Nigel's stuffed friends are sick again, all throwing up. When this happens, Mom and Dad take it right in stride, expressing dismay and sympathy. The family gets out as many kitchen bowls as necessary for the friends to use, and they end up all around Nigel's bed, next to groups of the friends.
Nigel has been taking particularly good care of Baby Sarah, "Because she is my baby!".
For the better part of a year, now, Mom has been working with a trainer, Ivan, on general fitness. She has really noticed dramatic improvements in her abilities to run, hike, bike and just play. Her strength and endurance are hugely improved, and perhaps the largest benefit has come in the near-complete elimination of knee pain for her, even when exercising. Of course, side effects of changes in her body composition have been dramatic, as well.
Ivan has a real talent for keeping things interesting and motivating, and Mom's competitive nature dovetails very well with his style. Dad looks forward to hearing the stories from each week's training session report. They usually begin with something along the lines of "That man is going to be the death of me".
This past couple of months, they have worked particularly on running, toward Mom's goal of completing a half marathon, targeting the Park City event in August. Today brought one of the fruits of all that labor: Mom's completion of her first 5k race! She ran the Running of the Leopards race, from This is the Place State Park down to East High School. Mom's knees had bothered her somewhat during the earliest weeks of training, but have improved enough for this event to be doable without discomfort until afterward, and manageable then.
The whole family is very proud of all Mom's work, as is Ivan. Dad and Nigel cheered Mom on at around the halfway point of the race, before having to leave to get to Nigel's soccer game. Grandpa and Grandma M. saw her off at the start, and also managed to make it to the finish in time to see her cross the line. Aunt Blaire came down and met Mom after the race to congratulate her, and all the rest of Mom's family sent congratulatory messages.
After the race, Mom came over to Nigel's (indoor) soccer game, which Dad was coaching, and Grandpa and Grandma M. decided to do so, as well. After the game, Nigel and Dad presented Mom with a medal they had made for her: gold, with a pink number five on the front (Nigel's choice of color, of course), and a striped ribbon to go around her neck. It was a very proud day for the family.
Nigel's teachers at pre-school have noticed that he is often humming or singing music to himself while he works. Miss Shanny said she has been told that this is more common among gifted boys, in particular.
Mom and Dad have noticed Nigel singing often, as well, though perhaps not as much as he used to.
Dad and Nigel went out for a big adventure today, taking their bikes to the Jordan River Parkway for a ride. Rather than his yellow run bike, Dad persuaded Nigel to bring his white-and-pink pedal bike, to encourage him to practice a bit more with it.
Nigel had fun riding, especially over a section of unpaved trail, which he said was very bumpy, no doubt due to the small size of his wheels. (It looked to Dad like a very bumpy ride, indeed.) The hills also illustrated the difference in perspective a child Nigel's age faces. What seemed to Dad like the slightest uphill gradient was a major undertaking for Nigel, and the downhills sent him coasting at speeds that certainly terrified Dad, despite Nigel wearing gloves and a helmet, and may even have frightened Nigel briefly.
After riding what must have been more than a quarter-mile, they stopped to throw sticks into the river. This game lasted at least half an hour, with the memorable quote from Nigel, "Dad, the Jordan River is the perfect place for throwing dead and dormant plants, isn't it?"
The ride back had most of the downhills, and went surprisingly fast, given the time it took to get to the stopping point. Dad has estimated the whole ride as having been more than a mile long, from the parking lot at 5400 S up to the bridge at about 5000 S, then turning around and heading back on the paved trail.
Nigel is now reading signs when going about, and asks questions about or comments on them frequently. Yesterday, he asked why a catering van said "Special Occasions", and this morning he asked why a delivery truck said "Fight" (it actually said "Freight", which led to a discussion of what freight is).
Nigel is discovering more and more about the world around him all the time, and is using his reading abilities now to find many things for himself.
