But why Mommy? Why?

For some reason I thought the hardest part of walking my kindergartener to school would be getting there in time.  My 5-year-old loved to run ahead while my 3-year-old would doddle.  The 3-year-old would get distracted and want to collect rocks or point out cars as we walked by them.  We had done the trip to school a number of times before the first day just so I could get a sense of how long it would take and I could just feel that I would spend my mornings grinding my teeth as I tried to get us there before the bell.  Well school is now in full swing, and I have to admit that getting there in time has not been an issue.  If both boys run, we get there in 7 minutes.  If one of them doddles, we get there in 12 - and either way we aren't close to being too late or too early.

Okay so the most difficult part of getting to and from school seems to be in reminding the boys that it isn't safe to walk in the street!!  The sidewalk is clearly a different shade of gray, so it's not like they could easily be confused.  But every morning I get asked at least 5 times (by the 3-year-old) why he can't walk in the street.  Now I know he is familiar with the reason why, so what I can't figure out is why the question keeps coming.  Does he just like to hear my explanation?  Does he just want to ask me a question and can't come up with something else to talk about?  Does he want to hear his own voice?  Does he want to hear my voice?  Or is it truly that he is seeing how many times he can ask that same question (while standing barely in the street) before my head literally pops off. 

These boys definitely remind me why people who are mentally unstable might not be a good fit for parenthood - way too much patience required.  And why at the end of the day the only thing I really want to hear is the sound of... nothing. 

Strip Jeopardy

This morning I found myself a little frustrated.  I have always been the sort of person that likes to learn new things and share those things with others so they can also benefit.  So when I come across a piece of information that it seems someone else is lacking, I want to let him/her know about it so they can be better educated in their decision making.  In an attempt to help a friend this morning I was immediately confronted by someone who was of the opposite mind-set.  Here I was trying to help, and this other individual was clearly just wanting to have the last word and claim their dominance in the subject.  I knew my educated advice trumped their poorly informed opinion, but is there really a way to debate someone whose judgement is clouded by their testosterone?

It took me back to an evening 7 years ago when my boyfriend (now husband) and I were settled into our apartment.  I liked a good game of Jeopardy, so he suggested we could play "strip jeopardy" to make it interesting.  In the game of Jeopardy, it's not about who rings in the most, it's about who has the most right answers... but clearly someone has yet to convince my husband of this.  By the time we had finished the first round, I was still fully dressed, and he was sitting next to me completely naked.  I'm still giggling just thinking about it right now.  He made up the rules, yet didn't think to suggest that if you won a question you told the other person to take something off.  Nope, you only had to strip if you guessed wrong.  So why was I fully dressed?  Well, I don't ring in and answer unless I'm 95% positive that I know the correct response.  And unfortunately for him, there weren't any sports questions and he couldn't resist the urge to shout out incorrect answers.

  

So what does this have to do with my morning?  Well, I kind of came to the realization that there are some people who like to talk just to hear their own voices.  They genuinely feel that whatever their opinion of a subject is, it is more important than another person's professional/experiential knowledge.  Oh, and it's not worth arguing with them, because there is no one that can change their mind - besides, I can just blog about it to unleash my frustration.  As for my husband, we haven't had a round of strip Jeopardy since my 3-year-old was conceived, and he has started to realize that sometimes I know what I'm talking - only took 6 years of marriage.

Pandora's Box

Last week's topic in my MNT (Medical Nutrition Therapy) class was pharmacology.  We read up on what sorts of drugs may have direct interactions with foods we eat, and also what side-effects drugs may have that involve our nutritional health.  So for the weekly assignment, I was supposed to look for two research articles that involved a drug of choice and discuss its effect on food consumption, absorption, etc.  While this is pretty easy to find, I didn't want it to be easy, I wanted to look at something new that I hadn't researched before.  And didn't I manage to open Pandora's box.

