Two Spills In Two Days

Babies are asleep, so I've gone kind of blog crazy. Jameson has had a rough couple of days though, so I thought we might want to remember them.

Yesterday, my mom, Jameson, and I went to Sam's to get a few things. After we checked out, we stopped by their food area to get something to eat. At this particular Sam's they have the all-in-one table and bench combination where you're not really sure where the table ends and the bench begins. Anyway, they don't have backs. I think this was the first time Jameson sat in one of these. I picked him up, set him in the seat, and no sooner had I set him down and he was already leaning back and losing his balance.

I realized he was falling too late, but I managed to break his fall by grabbing his shirt. Nonetheless, he continued to fall head first toward the ground. I heard his head bonk against the concrete floor, and I picked him up right away. I was scared because it's a hard floor, and he was crying relatively hard. I took him to the bathroom to compose him, and he seemed okay within a couple of minutes. I could already feel the goose egg he was developing. He didn't show any signs of concussion or any other head trauma, so we headed home and I kept an eye on him. He seemed okay the rest of the night, and I was glad I was able to catch him at least enough to break his fall.

He still has his goose egg.

As if one spill was not enough, earlier today I was carrying up Truman after he had fallen asleep in his high chair. I told Jameson I would be right back. When I walked out of the twins' room, I realize that Jameson is at the top of the stairs waiting for me. I tell him to head back downstairs carefully. He turns abruptly, and loses his balance. He tumbles a couple of stairs. I don't panic at first because he seems to regain his balance. But as he tries to continue downstairs, he tumbles down another couple of stairs. Now, I start to panic.

I feel myself frozen, not sure what to do as I watch him tumbling down the stairs. He is falling slowly, and I don't know if I should try to catch him before he hits the ground. I am kind of afraid to stumble after or on top of him and make it worse. At this point, he is close to the bottom, and he has continued to stumble down slowly. Unfortunately, his tumbling accelerates on the last four stairs, and he lands with a thud, luckily not on his head, but on his side.

I race downstairs to pick him up and check for injuries. He seems okay and is more scared than injured. My heart is racing, and again, I find myself thanking God it wasn't more serious.

Two days, two falls, but apparently, no worse for the wear . . . somehow, somewhere, someone is watching over him when I cannot - or fail in doing so.

Truman's First Volley

I come from a soccer family. My brother played for a top Division 3 university and coached at the university level. I played D1 soccer and grew up playing club soccer and olympic development soccer. My sister, like me, played all her life and choose not to continue playing the university level, despite her ability. My father played for the amateur selection for the Mexican National Team before he moved to the states. For many years, we talked mostly about soccer. I do not hold out any aspirations for my kids to be soccer players, but I certainly will not oppose it. My brother and father, on the other hand, I think can't wait until my kids are old enough to get them started.

Here is Truman's first volley. He seems to be enjoying it.

Six Belts Down, Six To Go

I tested for my blue belt on Friday, and I am still sore from the test (and practice the day before). I passed the test, so that leaves me with 6 belt tests to get my black belt. However, because testing periods after your blue belt are 4 to 6 months apart, it will probably take me about 2 years, depending on my progress.

I'm having a great time doing Tae Kwon Do. Not since my soccer days had I felt truly athletically challenged and motivated to continue with something. When I played soccer I considered myself a technique specialist. By that I mean that I relied, above all else, on my technique. I'm only 4'11", so I obviously could not rely on my size. Instead, I focused on making sure I mastered every technique and was quicker than most opponents.

Fortunately, Tae Kwon Do is all about technique and quickness. So far, I have been able to keep up with my belt requirements with no additional practice time or exercise time. Unfortunately, I think this honeymoon period is coming to an end. As you might expect, testing requirements for belts increase as you move up, that includes physical fitness. Compared to my fitness level 6 months ago, I am much more fit. Yet, compared to where I need to be, I have a ways to go.

James has been great about making himself available so I can get to class, but it's about to get harder. I started preparing him the other day when I mentioned that I will have to go to more classes and for longer periods when I'm training for my black belt. He said it was fine as long as I afforded him the same liberty. I'm holding out hope that Jameson will be able to focus for a whole class soon, so I can just take him with me. Well, that's still a long way off.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. Sorry, no pictures this time.

Do You Like To Read?

Just a quick post to share a website that I learned about from a Kim Komando newsletter.  If you like to read, go to openlibrary.org.  The goal of this project is to create a webpage for every book, many books are available to read online.  If you like to read, check it out!

Oh yeah, the Kim Komando newsletter is also pretty nice.  If you're a computer or internet junkie, it's a must.

Laundry Is Done . . . kinda

It's been a while since my last post, but if you notice the time this is when I have "time" to write.  Everyone is in bed, and the piles of clean, unfolded laundry were taunting me.  They're now folded, and I promised myself I wouldn't post unless I got the laundry folded first.  I'm not really done though because there's about 3 "dirty" piles still waiting for me to get to them.  Oh well, they will wait another day.

Don't worry this post is NOT about laundry, but it was on my mind when I started writing.

This post is about Jameson.  I have been meaning to write for a couple of weeks now about his newly found interest in chapter books.  I'm not crazy in that way, so I would never offer a chapter book to a 2 year old because I would not expect him to be interested.

About a month ago, I was at my parents' house, and I decided to bring home more of the stuff that still clutters my old room at their house.  Oddly, I have so many things still there that it looks like I still live there.  Anyway, that day I decided I would bring home more of the children's books that I accumulated while taking a children's literature course back when some bad circuitry in my brain had me thinking I would go into teaching (While doing my student teaching semester, I decided it wasn't for me).  

I brought home a small Roald Dahl collection that includes George's Marvelous Medicine, Matilda, The Twits, The BFG, and Esio Trot.  I set them on the desk upstairs, and didn't think much of them until I later saw that Jameson had moved them into his room.  Again, I just thought he would look at them and get bored once he realized they didn't have many pictures.

He didn't.  He asked me to read George's Marvelous Medicine, and we finished it a few days later.  We have since moved on to Matilda.  When I started reading George's Marvelous Medicine, I thought for sure he'd be bored in 5 minutes.  He wasn't.  In fact, he was anxious to find out what was going to happen.  I can't lie -  I was interested too.  It's a nice change reading a chapter book to him since picture books and such can get boring when you're reading them for the tenth time.  On the other hand, some never get old because they're fun to read.

I'm interested to see if he asks me for more once we finish the Roald Dahl set, and I'm wondering where this will lead.  I'm not really a fiction aficionado, but I love non-fiction.  Lately, I've been on a business and financial topics kick.  You don't suppose he'd want to read Family Business Succession with me?  Okay, maybe I'll wait until he's four.