The Tooth Fairy lingers near

At the very beginning of the school-year, Bruce decided he had a loose tooth. All of his friends were losing teeth and he didn't want to be left out, so he told me he had a wiggly tooth. It wasn't that wiggly - until last week. It's been getting looser and even has a new tooth growing in behind it. It's coming out any day, and I'm hoping it falls out at school so I don't have to deal with it. I'm not a fan of blood and it grosses me out to look at the above photo, so I would be perfectly fine if his first tooth came home in his book bag wrapped neatly in tissues. We'll see though - we're about to the weekend.
In other random news, Phoebe and I spent the day on one of our epic shopping trips to Aldi. It's almost an hour away, so we go every few months (last time I went was early December) and stock up on non-perishables. It took awhile to check out and the cashier started chatting with me, asking where I was from. I told her and she said a new Aldi is being built in the Boston area. Hallelujah for cheapo groceries!

Partying

Bruce was invited to a birthday party this week. It was for his classmate's baby sister, who turned one year old. While the birthday girl slept in her stroller, the other kids were entertained by this clown guy in fancy pajamas. He did magic tricks, made balloon light-sabers, sang songs with a guitar, and even busted out a live rabbit. Perhaps I can get Scott to dress up like this and entertain kiddos for Bruce's birthday party?

I heart Boston

One reason I love Boston is that I can run 24 miles and not come across a nasty junkyard dog. That doesn't happen where I come from. And check out the view. Awesome.

The luck of the Irish

I was summoned to serve jury duty on Monday. The courthouse is an hour away and I had to leave the kids with two different babysitters early in the morning, so I was hoping I would get dismissed or get a really easy, quick trial. Or maybe I could just act crazy?



I didn't have to pull that trick. I was Juror No. 63 in a pool of 75. There were two personal injury trials that day, each with a 12-seat jury. It took 62 jurors to fill the 24 spots (I think a lot of jurors were dismissed because they'd been in accidents themselves). Once Juror No. 62 took his seat, everyone else was excused! Yea! (I mean, I'm honored to do my civic duty, but they make it so darn inconvenient! An hour away, stuck in a jury pool room for 5 hours with a 15-minute potty break and only three vending machines stocked with crappy candy - ugh) I'm glad I didn't have to sit through the estimated 3-4 days of trial. Instead, I played with my kids for the rest of the week.

Bruce was off school for Evacuation Day (also St. Patrick's Day), so we went to an awesome park and out to lunch with friends.


This is us waiting for our fooooood after hours of playing at the park. Hungry!

Unflattering photos

I'm reviewing a water/shock/dust/freeze-proof camera right now, which means the kids are allowed to touch it. Bruce took advantage of the opportunity and snapped a few pictures. I love how his finger is perfectly focused in the above photo.
Most of the pictures don't look very good, but they look even worse with a 5-year-old taking them and dust or fingerprints or something on the lens.
I thought about not posting this because it's so unflattering, but I can't stop myself. I laughed really hard when I saw this one. So go ahead and laugh. I'm sure you have a lovely one just like this hidden in your archives.

Going Loco

I did something crazy this weekend: I ran the Loco Running Indoor Half-Marathon. Yep, on an indoor track. It was a strange distance - 317 meters per lap - making it about 5 laps to a mile, making the whole event 66 1/2 laps.

My plan was to start conservatively, get into a rhythm and run consistently, and then run so hard at the end that I tank by the last lap or so. It almost worked out. The first few miles felt easy, the middle miles clicked away lap by lap (75 seconds per lap for awhile, then 74s), and the end got a little bungled. At exactly one hour, everyone turned around and ran the opposite direction on the track (thankfully, an electronic chip kept track of the laps and timing). This was supposed to even out our poor ankles/knees/hips after leaning leftward around the curves of the track for an hour straight. I knew I had about 20 minutes to go, but I didn't remember how many laps I'd done (my watch only held 50 lap splits and then the memory was full) or how many I had to go. I kept running consistent 74s and 73s, hoping the end was near. The men's winner finished, and I tried to pick up the pace a little but seemed to be stuck in the same 73-second-per-lap gear. I was hoping I'd get a 2 or 3-lap warning, but it never came. Finally, the announcer said I had one lap to go, so I mustered a quicker pace - not a sprint, so perhaps this is the tanking I was hoping for - and finished in 1 hour, 21 minutes, and 22 seconds. This is just one second slower than my all-time half-marathon best, so I am happy with my race.

Next race up is the big one: Boston is in 35 days.

Speechless Phoebe

Phoebe doesn't have much to say these days. She is supposed to be saying 5-15 words by 15 months, and 20 words by 18 months, but she's not saying more than "mom," "dad," and "no" (which she's said once, but she meant it!). She's 17 months. We started Early Intervention, which we did with Bruce because he had motor skill delays and now with Phoebe because of language delays.

Early Intervention is a state-funded program for developmentally delayed kids under three years old. A social worker from the program comes to our home once a week and plays games with Phoebe to try and get her to communicate. Words haven't come yet, but Phoebe learned to sign "more" this week. Today Bruce and I baked cookies and she scooted up to the counter and signed "more" while grunting at the bag of chocolate chips. I'm trying to reward her for making signs, so I gave her a few chocolate chips. She signed again, and I rewarded her again. She figured out the game and is now a proficient signer. Next, we need to break our chocolate chip habit.

Beautiful Boston

Marathon training is going well, but it's been randomly scheduled at all hours of the day. Sometimes I swap babysitting with other moms so I can get my long runs in during the day. Sometimes I pop Phoebe in the stroller for a few miles. But most of the time, my runs are early in the morning or late at night. Good thing Boston is beautiful day and night. I'm gearing up for a half-marathon this weekend, which should remind my body how to race and give me some inkling as to how my training will translate to the full marathon.
Last weekend, Scott was off so we took the opportunity to go see the U.S.S. Constitution. It's the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy, and most of the time sits in the harbor in Boston for tours. This ship earned the title "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812 after cannonballs were seen bouncing off the sides during a battle. The sides are actually made of oak, not iron.
Almost as adventurous, Bruce and I went grocery shopping at Market Basket last Saturday. I often procrastinate going shopping and when I do go, I try to go at weird times when no one will be there (like 7 a.m. when it opens on a weekday). This is why: the parking lot fills up and I have to hunt for a spot, the items I want are often out of stock, and the checkout lines are forever long. However, this place is way cheaper than other grocery stores in Boston so I'll continue to go. Thanks for letting me whine.
Bruce suffered the whole trip, but at the end he got to pick out ice cream. Ah, motivation.
We went to the Museum of Natural History yesterday. Bruce liked the rocks and found his Brucite again. Phoebe liked banging on glass cases of animal skins and high-tailing it for the next exhibit. She's not quite ready to be stroller-free in a museum (or at least I'm not ready for it!).

As noisy as it is sometimes, we love living in the city and being so close to so many cool places!