Don't cry over wet pants....

I have been toilet training Sarah for many years now. Its not something I ever assumed would go quickly so that aspect of it has not been frustrating. In fact it has been somewhat of a relief to see what success we do have as we would like our child to not be dependant on others (at least not entirely) for this function.
Sarah has actually shown some excellent progress and we made the leap to wearing underpants vs. diapers/pull ups recently. She stays dry all morning. We do keep her on a schedule of going every 2 hours. If we go out we have her wear a pull up or when we expect a BM since she hasn't mastered that quite yet either. The afternoons are hit or miss...some days are dry and some are not.
She seems lately to have "relapsed". Its been rather sad and frustrating. Today she had 2 accidents at school! Which has not happened ALL year and almost never happened last year either. I am puzzled. And I kind of felt like all that work....what now!? But I am reminded of how long it took to her to walk...all the practice and what about feeding herself or using a cup. All these things we spent months, years, working on (and still work to improve). So should I cry over the wet pants? No, but I wanted to...but just for a minute.

Update

Some updated information about the half.
Today I looked at my "official" stats online. Turns out my time was 2:03:59! That's a whole minute and a half less!! I went off the clock but this is my chip time...so way more accurate. I suspected I would see a better time because my watch was at 2:04:something. Yippee! And in my division (females 35 to 39) I placed 38th...don't have a clue out of how many. But I do know that I finished 570th out of a total of 1167 runners in the half marathon. I placed 262 out of 687 female runners.
Sorry to bore you with details but I find them fascinating!!

Grand Rapids Half Marathon

Walking to the start
Excited!



Here we go!

Amost done!

Heading to the finish....

Done!

Finisher Medal!

Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon

I think I could write a book about today's experience. But the reality is it wouldn't do it justice. Its just far to personal an experience. Lots of neat things happened and I had a great time going over the run with Sandor and the boys but there's just no way to put it all in words. All in all it was an amazing experience and even makes me consider doing a full marathon some day.
The weather was great. Cool but clear and sunny. The route was good, pretty flat with only a few slight hills. The aid stations were great. The whole event was really well put together.
Its amazing to see some 3000 runners in one place. It neat to see that runners come in all different shapes and sizes, they all run differently (some with short, quick strides and others with long ones, some with loud steps and others almost silent steps) and they all seem to love running.
I tested my endurance...I pushed farther than I ever had. I cried, I laughed, I revelled, I made it to the end. I had to remind myself more than once that if I had 4 babies with no pain meds I can do THIS! And I was right. I ran 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 35 seconds.
All the miles and months of training paid off. And in so many ways others have shared a part...Sandor first and foremost for Saturday after Saturday making it possible for me to get out and run for long periods of time, for supporting me and for buying me great running shoes! THANKS! My big boys who ran training runs with me and cheered on the sidelines at events. Thanks too to others who watched the kids for me or helped in some other way (Mel...Flirt with Dirt!) so I could train...and especially for the event itself. Thanks for keeping Tim and Sarah last night, Laura! You all made it possible for me to enjoy something important to me. I am so very blessed.

Teeth cleaning

Today I took Sarah to have her teeth cleaned. Its something we have to do for health. While we do try to brush her teeth once or twice a day....its hard to do. She is somewhat resistant, but improving. Regardless of that we take her every 6 months for a cleaning at an excellent peds dentist who works with lots of special needs kids. But for Sarah to have her teeth cleaned she must either be sedated or restrained. We go with the later because its less risky for her and actually the dentist would prefer not to sedate her. However its pretty unpleasant for me. She screams the whole time and little tears run down the side of her face. I don't think the cleaning is really painful but its the fact that she is being restrained and her mouth is pried open and held that way...its traumatic for her but not painful. I was thinking last night...what if I sat out in the waiting room? Would she feel I had deserted her? Or when I am right there with them does she blame me or think I should rescue her? Likely I will never know. But I go in each time and hold her while she is put on a frame and strapped down. I hold her while the cleaning is taking place...because she is SO stinking strong she would likely squirm out of the restraints...the whole time reassuring her that she is OKAY. Its still rather unpleasant and I leave ruffled of mind and body. The muscles in my arms were shaking when they finished from working so hard to help hold her down. Its over now and I don't have to do it agian for 6 mos! Yippee! And the little bit of joy (because there is often some even in many unpleasant things) as soon as she was released...she grabbed me and held me and didn't want me to let go....that was nice...

Bekah's Birthday Party

Today was Bekah's 8th birthday party. It was a tea party extrodinare! With such a beautiful day to enjoy the girls started with hats to decorate with flowers and ribbon. Then they enjoyed a game of croquet. After playing there was a delightful tea...tea sandwiches, scones, cookies, fruit, and of course....tea. After that cupcakes and sherbet for dessert. It was amazing. Bekah opened her presents and that wrapped up the event. Can my sister throw a party or what??

The last long run....

Yesterday I ran my last "long" run before the half. I ran 12 miles. It was hard but good. I enjoy the fact that on my long runs I return home with a blank slate in my mind, so to speak. I can leave with all sorts of things running (no pun intended) through my mind. By the end everything has been thought through and I have a clean slate...ready to fill. I also enjoy the analogies I find between running and the Christian life. Inevitably they come into my mind as I run along. Example....iron sharpens iron. So true in our Christian walk and also in running...the crowd pulls you along in a race, moves you faster. The thought that kept hitting me (literally) yesterday was how it often seems the devil works harder against you the closer you get to Christ and to goals you are pursuing in your walk. The wind was like that for me yesterday. Which is why I said it was literally hitting me. The harder I pushed uphill the harder the wind seemed to blow and the nearer I got to home the harder and colder the wind felt. Does that make any sense?I also thought it was interesting that your muscles will complain as soon as you ask them to give you just a small bit more than you have ever asked of them. You KNOW (mentally) they can do it for you but they complain. However once they yield to your mental endurance those same complaining muscles will give you more than you expect and do it well. I marvel at how well designed God made each of us!And so I will begin tapering my runs after my regular run tomorrow. I will still be running but long will likely drop to 6 or 8 miles, moderate to 4 0r 5 and short will be around 3. They (the running "experts") say you do this so your body is well rested and repaired for race day. It makes me nervous....which "they" said it would. I didn't believe it when I read it but here I sit nervous about tapering....hmmm. See you at the finish line!