Super Mom... or super kids
Feb. 2nd, 2010 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerToday's theme is brought to you by "perserverance".
F got home from work after 10pm last night. I just can't hit the gym after 10pm anymore so I missed my work out. My boss/upper management clarified the importance of my attendance at the 7:30 meeting and when I hit the gym after 10pm, I get screwed up the next morning and I slide into that meeting late if I don't miss it entirely. So essentially, I've got to be a morning person if I want to work out. It is what it is.
Last night I went to bed at 11pm, squeezing in a little snuggle time with F. The "Plan" was to get up at 3:45 am to hit the gym for a solid 6 mile/1 hour run. Sadly, I overslept. Head on pillow, nested in the blankets, the peaceful quiet, I stared at my bedside clock lamenting the missed workout because the clock said 5:00am. It seemed really easy to just stay in bed another half hour and then go straight to work. But I didn't. I had a surge of "I will not quit! I will not be kept down!" I leaped from bed, threw my gym bag together and headed to the gym. I was on the treadmill by 5:40, squeezing in a 35 minute run. I figure it's not on par with what I planned, but it was better than nothing.
Perseverance! Yay!
And then I took crack... err... cookies! to work. Last night after the hubby's phone call came saying he'd be home "late!", I punted and spent the evening baking. It started as a project for Miss E and I, but as soon as I cracked the first egg, she wandered off. Working at my pace, I cranked out 13 dozen cookies: double chocolate brownie cookies, snowy mountain caps (toasted almonds, nutmeg, and white chocolate baked into a vanilla cookie which is dusted with powdered sugar) and double chunk chocolate peanut butter cookies. Most of these were given away today as "thank yous" to work cohorts, bribes to those "in the know" and a large package has been set aside for my cleaning fairies who folded MY laundry last week. (Darth Director got one of the double-chunk-chocolate-peanut butter ones. His aid was wandering through and grabbed some for herself and him. I told his aid maybe he could wait to eat it when he's reviewing my annual performance appraisal... she laughed and passed it on. I hear he laughed at the suggestion). And after I had a few cookies, I was done. Zero interest. I'm much more interested in sharing them and luring gossip out of co-workers.
And I used up that frentic energy baking, which is soothing in a weird way.
Super N and I "did" something today. Our parish church has a school attached and the school has a track team. It turns out that you can join the team if you attend the school, are members of the parish, or live in the parish boundary. Super N grabbed a flyer on Sunday and asked me if he could do it. I was on the fence and a co-worker asked me the simple question, "Why not?"
Because I'd have to be at work by 6am on Tuesday and Thursday, which is a rough schedule.
Because it means I might not get a chance to run on Tuesdays.
Because it means I'll be wiped out those nights.
Because it means I'll have to negotiate with my boss to leave work by 2:55 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Because it means that in March and April there are track meets on Saturdays and Saturdays are mine to schedule as I please, so I'll have to give up the first half of most of those Saturdays.
I decided to keep an open mind and we checked it out. Super N warmed up like the rest of the kids by doing a lap around the track... 0.25 miles! I had no idea he could run that far. Then they did the bleachers... up the stairs, across the benches, down stairs, across the bottom, up stairs, across, down, across, up, across, down, half way around the track, repeat bleachers over there and then back to where they started. Then 45 minutes of sprint intervals, and one more lap to cool down, which he spent hopping, sprinting, jumping and jogging through. Every now and again he looked over to wave or smile, seeing that I was watching and paying attention. He had this huge grin on his face the whole time. Then 90 minutes after getting there, the kids were stretching and practice was done. Everyone else was leaving and Super N came up to me and wanted to do one more lap alone. I stood on the side, watching and waving as he came back around the loop to me.
He wants to join this track team. Why not? He had the biggest grin on his face the whole time and has already bonded with another boy. In the face of the freckle-faced smile and sparkling blue eyes, the mussed up blond hair and flushed cheeks, I couldn't remember why I was hesitating. Super N is my super track star. And next time I'm going to wear my running stuff and we are going to do the last lap together - we pinkie promised.
Miss E... oh boyo boyo. She found my copy of Patterns of Fashion and is designing her next SCA outfit. Every night she has me sketch a little girl and then she draws clothes onto the girl, flipping through PoF for inspiration. Then she colors it in, including trim. She's got a stack of designs at this point in a variety of color combinations for me to "whip" up for her. Yikes!
However, I suggested we pick one and make it together. She's excited.
