Inspirational

So I've been doing spin class at the local gym for a couple months. It's been going pretty well and I've started to become familiar with some of the others who go to the classes.

There's this one guy who, it turns out, does triathlons. He doesn't look like the prototypical triathlete, he's kinda stocky but pretty well built.

Anyway, after the last class, I ran into him (not literally). He said something to the affect of "Thank you for coming, it's nice not being the only guy in the class". I returned the thanks, since I too prefer not to be the only one of my gender in class.

Then he said "You're inspirational." Okay, whatever. I didn't know what that meant but he followed a little bit later with "It's good to have someone else in there with a BMI over 25."

He does have a point. On the whole, the people at the gym are a lean sort and thinking back to that particular class, the women were very stick-like.

But, now I think that the reason I am "inspirational" is because I'm chubby. I'm apparently the fat guy who "gives it his best".

mwz

Big Sister

Frances is such a good big sister. I don't know how she learned (since
neither of her parents had younger siblings) but she is a great big
sister.

A couple weeks ago, I went to the gym late in the evening. Arial put
the kids to bed and was satisfied that they were asleep. So, she went
downstairs to run.

While she was running, she noticed Frances on the stairs. She then
pieced together what happened.

At some point after Arial started running, Johann woke up and started
crying. Arial couldn't hear him over the treadmill but this woke up
Frances, who then went in to comfort Johann. This was evidenced by
Johann's light being turned on. She most likely sang to him since she
often sings to him when he is upset in the car (isn't she a good
sister?). When that failed to calm him, she went down and got Arial to
help calm him.

All said and done, Frances did everything right. She tried to solve the
problem herself and when that failed, she got help. I'm very proud of
her.

Another anecdote: I have been taking Frances with me to the gym when
they have child care open. She absolutely loves "playing with the
kids". But last week, I started taking Johann with us.

The first day I dropped him off, I told Frances that she needed to help
Johann. She immediately ran over to this stand-alone door thing and
indicated that I should bring Johann. Together, they played with the
door and Johann seemed like he was enjoying himself, so I left to work
out.

When I came back Johann was having a fine time watching a movie with all
the other kids. It wasn't traumatic for him at all. Even yesterday
when I left, I told Frances that she should take care of Johann and she
immediately stopped what she was doing and ran over to him.

I don't pretend to believe that they play together the whole time (in
fact I know they don't) but she helps him feel comfortable there. And
I'm sure if he ever became upset, she would help.

She's a good sister.

mwz

Walking and Talking 2

Johann is turning into a little person. We think he is legitimately
talking. He consistently calls the cats "ee" (although he has said
something more like "kitty", which we are calling his first word, he
mostly calls them "ee").

Arial says that he said "broom" tonight, even though mostly he just
drags the broom around and says "Ta-da".

He is talking a lot. Not necessarily real words but they sound like
they could be. He is mixing different sounds and Arial thinks that he
might actually be using real words sometimes and we just can't
understand him. I try to discern any possible meaning and act
accordingly, even if that just confuses him. But if Johann says
something that sounds like "down", I'll put him down. If he says
something like, "you need to invest more money in bonds", I tell him
that I find the idea of bonds weird.

To add to his personness, Johann is also walking a lot more normally.
He runs pretty well now (well it's more like walks quickly). Walking is
now his primary mode of self-transportation.

It's just so strange...

mwz

Walking and Talking?

Johann is walking all over the place now. He still does the Frankenstein walk (as Ariel calls it) but he is getting confident with it. He can step over small things and... well that's about it.

This last week, he has been saying things that sound a lot like on-topic words. Unfortunately, we can't get him to repeat any of it. Ariel says that she gave him a bottle and he said "Botta".

Another time, I was holding Johann while I pulled yogurt out of the fridge for him. I said "Do you want some yogurt?" and he said "yo-gurt" (in a very staccato way with each sylible like a small explosion). It's a little strange.

Ariel finally got him to say "Mama" too. That made her happy.

mwz

Shaving

I've been buzzing my hair for a while now, basically ever since I realized that I was losing my hair. Yesterday, I took the next big step. I shaved my head.

I've never done that before and it was not as easy as I hoped. I didn't get a real close shave, mostly because it is boring running a small razor over a large skull.

I suspect the inventor of Velcro shaved his head. Today, I have head stubble and when I put up the hood of my coat, it pretty much stuck to my head. It was really difficult to shift the cloth around on my head and sliding it off my head was near impossible (I had to lift it off). I was impressed at how much my head stubble grabbed at the fabric.

I have a theory on why I decided to do this now. I have recently started going to the gym again and yesterday (after my shaving experience) I noticed that the guys either have a full head of hair or they shave it all off. I think that is because you spend a fair amount of time around mirrors when you work out and you are constantly reminded of how sad your hair looks.

Apparently, I'm vain.

mwz