Spring 2012

I know, it's been a while since I've updated this blog. Seems like things have been pretty hectic since those back-to-back trips to DC. We returned from my dad's funeral just in time to celebrate Tyler's birthday.

Here's the birthday boy, in an odd display of masochism.

Tyler sang himself the happy birthday song, and chowed down on German Chocolate Cake.

And the grand birthday present is...Tyler's very first bike!

Loved the emblem...

We rescheduled Tyler's birthday party for the end of April. Emery and I maintained our relatively new tradition of working on Tyler's cake together, while Chris and Tyson watched the boys (Tyler, Noah, and Wesley.) Ever since Halloween, Tyler's loved dinosaurs, (often shouting, "Dinosaur - Roar!") so we made a dinosaur cake.

For the first time in my life, I actually decorated for a party. I felt so...Paula-esque.

It was fun to see a kiddie-convention on a picnic blanket! (Wesley, Auggie, and Samantha.)

Tyler accepted assistance from his older and more experienced daycare buddies when it was time to blow out the candles.

Tyler was so lucky to get so many cool gifts, like this awesome Spiderman shirt.

Finally a chance to relax and enjoy some cake!

And a nice refreshing bath at the end of the day.

In May, Tyson once again got great grades in school, maintaining a 3.75 GPA. Tyler fell in love with Dr. Seuss around that time, and gave me a killer black eye one day while reading Fox in Sox. (This photo was over a week later. It took a good two weeks to heal. This photo also shows how Tyler's birthday present unwrapping lasted into the middle of May. He was bummed when we failed to provide birthday cake a third time!)

Tyson didn't get much of a break between spring semester and summer pre-session. And then I abandoned him for a couple of days so that I could attend a conference in Minneapolis. (Oh yeah, somehow I managed to get certified as a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner the first week of April.) Tyson's mom came to stay at our house while I was gone. I'm surprised to find no pictures on the camera for the time I was gone - I suppose they were trying to hide all evidence of whatever havoc they wreaked while I was away. My first night away was hard, but the next two days I enjoyed the break from responsibility, walking all over downtown Minneapolis (in part because my co-worker couldn't read a map!), checking out local brewpubs, pool halls, and of course, fitting in the various conference sessions and politically mandatory social events. By the third day, I looked forward to a joyous homecoming, only to discover a worn-out husband and a very sick little boy.

Nonetheless, that Saturday morning (Memorial Day Weekend), I decided I wanted to build a wall for a raised flower bed in our back yard. On Sunday, being the good sport that he is, Tyson  helped me select bricks, load them in the truck, unload them into our back yard, then map out where this wall would be.


On Monday, I woke up at 5:15am, and began soaking the ground by 5:30am. I broke ground at 5:50. By 6:20am, Tyson had ventured outside, declaring, "You're doing it wrong." [Snicker.] After a brief debate, I decided to go ahead and do it Tyson's way. By 6:50am, Tyson declared, "Oh, I guess the other way would've worked."  [More snickers.] By 8:00am, I was done digging the trench.  Despite skipping the process of strings, stakes, and string levels, somehow I managed to dig an approximately level trench, following the slope of the yard. (Take that, all you sanctimonious DIY manuals!) Tyson reluctantly admitted I did a decent job.

However, his apprehension of my tolerance for mediocrity eventually got the best of him, and Tyson leveled the first layer of bricks. 

We worked together one the next two layers, and I laid the fourth. 

Tyler woke from his nap before we finished. We kept him occupied by inviting him to transfer a limited quantity of water from one container to the next - a rare splurge, and it kept him busy and cool long enough for us to get the fourth row done.

Tyler joined us in raking the dirt and re-leveling the yard. We then decided we needed a fifth row of bricks, but figured that could wait til next weekend.

Unfortunately, the next weekend, Tyson got laid off from the company he's been with for the past 16 years. A bummer, to say the least. To save money, we decided to put the garden project on hold until closer to the monsoon, to take advantage of free water.

A couple days later, another driver ran a red light and T-boned our car, hitting the passenger side, where Tyler and I were. We are grateful to be so lucky, no serious injuries. And a witness stopped, so although TPD no longer visits non-injury accidents, the other guy's insurance accepted liability. 