Our science project is doing well. Crystals are slowly forming on the string. We aren't getting one long droopy crystal, but it is completely fascinating to see the small growths slowly covering the string and splay outwards. Yay Science!
That all said and done, I'm wiped out. At 7pm, both kids had showered and we snuggled in my bed so Super N could read "Pirate School and the Curse of Snake Island" aloud. I started to drift off. It was so cozy. They were not going to let me fall asleep, though. They dragged me down stairs so I could make PB&J for dinner (which I didn't do - I remotely talked Super N through it... I'd been eaten by the sofa-monster). Then we all snuggled on the sofa where next Miss E and I helped Super N write a poem for school; he wanted to write about![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ermine_rat's dog, Nemo. I am not sure we actually achieved any real form of poetry or did the intended homework assignment, but the end result was creative, it was written down, and Nicholas could "air guitar" to it when we were done. *shrug* ..."Hear My Dog's Mighty Bark"... it was catchy. I'm an engineer, who am I to criticize? Hopefully his teacher will allow free expression and be just as charmed as I was.
Poem done, homework stashed, one final cookie for the kids, and then more snuggling on the sofa to watch NCIS together, I had this weird disjointed thought. Without them, my evenings would be very lonely and possibly boring. I wouldn't be setting up science projects in my bathroom. I wouldn't be motivated to juggle a schedule to squeeze in MY run as well as take someone to a practice. I wouldn't be watching my Mini-Me generate costume designs. I wouldn't have listened to them work together to pour milk from a full gallon jug - one that neither of them can lift alone and pouring from it took both of them working together - and I credit myself for how good they work together. Yes, I'm tired. I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this; I think I'm forcing them open by forcing my eyebrows to lift the eyelids up. But I weigh my tiredness (and I keep dozing off as I write this, lol) against all that I experienced tonight and there is no comparison. It's all good. And as soon as I summon the strength, I'm climbing the stairs to bed.
One more stray thought... one day we're going to have to move to a house where there aren't any stairs between me and my bed after 8pm. I'm too pooped.
F got home from work after 10pm last night. I just can't hit the gym after 10pm anymore so I missed my work out. My boss/upper management clarified the importance of my attendance at the 7:30 meeting and when I hit the gym after 10pm, I get screwed up the next morning and I slide into that meeting late if I don't miss it entirely. So essentially, I've got to be a morning person if I want to work out. It is what it is.
Last night I went to bed at 11pm, squeezing in a little snuggle time with F. The "Plan" was to get up at 3:45 am to hit the gym for a solid 6 mile/1 hour run. Sadly, I overslept. Head on pillow, nested in the blankets, the peaceful quiet, I stared at my bedside clock lamenting the missed workout because the clock said 5:00am. It seemed really easy to just stay in bed another half hour and then go straight to work. But I didn't. I had a surge of "I will not quit! I will not be kept down!" I leaped from bed, threw my gym bag together and headed to the gym. I was on the treadmill by 5:40, squeezing in a 35 minute run. I figure it's not on par with what I planned, but it was better than nothing.
Perseverance! Yay!
And then I took crack... err... cookies! to work. Last night after the hubby's phone call came saying he'd be home "late!", I punted and spent the evening baking. It started as a project for Miss E and I, but as soon as I cracked the first egg, she wandered off. Working at my pace, I cranked out 13 dozen cookies: double chocolate brownie cookies, snowy mountain caps (toasted almonds, nutmeg, and white chocolate baked into a vanilla cookie which is dusted with powdered sugar) and double chunk chocolate peanut butter cookies. Most of these were given away today as "thank yous" to work cohorts, bribes to those "in the know" and a large package has been set aside for my cleaning fairies who folded MY laundry last week. (Darth Director got one of the double-chunk-chocolate-peanut butter ones. His aid was wandering through and grabbed some for herself and him. I told his aid maybe he could wait to eat it when he's reviewing my annual performance appraisal... she laughed and passed it on. I hear he laughed at the suggestion). And after I had a few cookies, I was done. Zero interest. I'm much more interested in sharing them and luring gossip out of co-workers.
And I used up that frentic energy baking, which is soothing in a weird way.
Super N and I "did" something today. Our parish church has a school attached and the school has a track team. It turns out that you can join the team if you attend the school, are members of the parish, or live in the parish boundary. Super N grabbed a flyer on Sunday and asked me if he could do it. I was on the fence and a co-worker asked me the simple question, "Why not?"
