Daniel's 1st triathlon!

As I was perusing race options for myself a few weeks ago, I noticed a kids' triathlon on the schedule, the Monster Kids Tri in Keller. After reading more about it I thought Daniel might enjoy it and it would be a fun introduction for him into a sport I love. I told him about it and he was very enthusiastic so I signed him up.

As race day drew closer and I talked with him about what to expect he would get a big smile on his face and say he couldn't wait. The night before I walked him through my own pre-race ritual: inflate bike tires, make sure all labels are affixed to bike and helmet, load the bike on (or, in this case, in) the car, pack all gear, lay out clothes. 

Race morning started early. The race started at 7:30 and was a 30 minute drive from the house so we were out the door by 6:20. At first Daniel was hard to wake but he quickly became alert and excited once he realized what day it was. I offered to let him sleep in the car on the way there but he asked me to play loud music for him-just as I do on my race mornings! So we rocked out to Pitbull and Eminem and danced in our seats.

When we parked and went to the body marking line he said he had rocket boosters on his bike but was going to save them for the race. We enjoyed visiting with the families around us. Unsurprisingly, the parents were all triathletes themselves, and I have to say I haven't seen so much M-Dot (Ironman) apparel since Ironman Village in Victoria. I'm sure for all of them this race meant what it did to me: the chance to include our children in the sports we're passionate about. To share it with them so that our hobby isn't just something that takes us away from them but something fun we can enjoy together.

Of course, it's also about giving the kids a fun experience, and this tri definitely delivered. After body marking, we set up his transition area and headed into the natatorium where he took a spot with the rest of the Leap Frog (youngest kids) group. 

Finally, the event started, with the Leap Frogs starting 5 at a time. Their swim was 25m-one length of the pool, and each lane had a teen escort (I assume members of a local swim team) who had a pool noodle for the kids to hold onto. Daniel has swum 25m  before but made use of the noodle. I was waiting at the end of the lane and together we ran out to transition (note to self: next time bring the towel inside for him). Swim down, bike and run to go.

He was cold so wanted to wear pants and a long-sleeve shirt under his short-sleeve race tee shirt with race number. After one wardrobe change (and a little unplanned nudity when he decided to take off his swimsuit instead of layering the pants over it!), he got his helmet on and we walked the bike out of transition and over to the mount line. I watched him roll away on his balance bike and awaited his return. The bike was a 1 mile out-and-back, and soon enough he appeared on the other side of the road inbound for transition. I cheered him on as he rode to the dismount line and we ran the bike back to transition. 

We dropped off the bike and helmet and grabbed his Aggie cap (I wear an Aggie visor at my races, so this was his version of that) and sunglasses and headed out for the run. I asked Daniel if he wanted me to run with him or wait at the finish line and he wanted me to go with him and hold his hand. I'm recovering from a stress fracture and not really supposed to run but I couldn't pass up the chance to hold my son's hand as he ran his very first triathlon and I figured I could handle a .3 mile run at a 5 year old's pace. We ran-walked it and before long, the finish line was in sight. 

Holding hands, we ran together under the finish marker as the announcer called out "Daniel Williamson of Irving, first triathlon!" He got his finisher medal and was just beaming with pride as he looked at it.

Before we had even walked back to the car Daniel was already asking when he could do his next triathlon, and as he'd look at his medal he kept saying "I'm so, so happy I have this." I told him that the rule was after a race, the athlete gets to pick where to eat and he chose Chik-Fil-A "so I can eat chicken and fruit and play in the playscape." Of course, by the time we got there, the post-race doughnut he'd eaten at the finish line had had time to settle so he didn't touch his food but Rebecca got there just in time to eat it all. Younger siblings have their uses ;)

Afterward Daniel declared that he wanted a medal hanger like mine to hang this and all the other medals he plans to earn, and he asks every day when he gets to do his next race. I'm so glad he enjoyed the race and look forward to sharing more triathlon experiences-his and mine-over the coming years. It was well worth the early morning and drive to see the pride and joy on his face. My little triathlete!

Big girl Rebecca!

It's been awhile since I've done an update on Rebecca so I thought it was time! Our girl is 2 1/2 now and has really grown up a lot in the last few months.

Speech:

Rebecca's receptive language has always been good and she has had a lot of words for awhile but her articulation needed improvement. She could put together sentences of many words but only used the first syllable of every word. Just a few months ago she called herself "Beh" and me "Ma." She was referred for evaluation with an Early Childhood Intervention program but wasn't far enough behind to qualify. One of her teachers really worked with her this summer though and brought about great improvement. Now she proudly introduces herself as "Rebecca" and is much easier to understand. Which is good, because she has a lot to say!