Tyler's cognitive development has been growing by leaps and bounds, and was quite apparent that day - just before the accident, Tyler announced, "Red light means stop!" and when the left turn arrow turned green, Tyson and I told him, "Green light means go!" Tyson then noticed the car coming towards us, and said menacingly (as though the other driver could hear him) "You need to stop!" I looked too, and said, "Oh ----. He can't stop." After the accident, I asked Tyler, "Are you okay? What happened?" and he answered, "The car didn't stop!" Now he enjoys inspecting our neighbors' cars, and discussing imaginary damage, and proclaiming "The red car stopped. This car didn't stop." At first I was concerned that he was reliving the accident over and over, but that awesome colleague of mine, Julie, reassured me, "He's practicing. That's what you do after an accident.? Everybody gets out, looks at the damage, and talks about it. That's what you did, right? He's practicing so he can be like you." 

My beloved Camry Hybrid went in for surgery last week and is currently still out of commission -two doors are being replaced and the entire passenger side of the car will be stripped, sanded, and repainted. Our loaner car is a black, gas guzzling Camry. In June. In the desert. Tyler, of course, has fallen in love with "the black car", so I fear we may be in for a struggle when we get the red car back. Although, the red car has tinted windows and vents for the backseat passengers. Surely that will be enough to make him fall back in love with it, right? (Of course, he loves "the silver truck" most of all.) I finally gave in and went to Urgent Care this week, hoping for a referral to physical therapy, but instead received a bottle of pills and a recommendation that I avoid taking them if I intend to be awake. (Helpful. Really.) Hoping for better results (like, um, a referral to physical therapy!) at a physician's office this week.

Tyler continues to love Dr. Suess - Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham are his current favorites. He also now likes reading Goodnight Moon before bed, along with his dinosaur book. I hung the dinosaur decorations from his birthday party in his room, he frequently asks to be picked up so he came name them and then kiss them.  Picking out his clothing for the day is very important to him, and at times is a tough decision, requiring multiple changes. Meals go about as well. We've accepted that Tyler's not quite ready for housebreaking, but are trying to help him get ready. Friday night for the first time, Tyler actually said the words, "I need to go potty!"

And Tyson's been a trooper throughout the past few weeks, between attending classes, dealing with the insurance companies and body shop, applying for internships and jobs, going to interviews, and even biking 15 miles home from school each day, not to mention continuing to cook delicious meals for his family.

Things are looking up. We're seeing clouds in the sky, the promise of the monsoon.

Grandpa Glass

This post is being written directly to Tyler, and I'd love for people to add to it if they'd like.

Tyler, last Saturday (March 24th) would have been your Grandpa Glass's 82nd birthday. We held his funeral that day. He died on March 20th, the last day of winter.

Grandpa with his brothers, Uncle Chuck and Uncle Jim, aka "The Three Wise Men."

My earlies memories of Grandpa Glass include him carrying me by my ankles or over his shoulder, hanging down his back. I remember begging him to read to me - the books I picked for him to read were tough on his vocal chords.I especially loved for him to read Uncle Remus's Brer Rabbit. He also liked the Richard Scarry books. Another early memory was of him building model airplanes, then going out in our backyard to fly them.

On holidays, he'd often take Uncle Roger and me to wooded agreas like Great Falls. I remember him showing us a seed pod that when squeezed, would emit a puff of dust, and our excitement at discovering burrs stuck to us. He had a gift for making the mundane exciting, like telling me he was eating a special kind of witch...a sand....witch, then offering to make me a sand...witch to eat, too.

Grandpa and I also had fun wrapping gifts at Christmas time - it wasn't enough to wrap the gift, we had to wrap it in such a way as to disguise what the gift was. A tiny gift might be wrapped in a huge box, a square gift might be wrapped in a cyliner, with ribbons attached to make it look like an oversized firecracker...

Grandpa would fly a flag on all the patriotic holidays, and instilled in us the importance of flag etiquette. However, flag etiquette on ship is a bit different than on land. On land, we're taught to take down the flag during rain or snow. One holiday, as it began to sprinkle, I ran to tell Grandpa we needed to retrieve our flag. He responded, "Oh - no! On ship, the flag gets wet all the time! We'd say the flag was getting a good washing!"

I remember Grandpa working with me on multiplication and division flashcards, and later, my mom telling me to ask my dad for help with my math homework. I often found this to be frustrating, and remember vividly one night standing, shifting my body weight from one leg to another, having long tuned out his rambling explanation, only to tune in long enough to hear him to say, "But, that's calculus." "Dad. I'm in the third grade." "Hey, YOU asked ME for help."

