A Memorable Sunday

Bruce is doing better and better at church. He is usually quiet during sacrament meeting (thanks to the magic Quiet Book) and has been diaper-free with no problems for about a month now.

Church is three hours long and begins with a 1-1/4 hour-long sacrament meeting, followed by 45 minutes of Sunday School (we're studying the Book of Mormon this year, but studied the New Testament last year) and a final hour of Relief Society (a women's organization within the church; men have their own meeting too). After sacrament meeting, I always take Bruce to the potty before he goes to the nursery. The nursery provides a quick lesson (last week's was "I am Thankful for Animals") and then all the kids play, so he loves it there.

Anyway, when I was taking Bruce potty I started chatting at the door of the bathroom with a friend and Bruce ran in ahead of me. A few seconds later, I peeked around the corner at him and saw that he had his head near the floor peeking under a stall door! I said a quick "gotta go" to my friend, ran over and grabbed Bruce, and apologized to whoever had their privacy violated. The bathroom stalls are so tiny that I can't fit in with Bruce, so I always just leave the door open. When the person left, I couldn't even look I was so embarrassed. But I'm sure they know who I am!

Bruce went to nursery and near the end of church, his teacher brought him to me. He was chanting "I need to go pee I need to go pee I need to go pee." He had already gone pee. Luckily, I'd brought an extra pair of pants and undies. But I hadn't brought extra socks and shoes (oops).

Bruce went home barefoot. And was not happy about it.

Emily's New Hair

I just thought I'd post this picture of Emily's new haircut, since she doesn't get much face-time on here: you look great, Emily!

A big thanks to Ellen for the pic, and Ellen's friend for the haircut!

Diagnosis No. 2

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. This just shows Bruce's addiction to his sippy cup. Maybe we'll bury it on his third birthday.

Anyway, the main purpose of this post is for me to whine about my stupid hip. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon yesterday who said my hip is not dislocated (he said the X-ray tech must have positioned me strangely), but that it's actually bursitis. While I was perplexed by the dislocation diagnosis (I haven't been in a car accident or had any other major trauma), the bursitis diagnosis still doesn't sit well with me. In my opinion, that would have gone away with rest - which I've been doing for several months now. He prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs and told me to do physical therapy for one month. If it hurts after that, come back and see him.

Useless.

Then I tried to schedule a physical therapy session. First available date: April 22. Also useless.

Next step: finding a doctor that knows what he's doing.

While I'm sidelined and unable to catch him, Scott is taking up running. He is running every day and even doing hill workouts. And for good reason. He signed up for a road race in June. And not just any old road race - perhaps the most difficult one in New England: the Mount Washington Road Race. The big joke everyone likes to tell about this race is that "there's only one hill." It's a 7.6-mile race that goes up a switchback-style road on the tallest mountain in the Northeast (and is known for the most random weather ever), climbing more than 5,000 feet. It's crazy. Sheer madness. And Scott is doing it.

Watching Baby G.

Bruce and I have been watching Baby G. this week. She is three months old and SO easy. She eats, she sleeps. Minimal fussing. The only caveat is that she ejects about 50 percent of what I feed her, so she goes through an outfit every three hours and I grab a new shirt every once in awhile too.
Bruce is fascinated by her. But I see him trying to pull my attention away too: he told me he was spitting up too.
She can smile, but it takes a lot of effort. When I did get her to smile, I couldn't get my camera positioned fast enough. And when I held the camera right at her face, she looked puzzled and not ready to pose. This half-smile was the best I could get.
Still, she's gorgeous. She's Italian. Look at all that hair!

Bruce's Buddy

Bruce gets together with his friend on Monday mornings and they occupy each other for several hours with a few trucks and trains.

After snack time, Bruce had a remnant of something on his lip. Not wanting to wipe it off myself, I told Bruce to stick his tongue out and lick his lips. He shared his newfound fun with his friend. Oops.

Happy Easter!

Bruce had a few friends over on Easter Eve. He shared his toys for the most part, although he is getting a little bossy streak around his buddies now. The picture above is of Bruce and his friend playing with these little fish that stick on the window - a treat from his Easter basket.
We had an Easter egg hunt that evening. I bought a bunch of eggs a few weeks ago, only to find last year's in a box a few days later. We had a ton of eggs, so we were happy to share them with another of Bruce's friends.
Bruce was more into the egg hunt this time around; he ran around collecting the eggs excitedly.

Bruce's friend is a little younger and needed some direction during the egg hunt.
The eggs were filled with candy and small plastic dinosaurs and fake bugs. They were a big hit. They loved opening the eggs afterwards and finding new creatures and candy.

Saturday Morning Track Meet

This morning we headed to a track meet to cheer on some friends running the 10k and chat with other teammates. It was fun to catch up with my running buddies but a little depressing to sit on the sidelines the whole time and not race. I ran this meet last year and had a pretty good race, so it reminded me of how far (downhill!) I've gone in the last year in terms of running. Give me a new hip and a few years and I'll be back.
Scott and Bruce came to the track meet too. They watched the start of the race, then went for a long hike in the woods next to the track. Scott said he was impressed with Bruce's stamina. He can walk a few miles without complaint (although he went down for a nap very easily afterwards).

