Mara-ton, A Ton of Fun

The US Olympic Marathon Trials were today in Houston so we decided to watch and cheer the runners. I follow mens distance running a little bit (probably significantly more than the average person but far less than a true fanatic), so I was excited for the chance to see a few of my favorite runners. Excited enough that I made my very first sporting event signs. Here they are:

This was for Ryan Hall. Hall holds the fastest US marathon right now and is famous for his Christian beliefs. He has no coach and claims his training is based on the Bible (he takes Sundays off, has some kind of biblical diet, etc.). People dismissed him a couple years ago when he decided to go coach-less but he came back and ran an American marathon record. My friend Peter Smith suggested I make a sign that read: "Ryan Hall. No Coach. No Problem" I really liked this idea but ultimately I didn't want to get in his head if he had a bad race. I didn't want him thinking something like "Oh man, maybe it is a problem that I don't have a coach." In the end, I felt like Hallelujah was good--succinct, personalized, and Christian.

This was for Dathan Ritzenhein. I gave this sign to Cathryn so that she could cheer for Ritz. My friend Peter suggested this sign and I liked it. Ritz ran the Olympic Marathon in China (along with Ryan Hall and Brian Sell [I believe]) and was the first US runner in that event. I like Ritz because he seems like a typical runner to me. He has been injured lately and was lucky to get in enough shape to be a real contender for this race. I liked this sign because I imagine "Inherit Zen" is Ritz's running mantra. Many elite runners have mantras they repeat to themselves during a race and many will keep their mantra secret. How crazy would it be if you were running and some girl was waving a sign with your secret mantra all over it! If the mantra was "Inherit Zen" you'd be like, "Whoa, I have inherited Zen--my thoughts are now universal thoughts. My consciousness permeates all. I have transcended running." "Inherit Zen" is also nice because it is an anagram for Ritzenhein which by its very nature is succinct.

Although I purchased one more poster board for Willa to hold, I never got around to making the sign. The sign would have been for Meb Keflezighi. I really like Meb because he seems like such a nice guy and he won the New York Marathon a couple years ago wearing a cool USA singlet. I couldn't ever think of a sign that would do him justice and I ran out of time. Also, because Willa was going to hold it, I wanted to make sure Meb would see it and think, "Look at that cute baby holding a sign for me. I think I will give her a pair of signed Sketchers racing shoes."

The US women also ran today. I don't follow the women as closely but Shalane Flanagan won which made Cathryn and me happy. The real story for me in the women's race was when a woman stopped to vomit right in front of me. It was sort of gross, but since I have puked at a race before, I was not bothered. Plus it was the Olympic Trials! I offered her a drink of water from the above pictured water bottle which she happily accepted. I estimate that she drank 100 ml--just enough to take the edge off of that foul taste. As you can see from the picture, the bottle was still pretty much full when we took it home. Even though it is hard to resist drinking from a BYU Splash and Dash First Place prize, the drink becomes less appealing when someone's barf lips touched the rim.

The course was a loop so we actually saw the runners come by three times. This was very exciting for me because we chose a spot with very few spectators and tall buildings on both sides of the street. Such conditions were ideal for the runners to hear my yells and pay attention to my signs. I can yell pretty loud and it sounds even better when my voice is bouncing off the walls of tall buildings. For the first pass, I got out on the street and yelled at Hall. I'm pretty sure he liked it but he also gave me a warning pointing gesture to back off. This was only mile 7 so I can imagine he might have been a little cautious about over-zealous spectators ruining his chance to qualify for the Olympic team. The second pass was pretty good, but I couldn't formulate a proper cheer with my favorite phrase, "running with those pistons he calls legs." It is more of a phrase you use when talking to buddies and less of a phrase you can use when shouting at someone at the top of your lungs. However, I really let it go on the final pass because there were hardly any spectators at that point (meaning the two guys who were next to me had left) and the racers only had a mile to go. While I yelled loudly at Meb (who looked at me quizzically) I ran out into the street within mere inches of Hall, waving my sign over my head. I told him "Heckuva Race, Hall! Heckuva Race!" and other encouragements. I'm pretty sure he smiled at my efforts. When Ritzenhein came by, I had his sign too (he was in fourth place and Cathryn was just getting back with Willa). Since the top three qualify for the team, I yelled for Ritz to "Get 'im!" referring of course to Abdi Abdirahman who was in a surprising third place position. With a mile to go, I was really hoping to inspire him to push past Abdi. I screamed as loud as I could, but to no avail. He ultimately finished fourth but in what I've heard was his personal best time.

