The Year of Trying New Things

Maybe it's the fact that I know I'm done having kids or the fact that I am happily settled in my career, but whatever the reason, I have decided to make this a year of trying new things.

Nothing too crazy, but some tremendous fun nonetheless.

1. indoor rock climbing
2. trained for and ran a 1/2 marathon
3. took some trapeze classes (I'll have to post photos at a later time)
4. currently training for a triathlon
5. considering sailing lessons

I notice that there is a definite "physical" aspect to my hobbies. Perhaps I should branch out a little more. Suggestions welcome.

What The Little Gym means to me

I recently returned home after a 4-day trip to Florida for The Little Gym's annual Reunion. It's something I have attended for 8 consecutive years ever since I was first hired. Franchise owners and their top managers from all over the world fly in for some great business networking, idea sharing, and training on new material.

I love going to trainings and expanding my knowledge. So much preferable over school where that meant I had to prove my learning with papers, exams, and projects. Now I can just bring all the good ideas back, implement them and see the results.

One idea that I'm excited to put into action is a new hiring website that had many owners talking. I have a great team at The Little Gym of Germantown (I hope to introduce you to them in a future blog) but with a move to a new location in a few months, my time will be very limited. I teach 12-15 classes every week but will need to scale this down by at least half to get all my projects done. (P.S. I say this every year at the start of a new semester. And I always end up taking on too much. That's the problem with being a tad bit of a perfectionist.)

I'll keep you posted.

Baby Ninja or Power Ranger

Here comes another Halloween. I have a 7 year old who chose to be a "Stealth Ninja" this year and a 4 year old who is going to be the Red Power Ranger.  I have no costume ideas yet for the little guy, but of course his brothers want him to match them. Doesn't quite seem worth it to buy an actual costume for one day.

Also, I have the chance to win some money towards my half marathon fundraising if I run on October 27 in costume. I'm trying to think of something creative while at the same time allowing for me to run without much hindrance.  Hmmm....

Can't we just get past this idiotic holiday and move on to my favorites?

Marathon Mom

Today I signed up to do a half marathon. I am not a runner, but all the literature said that there were options to walk/run so I am certain that's what I'm gonna do.

I joined Team in Training so that I could raise funds for blood cancer research and also because they will provide me with coaching and mentors along the way. Likewise, because I am asking for financial assistance with my goal pledge of $3400, I feel doubly accountable to make sure that I follow through to the finish line.

My mom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in June 2011. She began treatment right away and has been a fighter ever since. Her expert doctors performed two stem cell transplants and she is currently in remission. I am raising money so that more treatments can be found and hopefully, a cure.

I would love to receive encouraging words, running buddies, or your uplifting stories. You may check on my progress at my Team in Training website which will be live in a few days.

Melissa

I have worked Saturdays for such a long time, so with today being my first Saturday off in years, you would think that I would choose to do nothing.  Ha! Have you not been reading my blog?!  Sitting still is definitely not my style.

Here's what happened today:
-Several loads of laundry
-Practiced guitar
-Went to Target and actually stayed true to my shopping list, with the exception of adding paper lunch bags
-Came home, put the baby to bed
-Searched high & low for wrapping paper or gift bag. Couldn't find either, so I used a small beach bag and tied on some blue curly ribbon
-Took my 7 year old to a bowling birthday party
-Bowled with my 4 year old in a neighboring lane. Bowled 3 strikes and 1 spare somehow! :)

-Fed the baby chicken, smiley fries, and apple in the stroller between bowling. (I sneaked the food in, but I was planning to tell them that he had food allergies if I got caught.)

-Put the baby back to bed.

-Helped hubby tear carpet out of older son's bedroom.

-Pulled staples out of plywood and hammered in nails to prepare floor for new laminate.

-Made ratatouille for supper. Tasted good, but kids wouldn't try it. Not worth a fight tonight I decided.

-Made homemade oatmeal raisin whoopie pies with orange buttercream filling. (picture below)

-And I'm still in the kitchen preparing meatballs for a Labor Day family reunion that is sure to be visited by all-day thunderstorms. 

Whew. This is my written record for years later, when life is even busier, that I did actually have it somewhat together for a period in my life. 

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Great Tips from The Little Gym

As I've mentioned before, I juggle two jobs: mom & gym manager. Things that I've learned as a mom have definitely come in handy at the gym and vice versa.

Here are some tips and parent wisdom I've gathered along the way. Most of it comes directly from the curriculum for The Little Gym's parent/child classes. It's good stuff.

1. Stability leads to agility.  Though not every child is blessed with the genes and grace of a ballerina, you can improve on one's natural coordination. Activities that promote climbing, rotating, and all 4-limb weight bearing help to enhance core strength. Once a child has improved stability and balance, he/she can then tackle more challenging movements, like quickly changing direction, cartwheeling, and various jumps.
2. Don't over-react when your child has a fall. Most often, the fall caused the child to feel scared rather than feel hurt. Your calm demeanor and loving hugs are usually the perfect medicine.
3. Kids can learn how to share, take turns, and communicate their needs at a very young age. Participation in group classes, along with attentive parent involvement, helps to make your young toddler "head of the class" in peer interactions. I have seen countless examples of sharing and turn taking with kids as young as 14 months. And two year olds who can cope with situations better because of this early start.
4. Music is a universally great teaching tool. We have plenty of jingles at the gym and they all work! Babies, toddlers, and preschool-aged children love to move & groove to music and it also captures their attention whereas just speaking something may not. With just a little bit of effort, parents can create fun jingles to get kids to follow directions.

Best of luck to you parents! I hope to see you soon at The Little Gym.

Melissa

Impossible Impassable August

Our summer schedule is not going as I planned. But I am stubbornly unwilling to say that I am fully to blame. We lost our summer babysitter about a week and a half sooner than we had hoped. So even our best-laid plans and beautiful color coded Google calendar (accessible on my smartphone) were of no use anymore.

I was more than 30 minutes late to pick up my older sons from vacation Bible school. Not once but twice. That is not acceptable. Luckily, I volunteer there every year and know the camp director so she was willing to keep an eye on my boys until I could get there. I hope that the money I'm making at work is enough to pay for their psychiatrist bills later. 

The cavalry is on the way. My mother-in-law is coming in for a week. Hallelujah!  My husband bribed her with a few rounds of golf (and seeing her 3 beautiful grandsons of course). This is great--- now I don't have to be the bad mom who cancels Lego camp because carpooling is impossible. I might actually come out of this looking pretty good. Lego camp is still on, grandma is visiting, and we can actually get to the county fair too. As a reward for my greatness, I made delicious peanut butter cookies.