Fitting It All In

Life has become so busy in the last few weeks!  With my husband working out of town during the week, two littles and a home to care for, and work in full swing it doesn't feel like there's room for much else.  Or so I thought... until I volunteered for the daycare board of directors, and started a fitness challenge at work.  Now I really think there isn't room for much more!

The fitness challenge in particular seems to have taken over my life.  It's a 100 day step count challenge, run by an external company.  And does the company ever know what they're doing!  It doesn't matter what motivates you, they have something to spur you on.  There are lifestyle scores that go up as you walk more, there are targets and challenges.  There's your team egging you on, and your personal stats versus the other 340,000 people participating, your team stats versus all other teams, or versus your organisation.  Seriously.  It's taking over my life.  All we talk about at lunch are steps.  We're all starting to move towards our target weights because we're so busy walking we don't have time to snack.  Literally, I'm usually a terrible evening snacker, and now I hardly have a bite after supper because I'm busy walking.  And walking.  And walking.  The amazing thing is that I'm much more active than I was, having nearly doubled my daily average in the last twenty days.  Hooray!  I am absolutely loving it, and feel great about my new activity levels.  I especially love that after 100 days, being active will be my new norm and I'll be able to dial it back to something a bit more sustainable but decidedly more active than my before challenge state.  It is however a bit daunting to think about how much stepping the next 80 days holds...

The thing about the fitness challenge that has been most challenging is fitting everything in.  I really want my weekends to be about family time, but Mini Muffin is too old to want to ride in a stroller for long and is too young to go any great distance on foot or bike.  Running around in the backyard or park help, but really only contribute a couple of thousand steps to the total (which doesn't get me where I need to be).  And once the kids are in bed, I have the opportunity to zip out for a walk or run leaving my hubby at home, but I also want to spend time with him.  Fitting it all in is just so tough!

Yesterday however, I came up with a master plan that did fit everything in.  My husband needed new running shoes, and the store was in an area of town we don't often go to.  We all went along, and when we got there I popped Little Smiling Man into the stroller and sent Mini Muffin into the store with Daddy.  Little Smiling Man and I spent the next half hour or so walking, and met up with Mini Muffin and Daddy at the end of a trail up the road.  We then went on a gravel, wooded path and enjoyed hearing the wind in the trees without cars around.  Mini Muffin ran ahead, looked at all sorts of things that interested her, and we all talked and enjoyed ourselves.  When she got tired, she got to ride on Daddy's shoulders.  At the end of the walk, we all piled back into the van and headed home.  So, all in all; my husband got his runners, Little Smiling Man got a stroller nap in, Mini Muffin got a nature walk, fresh air and exercise, we all got family time, and I got 6800 steps! 

It definitely took some planning, but working to fit it all in was so worthwhile!  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another couple thousand steps to get in before bed...

Fantastic Family Fun

Mini Muffin is a big fan of soccer.  One day last year she suddenly proclaimed "I'm a Soccer Rocker!!!" and ever since she hasn't turned down a chance to kick around a ball.  I have no idea where Soccer Rocker came from, but it's now the official name of soccer in our home.  Not surprisingly Mini Muffin started ploughing through her dinner last night, giving us "Almost there!" updates after every bite when asked if she wanted to play Soccer Rocker after supper.  We'd decided to diverge from our normal weeknight routine of dinner, a few minutes of play and then bedtime; instead having a quick dinner so we could all go play in the backyard!  Mini Muffin ended up having a pretty big dinner, and before long we were all outside playing with a regular soccer ball, a mini soccer ball and a small net.

This was one of the first times we've been able to include Little Smiling Man in outdoor play.  Previously he'd be in the carrier or stroller watching from the sidelines, but now that he's walking he wants to be in the thick of it!  He spent most of the time toddling around on the uneven ground, trying to kick the mini ball, as well as picking up, carrying and throwing it.  When he got tired, he hung out by the shed watching, occasionally coming back into the foray to try and score a goal (or steal the ball)!  Not only was the fresh air good for him, but the activities were great for his gross motor skills.  Walking on grass is a lot more difficult than a smooth indoor floor, and his balance was noticeably improving by the time we headed inside.  And of course kicking and throwing skills are also great to practice.  I also liked that he got one on one active play time with each of his parents, as well as his sister and got to watch all of us interact as we played.

Mini Muffin was all over the place and loved every minute of it.  She chased down balls, dribbled and kicked both balls and was pretty shameless with using her hands to get the ball away from Mommy or Daddy.  She loved racing to get the ball from every corner of the yard as well; there was a lot of huffing and puffing!  Towards the end, my little Soccer Rocker was pretty tired so she turned her attention to throwing and catching the mini soccer ball.  Her catching skills are getting better, and she completely cracked us up when she missed catching the ball and would laugh saying "Silly Mommy!" or "Silly Daddy!".  As if it was our throwing skills that were the only issue!

My husband and I got to take turns playing with each of the kids, and we had some of our own soccer rocker battles full of laughter.  My husband is much better at controlling the ball than I am, so really all I could hope to do was deflect the ball, or kick it away from him.  In any case, we both managed to score a goal or two on each other, which was fun!  And, it was nice for me to clear out the cobwebs after a pretty dull and sedentary day at work. 

