Isaiah is scared to death of taking a bath. I'm not sure why or when that fear arose. He used to love bathtime, but lately he won't sit down in the tub and stands there screaming the whole time. Last time Dan bathed him he came out of the bathroom and his ears were ringing for the next 30 minutes. He vowed to purchase a pair of earplugs before the next bath. This morning Isaiah buried his face in my lap as I did my best to wash him while he was standing ankle deep in the water. That helped with the noise quite a bit, and I was thankful. I finally gave up trying to get him in a good mood and at the end, knowing that there was no other way to get him to cooperate with the hair-washing part, took the shower (which terrifies him the most) and made him endure several seconds of that while I washed and rinsed his hair.
After he recovered from that abuse and terror, he went back to playing with his acorns. He was entirely cooperative and enthusiastic about going to bed for a nap, but didn't realize it meant that he had to part with his treasures. Alas, Mom was not in a patient enough mood to allow him to play more or say farewell to the acorns, as the Good Parenting books recommend ("Give your child notice well in advance when they need to stop playing so that they have enough time to mentally prepare." blah blah blah). As far as I'm concerned, he's sleeping now, and I will give him ample time to mentally prepare for his joyful reconciliation with his beloved acorns when the time is right. I also think he's got enough of his Daddy in him that I'm going to need to establish early on (yesterday, even) who is boss. We'll see how that goes.
Speaking of figuring out who is boss and not spoiling Isaiah, we will be headed to Arizona on Tuesday to see my Mom and my grandparents (her parents) and my sister, Mo. This will be the first time my Mom (and grandparents) will meet him, so we are greatly looking forward to this. We'll be there for two weeks, during which I am sure Isaiah will undoubtedly receive the highest levels of discipline from three adoring grand- or great-grandparents.

Speaking of Dan, which we weren't really doing at all, he had a very good lab meeting yesterday and a good talk with his advisor afterwards about his experiments (which are being completely uncooperative) and writing his dissertation. At some point in the Ph.D. career, you have to call what you have good enough, write it up, and move on with life. There is little wisdom in continuing to kick the dead horse, as you are learning little from that experience (except frustration) and sometimes it IS best to just let something rest for a bit before trying it again. That was the conclusion that he and I have come to recently, but it was good to hear that his advisor agreed with him on that. He is still hoping to write his dissertation and defend it this fall sometime, but is hoping to give the experiments a few more shots here. Continued prayers for wisdom, perseverance, and yes, good luck!! would be much appreciated. We are hoping he can become a slave to the lab while Isaiah and I are in Arizona, so hopefully things will line up so that he has enough to work on during those two weeks.

Normally Isaiah is pretty easy-going and well-tempered. I have very few problems with him grabbing toys from other kids when they play together. It is usually the case that another kid will take something from him, but that doesn't really bother him much either. However, we have recently discovered that there are some items of which he is EXTREMELY protective--his acorns. Our house is on Atherton Street, which has a bunch of beautiful trees, including some oak trees. Isaiah's favorite spot to stop on a walk is right under one of these oak trees, because there are usually quite a few acorns. He will squat down and pick them up for as long as we let him. Last night we needed a few things from the store behind our house ("Weis", pronounced "wee-izz" by the Cramer boys) so Dan offered to take Isaiah with him to pick them up. It usually takes about 20 minutes to get there and back, so when they didn't come home after 30-40 minutes I started to wonder, but sure enough, when they got home, Isaiah had a handful of 4 acorns. Dan was holding the groceries and Isaiah was walking, but ISaiah had a death grip on the acorns and was having difficulties climbing the step into our house due to the fact that he couldn't hold onto anything with either of his hands. Apparently at one point during the walk he tripped and fell on his hands, but instead of letting go of the acorns, he held on tight and fell on his closed fists. Dan wanted to throw the acorns back outside, but relented and gave Isaiah a mason jar for his acorn storage. This morning you should have seen the look and squeal of delight when I answered his request for his mason jar. He plopped himself excitedly on the living room floor and squealed like a teenage girl in a shopping mall. He then proceeded to play with the four (now 3) acorns for the next hour, tucking them carefully into the lazy boy crevices, then trying to extract them once again.