A cute thing she's been saying a lot lately when we ask her if she wants to do something is "yes please, I'd LOVE to!" Speaking of love, we get lots of "I love you"s from her too, and when I tell her "I'm happy you're my girl" she'll reply "so happy you my mommy."

Naps:

Still napping some but lately reports home from school say she's resting but not sleeping on many days. Daniel had stopped napping well before his 2nd birthday so we're just glad to still get naps out of her at all this late in the game, but I'd bet she gives up the nap by year's end. Which may prove convenient for travels including one special birthday adventure we have planned...

Sleep:

She has been able to crawl into and out of her crib for months now but still likes to sleep in it and does more nights than not. In fact, there have been several nights she fell asleep in the full size bed in her room (the guest bed) but in the morning we discover her in the crib, having woken up and moved during the night. She enjoys the company of a full menagerie of stuffed animals but her beloved pink bunny lovey is the favorite.

 

She does enjoy sleeping in our bed sometimes, and we let her and Daniel take turns falling asleep in our bed. When I come to bed and hug her she'll immediately turn to throw her arms around my neck and cuddle.

Potty-training:

She's been in panties during the day since a little before her 2nd birthday but we hadn't tried potty training at night till just a few weeks ago. But now that she's sleeping in our bed regularly I thought we better take care of night potty-training while she still liked her crib and accident clean-up wouldn't be too bad. So imagine our surprise when we put her to bed in panties one night hoping for the best...and she stayed dry that night, and the next, and every night after! 

And with that, our family is officially done with our diapering days (well, for this stage of life). So I sorted all of our diaper stash and gave it all away to the Rebecca Foundation, a nonprofit that collects used cloth diapers, repairs them, and then passes them on to families in need. It was nice to know that after all the years of use we got out of them, now they'll go on to bless another family. And nice to know we have no more diapers to change ;) She has accidents sometimes during the day, mainly when she gets too busy playing and doesn't want to stop to potty, but she does pretty well most of the time.

School:

She returned this fall to the toddler class where she started in February and continues to enjoy it. She is proud to show off her works when they come home and seems to be learning well. She and Daniel are enjoying Soccer Shots and TOT basketball extracurriculars together and Rebecca will try ballet next week (figured she would benefit from having something on her own apart from big brother).

Over the summer the teachers started putting her hair up in pigtails for her and she loved it and looks like such a big girl with them. I try to do her hair sometimes but she informs me that "Miss Maggie" does a better job. I guess I'll need to watch some Youtube videos to improve my technique!

Sibling relations:

For the most part, Rebecca and Daniel get along well, enjoy each other's company, and play together. But being siblings they do of course fight and get on each other's nerves sometimes too. Sometimes Daniel is the dominant one-no surprise, as he's older and bigger- but Rebecca asserts herself pretty well on occasion. Case in point: there was a weekend night that we let them both sleep in our bed, but when we came up to go to bed we found she had captured the whole bed and Daniel had retreated to his own room. Not sure what transpired from the time we put them to bed to the time he left, but she seems to have had the upper hand.

One thing I love to see is how empathetic they are to each other. If one is hurt or upset the other will generally run over to console (assuming they didn't cause the crying in the first place). One day at school Daniel tripped and fell in the playground and was crying when he got up. Rebecca went over to him even before the teachers got there, and if the situation had been the other way around I'd bet he'd have done the same for her.

"Mimi Mouse":

Rebecca LOVES Minnie Mouse. Loves her. Always wants to wear a Minnie Mouse shirt (in her favorite color purple, preferably) and requires not one but 2 Minnie dolls to keep her company at night. Often covered with a Minnie Mouse blanket too. I've been known to use a Minnie Mouse voice (or my best approximation of what that must entail, since I don't think I've ever heard her voice) to get Rebecca to use the potty in a public place...Mommy asks and gets no response but Minnie asks and suddenly it's a different story. She refers to her as "Mimi Mouse" which I assume is a conflation of Minnie and Mimi, what the kids call my mom.

On a related note, we took the kids to the Sea Life aquarium a few months ago on a holiday weekend and commented as we were leaving how crowded it had been and how much more enjoyable it was to visit on off days. By the time we had reached our car, the conversation had morphed into a plan to take advantage of our last year of not having to worry about a school calendar and take the kids to Disneyland during the offseason. 

And so it is that Rebecca will celebrate her 3rd birthday in unforgettable fashion: at Disneyland with Minnie Mouse! We're all excited and eagerly looking forward to it and the kids already ask several times a week if today's the day we go to "Dis-a-ney-land."

Needless to say, when I asked her what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween, her answer was as immediate as it was predictable.

Rebecca has such a fun, funny, sweet personality, and it's fun to see that personality take shape more and more as she gets older. We love our sweet girl!