Grandpa held degrees in Mathmatics and Electrical Engineering (a master's degree. He didn't see much use for earning a PhD.) He often sat out on the back porch, doing calculus problems just for fun. He was fascinated with understanding how everything worked. He would occasionally turn on the water faucet and invite me to come study the flow of water - wide as it exited the faucet, then narrower midway down towards the sink, then slightly wider right as it made contact with the sink. When he'd notice my glazed eyes, he'd say, "Engineers are curious. You're not an engineer." Still, it wouldn't be long before he'd show me raindrops traveling down a window or the path of water streaming from a fountain.

When I was in fourth or fifth grade, he finished his job at Logicon and entered retirement, aka stay-at-home dad. He took on a good bit of the chauffering, all of the cooking, and much of the cleaning, and so quickly inspired Grandma Glass to find a job outside the home.

That was about the time when Uncle Eddie brought home a really cool puppy who came to be known as Tibet. Grandpa grumbled and griped, saying "The person who didn't want the dog in the first place ends up cleaning up the mess." Yet over time, Tibet won his way into Grandpa's heart, and Grandpa took that dog everywhere - to the woods a couple of times a week to explore off-leash, to run errands, and even to the allergist for my allergy shots. He built a special seat for him to ride in the pickup truck so he wouldn't slide across the seat during turns. He called him "Pupdog",based on a favorite comic strip, and even  let Tibet claim a captain's chair in the living room as his own, for spying on the neighbors through the living room window.

Grandpa seemed to know how to fix just about everything, and if he didn't know how to fix it, he at least was usually able to rig it. This of course, wasn't actually true, so I would get quite disappointed if he wasn't able to repair, say, a broken timing belt, right there, on the spot. Grandpa also would focus so intently that he'd lose all track of time. Many a day I would come out to the driveway to leave for work, only to discover the car was in pieces and he was in the midst of an oil change or repair. His multi-tasking capabilility was amazing. As he sat reading Scientific American, he was also listening to music and listening in on my conversations, which I'd realize later when he'd ask a question about something I'd said when I thought he wasn't listening.

Nothing was more important to Grandpa than ethics and doing the right thing. We grew up knowing this, and yet I was surprised when I learned that doing the right thing was more important than honoring rank. I came home from work one night, upset with myself for being outspoken toward a boss who was punishing a child who hadn't misbehaved. I relayed the information to my father (oddly, I voluntarily brought my misdeeds to Grandpa for feedback) who interrupted me, saying gruffly - "Hey. You did the right thing. Fairness is something children need. That child was being treated unfairly, and she will always remember you for what you did, even though it didn't help. You stood up for her. That was the right thing to do." I later shared this story with Grandpa's brother, who filled me in on the level of Grandpa Glass's integrity - that Grandpa Glass, while in the Coast Guard, defied a direct order because it would unnecessarily put men in harm's way. He had found another way to accomplish the necessary task, and implemented it, though it would permanently stall his military career. He would never get promoted past Commander, and yet he never regretted his decision, because it was the right thing to do.

Grandpa had a special love of music, especially jazz. He taught himself the piano, and eventually revealed to me that he was actually eavesdropping on me playing the piano and the guitar, especially when a talented musician friend of mine was working with me. Because Grandpa loved jazz, he could appreciate ska, my favorite music genre in late high school. So often, parents and their teenagers have conflict over music - "Turn that crap down!!!" so it was very cool that my dad and I could enjoy the same music.

Grandpa had wonderful stories from his childhood and young adulthood, but they were buried within his story telling. He could even make trainhopping sound boring. Yes, your grandpa hopped trains. As a teenager, each summer he'd hop trains to get to Nebraska, where he'd work on a farm. When the school year was about to begin, he'd hop trains to return home in time to start school. He was quick to say that trainhopping is nothing like in the movies - no running after a moving train, jumping, then climbing on. Instead, it was a matter of waiting for a train to stop, finding the ideal car to hide in, and hoping no "hobos" found you. "Hobos are NOT nice people!" he would passionately exclaim. Grandpa also would reminisce about his childhood  - making slick tracks on the playground on snowy days - all the schoolboys would form a line and rub their foot back and forth on the snow to turn it into ice, then line up, run, and slide on the ice, while the boys still in the line would kick or block the slider. Aunt Jonell is much better at relaying Grandpa's stories than I am - she had the patience and attention span to listen to the entire story and distill the funny parts.

