I don’t have anything in particular to write about today, but I feel compelled to write anyway—it’s all of that nervous, end-of-the-semester energy that is contributing, in all likelihood.

A couple of weeks ago, I got serious about re-committing myself to my every-other-day running routine.  I run for 30 minutes in the morning before I shower or do anything else.  I don’t run fast—just enough to get my heart rate up and make me sweat.  I always run on the treadmill in our guest bedroom.  This is because, as much as I would like to, I can’t run outside.  I don’t know how to pace myself and I end up starting off way too fast, only to fatigue quickly and give up running after only a few minutes.  I’ve come to see that this is a metaphor of sorts for how I live the rest of my life.  I jump head first into something without much of a plan (but lots of enthusiasm), I overcommit, overexert, and then I throw my hands up in the air.  I need to be sure that I don’t repeat this pattern over the summer with all of our new pursuits.  Here’s what is in the works:

1.  A small garden.  Three vegetables.  That’s it.  For anyone that gardens, you know how much work it takes to maintain even a modest garden.  We’re trying to keep it simple this year—and this will be the first year we have gardened since H was a newborn!

2.  One structured activity for H.  We signed him up for 2 weeks of daily swim lessons in the hottest part of the summer.  He’ll go each morning for about 45 minutes over a two week period starting July 25th.  I think summers were meant for deviating from schedules and doing whatever the heck you feel like, so I can’t bring myself to structure any more activities for H than this one.

3.  Exercise!  Every other day.  I have to do SOMETHING—either run on the treadmill, take a hike with H, go kayaking.  I can’t permit myself to get lazy, but I also refuse to have anything more structured than committing to something every other day.

4.  In July, I will have my first meeting with my first-ever usability client, who happens to also be my current employer.  They are doing a website re-design, and I offered my services to them.  Yikes.  I am not really ready for this, but if I waited until I was ready, I’d never take the plunge.

5.  Reading—although I’d like to read more than this, I think I’ll have to stick to the modest goal of one professionally-oriented book per month.  I know how long it takes me to read stuff, and I think I have to be realistic and plan for only one book per month.  I try to do this during the semester, but I fail even at that.  This is mostly because I spend so much time reading/grading papers, reading articles and textbooks, etc., that I typically don’t have time (or energy) left for other reading.  Summers are usually better for this, but I’ll still stick to my one book/month rule.

6.  Potty training!  I think H is finally ready to embrace this new challenge head-on.  He insists that he will want to do it when he is 3, and I am confident that he will stick to his word.  We haven’t pressed the potty training issue whatsoever, but we do offer him the chance to use the potty from time to time.  He never wants to do it.  He says he wants to be 3 first.  This past weekend, we were desperate to get H’s hair cut (we had aborted several previous haircut missions because of massive tears and temper tantrums), but we were finally able to coerce him by promising Thomas the Train underwear if he was good for his haircut.  Luckily for us, the underwear proved to be a powerful incentive, and he tolerated his haircut like we’d never seen before.  We took him to the store, where he picked out his underwear and insisted on wearing them once we got home.  We knew he would wet himself, but we also knew that this would be a good learning opportunity (and sensory experience!)  He got through his lunch without wetting himself, but seconds after leaving the table to grab books from his bedroom, he yelled for me to change him.  He had soaked through his underwear and pants, and expressed surprise at what it felt like.  Yay!  I considered this a successful experience because he was able to make the connection between wearing underwear and needing to control his bladder.  The next morning upon getting out of bed (he was in a diaper), he paused for a second and said that he had to pee.  I changed his diaper immediately, and he did, in fact, pee!  So, I think he is getting a sense of the antecedent sensations that predict having to pee.  He definitely knows what it feels like before he poops, because he will yell “Don’t disturb me, I’m pooping!!!”  He’s been doing this for months now, and will sometimes go into the bathroom and shut the door for privacy (and then poop in his diaper).  He just hasn’t been ready for the potty part of it yet, but I think he is very, very close to attempting that part of the potty training experience.  I suspect that he’ll decide he’s ready this summer, and that he’ll just do it without too much fanfare.  Another motivating factor is that his new preschool requires that all kids are fully potty-trained before they start at the school.  H really wants to go to that school, so he feels especially motivated to jump on the potty-training bandwagon.

7.  In July, we celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.  We’ve booked 3 nights at a bed and breakfast along the coast of Maine.  We haven’t had a childless night together since H was born, so this is going to be very, very relaxing!!!  Neither of us can wait!

8.  House projects.  They never end.  I need to pick one or two.  And that’s it.  I haven’t decided which ones, yet.

Now that I am looking at this list, it seems like I have a lot on the table for this summer.  Hopefully I won’t overcommit, and hopefully I will have a relaxing summer while also enjoying the dual satisfaction of having gotten things accomplished.  I must remember to pace myself, so I don’t run out of stamina.