Meb ended up winning in a personal best time with Ryan Hall second and Abdi third. Cathryn and I enjoyed getting out with Willa to see the spectacle. For those of you who love to hear stories about marathoners soiling themselves during a race, yes we did see a guy running with soiled shorts. I noticed him at about 7 miles. He had a long way to go before he could apply some of the diaper cream we had in our bag.

Candy canes and Christmas presents

I was upstairs getting ready on Christmas morning and when I came downstairs Willa was crying profusely. While I was in the shower, Ryan gave my baby her own candy cane in order to get this shot under the Christmas tree. As you see, she looks perfectly adorable and happy right here, the crying came after when he tried to yoink that candy cane away from her. She was hysterical at losing that minty sweetness until we gave it back. I wanted to add something about corrupting her virgin mouth with a stick of pure cane sugar, but we're way beyond that these days. It's the perfect Christmas photo and we already have it up in a little ornament waiting to hang on the tree next year.

Ryan and I weren't going to get her anything for Christmas, but at the last minute I decided to order her a Lamaze Octopus for her off of Amazon. After we finished singing the songs at the library, they bring out a lot of really nice toys for the babies to play with. They have two of these blue Lamaze octopuses and Willa LOVES them. She kind of throws a tantrum if another baby has one and she doesn't really play with any of the other toys until they bring the octopuses out. (Octopuses, octopi?)

On Christmas day she got messed up on her naps and was REALLY fussy at one point. At that height of fussiness, I decided that we should unwrap the octopus to see if it cheered her up. It was a Christmas miracle! Actually, it was just fun to see her get excited about a Christmas gift since she really has no idea what Christmas is. She saw the octopus and started flapping her arms and making excited noises. It was very thrilling!

One of my harp students brought this present for Willa. His name is Bumpé and he has a book about his escapades. My student's mom was the executive production engineer or something like that on making him. He is Scandinavian and they actually don't even sell him in the US anymore. She said that she called the author of the book and asked him to send a Bumpé over especially for Willa! I opened the book and found that it is actually dedicated to my student's mother! Plus, the author signed this copy for us. He is a very soft and squishy stuffed animal and we were so thrilled and touched to get him. It was so thoughtful of this student's mom and a one-of-a-kind gift for Willa!

Willa got a lot of other really nice and fun things from grandparents and aunts and uncles, she is a lucky baby! 

Willa has been so cute lately. Two days ago she walked into the room and I smelt a baaadddd diaper. It was strong, but since she was happily playing by herself I thought I'd hurry and finish one or two things before I changed her. A minute later I looked up and she was walking towards me holding a fresh new diaper! I chased her down asking if she wanted a diaper change and she started laughing hysterically. Full disclosure: she sometimes brings us diapers even when she's not messy, but I think she knew what was going on this time! She actually was happy through the diaper change instead of whiney and crying. She's got a little ointment on her nose in this photo to help heal one of the many scrapes she inflicts on herself by walking.

I just had to take a picture of her bedhead this morning! Isn't it brilliant! The flash made her close her eyes, which just made the photo funnier. You can see she's got her two favorite toys in her hands: remote 1 and remote 2. She knows just how to point those things at the TV and works very hard to find and grab the remotes from us. How do kids get hip to that jive so quickly?

I think the real magnificence in this bouffant comes because Ryan may have gotten her out of the bath without rinsing the conditioner last night. We switched bath duties halfway through and I forgot to tell him that she still needed rinsing. Look at the body, though, we should leave conditioner in every night!

Oh my, Ohio!

We're having a great time here in Dayton. The flight went well and Willa was a trooper considering we had to wake her up at 4:00 a.m. to make our flight! Ryan got here safely a few days later and we had a nice Christmas complete with the (in)famous ham and potato cheese puff.

Toddling around at Carriage Hill.  Willa was more interested in chasing after a barn cat than in looking at the mangy animals (see second picture).  The horses looked cold and miserable in the mud, and their thick winter coat wasn't helping appearances. Still, she is getting to be quite the walker and is very proud of herself.