So I looked into weight loss associated with ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) because I had seen individuals lose significant amounts of weight when their medication for this was adjusted.  Granted the people I had seen were adults, so the weight loss might not have been as serious as it would be for a child.  I wanted to look at the kids on these meds.  The first article I came across showed significant weight loss and height loss in the first year of ADHD medication use.  The greatest losses were for the heaviest and/or tallest kids (as expected).  What the study did not and could not show was whether these losses prevented these kids from reaching their expected height/weight in adulthood.  This concerned me.  The prevalent use of ADHD meds as of late hasn't yet had enough time to show what the long-term effects are in this realm.

I investigated further.  No not into more information about what the drugs can do, but what the alternatives might be.  Along came a different study that followed kids who were newly diagnosed.  Each of these children were also evaluated and found to have very mild cases of OSA (obstructive sleep apnea).  Does that mean all children with ADHD have OSA?  Who knows, anything is possible.  So the parents of these children were given the option to not treat the ADHD, treat with medication, or treat by giving the child an adenotonsillectomy (removal of the adenoids and tonsils).  What did they find?  Well the kids who received no intervention, showed no improvement.  The kids who received medication or surgery both showed significant improvement in their symptoms, but those who received the surgery showed even greater benefits over those who received medication.  Oh, and the ones who received surgery weren't having to deal with possible medication side-effects!!

This put a lot of thoughts into my head.  First, wow sleep is so important.  Look what lack of sleep or poor sleep is doing to our kids!  Second, if there is a way to correct this problem without the use of medication, why wouldn't everyone use this?  So I went to visit a friend to pick her brain about it.  She has a child who takes medication for ADHD, and also a husband who had recently undergone surgery to correct his sleep apnea.  I asked her, when she visited the medical clinic and her child was diagnosed with this condition, if he was ever referred to a sleep clinic or an Ear/Nose/Throat (ENT) doctor.  And ask I suspected, he wasn't.  The diagnosis of ADHD was arrived at with a 20 page questionnaire completed by the parents and a short visit with an over-worked physician - I imagine their circumstances for diagnosis weren't unique.  As my mind began to wander I came across one thought:  Do you remember how removal of the tonsils was like a right-of-passage when our parents were kids?  Everybody had them out.  These days it's not the case but look at what a large number of kids could possibly benefit from it. 

Now where do I take this information?  I have absolutely no idea.  I don't work at the local medical clinic.  I can't change their protocol and have a sleep clinic or ENT consult occur before medication prescriptions are given out, but what I can do is put the word out here.  We, as parents, are our child's best advocates.  A lot of people are not aware that there are alternatives for some children with ADHD.  If your child was recently diagnosed or had been diagnosed a while ago, ask your doctor about a referral to rule out mild obstructive sleep apnea.  It's just one more doctor's appointment that could provide incredibly valuable information if your child is affected by this.

Perfection is unattainable, but . . .

Candy Cane Soy Candle

While I consistently have to remind myself that it's impossible to be perfect or to do something that turns out perfect, it certainly is hard to keep from being disappointed when things don't turn out the way we want.  I had an issue recently with a candle I wanted to pour.  I had ordered a bottle of the new scent and had this vision in my head of what I wanted the final product to look like.  I began pouring, but I was too excited to see the final product, and thus hurried the process along.  This particular candle was going to have 5 different layers.  Each layer had to set up before the next could pour, but still needed to be a little warm so the layers would bind well to each other.  I allowed some cool air to pass through my studio in hopes it would cool the layers faster and let me continue pouring without such a long wait.  Well, it let me pour faster, but the final product had jump lines where the wax cooled too fast, and the binding of the layers was poor.  I was extremely disappointed.  The candle had the layers, and the angles I had dreamt up, but looked nothing like a product I would be proud to offer to customers.  Back to the work table the next day, with a clearer mind and calmer attitude, I began again.  The first day I only poured 2 of the layers and the next day I poured the remaining 3.  I keep the doors closed to keep the air warm, and I patiently waited after each layer to let the wax set up.  I had changed my design for the layers as well after seeing how much I disliked the first attempt.  And the results were... well... not perfect, but certainly as close as is possible.  I almost think that when we fail at first and then reattempt and succeed, it reminds us that we are human - but we sure do come equipped with amazing skills that create perfectly imperfect things.

