Simplicity

We've taken Bryan to all sorts of places.  Airports, rec centers, malls, Ikea, the pool, restaurants, Target, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, grocery stores...you name it.  It occurred to us last weekend that we haven't taken Nuggs to a park.  This summer has either been too hot or too rainy in the afternoons to enjoy a park.  We finally caught a break on Sunday.  Rain threatened our plans, but we managed to avoid the downpour.  We passed more than an hour in a perfectly grassy park (with playground stuff Bryan wanted NO PART OF and a sandbox his mom and dad wanted NO PART OF).

I was smart enough to grab the camera before we left.  Something I've been neglecting lately.  And while I see my errors in some of the photos, I managed to snap a few that I think could be frame worth. It also helps when the subject matter is so beautiful.

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed being lazy in the park!

Brave little kiddo. This was about 20 yards from where we were sitting.  He's pointing out a "car car" which is Nuggs code for airplane (two syllable mode of transportation is a car car)

A loud car passed by. He demanded an explanation!

Nothing sweeter than when he crawls in Chris' lap and wants to hold hands.

Juice please!

I am going to spit out the juice please!

My little Nugget of perfection.  I love him more than anything I could ever have imagined!

playtime

There is absolutely nothing better than watching a toddler play!  

Lifting weights

Last week, Bryan weighed in two ounces heavier than he did at the end of July.  So, he's gaining (on average) about an ounce a week.  I have no idea if that's good or not, but he had a major growth spurt in the last few weeks.  His diapers are too short in the rise (he looks like a little plumber running around sometimes!) and a few of his t-shirts that he's worn all summer are showing his belly now. I think his weight gains are exceeding his height gains finally!  I have no idea how much weight a 16 month old should gain in a week. The doctors stop talking about that stuff when you stop measuring age in weeks.  But here's the really good news:
1.  He weighs enough that he looks like the other kids in his class.  You can't see his ribs anymore which has been our benchmark for a while now.
2.  The somewhat inaccurate questionnaire to determine developmental age based on achievements measured Bryan at approximately 19 months, 2 weeks.  Which is a very non-scientific way of saying that my kid may be on the little side, but he's strong and really smart.  Uh oh.  I'm in HUGE trouble!!
3.  Nobody's worried about anything, except maybe that GI doctor, but he's just one opinion.

So, for now, I have a toddler that runs everywhere, is getting louder by the day, eats like a typical toddler, has a mind of his own, loves art, loves to play outside, loves to push things and climb stairs, is almost completely done with bottles (he would be if his Mom wasn't hanging on to them for dear life!) and is talking up a storm with words and non-words alike.  He only takes a few minutes to warm up to new people and loves his school so much that when I drop him off, he pushes me out of the way to go play. Nothing warms my heart more than knowing my son is so happy.

So, all is well here.  We keep plugging along and with every passing day we can see our little Nugget conquering something new and leaving babyhood that much farther behind him.  Time really does fly. Here's a post from a year ago!  

Nuggs has his own little chair and LOVES it.

Such a little man.  And so big! 

That night his dinner was a cup of baked beans and a pint of raspberries. Without a doubt, he is 100% my kid! He may look like his Dad, but he eats just like his Mom.  We could each eat our body weight in fruit! 

back at it

I think I should do some research to figure out how many times I've started a blog or email with "it's been crazy around here."  I think I should accept that crazy is our version of normal.  

We are moving at warp speed around here.  Bryan is chatting up a storm.  A few real words (uh-oh, car, mom, dad, dog, ball) and a ton of pretend words.  Everything he doesn't have a word for has become a car.  At least he points up in the sky when he hears an airplane and says, "car car!"  Oh, and we get car car when the word he wants to say has two syllables.  I think that's pretty darn smart.

My job is keeping me on my toes in a lot of great ways. I still hate the travel part, but it's a small price to pay to be able to go for a run and/or hit the gym at lunch time and know that I can be home with Nuggs if he gets sick.  And speaking of sick (knock on wood...lots of it!), Bryan hasn't been really sick since we put the tubes in his ears!  BEST. DECISION. EVER!!  

He's getting a little dairy in his diet now.  We are giving him Pediasure in that real milk doesn't have the caloric density that he needs to fatten up a little.  By the end of July, the GI doc wanted Bry to weigh in at 21 lbs.  We showed up and he weighed in at 20 lbs, 14.5 oz.  Really.  We missed it by an ounce and a half.  If he would have just finished the banana before we left, we would have hit the goal.  I know he's growing like crazy.  He's out of his 18-month PJ's...they were too short and his feet too big.  So now he's swimming in 24-month PJs.  He hasn't outgrown anything else in that I had no summer clothes that fit him anyway.  He's finally growing into what we have, but most of the shorts are still too big.  That kid is perfectly proportionately skinny! With big feet.  Thankfully, they still seem to be "normal" rather than his dad's inherited 4-E width!  Keeping my fingers crossed that his feet stay longer than they are wide.

We have his 15-month check up tomorrow, on his 16-month birthday.  We waited an extra month so that we could see the GI doc before we did this follow up, then an extra week because I traveled last week and he needs more immunizations.  Chris was a little apprehensive to do that while I was out of town.  

And I am back in full swing in my training.  I have a 15k on October 6 (that's 9.3 miles) that fits perfectly in my training schedule for the half-marathon on October 20. There may be a few 5k races here and there, too, as fall weather takes over.  Over the summer, thanks to Lisa K., I realized that I have the potential to run a lot faster than I actually run.  I just don't push myself and I seem to get hung up on my darn Garmin watch. While I love the knowledge it gives me, I perform better if I don't have the instant feedback. So just go, and listen to my body, not the beeps.  Not rocket science but man, it sure is refreshing to know that I will not die if I run faster than a 12-minute mile.  How about a 10:45 minute mile.  Yep. I did that.  With a few more after that.  So, from now on, I'll turn my Garmin on and either wear it around my ankle so I can't see it, or stuff it in my run-belt.  I like the ankle idea...if it fits around my ankle, that is!

Ok, that's it.  I am excited for Bry's weigh-in tomorrow at the regular well-baby visit.  It's exactly two weeks after the GI weigh-in so we'll know if his growth trajectory is starting to correct itself or if we need to reevaluate.  My money is on trajectory correction!!