500th game at the Big House one for the ages

Today’s Michigan game against Wisconsin was the 500th game at the Big House and it was a special one. Michigan, all but dead in the first half, came back from a 19-0 deficit to beat the Badgers, 27-25. This was the biggest comeback in the stadium’s history, replacing two games Kevin and I were at: in 1995 – an 18-17 win over Virginia where Michigan came back from a 17-0 deficit; and 2004 – a 45-37 triple-overtime victory over Michigan State.

I really don’t know what today’s win means for the rest of the 2008 season but I’ll take it. I DO know that Wisconsin looked like the Michigan of old. They got a big lead, sat on it, went away from what was working, got tired in the fourth quarter and, eventually, choked away the game. It was nice today to be on the other end, even if we did have to endure that AWFUL first half.

Going into today’s game, Kevin and I were curious how the Michigan players would be in the fourth quarter, especially going up against a traditional Big Ten power team like Wisconsin. Needless to say, we came away impressed, especially with the defense. All that conditioning is paying off and it seems Mike Barwis is worthy of all the hype!

I have NO IDEA what will happen next week against Illinois so I’m going to enjoy this win until then!

My gift ...

... for dealing with almost-constant nausea; for getting kicked in the rib cage 24/7; and for having to get sliced open like a melon to bring Simon into the world.

Thank you, Kevin! I likey!

Coach Rod has made up Miles of ground

Last Saturday, as Michigan was self-destructing in the first five minutes of its game at Notre Dame, Aimee received a text message. It very well could have been a "What are they doing?" or "Can anyone catch the ball?" or even, "I told you about Coach Rod" (the last one from one of our "seasonal" Notre Dame friends). But, it wasn't a sharing of distress and no foul language was present. Nope, in fact, it was a simple message from one of Aimee's sisters: "He is so hot." And that little statement tells a lot about Coach Rod's status in our household.

At the moment that Les Miles finally put to bed the rumors that he would become the next coach at Michigan (displayed at the bottom of ESPN News), Aimee, like many Michigan fans, was devastated. Not only was Miles the heir apprarent to the Michigan head coaching job and Bo's mini-Me, Aimee likes the way he looks in his white trucker hat. Now that the Coach Rod era is well under way here in Ann Arbor, Coach Rod not only has made up distance on Miles in terms of popularity, he also has endeared himself to Aimee. Just ask her about her "ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod" moment.

Delayed 34-month update

Harmon turned 34 months old last Friday, Sept. 12. I completely dropped the ball on his 34-month update as we spent most of last weekend a) dodging monsoon-like rains and b) moving out of our den so it can become Harmon’s NEW bedroom.

He is doing well, despite a bit of a cold this week. We couldn’t remember the last time he even had the sniffles so that’s a good thing. As I said above, he is getting ready for the move to his new-and-improved, big-boy room. Our goal is for him to sleep in it Saturday night so we’ll see how that goes (and I’ll post pictures and an update on this separately). In addition to being excited about his new room, he’s also already excited for Halloween. It’s not so much for the candy (he still isn’t really a fan of sweets), it’s more for the decorations and his costume (to be revealed at a later date). He loves all the pumpkin lights we put up and also loves the costume we chose for him this year. He loves it so much that he cried big time when I had to take it off him after trying it on JUST to make sure it fit. Looks like we have another Halloween lover in the family!

The move to his new classroom at school has gone really well. He is excited to go all the time, especially on Thursdays when it’s show-and-tell day. The first week, he took his baby leopard and, today, he took his sea otter that my sister, Stacey, got him from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. He has so much more independence in this classroom and that’s been great for him, with the exception of lunch time. He’s barely touched his lunch lately and we’re not sure if it’s because he’s too busy having fun OR there’s no one telling him he has to eat every bite. We’re hoping it improves but we’re pretty sure he’s not going to starve!

In thinking about ideas for his birthday, we’re at a loss because he’s still so in love with his cars. Cars and books are STILL his two favorite things with his stuffed animals running a distant third. He finally LOVES his Dr. Seuss books, which is good because I had to go through his library and remove some of his baby books. He was happy, though, to store them for Simon! One new development has been coloring. He is way into it now and wants to color every day. He’ll draw things and then tell us what they are and we work constantly on identifying, writing and matching letters, numbers, shapes and colors. He has one dot-to-dot book that he really likes so I’m going to have to find more workbooks like these to challenge him.

We’re ALMOST there with the potty training. Accidents are few and far between and, if there are any, they usually are of the pee variety. He’s been wearing underwear a lot at home and we’ve been easing him into them when we leave the house for walks or quick errands. He’s good at telling us when he has to go and is getting a lot better at just getting in the bathroom and getting on the potty himself. We’re SO close!

He says the funniest things lately too, as he develops more and more vocabulary. Lately, he wants to “throw things in the woods and get them all dirty” and, if you ask him about his pull-up or underwear, he’ll tell you, “yeah, I think it’s still pretty dry.” Sometimes he just rattles off paragraphs of stuff and it makes our heads spin. Kevin and I feel like he talks 24/7! Since it’s the season for political talk (VOTE OBAMA), we’ve noticed he might be a future lobbyist as he tends to LOBBY HARD for the things he wants. For example, when we’re out walking, he will badger us to no end and ask us, in every different way imaginable, if he can go to the park. Most of the time, it’s cute, but, sometimes, it’s like ENOUGH!