Grandpa was the ultimate skeptic. He used to say, over and over, "Never believe anything you hear and only half of what you see." When I was in college, he'd asked me what I'd learned, then upon my explanation, would say "Well, I'd take that with a grain of salt." When I attempted to apply my new-found understanding of physics to real-life applications, he'd respond, "There's other variables you're not taking into consideration here."

This was often a source of frustration to me, but by my late teens and especially after I moved to Tucson, I learned to appreciate Grandpa's expansive knowledge and impressive abilities. I often would call him for advice on how to fix things. One of my favorite moments with him was on the phone, while your cousin Payton was being born - things weren't going well, and I admitted that I was scared for Aunt Jonell. Grandpa admitted he was nervous too, and said, "What you ought to do is have a beer." "Dad, I'm not 21 yet." "Go ask your R.A. for a beer. Tell her your father says you need one." (Obviously, the R.A. refused. But the moment was precious to me.)

Grandpa remained playful throughout his adulthood. We often conspired to pull pranks on Grandma, and some of my favorite memories were of him playing with your cousins, especially sledding in Danvers. He once talked me into running and flopping down on the sled, face first on my stomach, to go down a steep hill with some awesome bumps, assuring me he would do it after me. Then when he saw Aunt Jonell scolding me for being a bad influence on her children by performing such a dangerous stunt, he denied that he'd put me up to it or that he intended to do the same thing. His playfulness was probably my favorite thing about him.

Grandpa spent Christmas with us this year- we went to the Train Museum and the Air Museum. You immediately became interested in airplanes and trains, and you still are, three months later. You get excited when you see a plane in the sky, or when we see a train as we drive home from work. Grandpa built Uncle Eddie a really cool electric train track when he was little, and it's still in Grandma's basement. One day she'll show it to you, hopefully we can get it to run. I hope that as you grow, you'll ask your aunts, uncles, and cousins to tell you more Grandpa stories.

Urban Assault 2012

Tyson and our friend Chris competed in Urban Assault 2012 again this year. Tyson rode his new (albeit used) hybrid bike and the race was shorter this year, so he said it was easier even though he hasn't been biking much lately. Emery and I decided to meet up so we and our boys could cheer Tyson and Chris on. They arrived at our first rondezvous earlier than we expected, and I needed to change the batteries in the camera, so I didn't get a good shot of them participating in the challenge. But they stopped to check in with Tyler after.

We knew we couldn't make it to the next checkpoint fast enough, so we went to the last checkpoint - the Aquatic Center at Reid Park. Tyler and Noah had a great time stomping in puddles and playing with cars.

Tyson had said he didn't want to get wet, but both were required to get in the pool to participate. I was amazed to see him enter the water first. But I bet it felt good to cool off after all that riding.

We hung out at the after-party for several hours. It was great to kick back, and enjoy good food and beverages. Tyson and Tyler spent some time bonding with Wesley.
 

Doesn't Noah look so cute in that hat?

 
Congrats Tyson and Chris!

The Unfortunate Step-Stool Incident

Last weekend was an unusally rough time for Tyler and me – he is at the age of ultimate egocentrism, so his current behavior is very demanding, and relentlessly naughty. What I mean is that he commits several recalcitrant deeds in succession, so just as I am picking up the pieces from one transgression, he’s already committing another. I’m having a hard time being patient with this, and of course, feelings of guilt and inadequacy surface.

Fortunately, at work Monday, a conversation about bruises led to me sharing a bit of my weekend experience. My wise and experienced co-worker, Julie, began laughing hysterically, and I finally saw the humor in it all, and realized I should write it down.

The conversation began with me saying that I will soon be seeing a terrible bruise from where I hit the door hinge as I ran through it, the kind of bruise that’s so bad, it hasn’t even surfaced yet.

Why was I running through a door?

To hide a step stool.

Why was I hiding a stool?

Because Tyler had just used that stool, first, to push all the buttons on the over-the-stove microwave/hood/light over and over and over, until he managed to burn out the lightbulb. I retrieved him from the stool and scolded him. I walked away to check on the laundry, only to discover that he’d thwarted the child-proof system and turned off both the washer and the dryer, in mid-cycle. As I reset the machines to start over, I heard the sound of water hitting tile. I dashed to the kitchen to find he was now using the stool to reach the kitchen sink faucet, and had flooded the sink. I scolded him while cleaning up the water, then told him he could no longer play with the stool, and put the stool in the master bathroom, closing both the bathroom door and the bedroom door in a futile attempt to dissuade him from retrieving it. I returned to doing laundry, but heard the sound of a door being opened. I ran to the master bathroom just in time to find him pulling bottles of shaving cream and deodorant from the medicine cabinet to throw into the sink.

