Sidewalks

With the beautiful weather we're experiencing here in Provo, Simon and I spend a lot of time outside. We like to swing, read, run around, and throw things at the dog; but our favorite thing to do is go on walks. We are blessed to live in a great neighborhood with a lot of sidewalks. The problem is... it seems that people don't know the purpose of a sidewalk. If you haven't figured it out yet; yes, this is going to be another ranting blog.
The name says it all "sideWALKS." The purpose of a sidewalk is to have a place to walk. I would even broaden the definition to include running and even riding a bike (I have a little boy, and when he can ride a bike I don't particularly want him in the road).
Now I will go into what a sidewalk is not used for.

1. Storing bikes, scooters, toy riding cars, etc. - It never fails. Everytime we go for a walk, we have to dodge various toys on the sidewalk. When I walked alone, I would just walk around whatever was in the way. Now that I am usually attached to a stroller, this isn't so easy. I either have to push the stroller over the grass, inevitably stepping in some kind of animal fecal matter; or I have to push the stroller out into the road, something I really don't like to do.
2. Parking cars - If someone is visiting a friend and there isn't room for their entire car to fit in the driveway, the polite thing would be to park on the side of the road. I find this is an uncommon practice. Rather, visitors tend to pull their cars as far into their friend's driveway as possible, without hitting the car already parked in the spot they're trying to occupy, thus blocking the sidewalk. If a car is blocking the sidewalk, my only options are; either lift the stroller over the car and then proceed to climb over the car myself, or push the stroller through the grass (see fecal matter comment above) and then push the stroller off a 3" high curb.
3. Riding a horse - That's right; I said it. Yesterday, Simon and I went for what should have been a lovely walk. About half way through the walk, I started to notice bits of... something on the sidewalk. Yes; it was horse poo. Someone had ridden their horse on the sidewalk. Now, either this horse had taken some Immodium, or there was more than one horse. Their was no way to dodge it. For goodness sake; ride your horse in the road!
4. A dog playground - On our walking route, there is an older lady with one of those dogs with the stringy-haired faces. You all know the kind I mean: the little yappy dogs that look like mops. The ones that always have who-knows-what caked in the hair around their mouths and eyes. This woman ties her dog to something in the garage and lets it run as far as the leash will go. The problem is, she extends this to the sidewalk. When I walk with Simon, I walk my dog as well. Everytime, it's a battle to stop my dog Holly from snapping the little yappy dog in two. I would normally be mad at Holly, but she is just walking on the sidewalk sniffing random things (like horse poo) when this mobile mop runs out in front of her and starts yapping. It's quite difficult to control a dog and a stroller at the same time. I 'm about to the point where I'm just going to let Holly eat the yappy mop dog.

Those are the major complaints I have. There are always the people with bushes overtaking the sidewalk in front of their house, or those who refuse to shovel the snow, letting it become ice that will only melt due to global warming; but that's a bit less inconvenient than the others above. I'm sure those of you who use strollers know what I mean and have other complaints to add to my list.
Even given all the frustrations, walking is still our favorite outside activity. When it's warm, we go on at least two walks a day.
Another thing we love to do is swing. When we bought this house, we inherited this $1100 Costco swing set from the previous owners. Thanks previous owners! Right now there are three swings which is perfect for us. I guess when we have another child one day, we'll have to kick daddy out. :)

Though it has nothing to do with sidewalk frustrations, I think this video is so cute. This is one of Simon's favorite games and I think this is the perfect angle.

Here Comes the Sun

Today is the best day I've had in a long time. No; Simon isn't over his string of colds yet. No; I didn't win a trip to Disneyland. No; my love handles didn't fall off in the night. Today, it was warm enough to go outside for a mentionable length of time. We spent 30minutes basking in the balmy 42 degree weather. This was so wonderful.
In the last two months, Simon and I have basically been inside except for the time it takes to get from the car to the grocery store and back again. Even then, we both had to bundle up and run. When I've had to go outside to throw away a poopie diaper, I walk very slowly and pretend I'm on a nature walk; a smelly nature walk.
It was getting ridiculous. Today couldn't have come too soon for us. We commemorated this blessed occasion by running outside, swinging and stepping in doggie poopie. Right now the windows are open, filtering out the recycled air and blowing in the air from the farm next door. What a wonderful day this is.

Exile of the bottle

As those of you who read my blog regularly know, Simon has had troubles with food in all aspects. Last week, I finally put my foot down.
At 14 1/2 months old, Simon still refused the sippy cup for the bottle. Every time I gave him milk or juice, I'd start with the sippy cup. After 20 minutes of screaming and throwing the cup, I finally broke down and gave him a bottle. He would then sit in his bouncie chair for a good 10 minutes and feed himself from a bottle. Part of me really enjoyed this, because I had 10 minutes to do dishes, fold laundry, or just sit on the couch and be 100% unproductive. But even given the joys, last Thursday, I'd had enough.
I fed Simon is breakfast of oatmeal and poured him 4 oz of milk in his sippy cup. He threw the cup and screamed at the top of his lungs. It was quite the scene. I couldn't take it anymore.
Though he couldn't really understand me, I looked at him and said "Simon; you are almost 15 months old. You are way too old to be using a bottle. No more bottle." I then packed away all the bottles. After a couple hours and much screaming, Simon had finished the sippy cup of milk.
It's been six days since Simon last had a bottle. He is hydrated and getting the nutrients he needs from milk.
The main problem is, he can't feed himself. He still can't drink when he's vertical (cup or bottle) and if he lays down with the cup, he chokes. That means; he stands up holding my arm, and I hold the cup for him.
I'm not sure if we're progressing since I'm back to feeding him and it still takes about an hour to finish, but it just brings back wonderful memories of trying to nurse. There's a lot of screaming and meals now take anywhere between one and two hours.
Another breakthrough; Simon ate 3 chicken nuggets! I am so happy. Not that chicken nuggets are filled with nutritional value, but they're the only non-sweet thing other than bread Simon has agreed to eat (other than baby food of course).
With these two breakthroughs, I'm starting to think we may break through the eating barriers after all. We may be able to go to a restaurant without Simon dumping all his food on the floor and screaming... one day. For now; we'll stick to take-out.

Though this has nothing to do with food, I felt the need to post this picture. Simon was of course sick last week. We kept a roll of toilet paper in the family room because his nose was constantly runny. Jacob asked me to come look at something quickly in his office. This is what I saw when I came out.

I guess he was tired of me wiping his nose. This destruction took approximately 15 seconds. What the picture doesn't show, is the wad of toilet paper in his mouth. I've never met someone with so much desctruction power. I guess that's what happens when you have little boys.