Marriage

Before she was even born, I've wondered when Kylie would start questioning us about the fact that she has two moms. It seems the questioning starts now...before she's even four.

One of the games that gets played on her preschool playground is the "marriage" game. I much prefer Kylie's game of Bats where her friends all flap their wings and soar around the playground emitting high-pitched noises and chasing one another.

But back to the marriage game, from what I can gather, the boys were picking who they were going to "marry" and no one picked Kylie. This upset her and she came home crying.

I have to add that the way parents put these roles onto their children is one of my pet peeves. While on our regular playground, I've seen parents who ooohh and aahh when a boy hugs a girl or vice versa. And they will make little remarks like, "Isn't that sweet? They are boyfriend and girlfriend. They might get married one day." This makes me roll my eyes and say an inner "Ewww!" Then I proceed to lecture them in my head. "They are friends. They felt a moment of affection for one another. There is nothing sexual about it so don't term it boyfriend and girlfriend. Stop your indoctrination of marriage to innocent children." Then I remember to stop judging others and to take some deep, cleansing breaths.

After the preschool marriage incident, Kylie became infatuated with marriage. Her dolls were marrying one another, her dog and cat bath toys were marrying one another, a grape was marrying a pretzel on her snack plate. Kylie came home from school with statements like "Two boys can't marry a girl" and "Two girls can't marry a boy." It went on and on.

Finally, over breakfast, Kylie said, "Clara is my best friend. I love her. I want to marry her. Can I marry her Mommy?"

I leaned in and looked deeply into Kylie's eyes and said, "You know Momma and I are married to one another, right?" Kylie nodded and I went on. "So in the real world, two women can marry one another and two men can marry one another. But in your pretend play at school, you and Clara probably can't marry one another. Does that sound correct to you?" Kylie nodded yes. "Ok then, sweetheart."

I was pleased with my response. I was pleased that I differentiated the "real" world from the "playground" world. And while my rebel's heart wants Kylie to shout out loud, "I can marry Clara if I want to!" I realize that this just won't work. At least not right now.

Hopefully the kiddos will go back to playing Bats on the playground real soon.

120 seconds

If you point a camera at Kylie for two minutes, this is what you'll get.

A few scrapbook pages

You can click on the photo to see the credits. These are all stories and pictures from last January and February. I can't believe I'm a year behind.

High in the Air

Let me tell you, late February in Florida is fabulous! Seventy degrees and sunny skies. The streets are filled with runners and bikers and dog walkers and surfers. Everyone seems to be smiling.

And little girls are so happy that they can't stop running. And Kylie runs high in the air.

Neighborhood bike adventure

Momma Karen shot this video the other day. I thought you might enjoy it.

Amused

These days I've been amused at...

how fun it was to wash my car with Kylie's help,


how Kylie has been practicing the last three letters of her name,




how small spaces can be so kid friendly,


how she decided to "sign" her valentine cards with smiley faces and how diligently she signed them all,


and how absolutely delighted she was with the valentines she received from her school chums.

Two beauties

There are two beauties in this picture:
One- My Kylie who is sweetly shucking corn for our dinner and
Two- My brand new Specialized Amira Road bike.

I'm in love with it with my new bike. The night before I got it, I woke up several times because I was as excited as a kid before Christmas morning. The folks at the bike shop were fabulous. I was worried I would end up with some bike snobs or someone who wouldn't want to sell a bike to a biking goof like me. But my salesguy told me that customers like me, ones that were excited to get started, were so fun to work with.

I did one session on the indoor trainer you see pictured here. Let me tell you...BIG difference on the seat. My tailbone is talking to me! And today I took it for a ride around the neighborhood. And I only fell off twice. Well, actually four times but I only hit the grass twice. Let's just say that starting and stopping are very different with my new bike.

I feel so silly and goofy while riding it and yet so happy and excited at the same time. It's an interesting mix of feelings.

So emotional

I read somewhere that children are apt to be more emotional and push against their boundaries more in the 2-3 months before their birthday. Our darling Kylie has been so emotional recently.

When she dropped a penny and it went down a drain,
When she couldn't make a bead ornament just they way it was shown in a picture,
When wanted to change clothes before going to the park and I said no,
When she trips or bumps into something,
And just any old thing will set her off to fat, hot tears and wails. I don't know if it's a hormone thing or what. But it seems like the last week, she has several crying fits a day. It's not a tantrum; it's just consuming, emotional tears.

I can't use logic with her and she hates it when I say, "It's going to be okay" or something similar. So I just hold and rock her and then try to gently distract her. Poor little bear.

Other than these moments that overwhelm her, she really is an awesome kid. I'm so proud of how she moves throughout her world. She's so brave and funny and smart.

Sick and scrapping

Well folks, I've been down with a cold for four days now. Not exercising has made me doubly grouchy. Let's hope for everyone's sake that I improve quickly.

I have managed to complete a few scrapbook pages. Click on the photo for credits.




I made 15 pages documenting Christmas. You can see them here at the top of the photo group.

Cheers!

{this moment} 02/04/11

{this moment} - a Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.



Our darling cat Phoebe has started to allow Kylie to pet her. Kylie can still be a bit heavy handed with Phoebe and continues to get right into her face. I'm teaching Kylie what cats like and don't like but it takes a lot of reiteration. I've told Kylie to compliment Phoebe on her soft fur and pretty eyes in a soft voice before reaching out. And I've told her that Phoebe would like to hear about Kylie's day at school. So Kylie walks over and whispers little tidbits before petting Phoebe. It's very sweet.

Phoebe ends up running away because Kylie will grab her paw or tail or whiskers. And after Kylie goes to bed, Phoebe comes to me meowing her complaints and demanding affection to make up for any abuse.

