Updates and Valentines

Christopher:
*Is fully into training for his IronMan now.  His current goal is to add up to an IronMan each week - meaning, in all the workouts he puts in, he has to run 26.2 miles, swim 2.4 miles, and bike 112 miles total for the week.  That means he is putting in an hour or more each and every day.  Ugh.  Thankfully, he needs a lot less sleep than the kids or I do, so many of his workouts are done after I go to bed and don't detract from family time.  I have to admit: I'll be proud of him when he acheives this, and even more happy when it is over.

*In related news, he is in love with his new toy.  He test drove one of these at CES and thought they were awesome . . . but already had a spin bike that he uses all the time in the basement.  But when he saw one come up on the classifieds for a screaming deal (seriously, it was never used once and half retail cost, but elsewhere is sold out so many places that most stores charge twice retail right now) it ended up in our basement within hours.

Basically, what makes this bike "the coolest thing ever made" is that you can map out a course on Google Maps and then the bike will run that course for you.  It changes to angle up or down for hills, and the resistance changes accordingly.  It even shows the street view for the course you are running.  So even though there is still snow on the mountains, the first thing Christopher did was bike the Alpine Loop (a nearby, challenging, 3 hour bike run).  And even though we live hours away, he can practice the St. George IronMan bike course any time he wants to.
Sarah:
*Is very, very pregnant.  But that's a good thing.  We have passed the point where I had Tyler, and I don't ever want to have a baby that early again.  So while I am huge, uncomfortable and being used as a jungle gym on the inside, that's a good thing.  I'm still going a little crazy cleaning out nooks and crannies in this house, but that's a good thing too.  We're still sorting out names for this little one, I'm almost done with the car seat canopy, and I still need to get Grandma's room ready for her, but I think we'll get everything ready.  I'm due March 7th, but of course that date means almost nothing.  Christopher says he wants a Leap Day baby.  I've always said I'm aiming for a Pi Day baby (3/14 is March 14th).  And my poor mother has no idea when to schedule her flight.  The baby has dropped down into position, but I could be like that for another month.  My Midwives did offer that they would be happy to induce on Leap Day, since I would be 39 weeks at that point, so we'll see if we take them up on that offer.  I mean, how cool would it be to have a baby on Leap Day?

Tyler:
*Is making some  funny progress lately!  I'm not sure what caused this, but about a week ago he suddenly noticed where his clothes are stored in his room.  And that he could dress himself in anything he wanted.  I have him go to the bathroom right when he gets off the bus from school.  So now, nearly every day, he goes potty, runs upstairs, and changes into an entirely new outfit.  We get PJ pants, random shoes I didn't know he could fit into, you name it.  And I end up with a pile of clothes in front of his dresser.  It is double the laundry, but still a good little independent step for him!

And then yesterday, I watched him pull a stool around the counter, use it to climb up and get a cup from the cupboard (problem solving!), put the stool back, and fill his cup up with water from the fridge to drink.  For Tyler, that is a huge step.  He has even been making enough strides in speech that he might test out of speech lessons at school!

*He loved filling out his valentines for school.  It isn't an easy task for him.  Thank heavens we gave that kid a short name, because the letters aren't always in the perfect order.  And he wasn't too concerned about the size of his letters until he ran out of room in that little tiny box.  But when I ran out of patience and told him we would work on it later, he protested until he got them all done.  "NO!  I have to write T - Y - L!"  Apparently when you are protesting, you don't need to use the whole name.  He has become more particular about the sequence of things lately.  For example, if I ask him what cereal he wants while he is still getting dressed, he tells me "No!  I don't need cereal!  I need to put on my shoes!"  Carry on, dude.

He was proud to show his valentines off when he was all ready for school.

And when I went to their Valentine's party and picked him up, he got to wear this cool heart home.

Which is much more funny when it blows in the wind.

Kaitlyn:
*Always cracks me up and impresses me with her logical discussions.  She loves learning the way things are supposed to work, and reminding me of what she learned.  "I need socks.  'Cause you 'member, when it is cold outside, we need to wear socks."  "No, you can't eat me!  I'm a person, not food!"  A couple of weeks ago she went over to a friend's house for a playdate, but ended up back home rather quickly because, as the Mom said when she dropped Kaitlyn off, "Lily is just being a stinker today.  Kaitlyn was good, but Lily was causing all these fights, and just wasn't behaving well enough to have friends over."  So yesterday, Kaitlyn told me "I want to go to Lily's house to play today.  'Cause you 'member, Lily isn't a stinker anymore.  So that means I can go play at Lily's house."

*She had fun with Valentine's Day too.  She did the whole thing all by herself - she wrote her name on them all, her friend's names on them all, sealed them up, decorated her box, you name it.  I saw a lot of really elaborate Valentine's boxes on facebook yesterday, but I liked having her do all the work.  She even liked "accessorizing" her own outfit.

I love little kid handwriting!

Kaitlyn's favorite of the day was "heart attack"ing Daddy's truck at work.  I made some apple doughnuts for him (leaving a batch of those in his truck for his birthday led us to get back together when we were dating way back when) and helped the kids cut out and decorate a bunch of hearts.  And Kaitlyn loved that it was a surprise.  We parked a block or two from Daddy's work to cut them out in the back of my Pilot, and she kept saying that "we need to hide so Daddy doesn't see us!"  and then ducking down.  And when we got out to run and put the hearts on, she told me we needed to whisper so he didn't hear us. 

And apparently, last night she told the babysitter "no!  I can't be your Valentine!  I'm a person, not a Valentine!"  Silly babysitter.