Low Tech....Very Low Tech

My friend and I were talking tonight, and she asked me how savvy I was about social media.  I said, "What's social media?"

Seriously, I admitted that I am extremely low-tech.  Embarrassingly so.  It's amazing that I have a blog at all, in fact.  You know what I actually said to my friend tonight?  I said, "Having my blog was a hard row to hoe."

I mean, what hope could there possibly be for me when I'm using agricultural metaphors?  (Is metaphor even the right term?  I don't know, and I'm too tired to look it up.  Remember: I have three children and I work part-time!) 

Anyway, I could have used more up-to-date terminology.  But words like bytes and ram and other high tech words don't just trip off my tongue.

It was hard for me to set up my blog at first, because I couldn't comprehend the blog vocabulary.  I had to learn all about URLs and labels and so on.  However, it was all worth it, and I learned a lot. 

I'm still not on facebook, though.  I go back and forth about whether I should be.  Obviously there are pros and cons to everything.  And I haven't tried it, so I can't really speak comprehensively about it.  Or rather, text!  (Did you notice how I slipped that in there?)

We also got to talking about how much social media our children should be allowed.  It's an interesting topic. 

I remember with my oldest son that he had never been on a computer prior to JK, and I was surprised to learn it was part of the curriculum.  You could say I was shocked.  Now, my youngest has been on the computer for probably a year already before she has even started JK.  I figure if she needs to learn it she may as well start young.  And all she has done is type letters onto a blank word document.  But it has gotten her familiar with a computer keyboard.

I went to a Literacy Presentation once, and the presenter talked about how literacy takes all forms.  We need to be opening doors, not shutting them.

So I let my children have a DS and a Wii.  They play on the computer (with a great many limits).  I limit all the screen time.  My children also read books, play board games, word games, and pretend games.  We go to the park and hike.  The kids know there will be Lego time and backyard and reading time as well as screen time.  But they do read on the DS and they have to read certain things on the Wii as well.  And it's all literacy.  I think if children like it, they will explore it.  If they relate to it, they will enjoy it.  As with everything in life, it's a fine balance (thank you, Rohinton Mistry).

I want my children to be well-rounded.  And to not have to use agricultural metaphors!

Running Rules I've Learned

I went for a long run today.  As I breathed my way through the humid forest, I started thinking about everything I've learned about running, and realizing it all applies to life. 

When you're a runner, you gain a whole new level of appreciation for gravity.  When you're running down a hill, it feels so good and effortless.  You can feel a breeze and it's so easy you feel like you could run forever.  When you're running uphill, however, it feels like your whole body has become weighted down, and you have to work so much harder and breathe so much deeper just to make it up that long incline.  So you learn to enjoy the downhills.  Don't think about the hill that's coming up.  Just appreciate the break you've been given, and make the most of it.

When you're running uphill, you learn to breathe.  You need to take deep breaths, relax, keep your head up, and realize it will be hard but that you can do it.  And you know that once you reach the top, it will become easier, and you might even get the reward of a downhill slope coming up.

I've learned that having a running partner or partners makes running much more fun.  And they might drag you out for a run on a day when you wouldn't have gone alone.

Setting goals is helpful in running, like signing up for a race, because it adds motivation to train and to improve before the race.  It's easy to get lazy about training but if you've paid money and entered a race, you generally want to do your best.  Not 'the best', but your own personal best.  I try to remember that I'm not running against anyone but myself.

When my friend and I have run races, we always say we don't care about getting the fastest time.  Our main goal is just to do the race and cross the finish line upright and smiling.  I think it was John Stanton who first coined this phrase.  I love this motto, because it means we try to enjoy ourselves.  We're not in it to completely wear ourselves out.  We want to be able to run again soon, uninjured. 

The other night we went out with friends and my friend said our motto for the night should also be to end the night upright and smiling.  Always a good plan in general!

Good Morning...or Not

This is how my day started.  A doll was being banged on my head.  "Wha-at?  Stop doing that!"  I told my daughter.

She looked at me in wide-eyed innocence.  "But I'M not doing it, Mommy.  It's Baby!"

Okay.  I took a deep breath.  "Baby, stop doing that!"

Of course Baby started to cry.

Downstairs to breakfast.  My oldest son, who had woken up earlier, was eating Fun-Dip.

"We don't eat Fun-Dip for breakfast!"  I informed him, although he knew that already.

He thought fast.  "Well, I already had my breakfast."

"We still don't eat Fun-Dip at 8 a.m. in the morning."

Then I thought, hmmmm.  I looked around the kitchen.  It was spotless.  (Let me rephrase that.  My kitchen is never spotless, not with three kids.  But it was as clean as I had left it the night before, which was a dead giveaway.  My kids are seemingly incapable of having any kind of food item without leaving a complete chaotic mess in their wake.)

When I asked my son suspiciously what he'd eaten for breakfast, he said a waffle, but I knew there was only one left and it was still in the box.  Meanwhile my other son told me he wanted a waffle for breakfast, so I put it in the toaster.

Then I talked to my other son about how when he lies to me it hurts my feelings.  The usual parent stuff.  He said sorry and said he would have a waffle after all.  A real one.