More Model Train Action

Already from the first picture I'm sure you can tell Bruce had a good weekend. On Friday it was cold and so windy that Bruce was nearly falling over when we went outside to play in the morning. That afternoon we headed to this awesome train store, which happens to be the world's largest and not a far drive either.
We pulled up to it in the parking lot and Bruce was already in heaven. The windows are lined with all kinds of trains.
The upstairs floor of the store has a display with a half-dozen model trains that run around tracks the size of our house. It was all glassed in, so Bruce couldn't hover quite as closely like he did at the model train shows. But I did feel like I owed that store a bottle of Windex by the time we left.
The downstairs part of the store is where they sell all kinds of overpriced train stuff. We walked around and looked at the zillions of tiny things you can waste your money on: hats for tiny fake people, spongy green foam to make fake bushes, etc.

One of the Advantages of Costco

We went to Costco earlier this week and scored this lovely box - the best thing we got there according to Bruce. He turned it into a boat and used wooden spoons as oars while singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." We really need to get a camcorder.
The oars don't get him very far, so unfortunately I am the "motor" most of the time.
This lovely lady came to visit yesterday. This is the baby that Bruce squashed; she appears to be unscathed.

Monday Night Chess

Scott got home earlier than usual on Monday, so he indulged Bruce's latest obsession: moving chess pieces on and off the chess board over and over again.

Easter Egg Hunt

Today was our church congregation's annual Easter Egg Hunt. Bruce was very excited about it - with a little help. I must admit I actually coached him on this one; I filled his plastic eggs with his toys a few days ago and hid them around the house. Yep, a practice egg hunt.

While a few parents hid the eggs outside, the kids stayed inside and played games. Bruce was not amused though: he just wanted the egg hunt. He sulked while the kids played games, and perked up only when it was time to go outside.
The practice paid off....
Bruce got a whopping eight eggs.

Happy Easter! (a little early)

My Old Lady Hip Pain

That's why it hurt so much...

But let's start from the beginning. Last year my hip gave me a few twinges of pain every now and then, but I never paid much attention to it. I'd attribute it to improper stretching or too hard of a workout or whatever. Then in January when I went to two conventions and wore my laptop, camera, and lenses on my back for two weeks, I came home hobbling.

I figured it was probably some running injury that would heal up with a few weeks rest. I rested and rested and the pain got a little better, but it still hurt to run (or walk, or do pretty much anything) after six weeks so I finally went to see the doctor.

The first doctor bent it around a bunch and asked me a few questions; that night it hurt way worse than when I went in.

Then I switched insurance plans, and had to get a new doctor anyway. She didn't bend it around (thank you), but asked me questions and ordered an X-ray. The diagnosis? Partially dislocated hip.

So that's why it was so painful. And that is just one reason I am not running Boston this year (everyone keeps asking).

Muscle Man

Don't mess with Bruce. He has serious muscles.
He learns his muscle-flexing techniques from the best.
Come up with a good caption for this picture and maybe I'll send you some cookies.

No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn...er, Fall

After our outing at the Fells, we headed to the park to expend even more energy.
I was hoping that by being super-active today, maybe Bruce would actually go to sleep at bedtime. This Daylight Saving Time thing really messed him up. He lays in his bed and comes up with all kinds of problems: he needs a drink of water, he needs to go pee/poop, he needs a tissue, etc.
Bruce even saw one of his buddies from church at the park. They raced down the slides a few times and then played tag.
But this theory of energy expenditure and bedtime hasn't panned out. It's almost two hours past bedtime right now and he's still kicking his legs on his mattress.

The Fells

Today we went to the Middlesex Fells Reservation and hiked around. I didn't bring the stroller because there are monstrous hills here and too many huge rocks and boulders. It worked out fine though. Bruce and I hiked about 1.5 miles on trails, and I didn't have to carry him once.
It did take us an awful long time though. He stopped and picked up just about every single rock. He threw most of them, but every once in awhile he'd pick one up and say, "This looks like a good one" and he'd set it back down.
We hiked up to Wright's Tower, which has a nice view of Boston (you can see it in the corner to the right of the tower).
Yep, there's the skyline.
I asked Bruce to make a funny face for the camera and this is what he came up with.

Yes, Another Playdate

Bruce had his friend over to play yesterday morning. They got especially involved in building a construction zone with Play-Doh and Matchbox cars.

Last week I taught some Cub Scouts about running and marathoning. They are required to learn about a sport, so I got to show off all my gear. I brought in a few pairs of racing shoes so they could compare them: weight, cushioning, etc. I brought in two pairs of training shoes: one old and one new. The old pair's tread is nearly worn off. I shared some basic training tips and they all participated in some stretching exercises. The best part was passing around some marathon food. I had them try Sport Beans (my energy of choice during the marathon - yum) and then lemon lime Clif Shot Blocks (nasty).

The weather is finally warming up, and I'm looking forward to getting some pictures outside of our tiny, poorly-lit abode. I guess I should probably take down the last few Christmas decorations; I still have a snowman and a fake wreath hanging on the wall.