Trail Notes
I ran the 4.5mile loop at Town Lake this morning.
You know those workouts where you don’t really want to get out there and do them, but as soon as you get started, the workout just flies by? Yeah, that didn’t happen. This was more like one of those workouts where I was pretty much dragging myself along thinking, how much further am I going to make myself run? I actually did run the whole thing in the end. But it wasn’t pretty.
What is with all the darn construction at Town Lake? I am so so so sick of navigating the crappy construction zone on the 1st street bridge. The so-called diversions are poorly laid out and very unfriendly to runners. The pedestrian crossing buttons are difficult to access and there is gravel and mud and construction crap all over the sidewalk. There are cars coming from every which way, and no clear path for runners to get back to the trail. It sucks.
Also, on top of the standard 1st street disaster area, there were two other large sections of the trail that were off limits today – one diversion through Zilker Park, and another near the Lamar Street Bridge. Pah. Annoying. I know it’s necessary to do trail maintenance and whatnot, but if I had wanted to run on the roads, get stuck at lights, breathe in car fumes near the road and dodge traffic, I could have run from my house. Whine whine, complain complain.
Anyway. There were a couple of bright spots on my run today, which came from: 1) the happiest, goofiest looking spaniel I have ever seen. He was totally running sideways – not just that little tilted run that some dogs do either – a full on sideways gallop, tongue flopping, ears flying. Joyous. 2) ‘Paradise City’ by Guns and Roses on my iPod. I think Guitar Hero is causing my love of late 80′s/early 90′s rock to resurface.
That is all.
Actually, it’s not all.
I wasn’t going to say anything at first, because let’s face it, my “fast” is most people’s “slow”, but according to my Nike+ (which does tend to be a little generous), I ran my 4.5miles this morning at an average pace of 9.46mins/mile (I did press pause each time I had to stop at lights and whatnot). But still – that’s under 10mins/mile. To which I say WOO and HOO! I’ll take it.
One Year On
A year! A whole year! How did that happen? The past few months have just flown by in a blur. I swear it feels like Christmas was just a couple of weeks ago. And yet, I can still remember those first few weeks after Alexander arrived home, when I was breaking my day into 15 minute increments and willing the clock to speed forward to that magical time of day when Mark would arrive home and take over some of the responsibility that weighed so heavily on me.
Alexander has come on leaps and bounds over the past couple of months. He strung together his first few steps on February 26 when he was just a little over 11 months old, taking 8 steps across the room towards my Mum, who then sent me a series of excited! text! messages!! telling me all about her genius grandson’s new found skill. Since that time, Alexander has gradually been walking more and more, pulling himself up and then toddling between pieces of furniture. About a week ago, it all started to come together, and suddenly Alexander is at the point where he is walking more than he is crawling. He can get up without needing any assistance from furniture or people, and can even bend down and pick things up off the floor without falling over. Occasionally, he gets excited about something and tries to run. That usually ends in a face-plant, and he is currently bearing a grazed chin as a result of one of these incidents.
I’ve already mentioned that Alexander is starting to talk. His vocabulary is pretty small at the moment, but his comprehension is definitely there. He knows what we’re saying to him. He likes to get me to pick him up and then he will lean and grunt and point at whatever it is that he wants to investigate.
Teeth. He has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom. We brush his teeth as part of his evening bath routine.
Sleeping. This, my friends, is where I see the biggest difference in my day to day life as a parent. Finallly, after 11 solid months of more or less wrestling Alexander down to sleep for every bedtime and most naps, he will now get into his crib still awake after his evening bath, story and feed and la la la himself to sleep. This started just a couple of weeks ago, and it is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
For the most part, Alexander goes to bed around 7pm and gets up between 6-7am. He typically does sleep through the night these days, although there are nights where he wakes up and cries for long enough that one of us (i.e. Mark) will go through and comfort him. Alexander naps twice a day most days, from anywhere between 40mins to 1hr30mins at a time. Recently, he has skipped a nap every now and then, which makes me nervous that he is moving towards dropping a nap. How will we ever get anything done if he doesn’t nap?!
Eating. I took my pump to Singapore on my recent business trip, and I diligently did my motherly best to maintain supply while I was away. Except, by the time I got back, Alexander had decided he was done with the whole breastfeeding thing, and flat out refused to nurse. I kept trying for another week, thinking it was just a temporary nursing strike, but he just wasn’t interested. A few days after I got back, Alexander was taking in a bare minimum of milk. He didn’t want anything – formula, cows, expressed – for about 3 days. We were a little worried, but he was otherwise doing fine on solids and was drinking water from a sippy cup, so we just rode it out and kept offering him milk. Eventually, he started drinking milk again, but on his own terms. He likes to be held when he drinks his milk, but he also wants to be the one in control of the bottle. And that was that. I have to say that I was rather sad at being weaned, and I definitely spent a while there feeling cross with myself for going on the business trip and not making it to a whole year of breastfeeding, but oh well. I’m over it now.
Alexander likes to eat. His favourite foods are cheese, bananas and scrambled egg. He also likes avocado, sweet potato, cream cheese, apples, toast, bread, sliced ham, sliced turkey, bagels, cereal and yoghurt. He will try most foods, but he’s still not very keen on meat or many veggies. We still rely on apple sauce to help sneak carrots, butternut squash, winter squash and other veg into his diet. Oh well.
Alexander had his 1 year doctor’s checkup this morning. He is 31″ tall (90%) and 21lb 6oz (35%). The doc did not seem concerned about his weight in relation to his height, so I’m not going to worry about it either. In fact, the overall message I got from today’s checkup was that Alexander is doing just fine. My boy is tall and healthy and strong and happy. I really can’t ask for more than that.
He is such a funny little character. He laughs when we laugh. He likes to chase the dog around the house. He hugs, leaning his head into my neck. He says “ha!” during random moments of silence. He babbles to himself when we’re out for a walk in the stroller. He’s endlessly energetic and loves to be outside. He loves to play ‘where’s the baby?’. He likes to open and close doors. He likes to play with kitchen utensils and tupperware. He’s a walking little amusement factory. He loves me. He loves his Dad. He loves his grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins and nanny and dog. He is visibly happy to see us when we get home, and greets people with a wave and a high-pitched ‘hi!’. He waves bye bye when we leave.
I could not love him more.
Constant Random Motion
Aaaaah!
Originally uploaded by krisalis.
We’ve had a busy week here. Vanessa and Katie have been staying at our home, which has been a lot of fun, but rather tiring too, since we’ve been staying up too late each evening eating, talking and drinking the occasional beer.
Katie heads to Florida tomorrow and Vanessa goes back to Singapore.
It’s going to be quiet around here without them.
Fortunately, my parents will be back from their vacation this weekend to help fill the void.
Vocabulary
Alexander’s current vocabulary:
- Mama
- Dada
- Osie (Rosie)
- Drop
- Ba (ball)
- Hi!
- Dot-mmm (I have no idea what this means, but he says it a lot)
A-Train On The Move
A few short videos, showing Alexander’s newly acquired toddling skills. He is 11 1/2 months old.
