The first of many, I'm sure…

Nate took Gracie on her very first horsie ride on Sunday. She grinned the entire time, except for the moments when I was trying to take her picture. So, when it was over, we plunked her on the saddle all by herself and it was there that I best captured the grin.

I may have altered my very DNA…

So, I tried a little something new this morning. I got up before everyone else, went outside and ran 5 km.

(I'm going to pause for dramatic effect here, because anyone who knows me is staring at their screen with their mouths agape, unable to comprehend what they just read. "She got up EARLY? And then went RUNNING? DENICE?!?!")

Yes, I did. Now, I should reveal that getting up before everyone else in my house means getting up at 7:30 a.m. and not at the crack of dawn or anything. But still, for me, it might as well have been 5 a.m., because I am NOT A MORNING PERSON. Usually, it takes a good hour of wandering around aimlessly and A LOT of caffeine before I feel like a human being. And even then, I don't really have enough brain cells firing on all cylinders to be a fully functioning human being until at least 1 p.m.

But, I needed to make a change. I prefer to do my running at night, but lately there have just been too many obstacles getting in the way. Either Gracie goes to bed too late, or I have work to do for the paper, or I'm just busy having fun 'cause it's summer and there are places to go, people to see! Which is great, but I wasn't getting any exercise. And there's this little promise I made to my sister about the Fort Macleod Triathlon, and it's getting closer every day, so… I got my butt out of bed and went running.

And I didn't die! In fact, I kinda liked it. It was cooler outside than when I run in the evening, and hardly anyone else on the path I like to take. I let myself walk for a little while first until I woke up a bit, but as soon as the Black Eyed Peas started telling me to "Pump It!" I was off and running.

The only problem is, usually, when I run at night, I give it my all. 110% and all that cliche crap. I work as hard as I possibly can, then come home and collapse on my couch until my heart stops trying to jump out of my chest. Then, (and here's the important part), I GO TO BED. Because I'm exhausted! I have the best sleep in the history of sleep, and I wake up in the morning all rested and refreshed.

But people, here's the thing I had not considered when I left the house this morning. When you give it your all in a 5 km run first thing in the morning, you don't get to go home and go to bed when you're done. YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE WHOLE REST OF THE DAY!

It took my body awhile to accept that. It was all "Are you kidding me? You want me to like, DO STUFF now? You got me out of bed at the crack of 7:30 a.m., made me run 5 km, and now you want me to go about my day as if nothing happened? I DON'T THINK SO!"

But I got it to keep going by promising it that if Gracie had a nap today, it could nap too. Don't know what I'm going to have to promise it tomorrow…

Found my shoes!

Okay, I'm back from my second 5 km run…gasp…cough…wheeze… and I really think I can do this. Not tomorrow or anything (oh, I would be in big trouble if the race was tomorrow!) but I've still got 7 more weeks before the race. That's lots of time, right?

Right?

I'm only on my second run, but I'm already making progress. Tonight I made it 3 km without stopping. Which is waaaaay better than the first run I did last night, which was spent intermittently jogging and walking, and thinking that I had made a very, very, VERY big mistake.

I'm just so excited. I can do this! I can totally do this! I certainly won't be winning the race or anything, but I really only have three goals for this race:
1. Have a fun day with my sister
2. Lose some of those last 15 pounds that seem to be holding onto my body with a titanium grip.
3. Not embarrass myself by coming in dead last.

I can totally do this!

Better find my running shoes…

I have either done something very smart, or very stupid. I'm not sure which.

I have agreed to run the 5 km part of a half triathlon, for my sister who can no longer run. She will do the swimming and the biking, and I will run. Fun sister bonding, right? Except that I have yet to run one single step this year. And the race is August 15.

I have been doing A LOT of step aerobics in my basement for the last couple of months, including a super kick-ass interval workout that has whipped me into much better shape in a pretty short period of time. So I'm confident that my newfound fitness should fairly easily translate into a decent run time.

I also really need an excuse to push myself a little bit harder so I can lose that last 10 pounds. I find I do much better when I'm working towards a specific goal. I enjoy exercise so I do it anyway; but I push myself just that much harder when I'm working towards a goal.

I can do this, right?

Right?

Somebody tell me I'm right!!!

I'm going to go for my first run tonight as soon as I put Gracie to bed. I'll update you on how stupid this idea is tomorrow.

What have I been up to, you ask?

So, things have been pretty boring around here lately. Boring, boring, boring. Nothing new. Nothing new at all. Zip, nada, nothing.

Oh, wait. Come to think of it, there is this one little thing that happened. Gracie started talking. But you know, no big deal or anything.

Hee hee hee.

Oh My God you guys!!! She's talking!!! And not just words -- whole sentences! Like, a month ago she was pointing at things, and today she is saying "Yes Please" and "No Thank You" and "Chicken and Rice for Supper Please!"

This morning, I said we were out of milk and she said: "Shopping At Superstore?" Seriously! I'm so excited I could explode. No, I'm so excited that there are not enough exclamation marks in the world to properly convey it.

Okay, seriously, I can't tell you how nice it is to have a conversation with my Gracie. I can ask her a question, and get a real answer! I don't have to play a reeeeaaaallllyyy long game of charades to find out if she wants water or milk to drink. Or what part of her is injured when she comes running to me with tears streaming down her face. Or where she put that damn brown horse…

It's also really intriguing to find out what has been going on in that head of hers. For example, there's this game she has been playing for months that goes like this: Two horses climb up to the top of a chair, one falls down to the seat, and she lets out a series of squeals. Then the other horse comes down to the seat and she kind of mumbles something while they hug each other. But the other day, the squeals turned into: "Help! Help!" and "I'll save you!" and the mumbles turned into: "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" And NOW I understand what the game is!

I'm just! so! excited! that I am beside myself with glee. And no, I don't think I'll ever wish that she would just shut up. At least not yet, anyway.

SHE'S TALKING! SHE'S TALKING! SHE'S TALKING!!!!!

Figurative vs. Literal for the 2-year-old

Lesson for the day:

DO NOT, under any circumstances, tell your 2-year-old that there is a frog in your throat when your voice goes a little funny.

It will lead to looks of fear, a very long discussion about how it's just something people say, and will end with you digging out a flashlight and opening your mouth very wide so the 2-year-old can see for herself that there is no real live frog in your throat.

Learn from my mistakes people. Learn from my mistakes.

She can't talk, but…

I don't let Gracie eat much junk food, but these multi-grain alphabet pretzels are just so much fun, I make them a regular treat. She's still not really talking, but she can PICK OUT THE LETTERS OF HER NAME from a pile of alphabet pretzels, and help me put them in the right order. Now, I'm pretty new to this parenting thing, but I think that's pretty impressive for a kid who's just over 2 years old.

She's also getting really good at spelling Horse. Only she's quite sure there needs to be another E at the end of horse. I asked her if that made it a Horsie, and she said "uh-huh". But then, I could ask her if we should go get a root canal tomorrow, and she would probably say "uh-huh" to that too.