Peeing your pants is not cool

I don't care what you say, Billy Madison, peeing your pants is definitely not cool.  Although if it was, then I would have been "the coolest", and amongst my friends you pretty much had to be a pants pee'er to get into our cool gang.  Alright, I'm lying about entrance to the cool group, but we certainly had many good laughs about our accidents.  And in case you were not yet aware, I'm not shy about talking about... anything!  Do I care that you now know that I peed my pants?  Nope!  Because if you ever had a conversation with me, I'd tell you all about it.  I'm a walking after-school special right here.

My journey with stress incontinence (peeing your pants when you cough, sneeze, or run) began when I squeezed out my first baby.  Yes, you could say that I pretty destroyed myself with that experience.  I recall laying in my hospital bed, recovering and thinking to myself that I should get up to go to the bathroom.  So I got out of bed and stopped to take a long peek at my new little monkey.  Suddenly I realized that I had to pee NOW!!  I started waddling to the bathroom, as you have to walk that way with the enormous diaper you wear after delivering, and commented to my husband that, "I'm peeing right now and I can't stop!!"  He thought this was hilarious, and has shared the story with all kinds of expectant parents.  My ability to control the pee got better as time went by.  I did my kegel exercises like crazy, but still had trouble when it came to jumping in dance class or attempting to jog.  If I felt a big sneeze coming on... look out!  And if I saw a trampoline all I really saw was soggy pants.  It was literally awful to be unable to get a grip on something that I thought I had mastered before kindergarten.

After my second baby came along, I decided to look into physical therapy.  I had heard that if your control muscles are weak enough, they will give you a "device" that's inserted into your "lady business" and then it gives you a little stimulation to encourage your muscles to contract.  Literally does a kegel for you.  Hello!  Sign me up!  Insurance will now pay for a vibrator??  Poor me, my muscles were too strong to show a need for this device, so I was stuck with more kegels and routine appointments to help my pelvis align correctly.  Did it help?  Well, in dance class I could now do leaps to the left with my better aligned body, but landing was still sketchy.  I gave up.  I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wear Depends, or a huge maxi pad, every time I wanted to go for a run.   It was my heel striking the pavement that caused the peeing, which wouldn't have been a big deal if I didn't want to be active... but I WANTED TO BE ACTIVE!!


I set up a routine check-up at the OB/GYN office and decided to inquire about a bladder sling surgery.  The surgery is supposed to lift your bladder back up to where it had been and hold it there, like you're putting it in a nice hammock.  The doctor informed me that a pessary might be a good starting point.  He also said that if enough damage had been done, then all the kegels in the world weren't going to help!  A pessary is like a rubber ring that you insert and pops into place just above your pubic bone and it pushes your bladder back up.  It also helps clamp down on your urethra a little.  So with my bladder back in place and a little extra leakage control on the urethra, I went for my first run in 5 years without peeing my pants.  It was as if the clouds had parted, and angels were singing to me while I ran.  Was I completely dry at the end?  Nope!  I sweat like a farm animal when I run, but at least it wasn't pee!  Do you pee your pants?  You don't have to tell me.  Most people are more shy about the topic, but according to webmd, 13.7% of women suffer with this on a daily basis - and it only gets worse as we get older.  Call your doctor today!  Don't deal with this for another moment when you don't have to.  I wouldn't advise running to the doctor's office as we know what happens when we do that, but perhaps afterwards you can celebrate on a trampoline.