I told him that his brother was having the last one.

He protested, "But that's all I want for breakfast!"

Other son:  "But I asked first!  I want the waffle!"

After an exhausting go around, my middle son said, "Oh, okay, I'll let Colin have the waffle - I'm going to have cereal."

I sighed and thanked him.  Finally, finally we had resolved the waffle issue.  Who wants to argue over waffles?  I can think of better things to argue about...like toast!

But no.  Colin said, "I don't want the waffle anymore anyway."

This is the part where I started banging my head on the kitchen counter.  I took (another) deep breath.

"I've gone to the trouble to make the waffle (okay, I popped it in the toaster - but still!) and SOMEONE IS GOING TO EAT THE WAFFLE!"

Ryan said he would eat both his cereal and the waffle.

You see where I'm going, don't you?  No one ate the waffle.

Kids are so cute and interesting, but they sure can drive you crazy, can't they?

I can't think of any other examples right now - oh wait, they're all coming back.

Like when we're driving to my parents' cottage and Ryan yells grumpily, "Are we THERE YET?"

"Umm...we haven't left the driveway, yet...so that would be a no," I inform him cheerfully (note that I'm still cheerful at this point).

Then he demands to know exactly how much longer to the cottage, in seconds, and when you do the math in your head and tell him because he insists he absolutely has to know the exact total, he starts counting. "1, 2, 3 ...." 

And you think, it is four and a half hours to get to the cottage.  And you realize with a sense of desperation that if you have to listen to him counting the entire time, you are not going to make it!

This is when I put the earphones of my iPod in my ears and when I notice gesticulating, I just mouth, "Can't hear you - I've got earphones in my ears!"  (It works like a charm - I highly recommend it.)

The other thing is when they want a snack so they'll ask me what food we have.  I will patiently list all the food we have in the cupboard and the fridge that they can have for a snack.  I will wait.  There will be a long pause, and when I finally prompt them with, "Well...what will you have, then," they'll look at me blankly and say, "What do we have again?"

My new answer:  "Food - go eat it! Oh, and....love you!"

Separation Anxiety: Or 'Clingy Like Saran Wrap'

My daughter is three and a half and she is extremely clingy right now.  I call her 'Saran Wrap' (lovingly).  She cries whenever I leave, even if I've been with her all day and I'm just going out for a run.

I knew it was getting bad when I tried to take a shower the other day, and she began crying.  Tearfully, she told me that she didn't want me to take a shower because she loved me.  I said, "Honey, I love you too, but I'm just taking a shower.  I am, in case you haven't noticed, still RIGHT HERE.  I'm not leaving the house; I'm just going behind this curtain!  It's not like REALLY LEAVING!"

She got into the shower with me.

I'm not really sure how to handle this, because I haven't had to deal with it for my two older boys.  And my daughter is extremely loving and nurturing and sensitive (not like anyone I know) and I don't want to hurt her.

Also, I know the boys went through so many phases and I'm thinking if I can just hang on, this will be another phase that will pass.

I have come to realize that (as my good friend said when I discussed the best way to leave her when she's crying): "It's like a band aid - the quicker you take it off, the quicker it stops hurting."

However, I also think about when she will be sixteen and how she might (sob) hate me and be embarrassed by me and never want to be seen with me, and then I feel like saying, "That's okay, I'll hold you while I make dinner.  I don't mind at all!  You want to hold my hand the entire day?  GOOD!  Let's do it!" 

You've got to get it while you can, right?

They Love Each Other....They Really Love Each Other!

We've just arrived home from a two-week camping trip in Cape Breton.  We drove down with the three kids.  A bigger update will follow but for now I'll just present one moment of the touching brotherly love my boys demonstrated toward each other during the trip.  The boys were getting on each other's nerves so I was trying to redirect by encouraging them to play a game.  They started playing 'Who Am I', where one thinks of a movie or book character and the other person has to guess who it is by asking questions.  My older son said, "I have someone in mind!  Who am I?"

My other son, still annoyed, crossed his arms and asked sourly, "Are you a dumbo stinkypants?"

Awww.

Triathlon - Tried It! 2011 Binbrook 'Give It a Tri' with Multisport Canada

I did my first mini triathlon at Binbrook Conservation Area.  It was a 400 m swim, 10K bike ride, and 2.5 K run.

On the day of, I was feeling nervous as I always do before races, and I had a moment in which I was wondering whose decision it was to do this anyway, and what had I been thinking, etc.  I did a 25K race in May and the triathlon was in June, and I felt like I'd been in training for a long time.  I like training - you could say I love it, actually - but there were things about the triathlon that were worrying me.  I was afraid I would fall off my bike, because of the crush of people around me.  I wasn't sure how the transitions would go.  I was wondering how crowded it would be in the lake as well.  Initially I wasn't sure what to wear, because many people wear wetsuits, but there are different kinds, and I didn't know whether to rent one or buy one.  I only had a mountain bike so I had to borrow a road bike and then tune it up but it still wasn't very good, so that was another issue.  I kept thinking longingly of how for running, I just needed shoes!  Although of course that's not really true either, because you can have trail shoes and road shoes, and the right socks and shirts, and things for the winter....the list goes on.  But when three sports are involved, the gear factor rises exponentially!

