Sweet & Sour

Me: Why didn’t you hang your clipboard up?

C: Because the nail fell out of the wall

Me: Why didn’t you tell me that? I would have fixed it.

C: Because I thought you would yell at me or sumthin’.

Me: Honey, I would never yell at you over something that you did by accident. When you do something by accident always tell me.

C: Oh. It wasn’t an accident.

Dear Tristan - 3 Years, 6 Months

Dear Tristan,
Where did my baby go? Just a few weeks ago you were snugly and cuddly and now all of a sudden you have turned into an independent three year old. For the past week you've been in more time outs than all of last month combined. At first I thought that you just weren't napping and that was the problem. But now this reluctance to listen happens whether or not you've had your siesta. I think maybe you are just testing the waters as you gain independence.
You've started whining my name. Instead of calling me Mama, you say, Ahma. And you say it about 100 times a day.


You've discovered how to change clothes and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that this is a skill that you like to practice multiple times daily. You'll sneak upstairs and come back down wearing black dress pants and a Winnie the Pooh t-shirt. With this comes your obsession with shoes but at least you don't give me grief when you are getting dressed in the morning.



You are testing the waters with the attitude as well. You are more likely to get angry or retaliate against your brother when he wrongs you and you've taken to snatching things from him, something you wouldn't have dared a few months ago. I think we've been soft on you since you were the littlest but now that you are starting some of the conflict, you've found that suddenly Mommy isn't as tolerant as she used to be. You don't like this, not one bit.



You are giving up the nap. Now you can skip nap without cranking up a whine-fest at 5pm. If I put you down though, you will still sleep, which is super for me because while you are ready to give up the nap, I'm not ready to give up the nap. Because you are still enough of a handful that I like having the occasional couple of hours to get some stuff done, like wash all of the clothes that you've been putting on all day.
I love you,
Ahma

Couch to 5K

Something happened to me when I started the Biggest Loser for the Moms Club. Something odd and unexpected. All of a sudden. I could not stop eating. I think it’s in part due to the “I’m about to start a diet” mentality. You know, you know you are about to start a diet so you eat like it’s going to be the last bowl of ice cream you ever have. I started going back to the gym hoping that was going to get me back into the swing of things and it’s definitely helped although probably if I stopped eating after 6 I would see more results.

I saw on FB that my friend Amanda is doing a Couch to 5k program. I looked up the program and recognized it from last Summer when I tried it. Last Summer when I tried it though I was stopped by two things. Heat and pavement. Running on pavement sucks. And the heat, well it’s not very motivating.

But now with a gym membership, I had hope. And air conditioned room full of treadmills and sweaty people… and treadmills are much easier to run on.

The very first day of week one of the program, it felt like my shins were on fire. By the end of the week it wasn’t so bad though. The second week was tough but wasn’t as hard as the big jump in week 3. From 90 to 3 minutes. And I made it through. Today I did the first day of the third week and it almost killed me. But I made it. Which means that when I do it again on Wednesday it’s going to be even easier. The site says that most people give up around week three. That’s good for me to know. So I’ll be sure and load the iPod with some motivation to make it through. If you know any good songs that have a good running beat, (really really fast), let me know.

Hopelessly Devoted

I am hopelessly addicted to this:

Blue Cheese Avocado Dip
Ingredients:
4 ripe avocados peeled, seeded and coarsely mashed
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4 scallions, finely chopped (green part only)
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 cup Plain Oikos Greek Yogurt or Stonyfield Farm Fat Free Plain Yogurt
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

It is SO good. We never have crackers laying around anymore, so we use tortilla chips or veggies to dip in it. Even Tristan, famous for his dinner time, "I'M NOT GONNA EAAAATTT DDAATTT" whine eats it. Delish.