Organization

Something happened when I was pregnant with the boys.  I have felt, for a long time, that any inclination you have to be a certain way gets amplified as a result of pregnancy.  Your brain becomes altered when it deals with all those pregnancy hormones.  If you had a tendency to be a procrastinator and a little on the lazy side, then look out because nothing is going to get done once you've had a baby.  For me, I had a desire for things to be organized, but I wasn't quite so dead set on this.  After having the boys, my Type-A side became exaggerated, and now I just can't switch it off.  Do I live in a completely organized house.. well, No.  And doesn't that make my brain go crazy!!!  So from my long hours during the day and sleepless nights, I've determined a little something about organization.  It is the key to running a well oiled machine (or household).  And once you determine a way to organize something that works for you, then you will never be disorganized in that realm ever again. 

I'll give some examples.  In my old house in Maine, we never had a good spot for the vacuum cleaner.  It used to drive me nuts.  No matter where we tried to stick it, it was always blocking something else, and the item being blocked always seemed to need to be used.  At our house in Washington, the vacuum cleaner has its own spot in the hall closet, and I find I vacuum more because I'm not so angry every time I have to put it away.  The daily influx of mail used to leave us with huge piles of papers that needed to be dealt with at a later time.  But all those papers floating around, meant that we were sure to forget to deal with them until the opportunity had passed, and thus they would just be thrown away.  Now, I only check the mailbox when I know I will have 5 minutes to go through the mail and sort for trash, recycling, shredding or saving.  Voila!  No more counters covered in paperwork.  Naturally, my 5-year-old just started school so we now add a new piece to the puzzle with that volume of incoming paperwork, but it shouldn't be hard to adjust my organization system.

So whatever your organization dilemma, all you really need to do is keeping trying different systems until you find the one that works for you.  Our most recent dilemma was the piles of clothes the boys would have in their poorly organized closets and dressers.  So we went and bought them some bins and shelving from IKEA this past weekend.  Now my 5-year-old won't have to pull out all his clothes just to get to one item, and I can trust my 3-year-old (pictured) to pull his clothes out himself without the danger of his huge old dresser falling on him.  Naturally he got to help with putting it together which also made him extra proud this morning when he went to this item he had built to pull out his garments.

Day Dreams

I'm a big fan of sleep.  I don't stay up late, because I know my days start early.  So why then don't my boys share this appreciation for rest?  My 3-year-old starts waking up anywhere between 2 and 4, coming in to make sure I'm aware that he's up.  If I try to settle him back down into his bed I risk waking my 5-year-old and if I let him lay down in my bed then somehow I end up with approximately 3 inches of my king-sized bed... there's just no good option.  My 5-year-old then decides to start his day around 5 or 6.  If he was a high school student, this would be great, but I'm sure his desire to do this will have stopped by then. 

So what is it then?  What makes them wake up, when it's still dark out, and decide that it's time to get up?  They must not realize what this is doing to mommy.  Not only does it make it impossible for me to re-establish my patience reservoir but it also makes them into moody little monsters that put an even bigger strain on my nerves.  How am I supposed to cut down on my coffee consumption when clearly the reason I need so much of it isn't changing?  I just keep telling myself that tonight they will drift off to sleep early and easily, and there will be nothing that encourages them out of bed before 7... ah silly day dreams.

Miraculous Trick for Weight Loss

Got your attention, didn't I?  Do people really believe this crap?  I see advertisements for it everywhere so clearly someone is eating this stuff up.  I truly believe it was my frustration with patients and their intense desire for a quick fix that caused me to become burned out when I was still working full-time at the hospital.  They would come into my office for some diet education, but they weren't there to be educated, they wanted me to tell them the big secret.  That miracle food to eat... the secret exercise trick that could be done in 3 minutes without sweating or getting off the couch.  Couldn't I give them a pill?  They had, after all, tried "everything"!!  I mean why wasn't the weight coming off?  They were making at least 20 laps to the fridge every single night after eating dinner.  Doesn't that distance count for exercise?  Ooooh, I was right - some of my the bitterness still exists today.