I did the tri with two friends.  It was the first time for all of us.

The coolest part was how they drew my number on my upper arm.  They also drew my age on my leg, but they put a happy face in the 0 of 40 so it was okay. 

I went right at the back for my wave start.  It was harder than I thought it would be to swim, because the water was choppy and every time I tried to do the front crawl I would touch someone's legs or feet in front of me so I had to stop and just do the breast stroke.  (I heard that two people had to be pulled out into a boat.  I don't know if they were panicking or tired or what.)  Maybe I shouldn't have been at the very back.  By the third leg of the swim the pack had cleared out and I could do the front crawl without running into anyone.  I was surprised when I looked up and saw how close the beach was; I put down my foot and I could touch sand so I just ran out.  But I was breathing very heavily, especially running up the beach to the transition area.

I had been worried about the rules, because you're supposed to have your helmet on before you unrack your bike, and you can't ride your bike in the transition area, you have to walk it out.  And of course I hadn't known any of these rules beforehand, and not all are just common sense that you would figure out on your own.

I put on my shoe at first before my shorts, but otherwise the first transition went well.  I hadn't worn a wetsuit and I was glad I didn't have to fiddle with it, and the water wasn't cold.  It took me over 2 minutes though, because I put on socks and had to tie up my shoes, whereas some people only used seconds to transition.  (My second transition time was only 44 seconds or something, because I just racked the bike and kept going.)

Even though my bike wasn't that great, I enjoyed the ride because there wasn't a big pack of people around me as I had feared.  It was pretty smooth sailing and we biked through some nice countryside so it was good.

We all realized how important a good bike is for the race.  My one friend got the prize for the worst bike.  She had borrowed her mom's.  Not that you could tell, or anything.  It had a bell and a red flag on it and was really heavy.  One guy was riding a mountain bike and lots of people were passing him.  My bike was better than that, but it still wasn't that great.  The gears were terrible and kept slipping out.  Several people passed me on the bike.  But when I saw someone pass me who was older than me, (because I could read the numbers on their legs) I cheered them on.  Honestly, I thought it was so great that women who were 44 and 48 were passing me.  I thought, "Go, over 40 women, go!"

Then for the run.  That's my strength and I felt pretty good, although tired and thirsty.  I was happy with my time as I did the 2.5 K in 12 minutes. 

The funniest part was the guy who refused to wear his swim cap, rode his bike in the transition area, refused to wear his helmet, and then swore at an official.  He was disqualified.  Thanks for coming out, sportsmanlike person!

It was a well-organized race, and I would recommend it.  We got a nice run shirt and a goodie bag, and free chocolate milk for recovery after the race, plus fruit and bagels. 

And after all my worrying, it went well.  Nothing bad happened.  I came in 5th out of my age group!  My goal had just been to enjoy myself, and I did.  And now that I've done it once, it would be so much easier to do it again.  People told me triathlons were addictive but I didn't think it would happen to me....except now I'm looking around for another one!

Stop It, Mommy!

Once you're a mom, it's hard to turn off that mom voice.  Even when you wish you could.  Even when you can tell that you're annoying your child, but you just can't stop!  Heck, sometimes I'm annoying MYSELF, and I still can't turn it off.

I know I can't keep my children in bubbles, and I know they need to make mistakes in order to learn.  So why is it so hard to let them do it, then?

I think it's because we're also supposed to protect our children; that's our job too.  And I love my children so much that it's hard to see them hurt themselves or fail something.

They're young yet, as well.  I hope the 'letting go' will happen more when they're teenagers....because I need several years to practice!

My oldest son (eight) was at a track meet, and I was there to watch him.  I kept bugging him about drinking enough fluids so he wouldn't get dehydrated, and he kept brushing me off (rolling his eyes and walking away).  But I was persistent, unfortunately for him.

I followed him around, holding out his juice box.  "How about some apple juice?"  I suggested brightly.  "What about water?  Hmmm?  Some nice cold water?"

I suppose the key would be pretending that I didn't care at all, but by then it was too late for that.

"You need to drink enough fluids...." my voice trailed off feebly as my son literally ran away from me.

Later on I noticed that he and his friends were lying on their backs, having a chugging contest with their water bottles.  They were each trying to drink the entire water bottle all at once; that was the game.

You'd think I would be happy that he was finally drinking something.  Sadly, no.

I rushed over and in front of all his friends I said, "Colin!  You shouldn't do that.  You're about to run and you don't want to run with tons of water sloshing around in your tummy."

Again, the rolling of eyes and the sigh.  Poor kid.  I can't help myself!  I'm going to have to learn how to bite my lip and keep my mouth shut.

The other day my mom was admonishing my 32 year old brother about wearing sunscreen, and he rolled his eyes as well, just like my son.  I guess some things never change. 

As I was leaving the track meet, without thinking I yelled in earshot of all his friends, "Bye Honey! I LOVE YOU!"  

Oops.