Since I love the fall and winter, this is an exciting time for me because I can start to build his cold-weather wardrobe AND pick out his outfit for his three-year photos! Although there are more girl clothes to choose from out there, I couldn’t possibly have more fun dressing a girl than I have dressing Harmon. Then again, he’s easy to make look cute!

Are you ready for some football?

On Saturday, we took Harmon to his first Michigan football game. Our plan was to do it for the Minnesota game last year but it rained so we had to postpone the big event until this year. While we have four season tickets in our name, we figured it would be awhile until the four of us (Simon included) could enjoy a game together so we gave away two of them. The problem THIS year, though, is that there are three of us and only two tickets (and, yes, ALL people must be accounted for no matter how young). So, I decided to take Harmon in with me first and then Kevin joined us after kickoff when a nice, older couple gave him a free ticket they weren’t using.

Kevin dropped us off on East Stadium Boulevard, near the entrance to Crisler Arena so we only had a short walk to our section. On that walk, though, Harmon LOVED seeing all the police cars and all the construction. We got inside just in time for the band to take the field and, although he was scared by the noise at first, he quickly joined in and sang “The Victors” with everyone else in the stadium. It was so sweet to seeing him “hailing” with his little right arm – that’s my boy! We are huge fans of Coach Rod so it’s not uncommon for Harmon to see him on TV or on the computer, not to mention the fact that we met him a few weeks ago. So, on Saturday, he was all fired up to see Coach Rod! When he led the team out of the tunnel I tried to point him out but Harmon simply liked seeing all the little maize and blue winged helmets bobbing up and down like bumblebees! At kickoff, people hold up their hats and twirl them around and Harmon decided to join in this tradition too. After watching each team’s opening drive (ours included a TD), we went to the concession stand to get some lunch. Harmon got a hot dog and a bottled water and was a hit with everyone he saw (I’m sure the name and the block M hat helped). We got back to our seats just in time for Kevin to arrive and then we all got to enjoy the rest of the half together.

At halftime, Harmon burned off lots of boy energy running around near the entrance gates and Kevin ate a late lunch. Our goal going in was through AT LEAST the first half of the game with Harmon – and we had achieved that – so we decided to get greedy and try for more. We ended up making it to the fourth quarter but it got a little rough. Harmon got bored and it got warmer and he drank a ton of water and, thus, had to go potty 100,000 times so we finally called it a day. On our way out, we got some cute pictures and, overall, I think it went well – Harmon was pretty well behaved and we all had fun. We might try another game later in the year just so he starts to love Michigan football just as much as Kevin and I do!

It was all good just a week ago

Last Friday night, after another yummy dinner at Pizza House, Kevin, Harmon and I went for a long walk around town. Instead of going south toward the athletic campus, we decided to head north – mostly so Harmon could see the fire trucks at the downtown fire station (located on Fifth, just north of Huron). We took Huron back to the car and passed by the Campus Inn. The football team stays at this hotel the night before home games but we’ve been by it a thousand times without incident so I wasn’t expecting any excitement as we passed by the main entrance. However, as we walked past the secondary entrance, I glanced back and immediately grabbed Kevin’s arm all the while trying not to yell “ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!” Just as I had glanced back, Coach Rod had glanced toward the street! I looked at Kevin and we KNEW we had to stop. What other opportunity would we have to meet U-M’s new football coach, especially with our connections to the athletic department dwindling! So, we turned around and made our way back to the hotel. He was speaking with some media types so we patiently waited our turn. When he was done, he turned around all smiles and Kevin introduced us all. Let me just say that a 2 ½-year-old is a great ice breaker! We chatted a bit – well, except for Harmon who went all shy on us (he’s all about Coach Rod at home) – and it was great! He was very welcoming and friendly and taller than we expected (he also had the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen)! He had a real down-to-earth appeal to him and his accent was downright endearing. I can see how he is a big hit in a recruit’s living room! Since he had team meetings to head too, we didn’t take up too much time (and we decided against a photo) but it still was a pretty awesome experience!

Of course, U-M lost its home opener against Utah the next day and then had some tough luck on the recruiting front this week – I hope we weren’t bad luck!

A butterfly to a lightning bug

Today is Harmon’s first day in his new “Lightning Bug” classroom at school. Since it’s a new school year, most of the kids started today in their new classrooms. While Harmon loved being a “Butterfly,” I think he’s going to love his NEW classroom even more. It has a very cool tree house for the kids to climb and hang out in and, most importantly, his Butterfly teacher – Miss Laura – made the move with him. She now is the lead teacher in the Lightning Bug classroom. Harmon has been lucky in both his moves since starting at Annie’s in 2007. Each time, his previous teacher has made the move with him, totally easing his transition.

The new classroom is considered pre-school so he’ll have a lot more responsibility. He’ll have to pick up after himself after free play; retrieve, layout and put away his nap mat; get his own lunch; maneuver his pants and underwear at potty time; and learn how to dress himself. We’ve been working on all these things at home lately and he’s been doing very well. I know he’ll make strides quickly at school too – he’s such a fast learner! The good news to Mom and Dad is that, with this move, his tuition dropped. So, we’ll have a few months at the decreased rate before we have to add Simon’s tuition to the mix!

So many changes for our little guy: a new classroom and new responsibilities this week; a new big boy bedroom in a few weeks; and a new baby brother in a few months. As is usually the case, he’ll just roll with it! It’s what he does and we’re SO glad he’s our little amoeba!