So I would ask them what they ate on a typical day, and they would either lie to me, or be completely honest.  There was no in between.  Those that lied to me, were obviously smart enough to recognize what they were eating that I was going to tell them to modify, "I only eat a salad with light dressing for the whole day."??  Those that were completely honest had not yet come to understand how poor their choices were, and thus saw no issue with 3 ice cream sandwiches after their 16 ounce steak and loaded mashed potatoes.  So we would start talking about my recommendations, the first of which was always to avoid snacking between meals.  I would get looks of desperation.  What?  What did you say?  No snacking?  But the magazine I read at the grocery store said to eat 5-6 small meals and the lady on the cover has lost weight!  I believe I had one outpatient that actually followed this advice and reported back to me about it, because she had lost weight.  The rest were not strong enough to craft their meals to be satisfying nor could they avoid the temptation mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  Why no snacking?  Well, if we give our bodies and opportunity to use stored fat for energy... it will!  If we eat every time we have a little dip in our blood sugar, then it doesn't need to use the stored fat because you're shoveling more energy into your mouth.  Plus, we can only fit a certain amount of food in our bellies before we feel uncomfortable.  So if you filled up your stomach at your meal, the odds are you would be eating less total calories than if you ate some at your meal and then added in snacks. 

When did we become such weak individuals?  There are so many things that play into whether we gain, lose or maintain our weight.  Food and exercise are two of the primary things we do have some control over so why are we unable to make the right choices?  Why are we so quick to choose surgical procedures?  Liposuction?  Honestly, those that look at this as an option are typically too large to utilize this for the type of results they want.  You can only remove so much volume before you have major life-threatening issues.  Gastric bypass entered the scene a while back, and actually is a great option for those who were morbidly obese or with co-morbidities like Diabetes.  This has become one option that has improve life-expectancy and health for those patients - but not without huge lifestyle changes and occasional complications.  Gastric banding entered the scene afterwards. 

Now what is the difference?  Gastric bypass is cutting and stapling the stomach.  The intestine is then re-routed to a new outlet from the stomach.  The procedure creates a smaller stomach pouch, and also removes a portion of the small intestine from the digestion line.  It works because you can't eat as much at one time, and you have to think harder about eating methods and your food choices.  Eat too much?  You'll throw up.  Eat too much sugar?  It will dump from the stomach into the intestine and you'll start sweating and feel like you're going to pass out.  Manage your diet well?  You'll lose weight because you're eating less and you're missing that part of the intestine, thus causing some malabsorption.  Gastric banding?  Honestly, my least favorite.  Still a surgical procedure, where they essentially put a belt around your stomach.  Shrinks the available size of your stomach, but is completely reversible as no cuts are made.  No removal of part of the intestine, so no malabsorption.  With gastric banding, they have made it so you can't eat as much at one sitting, so weight loss occurs because you are eating less.  What?  What did I just say?  "Weight loss occurs because you are eating less."  Holy crap!  It's a miracle!  You are forced now, to eat less, and weight loss happens.  Imagine if we could toughen up and do it on our own?  Would we get the same results, without an expensive procedure?  YES!!!  What's the difference?  If you make the changes on your own, you'll stick to it.  If you have the procedure done yet don't make changes in your habits, you will lose weight initially, but the stapled stomach can stretch back out after a few years and the lap band can be removed, and then what are you going to do?

The rewards are sweeter when we toughen up and make those hard choices.  Is it a long road ahead of you.  Most definitely.  But so worth it.

Proud of Daddy

Today has definitely been a day of remembrance for me.  I did not know anyone who was killed on 9/11/01 but my heart hurt for all those families who lost loved ones.  I think as each year passes it affects me even more as I think about what it would have felt like to know their children were trapped in the tower, or to know that mothers and fathers perished.  Today certainly reminds me how lucky I am and makes me want to hug and kiss my boys all day.  We skyped with Daddy this morning who has been gone overseas continuing to fight to keep us safe.  We are so proud of him and the work he is doing, and so proud to have him in our family when days like this come around and others are reminded of the sacrifices still being made to keep horrific events from happening on our soil.

