October

I can't believe it's already October. But I am loving the weather we've been having. Everyday we get to play outside, get some fresh air, and add something new and different to our daily schedule. Unfortunately during the majority of summer, we can't do much outside because of the heat, so we're trying to soak up the sun now and make up for it.

The boys are still loving school. Garrett has taken more naps at school this year, than he ever has in the past years combined. I guess in his old age, he's discovering the pluses to a good nap in the middle of the day. Cooper is also napping wonderfully on his nap mat. I actually got to see him yesterday during naptime. He was laying very peacefully on his mat, covered up with his fuzzy blanket, sound asleep. It was really cute. The other kids in his class were still awake even.

He's not a big fan of playing with other kids yet. Or even having them play in his general vicinity. Apparently he gets all the playtime he needs with Garrett. His teacher said he has a well defined "bubble of personal space" and he does not let anyone in that area except for the teacher. She has discovered that when she has the other kids doing something like playing with Playdoh or coloring, that's a good time for Cooper to get to play. Then when it's playtime for the rest of the class, she lets Cooper color or do something else. He likes to do his own thing. And I'm ok with that.

I'm wanting to get back into my workout routine. It's been a few months since I've exercised and I'm actually missing it. I'm still watching what I eat, for the most part, and have lost an additional 5 pounds, for a total of 25 pounds gone thus far. But I know if I would start back with exercising it would come off faster. Back when I was exercising, I would do so during Cooper's morning nap. He slept just long enough to give me 30 minutes on the treadmill and then 10-15 minutes showering and getting dressed. Of course he now only takes one nap a day and that's in the afternoon. Honestly, after lunch I have little energy to do necessary cleaning, much less voluntarily get on the treadmill for half an hour. So I'm going to attempt getting up 45 minutes early every morning (starting Monday) and try to do my exercising before the boys get up. The drawback to this is that it means bothering Keith a bit earlier than he normally starts his day. But I can't avoid that with the treadmill in our room (and no other place to put it in the house). When I asked him about it, he was fine with it, so I'll hopefully try this out next week and see how it goes.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is going around Cooper's class right now. I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't get it, but it won't be the end of the world if he does. Garrett had it around Cooper's age and the worst part about it was the high fever. Here's hoping Cooper's antisocial tendencies will pay off in a lesser number of germs coming his way.