And my time online is still necessarily limited. It would be anyway, since Sam is home from school this week. He’s been interesting lately; six years old is generally pretty congenial, but every so often, the drama takes over, and “I’ll never love you again, Mom!” ::back of the hand to the forehead, commence tearful exit, stage left::
ME: “Sam, if you can’t stop kicking [the walls, the couch, the stove, your brother, etc.], then you need to sit on the steps until I decide you’ve calmed down.”
SAM: “I won’t! You calm down! Grrrrrrr!”
ME: “Sit. Now.”
SAM: “GRRRRRRRRRR!”
GABE: “Sam, you bad.”
ME: “Gabe, stay out of this.”
GABE: “But he bad!”
SAM: “GRRRRRRRR!”
ME: “He is not bad. He’s just having a hard time. Now, Gabe, go play.”
GABE: “He sad?”
SAM: “I’M NOT SAD I JUST DON’T LIKE YOU ANYMORE!”
GABE: “He bad, Mama.”
ME: “Gabe!”
SAM: “GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
Until at some random point, Sam bursts into hysterical tears and collapses into my lap, after which all is transformed for the better. Six years old is emotional like that for us, and it’s really taxing. I’d heard that it gets like this for boys around nine or ten years old, so this threw me for a loop. Wasn’t prepared, if you catch my drift. I guess there’s no way to predict.
But on the flip side, he learned the Lord’s Prayer this week and is very pleased with himself. If he can memorize the names of the twelve apostles next week, he’ll get a poster at church, which is apparently a Big Deal in his mind. (He’s already learned the four brothers of Jesus and the Fruits of the Spirit with the goal of the poster in mind.) 
I’m doing this race as my first 50K/ultra in July 2012. I’m so tardy to the party but...