2 yr, 7.5 month comparison

From time to time, I like to go through iPhoto and find pictures of the boys at the same age. It's fun to see the comparison and see how *different* they really are - despite the fact that people say they look so much alike. So, here they are - both at 2 years and 7.5 months.

Zander - Jan 2007


Mason - Oct 2009

Zander Update

I have not been great at updating my blog lately, but wanted to post an update on how Zander is doing in school - otherwise I know I'll forget when I think about the "good ol' days".

The first week of kindergarten went really well. Mana drops Zander off and the first week of school, the kids congregated on the front lawn with the teacher. Then, the teacher would lead the class into the school. After that first week, it was a normal routine. So for Zander, that means Mana dropping him off. Zander insisted that he come into the school and bring him to the locker area. Sure, no big deal. The kid needed a little help finding the classroom. Well, after a few times of this, Zander started crying when Mana tried to leave. It has gotten progressively worse. I did a few drop-offs lately so I could experience first-hand what Mana was dealing with. It's at the point where he has to be brought to the class and we have to literally pry him off our leg and then run like heck out of the school and hope he doesn't chase us down the hall.... but he does. So, we have to walk him back until a teacher can take him and hold him back from running after us.

I feel horrible - and confused at the same time. How can a kid hate school this early on. And especially when he's doing so well. At conferences, his teacher said that he is one of the smartest kids in class. He's one of only 3 kids that can recognize all their upper and lowercase letters. That wasn't a surprise to me. Honestly, I thought ALL kindergartners knew this - guess not. He's also one of only 2 kids that can count past 50. Again not surprised. I'm often entertained with his counting into the late hundreds on our morning drives to Lizzy's. The teacher also said he's very participatory. He's always raising his hand to answers questions and he's very helpful. He doesn't act up at all. They have a green/yellow/red stoplight program each day. At the beginning, you start out at green and if you do anything bad (not follow rules, not kind to friends, etc), you move to yellow. Break the law again and you're red. He has been green every day, so he's a good kid. Just hates the separation thing! I think a small part is that he knows that Mana and Mason head out to run errands and he thinks he's missing out of the "fun".

I've been working with the teacher on action plans to turn this situation around. She's been great. Our next plan of attack is to involve the school psychologist - and use a sticker chart at school for his successful drop-offs. Zander met her today and she will be meeting Zander at his locker for a few days. And then a few times after that, she will meet Zander at the school entrance. Hopefully, we can "wean" him from needing the support to get into school. I know he can do it. He's a smart kid. He just needs to gain some independence.

29.8... again. Seriously?!

No, I didn't run 29.8 miles. That's my weight loss I've been stuck at for 3 weeks now. I just gotta get that extra .2 pounds off so I can say I'm down 30.

My first 5K!!

On Saturday, October 3rd, I ran the Twin Cities 5K - my first ever 5k!!! I have been training for this race for several months using the couch-to-5k app for my iPhone. I swear by it. Anyhow back to the race. My dad ran with me. (To the left is our pre-race photo - before we got all sweaty) And my mom, Marissa, Jason, Zander and Mason cheered us on which was awesome!
It was a super cool experience. The race went out ~1.5 miles, turned around and came back the same route. Right out of the gate, we were packed like sardines. If it would have been this packed the entire race, it would have sucked. But it loosened up right away as we approached the hill. It was pretty gradual, but it lasted for over 1/2 a mile - ugghh! There were plenty of people linign the street and one home owner had some 80's music blaring. That was my comfort zone. I'm so used to running to music. This was the first time I didn't run to music, but I survived.

As we passed the 1 mile mark, a guy was shouting out the time.... "14 minutes." What?! It took me 14 minutes to run one mile?! Well, not really. It took over a minute to even get to the start line (when my chip crossed) AND that first mile was mostly uphill. So, I told myself to relax. After all, I wasn't worried about my time. I just wanted to run the whole thing, no walking. Also as we hit the 1 mile marker, the lead runner passed us. Holy crap, he's fast. Gotta keep moving. The runners thinned out as the race went on which was nice. I could not believe how many kids were running - and they were passing right by me. Some of them were just a few minutes behind the lead runner - crazy!

As we approached the "loop", I thought, 'halfway, I can DO this!' My dad talked a lot while we were running. Honestly, I didn't hear a lot of what he said with my ultra concentration and millions of things running through my head. A few times in the race, I had to mentally pinch myself... Holy crap, I'm running a race. A 5K, that's over 3 miles. Holy crap! Two months ago, I could not even run for 5 minutes. Then we passed a guy who was running and juggling at the same time. Crazy, but made me laugh.

As we kept running, more kids passed me, but I didn't care. Then, we hard a familiar voice - it was Jason. He had run up about a mile to find us and cheer us on. Then he ran back to warn our fans that we were approaching. I kept up the same pace pretty much the whole run. Soon, I could see the big hill - downhill this time. Not a fan of hills, neither uphill nor down.

As we came off the downhill, I spotted my fans - mom, Marissa, Jason, Zander and Mason!! Again super emotional! We passed them and I thought...'OMG, I'm almost there.' In my training I had only run for 30 minutes, so I got overwhelmed with emotion at the thought that this was the longest I had EVER run... EVER! At about 100 yards from the finish line, I picked up the pace and all of the sudden I found myself sprinting to the finish line. My adrenaline kicked in and I gave it my all at the very end.



I crossed the finish line with 39:07 on the clock. I was glad to come in under 40 minutes, but I knew that my "chip" time would be even better since I didn't cross the start line for a minute or two. I ran my first 5k in 37:40. So, what's next? I really want to do another race. I've gotta get me some winter running gear. The capris and t=shirt are not going to cut it in this Minnesota weather. It would be fun to do a themed race - like a Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas one.

Thanks Dad, for running with me!!