Kids Menus

The NY Times published an article today, lamenting the kids menu and how it is driving our kids toward more chicken fingers and fries. As someone who is struggling to move our family to a phase where we all eat ONE meal and it is all the same one and it is relatively healthy, all I can say is Hallelujah! We're a long way from that goal, but from time to time Mia will eat spinach salad or Miles will have steak and asparagas. But no matter how close we get, I know for sure we really don't need the fries in the mix....

End of an Era

Mia had her last day at daycare today. And Mommy cried all the way home.

Yoga Frequency

So after a rough winter I've gotten back into a routine of going to yoga once a week and I have to say, it just isn't enough. Even though I've been able to stick with that pretty well, I just don't seem to be able to get any better. I still struggle with my backbends, I'm not getting any stronger. I need to go more than once a week. But if a mother of two small children is spending, three plus hours a week at yoga, does that make me superficial? Or selfish?

Dragging You Down

Here's the thing about your spouse's anxiety, stress or depression. You can either be impervious (and perceived as cold) or you can take it on yourself and get sucked in. Normally I'm pretty oblivious and I just go about my business, but now I'm finding that my spouse's stress is starting to drag me down too.....

The Grudge

Mia is starting preschool in two weeks, and I have to say I'm pretty curious about what it will be like! Mostly she is easygoing, and a good listener.

But she's also a bit of a grudge-holder. She sometimes complains about her friends at family daycare. One day this winter, when we were skiing (of all things), Mia said, apropos of nothing, "Paigey didn't listen to my words at Denise's." Four days later and she's thinking about it while skiing.

But that's of course nothing like her Dora book. How many times has she said, "Miles ripped my Dora book and I'm not too happy about it!". And I'm like, yeah, Mia that was last summer! Get over it!

So I'm interested to see whether she learns to develop friendships at school. Or whether we'll have a litany of complaints about Maggie or Courtney or Lindsay "not sharing their crayons, or ripping her construction paper or whatnot!

I just can't wait to enjoy this aspect of her personality when she's in junior high!

You Say Tomato

We had a major "milestone" in our family three weeks ago. Drum roll please. Miles started eating tomatoes! He'd never even put one into his mouth before. (Yes, even though he is half Italian!). But I asked him to try one of the little organic sweets from Trader Joes one night at dinner and he ended up eating six! I wasn't watching, and when I looked at his plate and saw that they were all gone, I was stunned. I made him get up and shake his shirt to prove that he hadn't hidden them.

He's actually tried several new foods lately and it is very exciting. He didn't like cauliflower (no surpise there). But he liked oatmeal. And tried mango. And of course tomatoes.Mia's been eating those little tomatoes for awhile. I've gotten her to try tomato sauce and she says she likes it. So maybe Miles will try it at some point too. And maybe, maybe someday our family will actually be able to have lasange for dinner.

Ciao!

Raising Cain

A couple of weeks ago I read an amazing book called Raising Cain. It is about "protecting the emotional life of boys." I found it very moving. It is SO easy to get annoyed with Miles, because he doesn't listen. Or sometimes doesn't pay attention. (Today, after swimming, just when we got to the car he said "I have to pee." So we turned around to go back to swim class. And I'm carrying Mia. And he stops and plays with flower boxes and store windows. I'm thinking, if you have to pee so bad, get the hell in there!)

But the book made me feel so guilty about all the times I get annoyed with him. It talked a lot about raising boys that are able to deal with their own emotions, and are therefore able to be nice to other people.

It also made me conscious of how difficult life could be - at times - for someone like him. Already his sister, who is 18 months younger, knows more letters than he does and is a better swimmer. She is happy to read alphabet books or do her swimming. Miles is interested in letters only so much as he can write signs or play. So it is going to take him a longer to learn and will be more challenging to teach him.

What I took away from it:

• Help boys to have an emotional life. Show them that it is OK to have feelings. Teach them how to talk about them. If they can't identify and talk about their emotions, then they can't be expected to deal with them later in life, or to treat other people well.
• Help boys with school. Pick a school that adapts lessons for people like Miles, who are smart but maybe not so great at sitting still and doing drill and practice. Help to create a good experience for him right out of the gate so that he doesn't dislike school and turn away from it.

Okay, that's it. There was a lot more in the book, but this is what I took away from it. And that's enough.

Same Old, Same Old

I haven't been a very good blogger over the past ten months. Here's what happened. First, I became the newsletter writer for our preschool. Which was fun except that I didn't know how to do desktop publishing. So things that should have taken me twenty minutes took about eight hours. Then I took on a contract position for two days a week for three months and that pretty much made me crazy. And then finally I took on the enrollment job at school, which made me even more crazy.

But here's the really sad thing. Here I'm writing again, and things aren't that different!

-I'm still unhappy with my weight
-I have even more grey hair
-I'm still a terrible listener with my kids
-I don't go to yoga enough
-I need to get a job
-I'm still obsessing because I don't have enough "passions." Maybe if I had, I'd have some fabulous career right now, or be the expert that the NY Times quotes on some obscure topic
-I love my husband but he snores

So for my three readers out there... you haven't missed anything!!

Friends

Do you ever have those days when your friends drive you nuts? Oh come on, you know you do! It's probably even me!