot in front of the other with 14,000 other people and another several thousand cheering you on, even though they have no idea who you are. :)

And again, Ethan and Brian were there to cheer me on! They met me in Meadowbrook Park, right around miles 8-10, which is just when I need to stop and get some hugs. I've run the Chicago Marathon, which is amazing (40,000 runners and triple that watching) but I have to say that it was incredibly cool to do this race in a place where my husband and baby are easy to find in the crowd! I pulled off to visit for awhile.


Now compare this boy with last year's marathon boy:
Quite the difference, huh? Wow...

Picky Eater!

It's a sad, sad thing....the boy that used to eat anything on a spoon or the highchair tray (or the floor) is now turning down yummy food right and left! Lasagna? Nope. Noodles? No thanks, Mom. We are down to a short list of about six things: applesauce, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, graham crackers, and (what?!) black beans. Not even peas or bananas anymore!!!

(Sigh.) Any suggestions out there?
He's still a pretty cute kiddo, though. And after his 18 month Well Baby appointment last week, I'm not going to worry for a second about his size - 31.9 pounds, 35 inches....at or above the 97th percentile. Brian, who is never macho about anything, is very sweetly proud of his enormous son. :)

Tiptoe through the...violets?

Actually, we're not really tiptoeing, more like stomping, but I'm working on my title-creating abilities. I know, I know, I need more work....
Welcome to Spring! Our backyard is literally covered with violets. Each year, they spread a little farther, and they're just gorgeous. The yard needs to be mowed desperately, but Brian agreed to wait a little while before committing the Great Violet Massacre. I am trying to get the perfect picture of Ethan luxuriating in the flowers, but he is NOT cooperating at all.
Ethan's love for nature is about what you'd expect from a soon-to-be 18 month old. "Look, a beautiful flower! (dandelion) Let me pick it for you!" (Dandelion is put in mouth.) "Oh, rocks! Let's make a pile of rocks!" (Rocks are put in mouth.) "OK, let's go inside." "WAAAAAAHHH!"

Another Butter

(I really want that title to rhyme, but it doesn't, does it?)

Yea, we have discovered a peanut butter substitute! I get sad when I think that Ethan may never eat a PB&J - it just seems like childhood is incomplete without one! So I was doing some hunting for alternatives the other day, and what do you know - you can make a spread from sunflower seeds. Enter....Sunbutter! Yum. Not quite as good as the real stuff, but given that we are trying to keep Ethan from hospital visits as much as we can, it'll work! He has given it his stamp of approval.

TV

I'm sorry, American Academy of Pediatrics. I know that you recommend that kids under the age of two don't watch any television, but we've disobeyed your recommendations on a daily basis for quite awhile. I am now on my third round of antibiotics for strep throat (ick!) and Ethan just tested positive, too! (Brian's escaped it somehow - whew!) So we've been contagious, cooped up, and coping by watching a little Baby Einstein almost every day.

I don't expect that these videos will make Ethan smarter, but I have to say, they're so CUTE! And a really good excuse to snuggle on the couch with the little boy - he's so active these days that he'll get worn out and fussy, and a little quiet time is kind of nice. And we've been challenged to find productive things to do - I'm not nearly as imaginative as I need to be to keep this little boy busy! Today we:

1. Made a tent out of the kitchen table and a sheet
2. Walked around our backyard and grabbed the little flags that the power company put in
3. Learned how to stick our finger up our nose (Brian and I sat that one out)
4. Took all of the laundry out of the dryer, then took the folded laundry out of the basket and threw it all over the floor
5. Chased cats repeatedly

(That all took about 20 minutes.)

Neither one of us is contagious anymore, thank goodness, so we'll be able to get out and about tomorrow without issue!

Where have we been? To the park, to playgroup, to the beauty salon....

Where have we been all these weeks - good question! Things have been a little hectic around here lately, but I think we may have our heads on straight again. Whew! In the meantime, Ethan is still being his healthy, rambunctious, toddler self!
Until this weekend arrived, it's been Spring around these parts, and Ethan and I have been in the park every chance we get! There is a little park right near our house (perfect!) so we head there often. Ethan hasn't decided whether or not he likes he swings yet, but the fire engine and slide are a huge hit.

Our latest favorite activity is our Saturday playgroup. The U of I has students enrolled in a class where they get course credit to run this amazing playgroup - each week, we focus on a new topic, such as motor skills, exploration, choices...and there are little centers set up for the kids to move around. So far, we are having the best time. Today, Ethan got to play in a soapy truck-filled water table, climb up and down an obstacle course, get swung in a blanket, and slide down the indoor slide about a million times. The students kept commenting, "Wow, he's really vocal today!" (Polite student code for, "Wow, he's really loud!" :) He was a happy happy guy. And then took a super long nap when we got home. Yea for playgroup!)
But a necessary step today was also the beauty salon - Ethan's hair (as you may be able to tell) was out of control. We're very lucky to have a kid with a nice head of hair (luckily for him he ended up with the thick, curly Jewett hair rather than the thin, wispy Jones hair - no offense, Mom and Dad), but this is actually the third haircut he's needed since he turned one. And since he rubs his hair with whatever breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack residue is on his hands, we wanted to take care of some of the length before he was wearing a ponytail. I have tons of pictures of the experience, but they're pretty darn blurry. Here's the result. Not bad, huh? :)

NOW He's a Toddler

The title of our blog post when Ethan started walking was, "Officially a Toddler." I'd like to revise that one - Ethan is just now showing his toddlerhood, and it has nothing to do with walking.

Oh, look at how sweet I am! I am especially adorable and smiley in front of my grandparents and cute babysitters!

There had better be another cupcake soon or there's going to be trouble.

I want something! No, not that! No, not that either! Why can't you read my mind, Mommy?!

I'm going to tell myself that this is Ethan's age, and not my incompetent parenting. It's his little toddler brain that makes him fuss every day I pick him up from daycare and give him lots of kisses, that makes him throw every food he happily ate yesterday on the floor, and that causes him to want to run out in the street now that the weather is nicer and we go walking around our neighborhood. (Followed by more fussing when I don't let him fling himself in front of cars.) Toddler boy! Lucky he's so darn cute...