Ten years ago I was wrapping up my clinical rotation for my dietetic internship.  I was in my car headed to Southern Maine Medical Center when the news came across the radio.  A plane had hit one of the towers.  I remembering picturing a little cessna.  Something with a few seats that maybe got out of control and nicked the skyscraper.  But then another announcement came on that the second tower had been hit by another plane.  I thought it was a joke.  It wasn't April fool's day, but you never know about the sick humor of some morning radio show hosts.  I got to the hospital and it was on tv's everywhere.  It was like a nightmare.  They kept showing it over and over again, but I couldn't believe it was happening and not just a preview for another end of the world movie.  After leaving the hospital I started calling my parents, but couldn't get ahold of them.  They were nowhere near New York City, but I just wanted to hear their voices.  I wanted to tell them what had happened since I was sure that they had been cut off from the news in their remote location in the eastern Maine woods.  I didn't want to be alone, so I went to the tavern I had been working at and just sat there rolling silverware in napkins with the other employees while we continued to watch the news.  It was scary.  Scary to think that these terrorists could so easily get on board a plane and take it over.  Scary that we had become so complacent with our security measures that something like this could happen.

I remember that day like it was yesterday.  An incredibly sad occasion that still brings tears to my eyes.  I shared minimal footage with my 5-year-old so that he could understand which "bad guys" it was that Daddy leaves us to fight.  He thought it was a movie.  Kept asking if Batman or Spiderman lived in New York City and were going to fight the bad guys.  Sorry, little man, those people had superheroes like the Firefighters to help them out.  And now we have superheroes like Daddy to make sure we stay safe.   

There's a lady I know...

... if I didn't know her... she'd be the laaaatteeee (long pause), I didn't know.  Now my lady she went downtown (in a whiny Aerosmith-style voice).  She bought some broccoli.  She brought it hoooommmme.  She's chopping...

Ah, is there really anything more satisfying than going out to your backyard garden and chopping a bowl full of broccoli and cooking it up for dinner?  No I didn't pollinate those seeds.  Crap, I didn't even start the plants from seeds I bought them already growing.  But it doesn't matter.  I weeded out the garden plot.  I created underground irrigation.  I planted those beautiful little plants that grew into broccoli giants.  And now I lovingly cut those broccoli stalks in just the right spot so the broccoli just keeps coming.  For those of you who have never had veggies that were fresh from the garden, I'm so sorry.  They're unlike anything you've ever tasted.  Even fresh produce at the grocery store doesn't come close to comparing.  The florets are so nice and meaty, not cramped and lacking flavor.  And the boys love it too as a day later they can amuse themselves by running around the house farting and giggling.  Ahhh broccoli.  How I love you.  And clearly I'm not alone.  After all, legendary music was created about you.  See... http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/derek-stevens-chopping-broccoli/2729/

The End of an Era

I received news today that the Ron Trell Studio of Dance would not be reopening this fall.  I instantly was speechless.  I wanted to cry.  How could this be?  I know that places open and close all the time.  And I knew that Ron couldn't keep going forever, but I was so sad to hear it was over already.

I started dancing at the studio when I was 10.  I had just entered 6th grade, which is late to be starting to dance, and my mom asked if I wanted to give it a shot.  Sure!  Why not?!  I was in beginner ballet and had to start in a class with girls who were years younger, but I was okay with that.  I worked at it, learned the basic moves, and by the next year I was in ballet class with my friends and also started learning Character (like Broadway musical dance/Jazz/Hip Hop).  I loved to dance.  Was I any good at it?  Nope, but I liked doing it anyway.  I continued dancing all through middle school and through high school.  Recitals came around every other year, and on the off years we participated in a benefit show to raise money for the nearby Barbara Bush Children's Wing of the hospital.  There was something about going out on that stage and performing.  The butterflies in my stomach were intense, but I could hardly wait for my next chance to do it.  I graduated high school and continued on to college, but would return home and attend dance classes.  After college graduation I found myself back in Brunswick, feeling like I had no real direction.  My college friends were off still in college or doing other things and here I was working and finishing up my internship, but not quite knowing what to do in this adult world.  So I started taking classes again.