In that moment, I lost my mind.

And so the race began. I pulled him off the stool, and set him in the shower and shut the shower door. Sure, he can open that door, but it would slow him down. I grabbed the stool and bolted out of the bathroom, pulling the bathroom door closed behind me. I raced out of the bedroom, still carrying the stool, and pulled that door closed behind me, just as I heard the bathroom door open. I dashed down the hallway, and then, to throw the evil genius off track, I slammed the guest bathroom door closed. I continued running, knowing he had now escaped the bedroom and was catching up. I opened the garage door and slammed it closed. Barreling down the hallway, I slammed HIS bedroom door closed. I then collided with the guest bedroom door, but continued onward despite the pain, placed the stool at the far side of the room, threw a blanket over it, and came out of the guest room, just in time to see Tyler storming out of the guest bathroom, intent on finding that cursed stool. I quickly slipped into his bedroom, and back out again, slamming the door decisively, then holding THAT door knob to keep the door closed as he struggled to open it. I refused to let him enter, thus tricking him into believing the stool MUST be in his bedroom. Tantrum ensued. Eventually, an offer of cheese crackers distracted him from the tantrum, and by the time he returned to his bedroom with his bag of crackers, he entered and looked around the room, bewildered, clearly having forgotten what it was that he was so desperate to find. Phew.

Julie's response (amid much laughter) - “I can totally picture the look on your face, anger and panic combined, and I can just SEE Tyler coming down that hallway, with that determined look he gets, because I’ve seen that kid, and he is a TANK.”

Needless to say, I did not live up to my definition of good parenting that day.

But it's been a week, and Tyler hasn't asked for that stool.

And by Thursday night, Tyler returned to his customarily happy, easygoing mood. We had a wonderful day yesterday, and things look good so far this morning...Hoping for continued sunny skies in the Tyler Forecast!

Funny Little Dude

Tyler is one funny little guy these days. In December, he suddenly began referring to me as "Honey." In the car, at home, in the grocery store...Can you imagine walking through the grocery store, seeing a toddler trying to get his mother's attention, and upon failing to do so, shouting "Honey!" to get the mother to look at him? He made so many people laugh during that phase.

Tyler is speaking in full sentences more often now, even 4 word sentences like, "Did you see that?" or "I need help, Mama." It's so nice to know what he's wanting more often. He's identifying landmarks as well - every morning on the drive to daycare, as we pass a used-car lot, he shouts "Circle!" and points to the circular address sign. It seems like the family unit is important to him right now - if I say, "I love you Tyler," he smiles and responds, "Da Da!" And if Tyson says, "I love you Tyler," he responds, "Ma Ma!" If we repeat it, he answers, "Dee Da!" [Vader]. One in a while, he'll tell us he loves us back, but usually, he just calls out the other parent's name.

His diet is finally expanding as well. The only vegetables he'd been eating were veggie packs, but we discovered that if we call peas "balls", he'll eat them. That works on black beans, too.

We find "stomping" to be the most useful distraction technique lately. For example, if I say, "Time to change your diaper," if Tyler protests, then chanting "Stomp to the bedroom, stomp to the bedroom" and making a show of dramatically stomping will get him to join in, and the diaper change is no longer such a bad thing. From Christmas until February, getting Tyler to walk into the daycare room was a challenging, but when the stomping chant seems to have resolved it.

This winter has been fabulous for playing outside,and I've come to truly appreciate the path just outside our back gate - away from cars, with nice trees, shrubs, and cactus to look at, and it leads to an open space where some older kids have built up a mound of dirt to jump their bikes - perfect for our wagon, wheelbarrow, or lawn mower. I've relented and allowed Tyler to play in the cul-de-sac - he's great at shouting, "Car! Game off! Car gone! Game on!" though he doesn't yet initiate the appropriate action.

Walking backwards, saying "Beep, beep, beep" has been fun lately, and jumping continues to be delightful. "Circle Time" with stretches during motor development class is suddenly no longer torturous. Tyler now sits compliantly and even touches his nose to his toes during the "Butterfly" stretch. When Tyler sits in his driving simulator, he wants his seatbelt to be buckled. He loves closing doors.

