First days of spring!

Spring has sprung here is Cleveland Heights, with temperatures in the 50's and Nat and I motivated to work out in the yard. Jack has discovered that the backyard is one of his favorite places in the universe. He has taken to running full-force around the yard, and is handling the bumpy terrain with more aplomb every day. These pictures (and videos) are from yesterday afternoon. Jack had a lovely tantrum when we came into the house from some errands, sobbing in the foyer for a good 15 minutes, extremely frustrated that we would not take him "ouw!" (out) to play. We finally resorted to negotiation-- eat lunch, then out to play, and got him through mealtime. He was a complete peach once we went outside, and happily played with sticks, chased the dog, and tried to climb trees for about an hour. We may just build him an enclosure and keep him out there for the season-- he's that much nicer when he's outside! :)







Today, we went and visited friends Aaron and Sarah, and met their one-month-old, Thomas. Jack was very interested in the baby, and very sweet to him, giving him pat-pats, and kissing his picture on the birth announcement he was given. Thomas is an adorable little guy, so small and soft! Had to share this picture of Nat with the two boys!



Here are a few cute ones from bathtime the other night..
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Finally, a bit of reflection on my New Year's Resolution of becoming more fit:

I have gotten back to running, finally. Saturday morning marked the 3rd week in a row of successfully getting out for a run one day on the weekend. Yesterday I did my old loop, out Somerton to Edgehill to Euclid Heights, head left and back up the big hill on Overlook, through the Lincoln-Washington neighborhood, and then hit Euclid Heights back home... about 3 miles, I imagine. I was pleased to find that I was able to run it just about as well-- at least, as continously-- as I had last summer before I took a bad-weather-hiatus from exercise. I have decided this works very well as a justification for my spinning class. I sometimes get pangs of mommy-guilt when I head off to spinning, leaving my young son who I only came home to about an hour before... but the classes are a good workout and a good chance for "me time." And, I really feel like it's paying off. I am not sure that I'm necessarily in better physical shape than when I started spinning, but I think I am in much better mental condition, at least regarding exercise. In spinning, you don't have the option to stop. You ride for 53 minutes; you don't get off the bike. Ann is there pushing us to use our time fully, to not cop out on the workout. Yesterday as I headed up the hill, half the run behind me, I noticed that I wasn't setting any "mim-goals" to get up the hill, as I had last year. It just wasn't an option to stop. So I didn't, and I ran (albeit rather slowly) all the way up. And it wasn't that bad and frankly, I felt rather good about myself. That makes the 50 dollars per 6-week class entirely worthwhile, I think.