It was different this time around.  Ballet and Character had a different spot in my life when I was younger.  I liked to perform, but the work ethic wasn't there, nor the desire to make a huge fool of myself.  Now I found myself wanting to go to class because it gave me an opportunity to push myself in a new way, and I could show off my ridiculous moves and fit right in.  I started making life-long friends on those crazy Thursday nights.  The kind of friends that are there for you on your toughest day and to remind you that you deserve your shining moments.  The friends that don't disappear when you move 3000 miles away.  We would dance our asses off for hours, laughing at each other most of the time, and then follow it up with a cold beer and scrumptious food at Joshua's or Pedro O'Hara's.  And the laughs never stopped.  Somehow 10 o'clock would roll around much too quickly, and we would be heading home just counting the moments until Thursday rolled around again.  Dance class was the last place I went while we were packing up for our cross country move, and it was the only place where I really broke down and started crying about leaving all my friends and family.

Was it dance class or my friends that gave me the confidence I continue to possess today... I can't be sure.  Does it really matter?  I can only imagine how awful my girls must be feeling knowing they won't have classes to look forward to and this break from daily life that was devoted to doing something just for ourselves.  I think perhaps my personal sadness comes from the fact that when I'm able to return home for visits, I won't be able to stop in to say hello or sneak in a class.  And that down the road another girl like me, who is feeling lost, won't have this inspiring place to find herself.

Hello!! I'm walking 10 feet behind you!!

Just returned home after completing a deathly slow walk to the school for an open house.  My 3-year-old likes to doddle, but doesn't every preschooler?  So we walked down to the school, dropped off our bag of communal school supplies, and met my 5-year-old's kindergarten teacher.  Checked out the music room, visited the library and found where Daddy is on the globe, inspected the basketball hoops in the gym, and then headed back to the house.  We had just turned out of the school grounds when apparently the mom (whose entourage rode bikes to the event) encountered a flat tire with one of them.  Without even thinking about it for a moment, she instantly started screaming at her kid.  I mean really barking at him.  Oh, because I'm sure he intentionally gave himself a flat tire.  We were about 10 feet behind them and other families were walking close by too.  She yelled at the kid to get into the bike trailer with his sibling as she tried to continue riding her bike and pull the other beside her.  Clearly this wasn't going to work.  I was even going to offer to help her walk the bike... but the yelling continued.  Now she was screaming at the other kids that were waiting at the top of the hill.  She managed to make it up the hill with the lame bike but apparently the kids should have known not to continue riding for home, because she screamed again!!

What's the point of my story?  Well first, didn't I wish we had driven to the school after having to listen to that crap the entire walk home.  As if walking slower than a snail wasn't enough, now my boys had to listen to this lady ripping each of her kids a new one (and naturally they stared at her like she was an alien each time we got close).  Second, we all have frustrating moments.  And I certainly have had days at the end of which I felt like a mean mom as I spent most of my time scolding and reprimanding.  But my goodness, could we maybe control it a little especially when out in public with other parents and kids walking nearby?  It made me wonder how loud the screaming was going to be once she got home if this was the behavior when complete strangers were in close proximity.  Especially since she informed the youngest child that she was going to beat the other one with his broken bike!  Shouldn't this be a happy time of year with a household full of school-age children?  On the verge of having their days fully occupied? 

I have given myself a mom-of-the-year award for being able to maintain my composure when out in public.