He loves to feed Vader, and does not believe in portion control. While washing dishes or preparing dinner, I'll let him pour several cupfuls of dog food in Vader's bowl (sometimes even both bowls) for a couple of minutes, just to keep him occupied, then I'll say, "Last one. Time to put Vader's food away!" One day I actually turned from the sink to observe, and watched in surprise as Tyler snatched both bowls of food right out from Vader's nose! and poured it all back into the storage container, and returned it to the pantry. No wonder Vader's been so hungry lately!

Tyler's love of books continues. He refuses to greet Tyson in the morning without a book in hand, asks Tyson to read to him while Tyson is in the bathroom, demands to me, "Sit!" while gesturing to his bedroom floor, to read him books in his bedroom, and of course continues to ask us to read to him in the living room and kitchen. He surprised me last week by counting to 10 for Grandpa Keith, while stacking containers of playdough, and I've heard him reciting the vowels. He also likes to hear the alphabet and is beginning to practice the signs. He requests certain songs be sung to him by showing you the matching gestures (the spider, the wheels on the bus, a twinkling star) and stops you if you sing the wrong song.

No pictures today, but we'll get some new ones up soon!

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from the Glass-Keith Family!!!

This Christmas, we were lucky to celebrate with Grandma and Grandma Glass, and Grandma Allaire. We missed Gigima (Great Grandma Allaire) who was sick, Auntie Em who was working, and Grandpa Keith, who was in Amado, but our thoughts were with them!


While the Granparents Glass were in town, we checked out the toy train museum, the Pima Air museum, and the Christmas lights at Winterhaven. On Christmas Eve, we went to church, then walked around our neighborhood, enjoying the Christmas lights. We sprinkled magic reindeer food on our sidewalk, then laid out cookies for Santa and a sign to help himself to some chocolate stout, courtesy of Broken Glass Brewery.

Grandma Allaire, Tyson and I changed into our new pjs and snuggled up together on the couch. The pjs are a tradition started from my brother-in-law Art's family. My sister tipped us on which ones to buy, so we could match with her family for Skype time. Tyler wore Santa pjs to bed, to help Santa find our chimney-free house. In the morning, we changed Tyler into the family pjs.

Tyler started off Christmas morning by asking Tyson to fix his snow globe. We've put alot of miles on that globe in the year we've had it!

A tradition from the days of Dusty, we had Vader initiate the Christmas gift opening ritual.

Tyler continues to love Vader deeply. Vader tolerates this patiently. Is it love, or is it because Tyler feeds him so frequently?

Grandma Allaire helped Tyler open his first stocking gift - a Christmas ornament with his name on it

Grandma and Grandpa Glass got Tyler a wonderful set of art supplies, including his first set of markers.

Do you remember your first set of markers? So different from crayons. Grown up. Moist. So brightly colored. A whole new world has opened.

Grandpa enjoyed receiving Su Doku, nuts, and pfefferneusse.

Tyson and I were psyched for Tyler to open this gift from the Glass-Johnson family...

...a Tyler-sized rocking chair, for his reading pleasure. He didn't seem too interested in it at first, and quickly moved on to his new basketball hoop.

But the next gift was a book from Grandma, with her voice reading it. Without any prompting, Tyler immediately sat in his new chair, and held the book up for Grandma to read to him.

The book, the chair, and the basketball hoop simultaneously captured Tyler's attention.

Tyler eventually returned to opening gifts. I'm so excited to have the smell of playdough in our house. Such a comforting, happy smell. And that pizza party gift is too cool. I have video of Tyler feeding some to Tyson, hopefully he can help me get it on here...

Tyler took lots of breaks from his gifts to survey the situation, and enjoy the ornaments on the tree.

Who can resist a precious face like this?

