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!")