Whoa.

Here we are, almost to the last day of September.  The list of what hasn't gotten done is enormous, including keeping up around these parts.

So, in September:

• Back to School.  Both boys have done wonderfully at school.  No tears, no worries.  E got bit yesterday and his teacher was super surprised he didn't even cry.  My reply?  "He has a big brother."
• The triathlon!  I did it!  My times weren't great--I really couldn't run the whole thing... I really couldn't run more than a quarter of it.  Some (incredibly awesome, I didn't know they were taking pictures at all) pictures:

 

•  E turned 17 months, and I didn't even get a picture of him in the chair.    At 17 months, E:
• walks
• bounces, sort of jumps
• trots, sort of runs
• says Mama, Dada, psspss (the international sound to call a kitty), whoa, uh oh OFTEN
• Occasionally says something that sounds like more, something that sounds like milk, something that sounds like brother
• Occasionally signs more, milk
• LOVES to give kisses.  He lets us know by making that smacking noise that everyone knows means "I want a kiss."
• Loves to cuddle, but it's likely only going to be for a minute before he's off and running to the next thing
• Loves to read books, but only at bedtime.  Most night, he won't go to sleep if I've skipped that step
• Sometimes needs to be put to bed by Mommy then Daddy--if I just put him down, he'll cry until Daddy does his bedtime routine too.
• Typically starts bedtime at 6:30
• Typically sleeps until 6:15
• Will occasionally look at the tv for a minute if it's on, but generally isn't interested
• Loves pressing buttons, so calculators, timers, and other things with buttons that beep are among his favorite toys
• Is called "Sweetie" by Daddy
• Is a LAUGH-ER.  It seems he's always giggling and generally a very happy kid
• Is a SCREAM-ER.  More often than not, he's imitating his brother or it's a testing out what this voice-thing can do
• Is very difficult to take out to restaurants.  He wants to sit in Daddy's lap most of the time, demands a walk around the restaurant, and will end up doing something that gets him yelled at.
• From Daddy:  Is stubborn, and has a really wicked temper, but when he wants to be, can be the sweetest child on the planet.  His smile lights up a room.

• Tomorrow, A turns 4 years and 2 months, so since I'm writing, at 4 years and 2 months, A is:
• Incredibly sweet and charming.  Yesterday, we had a fight over which door we'd use to leave in the morning.  Fed up with the tantrum, I threatened to take away his tv time, at which point he thrashed in my arms (I was carrying him to the car), wacked my chin with his head, and chipped my tooth.  He stopped his tantrum to ask if I was ok and if I wanted him to kiss it.
• But yet he still throws some wicked tantrums.
• Nevertheless, in general, he's incredible kind and patient with his brother, and shares with him often.  They do fight because, like most brothers I'm sure, one boy will put a toy down "for a minute," and the other will come along and claim it while the first wasn't really finished.
• a TV Addict.  If there's a tv on, he's watching it, even if he can't hear it or understand what's going on.  He'll yell at you if you dare walk in front of the tv while he's watching.
• funny.  He just cracks me up sometimes, like this morning when he called me (jokingly), "You little punk."
• Changing--I've noticed that his face is different somehow this month, more defined perhaps.
• From Daddy:  Always excited to do stuff; he always wants to try something new, and he loves to eat out and try new restaurants.  He's NOT into food [still a big mac and cheese and cheeseburger fan] and trying new foods.    Super energetic--would be running all the time if he could.  Loves to be active, loves to be outdoors.  He loves his books, but isn't big into actually reading [he'll yell at us when we try to get him to read words, that he just wants to listen].  He's a good big brother.

•  My birthday!  It was pretty low key this year, with the whole overwhelmed with back to work and being in the  midst of a CRAZY work week (after school meeting Tuesday, Back to School Night Thursday, plus school pictures for the boys, plus bunches of other stuff going on), but we all went out to dinner on Friday.  The boys gave me a picture of the three of them from Picture People; absolutely adorable, though I haven't yet gotten it digital.

I'm a lucky girl

Training....