As is the case for his mother, one of Isaiah's most favorite times of the day is mealtime. It doesn't matter which meal it is, or whether that comes when he is in his high chair or not. He is a bottomless pit when it comes to eating. He is also very expressive about eating, and will "mmm mmmm" very dramatically as he imbibes whatever is given to him. He knows that the sooner we pray the more quickly we will eat, so he will often sit in his high chair with his hands clasped firmly and expectantly together while I prepare his food. This morning, he took matters into his own hands by declaring a clear "Amen" while I was still halfway through my prayer. He's a smart one...

Despite three molars plowing their way into Isaiah's mouth, and the resulting clinginess from that, things have been going well. Last week he was kind of cranky all week, with a low-grade fever for several days, the teething, lost appetite, and a strange rash that lasted for a few days. He was diagnosed with roseola last month but never developed a rash--maybe it decided to appear late. Who knows. At any rate, he's doing better this week, but is being a little choosy in terms of who he wants to be holding him at all times. Most days it is me (Jori) but Dan has been receiving (to his delight) more 'dakko' (pick me up) requests lately.

Isaiah is very quick with the draw in terms of sign language, and is now fluently signing to us when he wants water, food, sleep (can you believe it???), shoes (an outdoor excursion), when he wants to swing, get down, when he's done, and a few others I can't think of right now. If I tell him that Daddy just got home, he speedwalks to the back door saying, "Daddy" which is very cute and I am sure is one of the best moments of Dan's day. He hasn't said a whole lot else, although he is starting to mimic some of our words like "shoes". He also "caws" very well when he hears crows. Today we were practicing our "cheep"s.

In two weeks Isaiah and I will be in Arizona visiting my grandparents and my Mom, all of whom have yet to meet Isaiah. I am hoping the teething crankiness will be over by then, but am not counting on it. It will be interesting to see how he does when he has to stay inside all day due to the 90-100F weather there right now. Could be exciting...

Yesterday I went for a run. Kind of. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a monumental event, and will probably doubt that I will ever do it again. I would say that I am relatively athletic for my gender and age (and all other things considered), and always have been. I can usually outrun most women my age (and some younger) in terms of speed, but after about 200 m, my energy is spent and I become a slow, plodding, out-of-shape, pathetic-looking non-athlete. This pretty much classifies me as one of the world's worst long-distance runners. Actually I think it prevents me from being put into a category of ANY sort of long-distance running, either good or bad. I have never really figured out why this is the case, but I do know that the many times I have tried to train to run long distances I have ended up with shin splints approximately 1-2 months into the training process. Shin splints, for those of you who have not had the privilege of having this blessed condition, basically feel like electricity-ridden needles inserted at the base of your lower calves, and only get worse with running (and sometimes walking). They take forever to heal, and won't do so unless you completely lay off running for a while (several months at least). Anyway, I have talked to several people about this, and it seems to be that the best way to avoid shin splints is to wear good, supportive running shoes (duh) and try to run with a longer and more fluid stride. I am excited to try out the last part of the equation, because I do admit that in the past, I have tried to conserve my energy by taking shorter steps (which may also be a bad habit I developed from training with my Japanese teammates who were a head shorter than I was, and with whom I could keep up by walking at a decent pace--I'm serious about that), which creates a more plodding, higher-impact sort of run. So yesterday, for the first time in some time (probably since frisbee last summer) I went for a run. There is an online training program called "couch to 5k" that takes you from the couch (literally, in my case) and helps you train for 9 weeks for a 5k. Yesterday's prescribed run comprised a 5 minute brisk walk warmup, then alternated 1 minute of running with 90 sec of walking for 20 minutes. I developed a stitch in my side about 3 seconds after running, which was disheartening, especially since it didn't go away and instead spread to the other side, but I was proud of myself that I made it through the 20 minutes. I have to do that run two more times this week (every other day, basically), then move on to the next prescribed run, which will be 5 min warmup walk, then 90 sec jog and 2 min walk alternations up until 20 minutes. The training builds from that. Perhaps it is unlucky to write all of this in a public blog, but I'm hoping it will keep me accountable for the running. :) So far, the best motivation I have had was from my little sister (who has also been running lately to prepare for her next few years of living in Texas (which actually trails Ohio now as it is #14 in the race towards national obesity), who told me "Get off the couch!!" Thanks, Jackie! Jackie is actually in Japan (where the race towards anorexia is being held) right now, and told me that she has a 2-month membership at my Dad's gym while she's there. This is great for her, aside from the fact that she has to plan her gym visits wisely, so as to avoid meeting up with familiar skinny old white men in neon yellow shorts whose skin glistens with SPF 350 sunscreen. Despite the fact that Sendai has a population of 1 million people, my siblings and I have experienced difficulties trying to feign dissociation from other foreigners such as those in neon yellow shorts, especially if they call out to you by name in the gym. ("Hi, Jack!")

