Pilates and Wrestling: A Match Made in Heaven

I have to say, I feel lucky this February, after what seemed like never-ending snow, suddenly it stopped. That was a nice surprise, and although February is traditionally known as the blah month, I've felt strangely energized this time. I'm comfortably well into my second trimester of pregnancy which might be helping but I think it has been the sunshine reminding me that there will be an end to winter.
Regardless of the cause, I have found myself enjoying more active time with my kids and would like to share my latest ideas with you. As I have eluded to before, my boys are at an age where they enjoy play fighting on the floor and they are still young enough to not actually hurt each other. So I've been joining in a lot lately, and typical me, have been finding ways to incorporate my pilates poses in my signature wrestling moves. One such move is shell stretch, transitioning into cat pose then modified push up all with my 3 year old on my back. If performed correctly, the toddler (your oponent) will fall off the side of your back, of course you catch him before he hits the floor, place him lying on his back directly underneath your and bear hug him as the referee calls the count down. It works everytime, plus its a great way to strengthen your back arms and core. Oh yeah and your child, will enjoy the benefits of core strength conditioning too. Did I mention it's FUN?

Suddenly I'm Under a Microscope

Suddenly I have a "supervisor", is he going to tell my husband what I'm really up to? O.k. so he's not officially a supervisor, he's a contractor that works for the builder of our house. He's here all day doing repairs, but suddenly I feel this pressure to "look busy". I have three kids here, the neighbor's and my two youngest, I'm getting them snacks and re-arranging the living room, then I catch myself laughing with a friend over the phone. Yikes- I know it, he thinks I do nothing- so I start vacuuming the lower level. My kids ask me to sit on the couch to watch a show with them, sure I say, then it hits me, he thinks I'm lazy. Just one show though, then mommy has to put dinner in the crock pot. The kids are hungry and want lunch, it is twelve noon and I am on the phone with the producer of a show that I'm choreographing, but it's a friendly conversation, no one would guess this is actually work. Now he thinks that I'm letting my kids go hungry while chatting with a friend on the phone. So at exactly noon I make a fabulous lunch, of toasted peanut butter and jam. Finally he leaves for lunch, so I can eat something- but I must hurry, if he sees me eating I know he'll think I'm a slob.
He's back I throw a load in the laundry, put my toddler to bed and work in the office while the two older children play. Finally the end of the day comes- he needs to leave- just as I am sitting on the couch with my five year old looking at national geographic flash cards, I feel terrible because I know he's going to go tell his buddies that all I do is sit around eating bon bons all day.

Potty Training: The Naked Truth

Well it's not my favourite part of parenting, as a matter of fact I loath potty training. If I could send my kids away for two weeks and have them come back potty trained I would. However, for most of us it is a must to potty train our own children. After psychologically scarring my first two children, I'm on my third stab at it.

I remember a more experienced friend of mine told me way back when, that the best way to do it was to leave your child running around the house without pants or underpants on and to keep a small potty within their reach. Ummmm....yeah, I'm not raising an orangutang here, there is no way that my little princess will be running around pantless while I'm scooping up behind her.

So, when my daughter turned 2, I bought everything from potty timers, to 3 different types of training pants, to sticker charts, to treat jars to you name it, it was ridiculous. I read potty training encyclopedias, I even resorted to....hold your breath..... punishing my child for having "accidents". Yes this went on and on and on, finally I told my three and a half year old, I'm done, you know what youre supposed to do I don't want to hear about it the next time you have to go on the potty, it's your business.

This whole charade started again with my second born, until one day I woke up and said o.k. you get one pair of underpants today, after those are dirty you don't get another clean pair. This new rule meant that if he soiled himself, he went around with no pants on for the rest of the day. Guess what, a funny thing happened, he would run to the potty, unpromted by me, to pee. This continued for about 3 weeks with little to no accidents or messy clean ups, until one day he kept his pants completely dry.

We'll I'd like to think that I've learned a thing or two over the past six years, I've come to the realization that there is no sophisticated way to potty train a toddler. Third time around I'm skipping the complicated mind games that left me and my tots strung out and I'm opting for a more "natural" training solution. Leave 'em bare and they'll get there.

Active Indoors

I've been a little disappointed with the weather this winter, I've taken the kids out to play in the snow a few times but the snow was too deep and powdery to do anything. So, today instead of letting them watch t.v. I watched my boys (5 and 2.5) chase each other and play wrestle instead. It's a game my 2.5 year old calls "Chasin' tigers". The thing is they never really get rough with each other because they are laughing so hard neither can keep the other one down. I figure it is much less damaging than being inactive all morning- and let's face it that's the way boys bond.