When bedtime was approaching we headed inside to give the kids a quick bath and tucked them happily into bed.  I really do hope that this kind of family time will form some the kid's earliest memories.  All of us having fun together, laughing and being active!

Indoor Energy Buster - Sleeping Bunnies

After a wonderful, albeit green, Christmas, winter is upon us!  At last!  For the last couple of days we've been having such a great time playing in the snow, and enjoying the winter scenery.  Of course the parts like cars getting stuck in the street and needing to shovel our way out were not aspects of winter that we missed, but they seem a small price to pay for the little kid's joy at finally having snow!

Backing up a little, we had a fantastic family Christmas.  We spent it quietly at home, enjoying each other.  Mini Muffin was very excited for Santa's visit, and enjoyed reading each book, or playing with each toy as they were opened.  She also seemed to get as much joy out of delivering presents to others to open, as she did opening presents for herself.  Grandma (my mom) was up for the week, so we continued to enjoy her company (and appreciate her help!) through Christmas itself.  We had a wonderful family dinner, during which Little Smiling Man discovered a love for orange glazed carrots, turkey and stuffing! 

Our Christmas day ended rather strangely; with our first ever trip to the emergency room for either of our children.  Little Smiling Man had developed a rash on his trunk two days prior.  On Christmas Eve is was worse, and looked kind of like a viral rash.  Christmas Eve was spent holding little man (all night) as he came in and out of sleep and seemed to writhe with discomfort.  On Christmas Day it was a bit worse again, so we creamed him up and went with it.  He was pretty happy and crawling everywhere during the day.  When I took his onesie off Christmas night before bed, he completely freaked out.  His skin was raised, raw and angry.  It was very difficult to comfort him, so we decided to get him checked out.  We must have timed our visit perfectly, as we were in and out within an hour!  We learnt that his rash was actually hives.  Ouch!  There are no antihistamines for babies, so we were told to keep it moisturised, and keep giving Advil for pain.  Poor monkey.  Today, a week after it started, it's pretty much healed and is now itchy because it's peeling.  As for causes, infant hives can be caused by a drug or food allergy, or be a reaction to a virus.  Based on duration, we're guessing it was viral, though it could possibly be related to his flu shot.  I guess we'll know for sure when he gets his second flu shot dose in a month.  In the end, it all worked out fine, and it was very comforting to know that we had been doing all the right things for our poor Little Smiling Man.

And, now that we're through all of that, and are enjoying true winter weather, I thought I'd share another one of our favourite indoor energy busters - Sleeping Bunnies!  It's a very simple song (the tune can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHcFQ9gaMF4), and is one of Mini Muffin's favourite indoor ways to get moving.

Sleeping Bunnies

(child lays on the floor pretending to sleep)

See the sleeping bunnies,
Sleeping until noon.
Come let us wake them with a merry tune.
Oh how still,
Are they ill?

(wait and build expectation in the child)

Wake up sleeping bunnies!

(child jumps up)

Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop, and stop!

Mini Muffin loves jumping all over the place as she pretends to be a little bunny.  We also change it up as many times as our imaginations will let us.  There are sleeping dinosaurs that stomp around, sleeping kangaroos that jump, and even sleeping airplanes that fly.  We also had sleeping foxes (after much discussion we decided that our foxes would hop), roaring lions, stomping bears, and crawling puppies.  It's a very fun way to get moving, bust some energy, and enjoy song time together.  Even Little Smiling Man gets in on the action as I bounce him like a little bunny in my arms! I think Sleeping Bunnies will be a favourite in our home for some time to come.

Indoor Energy Buster - Balloons!

We are having an unseasonably mild winter so far.  We've had small amounts of snow on the ground twice so far this winter, but here we are on December 16 with not a snowflake to be seen... aside from the paper ones decorating our windows!  With these warm temperatures, everything has been falling as rain.  Lots and lots of heavy rain.  I can only imagine how much snow we'd have on the ground if it had been just a few degrees cooler!

With heavy rain outside, we've been spending more time inside than usual.  And, as we all know toddlers have a lot of energy which needs to be burned off - either outside or in.  Yesterday, we pulled out a tried and true classic to help us burn off our cabin fever.  Balloons!  Mini Muffin actually received it in her advent calendar, and the timing couldn't have been better!

It never ceases to amaze me how much entertainment a balloon can bring.  It was fantastic!  There were lots of smiles, laughter, red cheeks, and huffing and puffing from all the exertion. 











Mama helped make it a bit more challenging - bumping the balloon to the other end of the room, around a corner, or way up high.  Mini Muffin had fun playing "catch" with me, and crawling into corners and behind furniture to retrieve it.  And, of course since it's so light, it's harmless for things on shelves, so there was no mess (aside from the usual chaos around the house)!

Mini Muffin bounced, threw, kicked and chased this balloon for well over half an hour.  She was in constant motion.  I tried to catch the fun in a picture, but with all the motion every single one is blurry.  With hindsight, I suppose that these blurry pictures actually captured the moment perfectly.