We joined up with the rest of the Sharda clan last week in Hocking Hills, Ohio. I think we can honestly say we were all pleasantly surprised to find out that Ohio indeed has some inherent beauty and it is not all about the flat, 65-mph-enforced I-80, where the only 'attractions' along the way are dilapidated farmhouses that look like they are ready to fall over. We had excellent weather for the most part, and I will just go out on a limb and declare even the two rainy days excellent weather, as I think we all needed a break from running around in caves and such. Maybe I speak for myself. If the others disagree, they may say so in their own blogs!

Meals were quite the adventure, and boy, did we eat well! Despite his claims to be extremely busy at work, Dan somehow came up with festive and creative names for all of the meals, and in no specific chronological order, we ate: "fajita innards", "pulled pork from Michigan (should be lean)", "Salmon at the stake" (a pathetic attempt at using "Salem witch trials"--even after multiple explanations, I am convinced I was the only one who got that one), "Spaghetti a la popsicle", "Cramer Cabin Cooks Cow Cakes", "cumin crusted pork tenderloin with mango salsa" (I forgot what crazy name he came up with for that, but it says enough right there), and of course, what trip to Ohio would be complete without a trip to the "Old Dutch Restaurant" where we joined other large Ohioans (they proudly claim 10th place in the nation's race towards obesity) in a buffet-style meal where the biggest debate centered around whether it was vanilla pudding or mayonnaise.

So we ate well. Very well. Of course, we all had quite a few excuses for eating well, as we hiked and swam almost daily. Some of the hikes through the caves were more spectacular than others, and we were slow to learn that the maps are not drawn to size...at all, really. Nevertheless, the caves certainly represented different terrain from what we're all used to in Michigan (flat cement) and Pennsylvania (rolling hills), and even though the signs said to stay on the trails, 1) everyone else was climbing the rocks, 2)there were only 3 rangers for the entire park, and 3)what else CAN you do in a cave?

Let's see, what else...oh yes, we went to church on Sunday (day 2). We were a bit worried when an armed police officer entered the church before us. We became even moreso when we saw the notice on the door stating that it is illegal to enter with a loaded firearm (concealed or not). I asked a lady about both the policeman and the sign. She said the policeman likes to worship there, and the sign is to prevent anyone from bringing firearms to church (...clearly--not sure how I missed that one.) The service was nice, however, and the stained glass windows and the dome at the top of the church were very nice. One final point of excitement of the day was that Grandpa Sharda used his blinker, and according to Daniel, the ever-observant one, "that's twice already." Wonders never cease. Keep it up, Grandpa!

It was great to get away and hang out with the family, but of course, it makes it that much harder to come back and start up with life again. I had an easier time of it, as I heard as we were leaving Ohio that my second paper was accepted from my thesis. I still have to make some revisions, but it was a bright note to return home on.

Despite the fact that Isaiah developed a 'cute' little habit of waking up 2-3 times during the night in Hocking Hills, since we got back, he has slept very well--almost too well--every night, and we are extremely grateful for that. I think he is coming down with a cold or getting rid of one, or teething some more, as he has had a slight fever the last few days here.

Other news--before I left for Ohio, I had been commuting daily to the Goodwill store behind our house as I was making some awesome purchases. One day I got several nice button-down Sunday shirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of corduroy pants, and several infant items (some shirts, shorts, etc.) and a belt, all for $6.49. It helped that everything (including the 29 cent rack) was half off. Yesterday I went for a walk and found that the sale had concluded, but there were still multiple (I'm talking 5-10) 29 cent racks, so I went home, took inventory of Isaiah's clothes for the next few years, then this morning went back and purchased two pairs of shorts, a pair of Converse sneakers (never used), two nice Sunday shirts, two other shirts, a winter hat, and 11 pairs of pants. $7.49. It wouldn't have been so expensive but I 'splurged' on the shoes and paid $3 for those. I normally abhor shopping, but this actually excites me--I don't have to try anything on, I pay very little for a very lot, and all it costs me is a few crackers to feed Isaiah to keep him happy while we shop.

That's about enough updating for now. Dan is finally home from school and we are sitting down with our kale smoothies before bed. Mmmmm....