Eli's New Best Friend

So Eli has really taken a liking to Charlie this past week. It's neat to see how much Eli likes him, but at the same time I feel a little bad for Charlie. Eli just gets so excited and chases him and screams. Charlie is such a trooper though, he just runs from room to room and usually doesn't even jump up high to get away. His love for Charlie does scare me some though, especially when he puts his head on Charlie or his face near Charlies' face. I try to watch them very carefully. I can usually decipher Eli's scream of joy which means he is chasing Charlie around and I'll quit whatever it is I'm doing and go check out Mr. Trouble. He has started to throw stuff at him too, so I'm afraid that might become our next time-out trigger.

Another cute thing I saw Eli doing today. I was washing the dishes and Eli was looking out the back door. He caught his reflection in the glass door and started pointing at his shirt on the glass (he was wearing his Sesame Street jammies with a few characters on the shirt). After he would point it out on the glass, he would look down at himself and point to the character on his body. He did that for each character and I could tell he was so amazed. He's truly aware that it's him in the reflection now!

We also were awoken by a red chested blackbird this morning (I don't know if that's the technical name, but that's what it looks like). It has a very pretty chirp and was sitting right on the window ledge. We were able to sneak up on it and Eli got a good look before he flew off. It's been really fun to point out all the stuff of nature to him lately. Butterflies, birds, a ladybug the other day. I picked up the ladybug and put it on Eli. He wasn't too sure about that, shook it right off but thought it was cool while I was holding it. Also in our neighborhood, we have a lot of ditches where the water collects. The last few days that I have taken him on walks, I always notice frogs jumping around in there when I walk by. Today I decided to take him out of the stroller so he could look at them. They are pretty quick to jump as soon as they hear you, so I kept whispering to Eli to be quiet. That doesn't really work. But we did get a glimpse at a few, and even heard them making noise as they jumped away.

Duck Pond

We have a great duck pond here in Edmond. I've been to Hafer Park where it's at, but I never noticed it until a few weeks ago. Since then we go once a week. Eli loves chasing the ducks and squirrels. He doesn't even seem to be afraid of the geese.



Last week when we went, Eli was down on the ground feeding the ducks and he needed me to help him for a minute. I wasn't paying close enough attention I guess, and a goose snuck up behind him and tried to snatch his bread. I scooped him up and at the same time, kinda screamed a little. He started to cry a little so I'm not sure if he got snipped by the goose, or if I scared him. He forgot it after a few minutes and wanted to get back down and feed them. So glad I didn't scar him for life!



Here is some video of his first duck chase ever! There is no way to fix the camera angle at the end so you'll have to tilt your head to the side :)

Autism Piece Walk/5k Run

My neighbor Jodie and I before the race.

Today was the day of the race. I was feeling pretty ready, as ready as could be. My neighbor, Jodie, and I ran on Tuesday this week for 2.5 miles. We did pretty good and pretty much kept at a ten minute per mile pace. Although I hadn't made it to 3.1 miles yet in my training, I felt pretty confident that my adrenaline would carry me across the finish line.

I checked the weather forecast about a million times yesterday for the race today. Unfortunately it was looking like rain but hardly any wind. A good compromise in my opinion. It started raining pretty hard as we were driving there but calmed down once we pulled up and walked to get our timers. They gave us little sensors to put on our shoes that tell you your race time at the end. Awesome!

I also saw my friend from the MOMS club there, Jessica, so we all chit chatted before the race. They played the National Anthem before the race started, which I thought was nice and always makes me tear up whenever I hear it. The rain started to pick up right before we took off. I was ready to get going and warm up some, it was only 60.

There were a couple hundred (maybe?) runners there and we were at the front. I tried to start off at a slow pace. There were quite a lot of hills the first half of the race. I knew if I took off with too much gusto than I would be hitting the wall at the end. I would slow down for the most part every time I would go uphill. The course had a turn around point. I was so grateful for that! It's really nice to run to a certain point and know "Okay I'm halfway done." It is just a very big motivator.

The last mile was really tough. It varied between flat and somewhat downhill, some uphill. I think I made a few mistakes on this run. First, I ate too close to the race and I think I ate too much. Second, I think my pace might have been a little too fast at some points. I had the worst side cramps I have ever had while running. Every bouncing step was painful and even hurt to take deep breaths. I pretty much just ended up running with my hand on my side the last half mile. I probably looked to most people like I was going to pass out at any second. There was a guy taking pictures of runners at the end, I hope he missed me. My side is still hurting four hours later. I wonder if I strained a muscle or something.

Well, I finished all 3.1 miles in 32 minutes and 31 seconds. That's like 10 minutes 9 seconds per mile! No stopping, which is better than the time I ran a few years ago. I was in better shape back then too.

My next goal is to run a 5k with Eli. Not sure when the next one might be. But I am going to try and work in more strength training to my routine and improve my diet.