How to Throw a Fit

Expert advice from Darling Daughter, affectionately called Shoo-Shoo:

Step 1: Choose something to be mad about; in this case, a delay in being able to go swimming.

 

 

Step 2: Throw yourself down on the ground, ever so primly, and begin to cry. 



Step 3: And this may be the most important step: Make sure someone is watching you.  If they're not, stop what you're doing!

 

 



Step 4: Begin moving closer to Mom or Dad, and have a temporary moment of pure, unadulterated, two-year old pleasure, complete with showing off panties, as only a small child can get away with!

Step 5: Once you are closer to Mom and Dad, begin throwing the fit again. Sink to the ground:

 

 

Step 6: Throw yourself on the ground, and begin kicking your legs, with your mouth wide open. Don't stop!







 

Step 7: Eventually, your parents may be big enough suckers to let you get your way!



Memories of my Grandparents

Yesterday, I was sitting in the car driving to work letting my mind wander.  I had memories pop in, randomly.  It never ceases to amaze me how you can be staring at the back of someone’s hoop-dee and all of a sudden your brain takes you to another place.

Recently, my memories have been centered around my grandparents, Gigi and Gipop.  I saw them taking me to the Junior Museum in Tallahassee.  I “watched myself” preaching in the little chapel there, Gigi taking photos of me and laughing her head off.  Then we had a picnic of fried chicken, good Southern food, with Gigi and Gipop afterwards. 

Gipop and Me on my wedding day

I thought about going to Publix, which I thought was the coolest grocery store, because we didn’t have one in Montgomery.  Gipop let us pick out whatever ice cream flavor we wanted. I usually picked Neapolitan, because I thought it was cool to sample all three flavors! 

Back at their house, Gigi would make a salad with lettuce, a banana cut in half slathered with mayonnaise and nuts on top.  I remember thinking it was the strangest salad, but I always loved the way it tasted.  To this day, I think about that salad and it reminds me nostalgically of those long summer days with my grandparents. 

So many good memories.  Gigi and Gipop had a box of Legos to play with, and I would sit on the floor for hours making creations while they watched the “boring news,” McNeill Lehrer hour on PBS.  Their television was only ever on for news.  The rest of the time, we sat on the couch and read, or talked.  I’m convinced that my grandparents instilled a love of reading into me at an early age.  Their house was filled with books ready to take you on whatever adventure lay behind the pages. 

Gipop told ghost stories from his youth in South Carolina, and I used to lay my head on his big belly and he’d say, “I kind of like you, gal!”  I still say that to my kids today, but because they never had the gift of knowing Gipop they simply don’t understand the tenderness behind the saying.

We used to go to Wakulla Springs, and we’d take a glass bottom boat tour through the swampy Florida marsh.  There would be huge alligators on the banks, and you could see fish and alligators swimming underneath the boat.  Afterwards, we’d eat either a picnic or in the café, then we’d swim in the “lake” which seemed dangerously close to the sunbathing gators on the other bank.  I never remember being scared of them though!  In the café, there was a huge alligator named Joe who had been killed at the Springs and stuffed.  He was shot dead by a poacher in 1966, even though he had never bothered anyone. 

Back at Gigi’s and Gipop's we’d spend nights playing Scrabble.  I always cheated, by using the little Scrabble dictionary, because otherwise I could never beat my grandmother, who had an immense vocabulary stored in her head. My oldest sister sometimes would beat her, and I always felt jealous, because I could never win!

Gipop always liked it cold.  Ice cold.  He drove me home from Tallahassee, or maybe just halfway, one time. I sat in the back, and I froze the whole time, but I never said anything.  When I transferred to my Dad’s car, I asked if he could put on the heat.  He laughed, and he told my grandfather that I’d been so cold the whole ride! 

I miss them, and I know how privileged I was to have them in my life.  These memories almost make me feel as if they are still here with me. 

