Thanksgiving morning

good thing: I ran my Turkey Trot 5k, and Miles ran his "Gobble Gallop". Weather wasn't too bad, I had a good time (at least for the first 2 miles), and managed to run (ie shuffle) all the way. Hooray, and thanks to Laura for being such an encourager!

bad thing: woke up this morning and my lovely induction cooktop is broken, blinking error codes at me. I can't find an appliance repair company who will even answer the phone on Thanksgiving. And my entire family is flying in for a long weekend. So much for all my careful meal planning and grocery shopping! I guess it's the oven for us: turkey with no gravy or mashed potatoes? Or I've heard of dishwasher cooking, maybe we'll try that...

From what I can see on Google, this is probably not going to be a cheap or quick fix. In the meantime, I think we'll be bringing our Coleman camping stove up into the kitchen for necessities...at least, as soon as a store opens where we can buy those little camping size things of propane.

Sigh. But I am thankful. We're in a nice warm house, with plenty of (raw) food, healthy (and energetic) kids, and the likelihood of seeing my wonderful family for the next several days. Thanks, God!

jogging

Well, I did it. I jogged. Outside. Of my own volition, even. And I'm bragging, at least a tiny bit!

I am "training" for my first 5k, somewhat under duress (or at least under enthusiastic encouragement from my friend Laura the marathoner). Yes, I am doing a Turkey Trot (do they call it that because of what most of us look like when we're jogging?) And training is in quotes because, after all, it is only 3 miles. Not precisely boot-camp strenuous here; any healthy adult ought to be able to do this, right?

And I note, I don't call myself a runner. What I do is not running. It is somewhat between a jog and a shuffle, and slows to a slightly bouncy saunter if a double stroller or a headwind is involved.

So today we had fairly warm weather, and with T-Day looming, I thought I'd try jogging outside to get a taste of what the real thing is like. Up to now I've been managing on the treadmill (one word: BORING!) choosing gym childcare over the double stroller option.

And it wasn't really all that bad! I mapped out my route online, and apparently I went about 2.8 miles in 31 minutes, which is considerably faster than it felt like I was shuffling along. Outdoors with some good music sure beats the gym, though it'll never be as enjoyable as a nice kickboxing class or some Zumba or the like. And aiming for distance or landmarks is WAY better than going by the clock on the treadmill; after all, once I'm to my goal, I have no choice except to run back home, right?

I have realized that I seriously don't have the right gear for jogging outside, though. I was warm enough while I was going, but got home sweat-soaked in my fleece, all-cotton t-shirt, and favorite sweatpants. Nothing wicking here, and I'm freezing now! Time for a nice hot Sunday afternoon bath...

thankfulness

I asked Miles what we should get Daddy for Christmas, and his response was, "An apple!"

Hmm.

I then said, "well, what else might Daddy want?"

"A nightgown! He needs a nightgown!"

Now, besides the whole gender-bending problem above, I do not own a nightgown either. I sleep in a T-shirt and yoga pants, or some seasonally-appropriate variation. Eleanor does not sleep in nightgowns either; she has one hand-me-down Winnie the Pooh nightshirt which she only wears rarely because it's not at all warm. So I don't know where he got that idea.

When asked what he would like for Christmas, Miles suggests some gum. Or some donut holes.

And yet I'm proud of my son's low aspirations. I'm grateful that greed doesn't seem to have reached into his life yet. I'm proud that, when we go to a store, he has never yet requested that I buy him anything. We look at fun stuff and admire it, but he has not yet reached the age of clamoring for toys or candy. Occasionally I ask if he'd like some x (new socks, or a toy or game) in the future, say, for his birthday. His answer is typically, "No, thanks," or, "Maybe when I'm five," or else "But we already HAVE lots of toys (or whatever)!"

Sometimes he tells me, "When I'm (some age), I will have such and such." But usually it's more like, I will DO such-and-such at that age. (And apparently his concept of ages doesn't extend past 45. Sorry, grandparents; you're off the charts already.) He is going to be a doctor when he's 18 (more specifically, "Mommy, when I'm 18 and you're 45, we can BOTH be doctors and share a room! Or maybe 17..." I was impressed by that math...I'm sure it's a coincidence, but as it happens, I WILL be 45 when he is 17. Go figure.) He will use sharp knives when he's 10. He will stay dry all night when he's 25. He will eat peanut butter when he's 80 (that's been the lone exception to the age-45-max).

Yesterday we were driving along and listing off things we're thankful to God for. These lists get a bit random at times: core items we thank God for include our house, family, nice new garage, tankless water heater, big red car, and our favorite: heat. But the add-ons range from Eleanor's puppy (thanks, Nana!) to street lights to friends to church to sunshine to fans to closet doors to our washer and dryer to Miles' special lamp. Sometimes they really get into it! This time, Miles said, "I'm thankful for our big new house. It's very big, and it has walls and floors and ceilings. It has lots of bedrooms, and we all have a bed and lots of toys. We have everything we need!"

I got a little teary. Yes, we do have everything we need. How blessed we are, how grateful I am...and how good it is to be reminded by my son!

Photos and miscellany

Eleanor, immediately post-braid removal. Wow. They lasted a couple weeks looking fairly decent, but a well-intentioned babysitter tried to start removing them at bedtime (with a brush, ouch!) one evening, so I decided to finish the job.

The obligatory Halloween photo. Eleanor's princess costume from last year still fits, and she actually deigned to wear the tiara for about 3 minutes. Miles LOVED being a dragon (well, actually, we were uncertain whether he was a dragon or a dinosaur, but he decided to call it a dragon; thanks, Beth!)

Best buddy Joshua ALSO chose to be a dragon! So we had two dragons (looking very scary), and a princess who won't wear her tiara, as well as Joshua's baby brother Wesley (not pictured), who actually kept his robot costume on for a while. It was awfully chilly this year, so the boys definitely were more comfortable than Nora, I think. We went over to a neighbor's house for some cider and snacks, then trick-or-treated briefly up and down the block. (Then we came home and I dumped most of their candy back into our bucket of candy to give away. I'm chalking up that behavior to my desire to be thinner and not to my cheapness, but it might be debatable.)


Eleanor at gymnastics with Daddy. She's really impressively strong for her size. Miles also takes gymnastics, by the way, but parents aren't allowed to observe except for the first and last weeks of class, so that's why I don't have photos of him in class. He tells me that he's impressive, though.

Achievement of the week: Eleanor can do a flip on the bar all by herself! (aka "skin the cat" I think) Anyway, she grabs the bar, pokes her toes up and through her arms, flips over, and lands on her feet. She did this about 20 times in a row, and I was impressed, at least. The only problem lies when she spaces her hands too close together, and then her bum won't fit through, and she gets frustrated, lets go of the bar, and lands on her head. We're thankful for padded gym floors.

Achievement of the week #2: phonics has finally clicked for Miles! Here he is reading aloud to Eleanor (a book he's never read before, thank you very much; he's been "reading" memorized books to her for ages). We bought him some simple readers a month or two ago, and he is now picking them up to read to himself during rest time. I walked in after nap and he had made it through a couple new ones, unbeknownst to me. He is proud to read them aloud to Mommy and Daddy, too.

Lest you be overly impressed, these are the short-vowel-sound books, so aside from a few memory words like "the", they're pretty easy to sound out. We haven't gotten to silent-e or vowel combinations yet.

Oh, and yes, those are unintentionally matching pajamas. Eleanor is wearing Miles' last year PJs - her current favorites - and we bought him the same pair in a larger size because they were HIS favorite (and OK, they were on clearance). So maybe she looks like a boy here; so sue me.