Nutrition Master

I am amazed by what is happening as I read through my first chapter for my Medical Nutrition Therapy class.  During my undergraduate program, classes were about learning the material, but it was so I could pass an exam or write a paper and then move onto the next topic.  I had no real world experience to relate it to, so my only hope was that I retained a little of it when I landed my first job.  Now, as I read through the literature describing nutrition assessment and evaluation, my brain is waking back up.  Little bits of information that I had stored away as memories from my 7 years of hospital experience are suddenly flooding back into my short-term memory.  A simple paragraph about nutrition care plans bring back memories of writing hundreds of these.  It's an amazing feeling to be able to relate every single word of the text to my days on the job.  So excited to continue reading and digging deeper to see what else I tucked away in my brain for later use.  No more feelings of "what did I get myself into".  Instead just a confident sense of perfect timing for this step in my education.

Defining Normal

I was out running errands this morning.  After leaving The Home Depot, which doesn't get anywhere near the business they used to from me, we were stopped waiting to turn down the major road in town.  I waited a bit longer and let a man in his motorized wheelchair cross in front of me.  I could almost hear the questions/comments about to come from the backseat.  And I didn't have to wait long.  "Mom, look at that guy!  He's got one of those wheelchairs!!"  Again, with the fascination regarding the use of an electric wheelchair.  "Why does he have one of those?"  Always with the follow-up question too.  Now normally the answer had been that the individual riding along had trouble walking.  Still the case today, although I had to let my 5-year-old know that this particular man was missing parts of his legs.  He appeared to be missing from the knee down on both legs.  "What happened to his legs?"  Well, I informed him, I don't know that man so I can't be sure what happened to his legs.  Some people are born that way and some people have bad accidents and they lose them.  For this teaching occasion I didn't feel like going down the road of describing what happens to the limbs of those with poorly managed diabetes.  My description seemed to satisfy him and we moved on.  Our next stop was at a nearby grocery store to get a couple things for dinner.  We got to the checkout and a man got in line behind us.  I didn't really eye-ball the gentleman, but apparently my curious eldest got a good look.  "Mommy, look at that guy!  He has both his legs!"  hahahahaha.

Usually the comments are about something out of the ordinary.  Did he somehow now think that someone who had all their limbs was an oddity?  Or was it me that had this preconception?  If we came across someone in the store with a round belly or a huge butt, these things were quickly identified.  But it wasn't him who had pointed out that the man in the wheelchair was missing his legs, that was me!  He just thought it rocked that he had the motorized device.  And the other day at Walmart, he paid no attention to a young man who walked by us that was missing parts of his arms.  So why do I feel the need to make him sensitive to these subjects, when clearly he doesn't recognize any abnormality with them at all?  Is it perhaps my own fear that he will shout out something about their lack of limbs?  It's not like they aren't aware of their missing appendages.  I guess I should give him a little more credit for being sensitive to strangers' feelings... unless those strangers are men with huge pregnant-looking bellies or ladies with huge butts.

Devil in Disguise

Oh Ice Cream Man, you and your player-piano music are the bane of my summer existence.  How innocently you troll around the neighborhood, waving sweetly at my boys, with the sides of your truck covered in delightful treats.  Tempting them to chase you the way a dog chases the mailman.  And as if the sound of your repetitive music wasn't enough to lure all those young sweet-tooths, you actually take the time to slow down and stop in my neighbor's driveway to encourage her to spend all her sweaty stripper dollars on ice cream for her 5 munchkins just so they might stop screaming about the ice cream man!!  I had just finished giving my 2 youngsters a sugar cookie treat.  In fact, their mouths were so full of sweetness that they couldn't even fully articulate your name, though they were ready to chase you all over town for a Spiderman on a stick.  In the words of the Saturday Night Live Church Lady, you might be "Satan?"

P.S.  My neighbor isn't really a stripper, but anytime someone pulls out a wad of singles it's the first thing I think of.  Oh, and if you are reading this in time, I left that $2 you handed me on your tv cabinet which might buy you one freezie pop from the devil's dessert truck.