Seth, Seth, He's Our Man

Yesterday, my man turned 32. Boy is he getting old. Just today I spied an unusually long stray hair popping out of one of his nostrils, and it hit me. We're getting up there. We've been together for a decade this fall, and there have been so many changes, and also that thread of constancy running through it all. Anyhow, happy birthday Seth! Our day began with some tasty morning meat from the farmer's market (Seth told me it was tasty, I wouldn't know). He scored a free lunch with his colleagues. For dinner we ordered out barbecue (I decided on a meat-themed birthday this year), and dessert was strawberry shortcake. He got calls from family and friends throughout the day. Myles got him a T-ball set, which he promptly asked to borrow. He also did a fabulous job of wishing Seth happy birthday over and over all day long. Today, Seth found out that he got a 97% on his final exam, which he took on Monday night. He maintains his 4.0 GPA for this MPA program.

The above photograph arrived in my inbox from an unknown source this week...it looks suspiciously like a finger puppet that we left at Hugh's house on Saturday night when we went over for some fajitas and a camp fire. I enjoyed myself a mojito.

On Friday night we have a babysitter! A high school student who is a child care assistant from church (and the daughter of a long-time friend) is coming to be with Myles after he requested that she come over and play at his house. Perfect timing, even more perfect that it was actually Myles' idea. So we'll be out celebrating birthdays on Friday night.

Myles Says: Tonight he came to me with a pained look on his face and said, "I have a chap on my tummy." Me: "A chap? Like your skin is chapped? Let me look at it." Myles: "No, the chap is in my tummy. Inside, you can't see it." As I puzzled over this, Seth said, "You mean a cramp?" Myles: "Yeah a champ. I have a champ on my tummy. It hurts!" A few weeks ago, as we were getting into the car, Myles saw our neighbor Miss Mary, who is a great-grandmother. He said "Hello Miss Mary, do you see my truck?" Miss Mary: "Oh, yes. It's nice." Myles: "Do you want one? If you grow a little boy in your belly, you can have one too." Luckily, Miss Mary didn't quite understand that. Last week at the library, we got a book on tape with both a tape in English and one in Spanish. He listened to the tape in Spanish, and said, "Next we need Greek! We're missing Greek." (His preschool teacher is Greek and teaches them to count in Greek.) Today when I showed up at preschool to pick him up he said, "I'm going to go play at Hyde's house today. Okay, is that a good idea, Mama?" (Hyde was no where to be found, having already left with his mom).

Mylestones: We took Myles for his wellness check a few weeks ago, and he's still hovering around 90% for height and weight. He is doing more pooping on the potty, and we're glad about that. He's been more interested in numbers recently. He's cruising on his balance bike, really surprising us every time he gets on it. He remains interested in all things car...where are we going, what pedal am I pressing with my foot, and what does that do? He occasionally climbs into the drivers' seat when we are trying to get him in his carseat and pops the trunk just to "be helpful." He keeps on singing. Tonight we heard a medly that ranged from "This Old Man" to "We are a Happy Family" and onto "Frosty the Snowman."

What I'm reading: Born to run. Loaned to me by the wonderful Cindy E, this is a page-turner that inspires me to drag my tired self out of bed to run. I'm back to running 3X/week and speeding up my runs. Seth is also getting back in shape for a season of races. If you need some running motivation, I highly recommend Born to Run.