Between Grandma Allaire, Grandma Glass, and Auntie Em, I'll be styling at work this winter.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Running, Running

One of our family goals is to support each other in healthy activities. This fall was my second year of training for a half marathon (while raising funds for cancer research.)  I'm pretty sure I'm the laziest half-marathoner you'll ever meet. I slacked on training this fall, only running two or three days a week. My coworkers convinced me to try running with Meet Me at Maynards on Monday nights - a grass roots effort to get the community more healthy while also boosting the downtown economy. Cool idea. Nerve wracking for me though. Between trying to find parking to maneuvering a big stroller (with the front wheel locked for stability, but sacrificing steering) through narrow, congested sidewalks, avoiding traffic in crosswalks, narrowly avoiding telephone poles and signs, and by November, it was dark even at the start of the run. I gave up a couple of times, but my coworkers convinced me to go back, especially Dave, with his motivational interviewing expertise - "You said you wanted Tyler to grow up exercising with the community..." On Tuesdays, while Tyler and Tyson attended Li'l Movers and Shakers, I squeezed in a quick run at Reid Park. On Saturdays, Tyler, my co-worker Dave, and I ran at Sabino Canyon or at Reid Park. Sabino Canyon has amazing scenery and wildlife, but the incline is brutal, especially when pushing a stroller. But I definitely got stronger running there. Reid Park is flat and not all that exciting, but Tyler's class is right there. I miss my Greasewood Path runs from my townhouse days - looking down over the valley of Tucson and out at the Catalinas, or looking west towards the Tucson Mountains, plus spending some time at Greasewood Park and the wildlife preserve...I'll have to get over there again this spring when the wildflowers bloom.

I ran the UofA Catwalk 10k in October, with Tyler and Tyson cheering me on. (Tyler's asleep here, but woke up before I finished.)

Dave and I spent the first mile arguing about our pace, thanks to our GPS watches. We'd joked throughout our training that, even as I ran right next to him, his "better-by-30-bucks" watch always indicated he was running faster (and farther) than me. So when my watch read 6.5, I was convinced we were starting the race way too fast. Yet his watch read that we were running much slower.  After our mile of arguing, we realized Tyler'd changed my watch settings to display miles per hour, instead of pace (minutes per mile). Oops.

Pretty soon Dave was wanting to stretch his legs farther than mine could reach, so we split up. He was psyched about his personal record.

It was hot, and I hated every minute I spent running, and was just happy to be done with the race. (Some encouraging words from my sister helped.)

 In December, we ran a half-marathon. Dave injured his knee (technically, his IT band) during the Catwalk 10k, and I injured my knee (again, the IT band) over Thanksgiving weekend. Rest and ice didn't seem to help at all. We spent several days debating whether we should go forward with our plans to run the Tucson Half-Marathon, or take a month to heal and run the Rock-n-Roll half marathon in Phoenix in January. We both held off on fundraising - it just didn't seem ethical to fundraise for a race we might not run. Fortunately, a physical therapist gave me a stretch that really helped, and I passed it on to Dave. After one day of trying out the new stretch, we made a healthy, informed, democratic decision to go ahead and run the Tucson Half-Marathon as fast as we could and deal with the consequences later.

It was cold in Oracle that morning, at least for Tucsonans - about 34 degrees. After I turned my drop bag in, I noticed I was about the only person wearing short sleeves. I saw lots of people wore reindeer antlers, and a few people wore Santa Claus hats. My favorite were two older women wearing Mrs. Claus costumes over sweat pants. About two miles into the race, they stopped at the side of the road, bent over and removed their sweat pants. I can only imagine what people driving by must have thought, seeing two Mrs. Clauses nearly mooning them as they passed by. My knee hurt for the first 6 miles but finally numbed out, and I started letting myself run faster. I still ran conservatively because I feared the last two miles of the race - a killer hill followed by a decent incline. But this year, I blazed up that hill without noticing it - I actually thought they'd altered the course to avoid it. I noticed the drummers drumming, and realized that was a clever trick to help distract us from the hill, and it actually worked on me this year. After the hill, I didn't even notice the incline, and ran faster than I'd run the rest of the race. So I realized, I could've run the rest of the race faster. Oh well. Guess I need to race in some 10ks to figure out what my race pace should be.

Dave achieved his goal of finishing in less than two hours. I achieved my goal of running faster than I did the year before, and I was especially happy to see Tyson and Tyler at the finish line.

Look at the gorgeous men in my life! Definitely worth the 13.1 miles I ran to get to them!

(PS the 7up was for me, not Tyler. He likes soda about as much as he did last July.)

Next Glass-Keith Family Fitness Event:

New Belgium's Urban Assault, starring Tyson and Chris - the "2SixPacks fo shure's ChugLife" on Sunday, February 26th. They don't have to raise money for that, and it has nothing to do with cancer research, but hey, if you want to pretend it's a fundraiser and send money anyway, Tyson won't mind a bit.