Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dustin and Daria on their way to Taekwondo. Notice Daria's "do we really have to take a picture fake smile"


With the onset of summer vacation my blog fell into the "postless" blog. Now with the onset of school, my blog is back in business.

We enjoyed a great summer ... AT HOME. Yep, no huge vacation (much to Karie and Celeste's dismay). Ken claims he's still too sore from the 5000 miles + that he drove on our super incredible vacation last year. WHATEVER! Our activities included delightful visits from family and friends, various activities and visiting places close by, much of which I'll post later.

This summer Daria and Dustin started Taekwondo. I always knew that when I had kids I would want them to take some form of Martial Arts. Ok, growing up I idolized Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, but that's not why I enrolled them. Back when Daria was one year old, we visited my friend Jen G. during one of her Karate classes. I was impressed at the values that Martial Arts teaches the young students. What a great way to instill integrity, respect, self-discipline mingled with physical strength and courage.

I thought when I mentioned it to the kids that Daria would complain. I knew she wanted to try gymnastics, but I felt strongly that she needed to be in Taekwondo. She's smaller, going into 5th grade and will hit a lot of different obstacles as she is venturing on turning 11 years old. I want her to have the confidence to go along with all the values we are already teaching her. Surprisingly she did not complain when I signed her up. In fact she seems to be highly engaged in it when she is in class. She has however complained a few times since, but when she actually gets to class her whole attitude changes and I can see her rising to new potential.

Kia!!!! that's what they yell

Dustin. Well, it's almost just a given to enroll him. Dustin is such a ball of positive energy. But even positive energy can be too much sometimes. I felt that he needed a physical outlet coupled along with something that teaches those core values. Specifically respect and self control. This was the perfect fit and Dustin thinks it will give him a head start to be in the Special Forces one day (seriously people, this is what I live with! gotta love it). The other day he asked to play flag football. Since he's already in a sport (Taekwondo) I told him he would have to wait a year (that's how long they are signed up for). He then replied "well I think I just might do Taekwondo again instead of flag football." He really wants to get to a black belt (which will take longer than a year).

For the few short months that they have been in Taekwondo, it has been a bit magical to watch. When they broke their first "confidence" board you could actually see something light up and click inside their heads. I can see why they called it a "confidence" board. I even felt confident for them. This week they both earned their first black stripe on their white belts. At this school you have to earn 3 black stripes before you can test for the next belt. The stripes are earned during progress weeks. Again, I could see the sense of accomplishment as they both got their stripes. Another benefit...making goals and actually seeing the hard work through to meet the goal. It's all starting to make sense how this type of activity builds boys and girls.

Keo Sa Nim (this instructor rocks! He is so good with the kids) puts the black stripe on the kids belts

Now, on another note, regarding physical fitness. I am SOOOO amazed at what the instructors can get these kids to do. One evening while watching class I decided to write down exactly what they did for warm up. This is what I came up with. Ok parent's, read this list and try it out, see if you can do it. I challenge you! If you can't just know that a bunch of 8-12 year olds can.

20 jumping jacks
20 squat jumps
20 squats
20 knuckle push-ups
10 wide push-ups
20 forward back push ups (that's where one hand is forward the other back)
10 elbow plants
10 All 4's push ups (I'll post a picture of this. This is where you do a push up but you push your
whole body up in the air)
2 times running laps
2 times running knee dashes
2 times bounding run
2 times bear crawl
2 times crab craw facing forward
1 time gorilla walk with knuckles


Tired yet??? and this is just a warm up.

Daria doing one of the all 4's push ups. It's harder than you think!
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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Cooking negative 101


I've been pretty lucky. Ever since day one, both of my kids have been good eaters. I was one of those extreme moms who made all of my own baby food. Looking back on it I can't believe I actually accomplished that. A woman will do anything to justify quitting her job to stay home with her new baby. My logic was "think how much money I'll save by making my own baby food." I laugh about it now, but it really was one of the ways I cut costs in order to stay home.
I never went through the "I'm not hungry stage". You know the one, your 18 month old all of the sudden decides that they are no longer hungry and somehow miraculously survives on one bowl of cheerios per day, nothing else, and yet they still have an enormous amount of energy and their body still grows. I was not fortunate enough to experience that. In fact my kids always seemed to be hungry, and I took comfort in that fact that they would eat everything I presented them. Both of my kids loved eating cherry tomatoes as a snack at school and actually even like brussel sprouts.
Unfortunately those glory days are over. Not the eating part. Daria and Dustin still have a healthy appetite. The unfortunate part is that all of the sudden almost every meal in my tiny bag of recipes, disgusts them. Yep, I've entered the "I can't' stand that stage". Now this might not be a problem for the average Super Mom, but it's a problem for me. Why? Well, because I truly lack in the "cooking" arena. It's taken me 17 years to really become a good cook, and "good" has a lot of imagination in it. Cooking is not my favorite thing to do. Some of my friends love to cook, love to bake. I'd rather have some sort of set up like the Jetson's did, where you push a button and some homemade gourmet meal pops out of the wall. Since that's not an option, I find myself constantly struggling to find healthy, cost efficient recipes, and NOW, recipes that most the family likes. Meals that Daria LOVED she all of the sudden can't stand. The same goes for Dustin. Or better yet, Daria might like a certain meal but no one else, or Dustin likes what Daria doesn't. One thing I just can't succumb to doing is making a variety of options for one meal. I cook it, you eat it (sounds a little strict but seriously people, what do you do?). For the most part I try to cook what Ken likes. He's the one who works hard every day so we can even afford food, so I figure he should get first shot at the menu, and he never complains.
So the conversation usually goes like this. "Mom, what's for dinner tonight?" (I fantasize responding by saying "a knuckle sandwich" but due to better judgment withhold that comment). I then list off what I will be cooking. "Do we like that?" "Have we had that before?" or the most dreaded "Ohhh, I hate that " "But you used to love that" "well I don't like it anymore." Then, being the mom, I get the fun opportunity to be the "mean mom" and give the age old lecture of "when you are 18 you can cook what you want" or "people all over the world only get a bowl of rice every day, you should be thankful you have this dinner" Ok, actually I've not used those replies. I'd love to but haven't. I have however used the "when you start complaining about choices there's a big problem" (this is usually my response when Dustin looks in the pantry and complains that there isn't anything to eat for breakfast. There are always things to eat for breakfast, just not what he wants. Or he will say he's tired of the same old thing. I then find myself fantasizing again imagining myself feeding my kids oatmeal for a month straight so they can actually then appreciate the meals we do get to eat.......) I suppose I will just have to take a big deep breath and remind myself "that this too shall pass"....
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