Juvenile.

A couple mornings ago, as I stood in the office kitchen pouring milk into my cereal, my boss came in and caught sight of what was in my bowl. "A little Kix to start the day, huh?" he asked. Yes, because apparently I am 7 years old.

The cereal in question was actually Berry Berry Kix, also known as the greatest cereal ever. It was one of my favorites when I was younger, but it seemed to disappear for a while and I thought it had been discontinued until some time ago, when Allison reported a sighting at her local grocery store. When I went to visit Allison a couple weekends ago, my very own box was waiting for me to bring back to New York.

So anyway, I went to North Carolina to see my new baby. Isn't she cute?


Annabelle is a delight, and enjoys such activities as cuddling into your chest, not crying, and making adorable baby noises in her sleep. When I wasn't staring at her, I was making mischief with this little hoodlum:


At church on Sunday, Emaline dubbed me "Reindeer" because of the way my necklace was looped to look like, well, a rein. From then on, whenever she addressed me it was, "Reindeer, do you want to play Mario Kart?" "Reindeer, can you read me a story?" and so on. I get no respect.


One day, when I was taking one of thousands of pictures of the wee one, Emaline asked if she could try. I handed her my camera and showed her the button to press, and it was somewhat like what I imagine the moon landing was for Neil Armstrong. Her face lit up and she immediately began taking pictures of everything in sight. Each photo was proclaimed to be more beautiful than the last.


A brief photo essay:




Anyway, it was a great weekend and, despite Allison's apologies that we weren't doing anything exciting, I had a great time sitting around in sweatpants and playing with the kids. Plus, sometimes outings can get overwhelming, like when Allison and I sat in the parking lot of the Cookout for 10 minutes while I tried to decide which of about 15 kinds of burgers I wanted. These are big decisions, people! Sometimes I much prefer having virtual sword fights with a 4-year-old or laughing about stupid things with my sister. Or eating Berry Berry Kix for two meals a day.

Things.

The half marathon training has officially begun. On the first day, the cold wind was making my eyes water, and then the tears froze on my face. So you could say things are going well so far. The schedule, for those of you who want to play along at home:


If any seasoned runners have advice or suggestions to share, please let me know. Last time around, my goals were twofold:

1. Don't die.
2. Don't come in last.
This year, I want a finish time of 2:00:00. I'm pretty good at endurance over long distances, so speed is the main issue that I need to work on. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

My training might get temporarily derailed this weekend, though, as I'm going to North Carolina to see The Whitleys and meet baby Annabelle.


I was talking to Allison earlier, graciously offering to help with some things while I was there, and she acknowledged that she would "put me to work". She further explained that to mean keeping Emaline entertained. I don't think she understands what "work" is, because I'm pretty sure it doesn't normally include playing dress-ups and having a 4-year-old draw pictures of you and give you hugs. Challenge accepted.

I'm going to stick my finger in her dimple.

Round two.

Well, I had so much fun last year that I'm going back for more. The New York City Half Marathon is in two months, and I just found out that I got accepted out of the lottery drawing for entry. The race I did last year was in Brooklyn, but this is the big one--it starts in Central Park, then goes through Times Square, and finishes downtown. I think it will be awesome, and I'm trying to keep that in mind as I contemplate training in 20-degree weather.

New Year.

The holiday roundup:


More pictures here.

Degrees of average temperature higher than NYC: 35
Delicious dinners eaten: 9
Movies seen: 6
Hours spent playing Wii Super Mario: countless
Varieties of pajama pants worn: 3
Old friends caught up with: 6
Peppermint bark eaten: at least half a tin
Hugs: thousands
New nieces born: 1


Annabelle Hope Whitley made her debut on New Year's Eve. Welcome to the family, little girl. You have no idea how many people are in love with you already!