Going for a walk one day and needed scarves.  It's not as cold as it could be, but it's still colder than we're used to.

She looked so adorable trying to walk with this giant neck brace, right after I took this picture she lost her balance and her top heavy head hid the cement. There were lots of tears until I took her to look at a nearby inflatable snowman.

Exploring grandma and grandpa's house!  Lots of cupboards and drawers to open; lots of general mischief to make.

She's only fallen down the stairs once, so far.  There were a lot of thumps as we ran to get her so she must have been pretty high up :(.

 Brushing her teeth.  If only she did this so well every night.

What we've been up to

At the last minute, I realized that I had enough time between my last day of teaching and Christmas to snag a quick visit home to Utah. Traveling is easier and harder as she grows. I downloaded a bunch of Sesame Street podcasts onto my ipod and that somewhat helped entertain Willa. And yes, I felt self-conscious pulling out this antique when everyone else around was playing with their slick ipad.  I think she's so cute with her little earphones on.

 We had a visit from a 5 month old baby while her mom went to help in another child's classroom. The baby was an angel, Willa was.... not happy to see me holding another baby. She was happy, however, to play in the baby swing again after the baby had left. I put her in and then a few minutes later realized that she was about to jump out the front!

Yesterday we went to the children's museum with Willa's new friend Molly and her mom. We met them a few months ago at the library and have slowly been venturing on some outings. Molly is still stationary for now, so I didn't get a photo of the two of them together. We had a great time and the babies happily played for an entire hour without any fussing - a Christmas miracle!

They have these little doors that are baby size; Willa is very into opening and closing right now so she loved them. She's also very into collecting "treasures" so often we'll find her little push stroller filled with various diaper creams, wipes, baby monitor, or whatever is particularly exciting.

Last, but not least, it wouldn't be Christmas without posting our Wolfman Jack Christmas photo from a few years ago. Ryan made us get rid of these sweaters in the last move :(. Willa and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Christmas in Dayton (Ryan will come a few days later) and we are very excited for some cheesy potatoes and ham!

A Christmas Tree

We have never gotten ourselves a Christmas tree until this year.  Our last apartment was too small and we were always going to a family's house, anyway.  I planned for the same routine this year, especially with a busy baby who would destroy a tree; however, Ryan surprised me by being the festive one and said that we should stop hum-buggin' and get ourselves a tree.

Here we are at the Christmas tree lot, picking out our perfect tree!  Ryan just finished shaking the snow off and is holding it up so we can see how tall it is.

Yep, this is the perfect tree!  Tying it on the roof for the drive home.

Make sure those straps are tight!

Trimming the tree

It was touch and go for a while.  There was a big argument at the tree lot about whether it was too tall or not.  I said that we should just get it because it was so obviously the perfect tree, if it was too tall then we could just lop the top off and give it to our butler, who might give it to a rabbit, and a little mouse might end up with the very top. Ryan really didn't want to have to cut off the top, though, with all that mess and sap.  Luckily, this one just barely fit.

Here's a recent picture of Willa.  My sweet angel-baby has become a demon toddler with the onset of walking.  She especially likes screaming in the grocery cart because she wants to get down and push the cart herself.  After I took this photo, I noticed that there was still dish detergent in there that she was eating and I had to run and call poison control!  The first of many such calls, probably.

Turkey Trot

Ryan really wanted to restart his tradition of running a Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot, so we found a race and signed up!  We both ran and I pushed Willa in the stroller.  We're glad we did it, but if we do it again, we won't go with high expectations.  It was a HUGE race downtown and the course just wasn't wide enough so it never really thinned out.  I dutifully lined up towards the back, since I had a stroller, and was seriously dodging people the entire time just to stay at a slow jog.

Ryan didn't fair much better, he got first in his age group and eleventh overall, but he couldn't even squeeze his way to the starting line and when he looked around he was disconcerted by the number of elderly and young kids who were at the start with him and whom he had to dodge around.  However, we both agree that running a 5k is nice and short, so much less to worry about, and less to suffer through.  

We got an annual pass to the Children's Museum for $60!  It's supposedly the best children's museum in the country and the entire second floor is an area just for toddlers.  Here is Willa loving the uneven surfaces that she could crawl on.  I have come to the realization that I am a person who likes to get out and do things.  So, now I have one more fun place for us to go where she can crawl around and explore.