Turning into a blueberry...

I think that we actually have a valid case for fear that Nico might turn into a blueberry.  That kid loves blueberries.  CANNOT.GET.ENOUGH.  Still eating anything you dont staple down (except for peas).  Loves pasta and noodles and yogurt.  

Today was the first day that I have gotten him when he didnt look genuinely happy to see me.  He was outside by a picnic table holding onto it and cruising.  I think he was kind of annoyed that I was there.  :)

So Dave has a work thing down in Sarasota this week.  This entailed staying on the beach near Sarasota.  And well... given that I am currently awaiting approval for a job, I guess Nico and I were just going to have to come down and keep him company.  Like my dad always said, "It's hard work, but someone has to do it."

Earlier this week, I was toting soccer girls up to Thomasville to go to soccer camp.  Which meant that Dave was originally going to drive down tonight and me follow with Nico tomorrow afternoon. But then our senior GK stepped up and offered to tote the girls, letting me off the hook.  Which meant that the nice and easy and relaxed packing that I was going to do tonight, got bumped up to: lets find the biggest bag we have and just start putting stuff in it.  Consequently, it is entirely possible that I have 25 t-shirts and no shorts or that I pulled a DiPonio.  Sounds about right to me.

We almost got in a wreck tonight when Dave was in the backseat with Nico.  "Sail Away" by STYX came on and he started singing it a la Cartman (from Southpark).  It was HILARIOUS!!  Tears were running down my face...



In any case, Granny You is coming up on Friday.  We are going to finish one of Nico's birthday gifts (shhhhhhh, dont tell him...it is a quilt).  Then Grandma and Grandpa Royse are coming on Saturday morning with Aunt Rosie.  I hope to do some swims and some runs while we are here.  The Marianna Tri is a little less than three weeks away and I have yet to do any swims at all... let alone open water swims.  Good thing I am not trying to win!!  Also hoping to get do some edits on the old dissertation.  Yesterday I set up chapter 5 runs... lots of gllamm (which take forever to run).  I am hoping that I will have some beautimous log files waiting for me when I get back.  Next week writing (hardcore) with the hopes of getting it to committee by about July 7 so they can have it for a month before I want to defend it (crosses fingers).

So that is all... will check in with you all later.  Have a wonderful rest of the week!

England, Cranes and TSA

Ohai!

Not much to say about the weekend.  It started with a FAIL for me on Friday.  I set up some analyses to run and decided to go on a bike ride.  Four miles out and back on the trail.  I told myself I would work hard and then go take a quick dip in the new FSU pool (out by the Mag Lab).  I got there at 231.  The pool closed at 230 for swim team practice.  So I was a little annoyed.  But then Dave suggested that I go to Wade Wehunt, which is in Myers Park.  Since I had already picked Nico by then... we ended up going swimming. And it was awesome.  Nico was a little unsure for a while, but then he started to really like it.  Isn't a big fan when Mama dunks us under, but.... he liked swimming for the most part. His favorite part seemed to be hanging onto the side wall all by himself.  It was pretty cool.  Worth every penny of the 3.50 we spent to get into the place.

Saturday we had practice... which sucked.  I can't lie.  I knew, intellectually, that those Saturday morning practices sucked last year when we started them... but it really is a boon for Dave who has a hard time getting to practices during the week.  But Saturday was hot and muggy and gross.  Nico was over practice almost as soon as we got there.  Can't say I blame him all that much.

Afterwards, we came home to watch a little England v. USA soccer.  I cheer for England.  Yeah- what of it?  Here is the thing:  I spend most of the Fall-Winter-Spring watching England... almost all of their National Team starters play for the major clubs in England.  So the National team games are kind of like All-Star games... when there are more than three of our starters playing in England, we can talk about me cheering for the US. Until then, go Lions!  In any case, my heart broke a little for Robert Green (the GK).  What is really shitty in this teched up society is that the goal he gave up for the tie will be noted in his Wikipedia entry (or his obit).  Personally, I blame Capello... fact is, every guy that steps onto pitch needs to have confidence that he is the man for the job, GKs need it more than anyone.  They live and die by confidence... seriously.  The best GKs have that swagger- that cockiness, that arrogance.  With all the talk about Calamity James maybe being the go-to  guy, my guess is that Robert Green was a bundle of nerves when he stepped onto pitch.  That is when you see mistakes like that goal.  Heart breaking.  Of course, it may not all be lost... he might end up like Jersey Dudek in the Champions League final in 2005... Dudek was the reason Liverpool were down by three goals at half time in the Final. But he came up big twice against Shevchenko at the end of regulation.  Then he SAVED TWO PKs in the ensuing shoot out.  So now whenever anyone talks about Dudek, they dont generally bring up the three terrible goals he gave up early on... but rather as him being the hero of Liverpool in the shootout (worthy of his own song and dance: "Du the Dudek" check it out here:

Wow. That was a long tangent.

So Nico watched a little of the England game... but was mostly ready for a nap... not much happened on Saturday night except that we hung around the house.  Sunday, I rode my bike to campus to work on the Ole Dissertationaroo. I had forgotten how much the ride to campus sucks from anywhere in Tallahassee (damn you hills!!)  When I was done on campus, I came home and ended up taking Nico to TSA to watch Dave play soccer- which was pretty fun. When we got home, I started putting together a mobile that I have been wanting to make for Nico. I ordered the origami cranes a while ago on Etsy (sorry the picture isn't better).  I thought they might make a cool mobile for his room.  Yes,it is pretty sweet.  Thank you very much!

