Thank you for reading my posts over the last two weeks. I'm still not sure if I'm doing this for you or for me, but either way, it's fun to be writing again. What's not so much fun is reading comments over the last few days (most often subtly sent to my email, thank you) asking me if I'm still exercising every day. Yes, I am fully aware that I pitched this blog as an exercise blog-- and yes, I am also fully aware that the last few posts have not really focused on my exercise plan. But honestly, how boring would that be for me to, every day, write a list of exercises I did and then tell you how many inches I have or have not lost? (I guess that statement answers the question of whether this column is for you or for me, doesn't it?)
But yes, I am still doing my non-medicine ball exercise. Just this morning, in fact, I did some (maybe 3) lunges with Micah sitting on my knee. Last night, while on my back on my super-soft new rug that we refer to as "the mud" because it is so soft and squishy, I bounced her up and down on my belly. Also last night, I wrestled with a tantruming Kolbie... if you don't think that's exercise, you've never experienced a tantruming three year old. Angry three year olds are freakishly strong. And pretty much every time I pick up Micah, I toss her into the air. And I pick her up a lot. That's got to count for something.
And I've been playing a lot of Wonder Pets lately. (Wonder Pets are toddler super-heros, for those of you who don't have young children.) And since we all know super-heroes are in great shape and you've never seen a super-hero at the gym, then it stands to reason that super-heroes get in that great shape by running around wearing a cape. Which is what I've been doing. When it's deemed appropriate for me to wear a cape, that is.
Kolbie has some very specific ideas about her Wonder Pet-super hero play time. For example, I'm only allowed to sing the opening line of the theme song, before she picks up the refrain, and I'm only allowed to voice the animal that needs rescuing AFTER she's determined which animal needs rescuing. I'm not actually allowed to wear a cape very often. I am, apparently, too big. Also, I am apparently not cute enough. Nor do I sound the way a Wonder Pet sounds. Kolbie sure does know how to make me feel good. The voice thing doesn't bother me so much. I don't mind not sounding like a squeaky four year old. I mind that I'm seldom, if ever, allowed to wear a cape.
When I was a kid, my brother Jared and I had this game that we'd play every summer when the bathing suits came out, because with the bathing suits came our beach towels. And our beach towels were actually our super hero personalities. Similar to how Clark Kent takes off his glasses and is suddenly Superman-- or the ugly girl in the movie takes off hers and is suddenly the hottest girl in school (no wonder my children hate to wear glasses)-- well, we'd tie the end of our beach towels in a knot around our neck, and suddenly we were California Girl! and Surfer Boy! (based on the pictures on our towel, of course). Chasing imaginary horrible things and climbing trees and, well, I think most of what we did was just run around and yell: "California Girl! to the rescue!' or "Here comes Surfer Boy!". I know our brother Trent was occasionally allowed to play with us, but I can't remember his super hero personality. (Sorry, Trent. For that, and for the corn, and the tree.. and many other things.) We would spend hours in our super-hero identities, often because the doors were locked. (My mother's favorite saying was "you have 43 acres to play on- outside NOW!" I feel you, Mom. I really do. But saying "you have one-third of an acre to play on" doesn't have the same power.)
So when I am allowed to wear a cape (ie, a blanket) and chase Kolbie around rescuing a stuffed animal (normally from the jaws of Dugan), it brings back some really fun memories. Granted, often Kolbie will allow me to put a cape on Micah (she is apparently small and cute enough to warrant a cape) and run around holding Micah in front of me while her cape flaps in my face, which is close to the same thing, right? And wait-- that counts as exercise, doesn't it? See? This IS an exercise blog after all.
I just wish that I could wear a cape on a more regular basis. It's freeing. It's relaxing. It's FUN. And if you can't wear a cape with your three year old, when can you wear a cape? I guess I could try introducing it into my "alone time" with my husband, but unless I've got the whole Wonder Woman thing going on, I don't think it's going to fly. (pun intended!) And if my husband came home and found me wearing a cape as a normal part of my day, he's likely to question how much I've been drinking and/or if the Alzheimer's has hit extra early. So, I guess for now I'll just accept that my cape-wearing days are over- and live vicariously through my little girls- unless Kolbie is in a gracious mood.
No comments:
Post a Comment