Shamrock!

We have had an eventful weekend.  Chris signed up from the Shamrock 8k (which is a tad under five miles), so we headed to Chesapeake for the weekend.

I love watching Eliot as he grows socially and begins interacting with other kids.  On Friday, he and cousin Matthew played with trains some.  Matthew taught him how to put trains on the track, which was first because Eliot doesn't have any trains or tracks--I figured he was a little young.  But he got it!  Then we met up with Lesley at the park where Eliot played with Kingston and Weston.  Of course, more parallel play is to be expected at this age, but Eliot did have fun following the kids around (when he wasn't chasing after people's dogs) and banging sticks on trees and offering snacks to Weston.

This morning was an early one for the race.  We all got up at 5:30 am, and I was really nervous about how Eliot would handle the whole thing.  He usually gets up at 8:00 am.  And then the buckle on my parents' stroller broke.  Oh man!  I came well prepared with milk, juice, water, snacks, and a packet of baby food.  Eliot didn't want any of it.  And he didn't fuss either.  He just want along with everything like it was no big deal.  I was very proud of him and he didn't even get a nap until 9:30 am in the car followed by breakfast out and then a real nap around 11:00 am.

And of course I have to say how proud I am of Chris.  He came in at 38 minutes, which was a pace of 7:46 per mile!  He placed 516.  Out of 9,000.  Even better time than when he ran the VA four miler a year and a half ago!  I know I'd be one of those people shuffling in at the end.  Ten minute miles are good for me.  And I have never ran more than three miles.  Ha.

After the race, we all attempted to take a good, long nap, but only Eliot was successful.  Then he ran around in my parents' backyard with the ball.  Eliot's vocabulary really seems to be growing.  Before, he had mastered about six words that he would say frequently and then there were another five or so that he would say sometimes.  Now he is repeating words that we say without any coaching.  Sometimes he remembers the word later on and says it again; sometimes it seems to be filed away for later use (and perhaps needs more reinforcement), but he is definitely growing.

Tomorrow we are having a family breakfast and then it is back to Lynchburg.  And back to submitting final grades.  We don't have too much as far as "events" in the calendar now.  So much had been planned looking forward to the race!  I guess we'll have to find a way to get the calendar moving again.