When I went to bed last night, I was kind of excited because I am off today and was planning on NOT getting up at 5:30 to go for a run, but instead would get to sleep in until sometime shortly after 6. Its the simple things...
Well, that all changed at 4 am when Anders woke up crying. He was at the top of the stairs so I went to get him so he could go to the bathroom and go back to bed. He no longer wears diapers to bed and has been really good about getting up to use the bathroom. I missed the last at least 2 steps on the way down and landed hard on my right hip and arm, while I carrying Anders. Don't worry, he is fine as all I could think about in the few seconds that it took to come crashing down was how to protect him. I'm sore, but also fine, but could not get back to sleep.
Will is hopefully sleeping by now, but the sound of us falling jarred him awake as well. He thought it was Anders falling all the way down the stairs. I told him I would have gasped had Anders been falling by himself, but instead was concentrating on protecting him. It is funny how you react to things like that - my only thought was of him. It reminded me of this one time when Will, our friend John, and I went up to visit our friends Bill and Cindy one winter afternoon. When we left Cindy sent a pie for an upcoming bake sale with us. On the way down the Sawbill Trail, our driver took a curve a little too fast and we ended up spinning around and in the ditch, which was full of snow. Through the whole process, all I could think about was protecting that pie and in fact announced that it was fine, when we came to a stop. Luckily a logger came along a few minutes later and pulled us out of the ditch and the pie got to its destination safely.
I cannot believe it has been almost 3 months since I last posted anything on our blog. Is there anyone out there even checking for updates? I wouldn't blame you if you haven't been. Life has been very busy, however, they have finally hired my replacement at work and I am no longer Laboratory Director. I am now Director of Special Projects, a title my former employees and I joke about - as it seems to be a bit of a catch all title. I also only work 24 hours a week for now. This is supposed to be temporary and while it will be nice to have the extra time, it will be a strain on us financially and isn't something we will be able to sustain forever, I don't think, so Plan B is in the works. So, a quick summary of some recent times: you may have seen my sisters' posts about the big get together in Iowa - 6 boys and their moms = tired moms and tired boys, but it was fun. We've had some visits from Grammie Jean, a couple of visits from Grandpa Bill (who has helped us complete some projects around the house - thank you!) and we went to Wisconsin to visit Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Bill. We also had an extended weekend up in Grand Marais, where Aunt Joyce and I took a Selbouvotter mitten knitting class at North House. Maybe now with my new schedule I can do some more catch up posts. Now for the present time:
We are dog sitting Jean's dogs - Zeke has the stripe down his nose and Gracie is his sister. It is nice to have dogs in the house again, though it is amazing how much dirtier the house is with them here. One thing that Anders seems to have quickly picked up on is the fact that dogs will eat food that falls on the floor. Whenever he drops something he says, "the dogs will get it." Gracie will also eat paper muffin cups, which Anders has fed to her, and she will attempt to eat silicone muffin cups, which we think maybe Zeke got off of the counter for her, but she stole from him. No matter who got it off the counter, Zeke did not think it was fair that she had it and he did not.
Anders and Will skied into the cabin while Joyce and I were knitting, so now Anders spends time in his cabin. It is very cute, but also leads to a lot of toys strewn about the living room. Here he is coming out of his cabin, that sign in his hand serves as the cabin door.
We celebrated Will's birthday, with a delicious chocolate cake from the 50's Grill. Anders wanted 2 candles on his dad's cake.
Last weekend we had a true sign of spring. As you can see in this picture, the ice on the lake near our house is receding. Can you tell what those are in the water?
Here is a slightly better picture of Loons! Yes, the loons are on their way back to Northern Minnesota after spending the winter in Mexico. Woohoo! As Anders says after singing Ring of Fire and I Walk the Line. Another thing Anders says is "Ka-dah!" for Ta-dah, it is very cute.
This is an interesting ice formation on the same lake.
After checking out the loons and the ice, we went over to the park. Anders has been sleeping really, really well for the last 2 weeks. This is our first 2 weeks of good sleep since something like October. One theory we have is that outside air and activity is helping to contribute to the sleep, so we've been getting him out on his bike mainly, but climbing at the park helps too.
Doing some driving...
Will is testing the strength of this spring...
This park has several good slides, though Anders was bummed that the super high one was closed because it was cracked.
And more climbing.
One more sign of spring - the crocuses are up. Anders has declared this purple bunch his.
This is how excited we are about the sleeping thing.
Oh, Will got a new bike. He is hoping that riding this inefficient bike to work will lead to some major weight loss. We are still trying to figure out how to get a seat on it so he can pick Anders up from school.
Having his Strider (not pictured, but it is that balance bike we got for him last year) and his trike in the house all winter long has allowed him to master balancing and pedaling. Yes, we let him ride the bikes in the house, no we won't let him do that when he is a teenager.
The biking in the house has also helped him to do this.
Yep, he can almost ride a bike. Will isn't holding on in those pictures, but Anders is understandably a little nervous. He is doing well though, I wouldn't be surprised if he is able to ride before the summer is over. He loves his new red bike, which I got off of Craig's list for less than half of what it cost new. I love to get a deal!
Anders is also working on becoming one of the Boys of Summer. That terra cotta pot works well as a tee. Will did pull out a piece of PVC that can stand up in the sandbox and it works really well as a tee, though Anders thinks it is an even better microphone and he has started using it to belt out various Johnny Cash songs.
To say he is obsessed with Johnny Cash and now June Carter Cash is not an exaggeration. We listen to I Walk the Line, Ring of Fire, Jackson and a few other songs many times a day. He loves to play his little blue guitar along with Johnny Cash and lately has picked up Johnny's trick of putting a piece of paper in the strings to replace a snare drum (see I Walk the Line of Youtube, Johnny will explain it).
Ok, it is 6:08 am and I have blue font all of a sudden! I just heard Anders get out of bed, gotta go.
