A Bun Out of the Oven

Ro has now been out of the "oven" as long as he's been in.  That is if you're using the mainstream nine-month timetable.  Which, as before mentioned on this blog, a pregnancy is usually measured as 40-weeks...or ten-months.  So technically, Ro still has some time to go before he's been out of the womb as long as he was in (even if you subtract the two-weeks a woman is not technically pregnant).  Not to mention the fact that he was eight-days late.  Either way, our little bun is nine-months old.  

Let me just say here how much I love this kid!  I seriously feel so lucky that I get to stay at home with him everyday.  This is the best job I've ever had.  

Which, I've discovered what a recluse I have become since Ro was born.  That longing to get-out-of-the-house I had when Ro was first born has completely disappeared.  I have little desire to be social.  Well, that sounds harsh.  It's not that I don't like being social, it's just that I don't have the need as much as I used to.  I think I've offended a lot of people with my new solitary lifestyle.  My lack to "reach-out" to others.  Let me just say here, it's not you - it's me.  It's not because I've been offended by anyone, or dislike people...I just tend to keep to myself these days.  And I'm okay with that.  For now.  Who knows, maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow...or next week...or in five-months...or in two-years.  I have the right to change my mind.   And I do enjoy being social.  I just don't do it very often anymore.

We spent Mother's Day at Wyatt's parents' house.  Wyatt's brother and family also joined us for dinner.  I had Wyatt snap these pictures of Ro hanging with his cousins.  Dawsyn is holding Ro in the top picture, and Landy is holding Ro in the bottom picture.  Pretty cute!  

Roosevelt still loves baths.  In fact, he first learned how to sit-up by himself (from a lying-down position) in the bath tub.  I'm not sure if this was a coincidence or if there really is something to being naked in the tub to master this particular skill.  He can now do this trick on the outside of the tub too.  It's very fun to watch him "dance" at the waters edge as he waits for the tub to fill with water.  

Ro and I go on near-daily bike rides.  As I suspected, he has warmed-up to the activity and even quite enjoys it now.  He flap his arms with excitement as we head to the garage to retrieve my bicycle.  And again when we're going fast down a hill or on the trails through the trees.  Sometimes he even rests his little hand on mine while I steer with the handlebars.  That really warms my heart.  It's fun to watch everyone's reaction when they see us pass by them.  Lots and lots of smiles!  We passed one little kid today that exclaimed with excitement, "there's a baby riding on the front of the bicycle!"

Ro has broadened his vocabulary.  He now knows two letters.  His current favorite being "M" for "mama."  I admit, I feel a bit smug that he says "mama" before "dada."  Even if Ro doesn't yet know that "mama" is my name.  Or rather, that he's not saying "mama" to call for me. 

Wyatt's birthday was on the 12th.  We had a birthday cake for him and his brother on Mother's Day.  And then a quiet little celebration at home.  I put paint on Ro's hands so he could help me make a poster for Wyatt.  I think Ro takes after me in the department of not wanting to get his hands dirty.  

If I were to choose a future career for Ro, one that I think would suit him best, it'd be a mechanical engineer.  Ro has this way about him where he likes to "see how things work."  Even if it is just staring at it, watching it work.  He loves the swivel mirror in our bedroom.  He'll push it back-and-forth over and over and over, just watching it work...  It will be interesting to see how that changes (or doesn't) as he gets older.  

One thing I love about spending my days with Ro is that we get to do all sorts of things I never got to do before.  Like go on picnics.  Last week we had a picnic at the temple.  

Roosevelt still isn't crawling...we can entice him to army crawl with certain things, like iPhones.  Mostly he just wants to walk.  We discovered the footstool of the chair in our family room glides along the carpet quite well.  So we put it in front of Ro one day and now he scoots himself all over the room.  We call it his scooter.  He still enjoys scaling along the furniture, and even the walls now.  The other morning I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and heard Ro's voice get louder and louder.  I peeked around the corner and he was scaling the wall from the family room to the kitchen.  With a giant smile might I add.  (I'd share a video but it isn't uploading.  Dumb.)

Just today Ro discovered that he can pull himself up in his crib.  That's when I snapped the picture above.  I put him down for a nap but never heard his babbling stop.  When I peeked in his room I saw him playing with the tag on Pangi's ear.  He was so proud of himself!  I was a proud mama too.  Which made it difficult to lay him back down for a nap.  Of course he pulled himself right back up again.  So we just postponed his afternoon nap until he was too tired to try his new trick.  

The fortune in my Chinese lunch the day before the race.

In non-Roosevelt news, I ran my third marathon this past weekend!  Yeah!  I participated in the Green River Marathon, or as Wyatt likes to call it, the "Green River Killer Marathon."  The route ran from Kent, Washington to Alki Beach in West Seattle.  It was a pretty low-production race.  It was free, so I didn't expect much.  And my expectations were pretty much on par...  There weren't any mile markers, so most of the time I had no idea how far I'd run and how fast I was running.  When the trail became ambiguous, there were spray painted orange arrows pointing the correct way.  I ran through business parks, literally.  And industrial neighborhoods.  And along side noisy busy roads.  What I'm trying to say is that it wasn't glamourous.  But (!) it was still fun!  That's what I love about running; it doesn't have to be the best of everything or anything to be fun.  

Of course I was nervous about the race all last week.  For more reasons than just running the race.  Wyatt and Ro weren't able to join me since Wyatt's dental board exams were RESCHEDULED for this past weekend.  (That's a whole other story...)  So Wyatt's brother Tyas and fam were kind enough to accept the challenge to watch Ro for the day.  And Wyatt was nice enough to agree to watch Ro the night before his stressful exams so I could stay in Seattle for the night.  Roosevelt received rave reviews from Wyatt's brother that he was an exceptional baby.  That made this mama happy!  

Lucky for me my friend Beatriz was up for running a free marathon and accompanied me for my 24-hour adventure.  We had a lot of fun!  And, as much as I missed my family, it was a nice break to be away for a night.  I had an entire bed to myself without the unsettling feeling that I might need to wake to tend to a crying baby.  Of course I was so happy to see my boys when I returned home.  Ro was so happy to see me too.  It's nice to be missed.

The best news of the weekend is that not only did I meet my goal to run a sub-four-hour marathon, I exceeded it!  I crossed the finish line at 3:54:40!!!  Six-minutes faster than four-hours.  And eight-minutes faster than my personal best!  I've been on cloud nine ever since!  Of course I paid a price for my hard work.  I lost two toe nails.  Boo-hoo-hoo!  Just in time for summer...nice.  Either Nike tweeked my favored Pegasus shoes, or my feet have grown since I was pregnant.  Either way my newish shoes murdered my toes.  But, it was worth it.