This moment posts are inspired by SouleMama's Friday posts

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Showcase and pictures

While I was in Greensboro NC attending the US National Figure Skating Championships with my Mom, Karen and Kylie got to attend her school showcase.

When they arrived at 5:00pm on Thursday 1/27, Karen was given this paper to help prompt Kylie on what she was supposed to show her Momma.


Kylie walked so proudly from lesson to lesson. There are almost 30 kids in the class yet the schoolroom is fairly quiet. The children are taught to do their lessons quietly and peacefully.


For the bead lesson, Kylie sorts the beads into the different boxes. Then she shows her work to a teacher. Then she removes all but one of the beads in each box. In doing so, she prepares the lesson for the next student.


A big thing for Montessori classrooms are the white mats. Children are taught that some lessons are done on a table and others are done on the floor. For floor work, children are taught to get a white mat and roll it out. In this lesson, Kylie sorted silk flowers. After completing the lesson, she rolls the white mat back up as precisely as she can and then returns it to the mat basket.


Here is the snowflake counting exercise

And here are a few more exercises not listed on her sheet.

Stacking and

screwing.

Kylie was so tickled to show off all the things she's been learning.

I thought you might also be interested in seeing some of Kylie's artwork.

This sheet is from school. Kylie comes home with two or three of these each week. She has learned how to glue the proper shapes onto the guide page. I think this would be a great exercise for homeschooling.


Kylie also comes home from school with her punching exercises. This is where she has made holes by using a large tack. Once she has the drawing punched out, a teacher helps her by cutting the rest of it out.

Here are some of her coloring sheets. I love that in Kylie's world, people have blue faces.






Here are two of her recent drawings. I love that her figures have lately been holding hands and standing near trees.





I like that she does drawing like this too which she calls scribble-scrabble.

And lastly here are some watercolors.




My sweet girl loves her artwork. She completes 3-4 sheets of artwork at home each day as well as what she does at school. It makes her happy!

Triathlete- January 2011

Since some of you have shown an interest in my healthy living journey, I thought I would share how I'm progressing in my triathlon goal with you once a month. For January, I had 23 days of exercise and 8 days off.

I'll start with the bad news.
Swim
My swimming has just been horrible. I was in the pool by myself for three solo swims and had two private lessons. My solo swims have left me feeling like I'm turtle slow and that I have horrible technique. At times, I'm gasping for breath at the end of one lap. I know I'm cardio conditioned and shouldn't be gasping but I am, either from fear or I don't know what.

I had really high hopes from my swim coach but she was sorely disappointing. The sum total of her advice was that "it will just happen when you relax". Right. Not helpful.

I had one very bad day where I only got in 10 laps and struggled hugely the entire time. Afterwards, I had a huge crying fit in my car. Karen (God love her) listened as I sobbed into my phone saying that I wanted to give up my triathlon goal and in the same breath saying that if I did give it up that I would regret it for the rest of my life. Once she had me calmed down, she assured me that we would find me a good coach who could help me swim. My trainer Joy assured me as well. Friends, this swimming goal feels so huge right now--like climbing Mt. Everest huge.

The rest of my training went very well.

Strength
I had 5 strength training sessions with my trainer Joy. She weighs me every week, which helps me stay on target. Her workouts are wonderfully hard and are never the same. She offers me so much encouragement in her easy, no-nonsense way. I feel blessed to have her help. I did two strength training sessions by myself and I was pleasantly surprised at how I could push myself to work hard.

Run
My runs are right on target. My ten-mile long run was awesome; I felt the strongest I had since the race. The running stats are:
Long Run
9 miles in 90 minutes, 10min pace
8 miles in 80 minutes, 10min pace
10 miles in 94 minutes, 9:24 pace
Speed Work
6 miles in 57 minutes 9:30 pace
6 miles in 55 minutes 9:10 pace
Easy/Regular Run
5 miles in 47 minutes 9:24 pace
5 miles in 48 minutes 9:36 pace
6 miles in 60 minutes 10:00 pace

Bike
I had a big breakthrough with regards to the bike. I had been biking only in my small neighborhood but one day I felt comfortable enough to bike on a real road. Cars went around me and I didn't freak out. I felt like a real bike rider for the first time. I had three neighborhood rides. On one I traveled 7.5 miles in one hour. The other I traveled 8.7 miles in an hour.

For perspective's sake I'll share with you that for the triathlon, I need to bike around a 3 minutes mile. In an hour's time, I need to be logging around 20 miles instead of 8. So eventually I need to bike at least TWICE as fast as I am now. So, I have a long way to go. But I'll take my little "win" and smile about it. The day I biked on a real road was a good day.

I also attended 3 spin classes which are helping me build biking muscles (and making me sweat absolute buckets).

Other
My favorite day of the week is Tuesday because I get to train with Joy and I get to attend Body Combat class. I got in 4 of those classes this month and grinned the whole time. That class is fun!

Karen's been taking circuit training classes at a different gym three times a week (she also Jazzercises twice a week). One day this month, I got a free pass to attend her circuit class. It was awesome. I would love to find a way to work this class into my schedule.

At the end of January, I attended the National Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, NC. My mom and I went together and had a wonderful time. While there, I worked out on the elliptical machine for 75 minutes. I did that 2 of the 4 days we were there.

Lastly this month, I got to walk with my friend Sarah twice. We walked between 3 1/2 - 4 miles each time. Its a great time to gab and burn a few more calories.

Weight
127. Down 2 pounds since December. Weight loss isn't my primary goal but I'm always pleased to see the scale dip down a bit more.

And there we go, another month summarized!

If you are interested, here are more posts about the journey.
Goal: Triathlon in 2012- initial post from December 2010
One Little Word: Triathlete post
December 2010 summary