A Day at Home, a winning athlete in the family, and an upcoming get-together

This was supposed to be Sunday night's post, but blogger.com as down, so here it is in the middle of Monday. Will I post tonight? Depends on what I feel I have to say.

I spent the whole day at home, though I didn't mean to. Jacob woke me at 7:15 with the news that he was sick. Throughout the day he threw up three times--one in the commode, once in the driveway (there went the trip to Central Market--he said, "I don't want to go to the grocery store any more") and once on the kitchen floor, barely missing the Kilim rug. Other times he sat helplessly on the potty, with no results except a bit of pee. In between, he was fairly content lying in his bed and watching the Disney channel, and I was content with my book, so we were happy campers. He crawled into bed with me early this morning and then again after nap, when he had a dream that scared him. So if he has a viral gastroenteritis, which my brother predicted, I'll probably get it too--darn! But it was nice to cuddle with him, and on a truly hot and humid day, staying inside wasn't all bad. I made a bison meatloaf and roasted potatoes for Jacob's parents for dinner, but we confined him to boiled potatoes. It was sort of a rushed dinner as they were in a hurry to get him home. I'm anticipating having to keep him after a doctor's appt. tomorrow, which is okay.
Our stunning family news is that Jamie won a fourth-place trophy in the triathlon he did today--it was in Dallas and I know no details about his times, number of competitors, etc., but wow! fourth place! Since Rob, who works with him, beat him by thirty seconds in the last race, this was a sweet comeback for Jame. (Rob didn't enter the race.) Jame was in Colorado much of the past week, sending bulletins about whether he was winning or losing at poker and pictures of the huge trout he caught. I worried that wasn't exactly good training for a race and then today I worried about the heat and humidity, but I guess mothers always worry when they don't need to. Anyway, I join with the rest of the family in cheering him on tonight.
Now I'm beginning to plan for a visit from the Houston Alters next weekend. The Frisco Alters will be here some or all of the weekend, and I'll have Jacob, though Jordan won't join us until Saturday evening and Christian will be working. Megan and her bunch can't come, but it will still be a good visit, and I'm excited. My way of working on excitement is to plan menus.
Stayed up way too late finished the second Stieg Larsson book, but it was worth it. Good writer, indeed wonderful writer, though sometimes I detected coincidences, plotting that didn't quite hold together, etc. Didn't keep me from hanging on every word.

A S unday brag

I just have to brag: my son Jamie completed his first Ironman Triathlon--a swim (1.2 miles), a bike ride (56 miles,) and a half-marathon (13 miles), all longer than the sprint and mid-triathlons he's been doing. Jamie did it in 5 hours 29 minutes and looked great in pictures Mel took at his finish. I forget the times of the winners but they were professional athletes. I am very proud of Jaim and just a bit relieved he came through in such good shape. Thanks to Mel for posting on Facebook at the end of the race. The race was--oh, surprise!--at DisneyWorld in Orlando, so they'll stay the rest of the week to let the girls "do" DisneyWorld (and the adults too). They took Maddie when she was three and a half (and Edie was something like six months) so in a sense this is Edie's trip--and Jamie's.
Meantime I was running a race of my own this morning with Jacob, who woke up early and wet. I got going slowly to a chorus of "I want" and decided we must teach the child to say "Please may I have . . . ." The other thing I'm trying to teach him is that if he wants me he should come find me and not stand in he playroom and shout, "Juju!" over and over. Finally once when he said "I want to sit here on your lap and watch TV," I countered with, "Well, I want to go put the clothes in the dryer," and he said, "Oh, okay." I wish someone had been here to take a picture of me at my desk with Jacob on my lap and the cat in my face on the desk, each of them glaring at the other out of jealousy. Jacob firmly believes cats should not be on desks or tables, but I can't convince Wywy at this age. Jordan came for an early lunch, they went home, and I piddled--re-organized the front porch, emptied trash, put fresh linen on my bed and Jacob's bed, etc. and finally took a nap. Had no-point veggies for supper so I'm going to treat myself to a small piece of chocolate, sit on the porch for a bit (may be a bit cool again) and then come in and write. Life is good.