Because I'd have to be at work by 6am on Tuesday and Thursday, which is a rough schedule.
Because it means I might not get a chance to run on Tuesdays.
Because it means I'll be wiped out those nights.
Because it means I'll have to negotiate with my boss to leave work by 2:55 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Because it means that in March and April there are track meets on Saturdays and Saturdays are mine to schedule as I please, so I'll have to give up the first half of most of those Saturdays.
I decided to keep an open mind and we checked it out. Super N warmed up like the rest of the kids by doing a lap around the track... 0.25 miles! I had no idea he could run that far. Then they did the bleachers... up the stairs, across the benches, down stairs, across the bottom, up stairs, across, down, across, up, across, down, half way around the track, repeat bleachers over there and then back to where they started. Then 45 minutes of sprint intervals, and one more lap to cool down, which he spent hopping, sprinting, jumping and jogging through. Every now and again he looked over to wave or smile, seeing that I was watching and paying attention. He had this huge grin on his face the whole time. Then 90 minutes after getting there, the kids were stretching and practice was done. Everyone else was leaving and Super N came up to me and wanted to do one more lap alone. I stood on the side, watching and waving as he came back around the loop to me.
He wants to join this track team. Why not? He had the biggest grin on his face the whole time and has already bonded with another boy. In the face of the freckle-faced smile and sparkling blue eyes, the mussed up blond hair and flushed cheeks, I couldn't remember why I was hesitating. Super N is my super track star. And next time I'm going to wear my running stuff and we are going to do the last lap together - we pinkie promised.
Miss E... oh boyo boyo. She found my copy of Patterns of Fashion and is designing her next SCA outfit. Every night she has me sketch a little girl and then she draws clothes onto the girl, flipping through PoF for inspiration. Then she colors it in, including trim. She's got a stack of designs at this point in a variety of color combinations for me to "whip" up for her. Yikes!
However, I suggested we pick one and make it together. She's excited.
Our science project is doing well. Crystals are slowly forming on the string. We aren't getting one long droopy crystal, but it is completely fascinating to see the small growths slowly covering the string and splay outwards. Yay Science!
That all said and done, I'm wiped out. At 7pm, both kids had showered and we snuggled in my bed so Super N could read "Pirate School and the Curse of Snake Island" aloud. I started to drift off. It was so cozy. They were not going to let me fall asleep, though. They dragged me down stairs so I could make PB&J for dinner (which I didn't do - I remotely talked Super N through it... I'd been eaten by the sofa-monster). Then we all snuggled on the sofa where next Miss E and I helped Super N write a poem for school; he wanted to write about
ermine_rat's dog, Nemo. I am not sure we actually achieved any real form of poetry or did the intended homework assignment, but the end result was creative, it was written down, and Nicholas could "air guitar" to it when we were done. *shrug* ..."Hear My Dog's Mighty Bark"... it was catchy. I'm an engineer, who am I to criticize? Hopefully his teacher will allow free expression and be just as charmed as I was.Poem done, homework stashed, one final cookie for the kids, and then more snuggling on the sofa to watch NCIS together, I had this weird disjointed thought. Without them, my evenings would be very lonely and possibly boring. I wouldn't be setting up science projects in my bathroom. I wouldn't be motivated to juggle a schedule to squeeze in MY run as well as take someone to a practice. I wouldn't be watching my Mini-Me generate costume designs. I wouldn't have listened to them work together to pour milk from a full gallon jug - one that neither of them can lift alone and pouring from it took both of them working together - and I credit myself for how good they work together. Yes, I'm tired. I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this; I think I'm forcing them open by forcing my eyebrows to lift the eyelids up. But I weigh my tiredness (and I keep dozing off as I write this, lol) against all that I experienced tonight and there is no comparison. It's all good. And as soon as I summon the strength, I'm climbing the stairs to bed.
One more stray thought... one day we're going to have to move to a house where there aren't any stairs between me and my bed after 8pm. I'm too pooped.
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Holy wall o' text Batman!
Date: 2010-02-03 06:33 am (UTC)Re: Holy wall o' text Batman!
Date: 2010-02-03 03:05 pm (UTC):-D
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 02:54 pm (UTC)I love to see your Joy in family!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 03:06 pm (UTC)Yesterday I was juggling flaming pineapples while tap-dancing.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 03:17 pm (UTC)Keep juggling, gal, you are a beautiful sight!
That's how I remember parenthood for most of my years.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 06:59 pm (UTC)