10 months!

Is it horrible that I can’t think of anything noteworthy that happened last month? I mean, lots of things have happened this past week, but those will be part of her 11 month update. I really should be better about recording little details about Adele as they happen, especially since I have a horrible memory!

Oh yes! I remembered something! So, Adele rolled over from her front to her back like four times when she was 4 months or so, but hadn’t done it since. Well, she is now a rolling fool, in both directions. She especially likes to do it when she’s wearing her sleep sack, which makes her look like a fish out of water. Naps for the first few days of her new discovery were a bit rough. She would start lying on her back long ways on one side of her crib, and would somehow maneuver herself down to the other end with her head and feet stuck against the slats, and she’d cry for help. She figured out how unpleasant that is, so now she just plays with the mosquito net until she’s tired enough to sleep. You can see how far she’s traveled (and how long it took her to fall asleep) by the different places the fabric has been pulled in. Another sleep related tidbit: now that she can roll, she’s figured out she likes to sleep on her side. Oh man, it’s the cutest thing ever. I could just stare at her rolled up in a little ball all day long.

She’s also very expressive. My favorite is when she gets excited about something. She will yell, punctuating each inflection with a wave of her arms, and on the final syllable, she will freeze her arms mid flap while she holds the note. She does this both with her hands balled into fists, and also with her palms facing outwards (my personal favorite). I know that’s not a great description, but it’s like she’s a witch, casting a spell. I keep trying to capture it on video, but by the time the camera’s cued up and ready to go, she stops. Maybe some day.

Still no crawling, but I am trying to convince her to wait until we fly back to the states next month. We’ll see how well she obeys. Semi-spoiler alert, she’s getting close!

She’s almost one year old. That is crazy to me!

Flipping Jeff Galloway the bird

Ok, so my beef isn’t actually with Jeff Galloway (I’m sure he’s a nice enough fellow), but his run/walk system. I know that many people swear by it and have successfully completed races using it, but it’s not for me. You see, when I very first started running seven or so years ago, I was convinced that if, during a run, I stopped to take a walking break, I wouldn’t be able to resume running again, so I didn’t. Ever. Then I read an article written by Mr. Galloway that said that walking breaks could actually make you a better, more efficient runner, so I took that advice and ran, or rather walked, with it. Although, instead of run/walking at prescribed intervals as he instructs, I interpreted it to mean that I could walk whenever I felt any twinge of discomfort or just for funsies. What resulted is a super wussy runner who walked probably more than she ran.

This time around I’m paying more attention to my mental game. I have accepted the fact that running is not supposed to be pleasant. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, sometimes I have a hard time taking  a good breath, but in the last few months I’ve been running I’ve stopped to walk exactly zero times. This is HUGE for me. I know I’m slow, (my average pace for my runs is around 14:00 minutes/mile) but if being slow means that I can run without stopping then I’ll take it. Last week I ran for 58 minutes straight. I haven’t done that in like six years. It wasn’t a particularly pretty run, but I did it, and that feels really good.

*ETA* It looks like I’m registered for an organized 5k race in a few weeks here in Guinea. There is no way I’ll finish in anything less than last place, because, hello, African’s are historically fast, but still. Cool, right?!