Here it is, 1 week to triathlon!  I haven't been training as consistently as I'd have hoped so close to the big day, but life has gotten in the way of training.
Yesterday, I hit the pool.  I did about 10 laps (50 yds each).  I did not do 10 laps without stopping, which sort of freaks me out (the triathlon is 1/4 mile, or about 8 laps), but I also have been training doing the freestyle while my plan is to freestyle until I start to get winded, then switch to breast stroke for awhile.)
I also ran for a bit yesterday.  I really dread the running piece, so have really been slacking on the training.  Of course, everyone says it's ok to walk it, but I'd really love to jog it as well as walk it.  So, I jogged about 1.25 miles at a pretty slow pace.  I definitely think I can walk faster than I was jogging at times.
Today, I got on the bike.  For the at-home training, I've been keeping to our little block here, mostly because it's relatively flat--our neighborhood is really hilly, which I think is likely to frustrate me and so if I keep it more flat, I figure I'm way more likely to keep at it.  I figure I did about 4 miles and felt really good, despite pretty sore thighs.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this!  I hope I finish; that's how I define my success in this!

School!

The boys had a great first day of school!

Whether because it was really time, or because he'd been going into the same room and playing when we dropped off his brother, E took right to it.  There were no tears (for anyone) at drop off in the first (or second week!)  Here are the boys at drop off on the very first day!

Drop Off, Day 2

Here they are on MY first day with kids.

Unfortunately for me, they won't open the doors until 7am now.  When we started, they were closer to my route and also let us in a little bit early.  No more.  I've got it down so I leave all their stuff for the day in the drop off room, and am back in the car by 7:04.  This gets me to work about half an hour before the start of classes... it's pretty hectic.

Our daycare is willing to use our cloth diapers.  It's been an experience, for sure.  The system I've gotten down so far is to start with 10 diapers, then I replace them every other day.  We haven't yet had the discussion about bringing them home for the weekend, and we've had a hard time making it through the weekend with the diapers we have.  "They" say that using diaper cream on cloth diapers is bad for them (decreases absorbency especially), so I gave them these toilet paper like things to use... they really haven't use them PLUS, we don't have any here.  So many things to think about!  I also left a package of disposable diapers just in case there weren't enough or anything else happened.  It's funny, I typically only use one of our wipes to change a diaper, but they use four or five.  I also think it's funny that every single diaper goes into a plastic bag, which goes into my bag.  I guess their system is their system, but I just find it strange!

As for me, things are going ok on the back to school thing.  I feel completely overwhelmed--the house is beyond disaster (clutter due to being messy and also due to the contents of the office being in the hallway due to a leak induced hole in the ceiling there), cleaning is seriously falling behind, but I'm managing.  This year, I'm teaching US2, which I have taught before, but it was so long ago, it doesn't count, Economics, which I taught for two years before A was born, and this online course that doesn't have physical class meetings.  So, I'm juggling basically new courses with the juggle of two kids for the first time.

M says he's having a hard time with being sole parent for awhile after work.  He said for the past year, he'd have some downtime before having to hang out with the boys.  Now, I'm either not home when they come home, or rushing to cook dinner.  

So, the great news is the only one having a tough time with it all are Mom and Dad!

Upromise Challenges Us to Dream!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Upromise, the well known place that helps families save for college, is running a contest where parents or grandparents are submitting their dreams for their children and grandchildren and others are voting on the best dreams.  There are currently 176 pages of dreams, but one of my favorites was from the mother of a 9 year old boy whose dream is to be a baseball player; Mom wants him to go to college and have a fallback career--his fallback?  To be President.

Are you interested in winning $20,000 for your child or grandchild's education?  Check out  www.upromisetodream.com to enter your dream and to vote on the dreams of others.  You should also let others know about the opportunity so they too can try to win and share their dreams!

Don't forget to check out the dream wall official rules!

Please comment on this post with your dreams for your children.  For my boys, my dreams include them being good people who help others whenever they can.  I want them to define their own success and try as hard as they possibly can to achieve that success, and I want them to have lots and lots of fun.  I also dream of their making gobs and gobs of money and taking good care of their Mommy and Daddy