 Altogether, a pretty good weekend, I think.

The Seat of Power

We had a nice relaxing weekend, but hit it hard on the grindstone yesterday. Since Nico is getting to the point where he can hold up his own head a little, I thought it might be kind of fun for him to try out his little bumpo seat thing that his Grandma Royse got him. Its been a boon for us. I can actually set him in it and eat breakfast or do some laundry without him freaking out. I think its because he can see a little better sitting up in it... so he doesnt wig out that I've left. So that is good. A video of Dave playing the harmonica for him. And yes, that is a halloween hat. That mysteriously appeared in the house after one of Dave's recent trips to Target.




Tryouts started yesterday and we ended up with about 10-12 more girls than we expected, tiny little freshmen and sophomores that came out of nowhere. Good for the team, bad for organizing. Nico was a peach coming back from Wakulla yesterday. Trying to figureout how to duplicate THAT.

All for now...

I can haz a read?

So I finished reading "How to Teach Your Baby to Read" and MAN! It blew my mind! Defintely going to try to teach little homey to read using the method described in the book- which coincidentally, is not like learning ABCs and then small words and then reading... it starts by having kids memorize words that they know and use... like "Mommy", "Daddy", "nose", "toes", etc. Which makes sense, because those are things that babies are interested in... and its kind of difficult to explain what a "C" is.

Doman, the guy that wrote the book called it "The Gentle Revolution", which is to say that we can teach our kids to be excited and in love with learning, if we make it fun and exciting for them early on. And that you really can't start too early with trying to teach children. The majority of brain development takes place before the age of 8... so now is the time for him to learn. Even more amazing, is that the book talks about kids learning language and how easy it is for them to pick it up, just by hearing it. Makes me wish that we didnt live here. If we lived in India or Mexico or China and had an Nanny- Nico would grow up speaking Hindi, Spanish or Chinese. Since Dave's only second language that he is conversational in is French, I guess that means I need to learn French so that we can be conversational in the house... either that or Dave needs to learn Chinese with me (What? Dude- one in five people on this planet speaks Chinese, and that is not going to change in HIS life time. It really is the language of the future. My mother calling me a commie socialist pinko in 3....2....1....)

Got the chance to go to the gym last night. Managed to run about .75 miles and walk 1.25 miles, did some time on the ellipitcal and did some weights. Consequently, I am hobbling around like an old lady today. But it was nice- I'd almost forgotten how much I love the gym. Of course, I get home to find out that Nico had been screaming for the last four hours, non-stop. Which brings me to Nico's first ever Likes/Dislikes list:

Likes:
The Jimmy Buffett/Eagles/Van Morrison Genre
Sleeping on Mom
Showers
The Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack
Windows down
My beanbag stuffed dog
Dislikes:
Mom tutoring
Mom eating spicy foods, foods containing lots of garlic, or Mom drinking Milk.
Big dumb trucks honking while he is sleeping.
Riding back from Wakulla
Being in his carseat.

Soccer!!

So we had a pretty decent weekend. Friday night, Nico and I went with our friend Lauren to the FSU womens soccer game against University of South Alabama. Dave met us there after work. It was a sort of fun game to watch- lots of scoring by the Seminoles (8 goals), and nice passing... which you can do when you're playing a push-over team... Nico was a bit bored, overall. Dave and I both found a new favorite player for the Noles, a left-footed left back- who has a super sweet cross and is rock solid in the back...


Saturday we hung around the house and watched the Premier League... Liverpool won (barely) and my fantasy team had a good week. We took Nico to Publix for groceries on Saturday... he chilled out in the Baby Bjorn and slept through most of it. Although, I am not sure what is going to happen when he gets up to 20 pounds... I am not sure I can tote a 20 pounder around the store in a front pack. It might be time for him to start walking by then...

I submitted the project evaluation that has been hanging over my head for the last month. Its a great feeling knowing that I am done with that. If you will excuse me, I am going to take a couple of days to chill out with Nico, doing things like napping on the couch in the middle of an afternoon thunderstorm while watching movies on TV. I know, Jessi, what about your PAA submission? It will get done. Its been kind of fun to hang out with Lil Homey.

Tomorrow if we can get our act together a bit early, we are going to the breastfeeding support group here in town. I suspect that Nico isn't quite "getting" it still. This is probably my fault, since we had to bottle feed from early on. But still hopeful that they can get some of our issues straightened out- even if he is three weeks old... hopefully he is not too set in his ways yet.



The soccer season is about to start... we have our fall informational meeting tomorrow night- during which Nico will take his first of MANY trips down to Wakulla. I have said before every season- but I cant believe the season is here so fast. It seems like last week when we played our last game in Panama City. Of course, we start preseason this week- and I would be surprised if they were all in shape. Call me pessimistic, but I foresee a bunch of girls throwing up during the first preseason session. Good thing they have a coach who is prepared to point and laugh at them...

I am hoping this year will be fun- the culmination of three years of training and coaching... mine and Dave's hope is that our "freshmen" who have been playing together for three years will finally gel and start playing consistently at the level that they can play at. We lost five seniors last year, but are returning most of our starting line up. We're apparently getting a big-gun from TUFC, which might help. And our GK has started training like the player I know that she can be (she's officially joined the Jessi Bishop Bad a$$ club by taking a knee to the face during a game a couple of weeks ago... she made the save, but may need to have her braces put back on :).

So it should be a fun year.