Another weekend. Without pictures.

If I wait to upload pictures, you'll never get a new blog post. Jon took some cutie pictures of Lilly from her weekend, but I'm just too lazy (busy?) to get them on here. But I don't want to keep you waiting on what we've been up to, so I'll write anyways.

It's kind of like running. Last time I ran regularly, it was September 1. I remember because it was the day before Lilly was choked by that awful little boy at school, the day before her last day of her old school. I was training for my 5K so I was running every day up until then; but after that I just couldn't. Part of me subconsciously felt that if I hadn't been running, if I hadn't been working, if I hadn't been distracted, I would have picked up on the fact that Lilly was so unhappy because she was being bullied every day at school, until finally she was physically attacked.

So I stopped running. And I haven't been able to run since. And then I got out of shape, somewhat. And I couldn't make myself run, then, because I knew I wouldn't be "good" at running. So I didn't even try. Until this past week. When I said, I'll just run a mile. Because if I said I'd try to run 2 or 3 miles, I wouldn't even put on my running shoes. But 1 mile is do-able. It takes 10 minutes. I can commit to 10 minutes of something. So every day for the past few days I've been running a mile. It's not huge, but it's more than nothing.

So that's what you get on the blog today. No pictures, but a few stories of our weekend - because it's more than nothing.

Really, Jon should be writing this. Not that he particularly likes writing on the blog - although he's done in a couple times - or that he has the time - but because he and Lilly had a great weekend together. He said he woke up yesterday - Monday morning - feeling so sad that he had to work because he had such a good weekend with our girl. And that's saying something, because Jon loves work.

Saturday morning was the first day of Lilly's swimming lessons. She's taking the class with her best friend in our neighborhood, a little 5 year old girl. We were nervous because it was Lilly's first swimming class that wasn't a "parent-child" class, and Lilly is just 4, so it's hard to imagine her swimming by herself.

But she did great. Jon said Lilly was so excited once she saw the pool (it was at a fancy hotel - NYC is so funny), and she jumped in the water. The swimming instructor was great, and she was very comfortable with him. (Later when she recounted the story to us - she said she went swimming with "the man".) Jon said she was so confident in the water, and really enjoyed herself. And there's a maximum of 3 kids for the 1 instructor, but only she and her friend were there that day so it was almost like a personal lesson. If you really want to see cute pictures, and are facebook friends with me, check them out on my wall. (Is there a way to link FB pics on a blog?) Then Lilly and her friend and the dads hung out for the afternoon, and Lilly had a great play date.

After that it was time for Lilly to see her cousins! Lyn and Jules came over and made fresh pizza with Whole Foods pizza dough. They had a blast. Lilly was an expert at saucing up the pizzas (her favorite part - although she mostly eats all the sauce - but I can't complain because she enjoys it so much!) And the girls had a good time making the dough into pizza shape (we made 6 personal size pizzas), putting on their own toppings, etc. It was a lot of fun, and Lilly loves being with her older cousins.

The next day, Lilly got to go sledding with her cousins in Central Park! She again had the best time ever. Jon said she was the happiest she's ever been. They went sledding down big hills, and had a snowball fight. Jon said Lilly picked a fight with a tree, and threw lots of snow at it. Another successful afternoon! (Again: if you want pictures, see FB.)

I love spending time with Lilly, but I love even more (in some ways) hearing about Lilly and Jon's adventures. Even though the 3 of us have a great time, it's so great to hear about the bonding Lilly and Jon have when they're together, building wonderful memories. It's amazing to think about what 4 year olds retain in their memories. Lilly still talks almost daily about the time she and Jon went to see Lion King on Broadway - it certainly made an impression even though it was 6 months ago. ("Lion King show with daddy" she says often, sometimes adding: "Not mommy. Daddy.")

The best part of being a parent is building memories with our girl. And I'm so excited as we start planning our Mediterranean adventure less than 6 months away! (Hint: the key for a successful trip will be finding a playground in each port city...)