Exercise is A Way Of Life

Exercise is a way of life, which few of us can afford to ignore.  Obesity rates in the United States are rising.  Our children sit around, inside, playing video games, watching television, stuffing their face with processed junk.  Not even food...just junk. 

Just a year ago, I used to be one of those junk-eaters, couch-sitters, non-exercising morons!  I sat on the couch, and I felt like I'd be okay even if I was overweight.  My children followed my lead.  They became couch potatoes.  They became mindless TV zombies.  And then I made a change.  I got up, off the couch, and I moved.  I stopped making excuses for why I couldn't exercise and I started making excuses for why I HAD to exercise. 

There are tons of health benefits from exercising: extend your life, decrease the chance of heart disease, and lose weight.  But, there also emotional benefits.  Exercise raises the serotonin in your blood.  It makes you look at the world differently.  It gives you an outlet for all the little stresses in your life. 

Most important to me is that my children see me leading a healthy life, and they are starting to follow my example.  After dinner, we used to always sit around and watch television, but now the kids want to go for a walk or a bike ride.  If parents make a change, so will the kids.  They will follow suit.  So put on your walking shoes, and take a family walk.  Make a change to your life today, in order to show your children how they should live their life.  Pass on the gift of health and happiness by living as an example.

Get outdoors: run, swim, walk, just move! 

Three Month Hiatus

I've been gone from the blogging world for THREE months.  I've been consumed by reading, taekwondo, kids, husband.  Too many good things and too many bad things going on for me to focus on writing.  I always come back to writing though.  I miss it too much.

I'm only about fifteen pounds away from my weight goal.  Here's a recent photo of me with Darling Daughter:

 

 

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my baldness.  I've been completely bald over a year now.  I will now leave the house bald without a second thought.  I generally only wear my wig on weekdays, to work.  I hate the wig.  I would rather be bald all the time.  I know how to address the questions, and the look of sadness in people's eyes when they see my bald head and three kids!

 

I went to a spin class with my dear friend, Miranda Grace, the other day.  Afterwards, a woman came up to me and said, "You did such a great job!  You're such an inspiration to us!" 

 

I just shook my head and I said, "I don't have cancer.  I just have alopecia."

 

She looked at me and asked a few questions then said, "Well, you're still an inspiration.  You're 'real.'  You truly are who you are."

 

Who else would I be?

 

The three musketeers are doing wonderfully.  I am in awe as their personalities develop, and they grow and change.

 

Number One is an extrovert just like his mother!  He can't get enough of friends and play.  He is on the gymnastics team this year, and he works out six hours a week.  He loves physical exertion, and it helps control some of the manic energy he has.  He still scares me with his wild streak, and his independence.  He is definitely a risk taker.  He decided this year to cut off all his curls, and I finally let him. My sweet firstborn is growing up more quickly than I want! 

 

 

 

Number Two started preschool this year.  I was convinced, he would be my struggle as far as school is concerned, but so far he has not proved so.  He is good natured, and he is a rule follower.  He learns easily, and without much instruction.  He still tends to be my couch potato. 

In fact, when I asked him if he wanted to take taekwondo this year, he said no.  I asked why not.  He said, "Mom, I don't like to exercise, and they make me stand the whole time!"  He is still in love with Lightning McQueen, and loves to play "Injas!" 

 

 

 

And Darling Daughter.  The little bit of pink in my life.  She is growing.  Her vocabulary has expanded lately, and true to the nature of a girl, she is bossy and demanding!  She is a sweet girl too, and fiercely attached to me and her Big Daddy!  She loves to pretend to go shopping. 

 

The other day, we were having pork chops for dinner.  She said, "What for dinner, Mommy?" I said, "Pork chops, sweetie."  She looked up at me, full of sass, and put her hand on her hip and said, "I have cereal for dinner, OK Mommy?"  I stared at her in disbelief.  No, not okay!  She ended up eating a whole pork chop!