Exercise

I don’t have time to exercise. However, recently I read an article from Today’s Parent about how moms actually get lots of exercise. Here’s my workout regime:

Running: to and from the car as I try to make it to Matias’ preschool on time, after Joonas in any store where I dare to let him out of the stroller and he proceeds to touch and lick and destroy everything within a 20 foot radius

Squats: putting laundry in the machine, switching it to the dryer and then pulling it out to fold it.

Stairclimbing: We have two flights of stairs in our townhouse and everything I need is always two floors away. Always. Plus, when I climb to the third floor to get something, I have been known to get distracted and come all the way back down without said item…so, back up the stairs I go.

Weightlifting: carrying multiple bags of groceries from the car (usually all of them as long as my arms don’t get ripped out of their sockets), lifting/holding/carrying Joonas, lugging the 10kg sacks of flour and sugar out of the cupboard and back again

Lunges: every time I spot one of the boys (usually Joonas) with the cell phone, remote, laptop, cordless phone, or a knife, hanger, or any of the various tools we have lying around right now.

Jumping/Grooving/Dancing: We listen to the Wiggles a lot around here. Matias jams on his guitar and can sing along to most of the songs. I am often ordered to groove along, or at the very least, to watch him.

DON’T/DO

I am no hippie parent. I believe in using the word “no”. However, I do find it more effective and useful to phrase things in the positive for my kids (and students). Rather than saying, “don’t jump on the couch”, I prefer to say “the couch is for sitting, please sit down”. HOWEVER, there are things that I have had to just outright forbid.There is just no way to put a positive spin on, “don’t sit on your brother”. Here is a list of some of the other rules that I can’t believe that I have had to make around here. In most cases they have NOT been put positively, either because I was freaking out about the behaviour and my first instinct was to yell “NO. Stop that”, or because my sleep-deprived mommy brain was just running low on creativity and no inspired positive statements came to mind.
-don’t pick up garbage or gum on the street and put it in your mouth
-don’t play in the toilet bowl
-don’t jump head first off the sofa
-don’t eat your shoes
-don’t pull all the toilet paper off the roll
-don’t shove your mouth so full of food that you gag
-don’t lick the grocery cart handle
-don’t teach your brother to spit
-don’t dig through random people’s purses
-don’t eat…hand cream, glue, diaper cream, playdough, toys, paper, cds, keys, makeup, tools, remotes, cell phones etc etc
And many more that I am forgetting. If you think of a positive spin for any of these, feel free to let me know…