Off and Running

Another sunny, slightly warmer day greeted us today.

Beautiful view of the mountains
(Although there is still a little too much snow on them)

And as we had the entire afternoon to ourselves, I decided to pull out the bicycles.

Roman took off like it hasn't been almost 5 months since he last rode his bike.

Roman is happy to be back on his wheels

Off and running

Blaise, on the other hand, is taking another step from baby to little boy.

Last summer, we put Roman's old tricycle together for Blaise. But, of course, since he was only just 2 year old, he was too little to ride it. His feet didn't even touch the ground. So we put the tricycle away, and bought him a little pedal-less scooter thing (ya know, the things really little kids ride...what are they called...anyhoo...) Well, he loved it. And could go suprisingly fast on it. But during the months of being cooped up during the winter, and in the process of being, well, being Blaise, he broke off both handles of his little boy bike.

So it was time to pull to tricycle back out. (Thank goodness it remained assembled.)

Blaise, looking very pleased with
his new, more grown up set of wheels

He loves it. Even though he refused to use the pedals today.

Okay, this picture has no point
I just thought it was funny

Turns out, he can go even faster on this one.

Even harder to keep up with now

The Scariest Thing of All

Blaise is taking the most official step there is between being a baby and being a little boy.

That's right. We have started potty training.

As a new parent, I think I was more afraid of potty training than anything else. Give me 3 am feedings, give me fevers of unknown cause, give me terrible twos and adolescence. But please, please, spare me from potty training.

As it turned out, Roman was a breeze to potty train. It could not have gone better.

Blaise is 30 months old. 2 1/2. The perfect age to start. (Especially since pediatricians recommend that potty training not be started until after the age of 27 months.)

I have been dragging my feet on getting started. I always had excuses. "I'm still in school." "I'm traveling for interviews." "I'm working on a research project." I kept telling Keith, my mom, and the daycare that I was waiting until I had more time at home and could focus on it.

But truthfully, that's not the reason. Blaise still seems so little to me. He is round, and chubby, and dimply, and giggly. He's still my baby. And I want to keep it that way as long as possible. Potty training means that he leaves the title of baby behind and joins his brother as a little boy.


But, as he kept asking to go potty, there wasn't any sense to continue to procrastinate. He's ready, so I need to become ready.

So we have started. Slowly.

Wish us luck.

Road Kill

Coming back from my brother's and sister's high school play of "Pride and Predjudice," we hit a skunk.

Just my luck. The first skunk I have seen in the wild, well, alive. And now it is road kill. Poor thing.

Our car stinks. At first we didn't smell anything. But 30 seconds later, the smell was so overpowering, my eyes watered. They say that if you get sprayed by a skunk, you should bathe in tomato juice. What if your car gets sprayed? And still stinks 4 days later? I don't know any car wash centers that offer tomato juice cycles.

This is the second animal we have hit.

We hit a deer the day after Christmas.

We hit poor Pepe le Pew the day before Valentine's.


Tell the rabbits to stay off the road around Easter.

Sugar and Hearts

Valentine's Day in our house means crafts. Both the paper and the culinary kind. (And by culinary, I do mean a cake mix and pre-made frosting. Oh, and sprinkles.)

Roman assembling valentines at the kitchen table
(The center for all creativity in our house.)

Two days before, the boys and I made valentines with construction paper, paint chip mosaics, and glitter (and obvious Valentine's essential).

Roman showing off his progress on his valentine

The finished product: mosaic and glitter love notes

Blaise, although not quite up to assembling a paper mosaic, did enjoy having me cut out a stack of hearts for him and then flew his "butterflies" all over the house.

Blaise showing off his "butterfly"
(And yes, that's a bouncy ball in his mouth
and I'm perfectly aware of the choking potential.)

The day before we make cupcakes, which in this house, are almost synonymous with Valentine's Day (and St. Patrick's day, but that, obviously, calls for a different color of sprinkles.)

The perfect Valentine's cupcake (and they're delicious)

These darling cupcakes were made with paint card hearts, an idea "borrowed" from this charming blog.

And with the strawberry flavor, the pink-white-and-red color combo, and hearts, this is the perfect Valentine's treat.

Happy Valentine's. Wishing you many frosting covered kisses.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

Roman has a "journal" that he writes is for homework. He writes three sentences about a topic. Sometimes he chooses. Sometimes I choose. Yesterday, I had him write about Valentine's Day.

Apparently, the male attitude towards Valentine's Day starts young. Like at six.

Poll Results

Those of you who visit here regularly may have noticed the poll on the side bar. (Well, don't go looking now, it's gone.)

It contained all the places I applied to for residency. I was going to let everyone vote on where they thought I should go. (But I had to leave Utah off the list, because I know that many of you can't stand the idea of us going any where but here.)

The poll closed back in November or December.

There were plenty of options, 16 all together. Loma Linda, UC San Diego, Stanford, Oregon HSU, Denver, Iowa, Texas Southwestern, Texas San Antonio, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, North Carolina Chapel Hill, Virginia, South Carolina, Washington, Virginia Mason, and New Mexico.

The votes weren't as plentiful as the options, but the opinions were:
- Loma Linda: 2 votes
- Stanford: 1 vote
- Southwestern: 1 vote
- Vanderbilt: 1 vote
- South Carolina: 1 vote
- Washington: 1 vote

I appreciate everybody's input.

However, the reality of interviewing and my opinions about the programs didn't really match the poll results (especially since I didn't get interviews at Stanford, Washington, or Wake Forest. I also canceled interviews at Virginia, New Mexico, and Virginia Mason. So really, there were only 10 choices instead of 16.)

My finalists (in alphabetical order to not indicate any preference) are Colorado, Iowa, Loma Linda, North Carolina, Oregon, San Antonio, and Vanderbilt.

I'm waiting until rank lists are due (February 25) until I actually start talking about programs and my preferences. Just because I'm superstitious. I don't want someone for one of the programs to come across my blog and change their opinion (good or bad) of me because of something I wrote. (Although there are programs left off my list, which obviously means I'm not even considering them, which if those programs find out, I don't really care.)

So stay tuned.

(Oh, and if you want to own up to your vote and tell me why, feel free to drop a line.)

Lights, Camera, Birthday

Yesterday, we met up with Keith's brother to celebrate our nephew Stryder's birthday. He's turning 6.

Happy Birthday, Stryder!

He is literally a ball of energy.

So his birthday was at the perfect place: Chuck E. Cheese.

We have never been there. We did walk through the front door once, took one look around and promptly left. The boys didn't complain. They didn't know what they were missing.

This time, we braved the crowds to celebrate with the boys' cousin.

After cake and presents, the kids dispersed to play games, spend tokens, and collect tickets.

Chuck E. Cheese is a casino for kids.

Lights, noise, and mirrors everywhere. And kids running everywhere. We felt claustrophobic.

We let Blaise ride the mini-carousel a couple times. And then we escaped to the Burger King down the street to let the boys play on the nearly empty play area there.

Ah, peace, and quiet, and hand sanitizer. Perfect.