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May 21, 2012

Mira’s Turning Five – Everybody Jump, Jump!

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Had Mira actually followed directions, today would have been her birthday. Her due date was May 21, and I had hoped she’d be one of those rare babies born on her due date, continuing a family tradition of being born on the 21st of a month.

Instead, she decided to wait nearly a week to make her entrance so I could endure anxiety over another c-section (she was a VBAC, meaning I was required to go into labor without medical help) and enjoy one more week of being enormously pregnant and spending my nights in the recliner trying to find some small shred of comfort so I could sleep.

She was then born on Memorial Day weekend, ensuring she could never have a successful birthday party on her birthday, because everyone has plans for the holiday weekend. It wasn’t hard for the first few years – we invited only close friends and family to our house. But this year she’s turning five, and after all of the invites to her classmates parties at different party houses around the city, Mira wanted a special party of her own.

So even though she isn’t turning five until next Sunday, she had her big party this weekend at a bounce house facility. (Imagine a big warehouse filled with all sorts of inflatable things to bounce on and slide down.) This was our first adventure at having a party somewhere other than our house, and it went really well.

I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the party, most of which is due to my own issues with birthday parties. As a kid, I had just one party. I invited all of my class, planned out games and food, and wanted it to be a big, fun time. And then no one from my class showed up. The only other person close in age to me who was there was my best friend, who lived two doors down. I was heartbroken that no one in my class wanted to come to my party, and I’ve never had another non-family birthday party since. If it wasn’t for my best friend showing up, I might have given up on the idea of celebrating birthdays entirely.

Hours before Mira’s party, I started to feel that tightening in my chest. What if no one shows up? A few of her classmates had already RSVP’d that they weren’t coming, and several didn’t respond at all. We had three confirmed to attend, but I worried they’d back out at the last minute.

(PSA to all parents: please RSVP to any invites your kid receives. We had limited space and could have invited more kids if people would have responded to us.)

Thankfully, all three showed up, along with several kids from our close friends. We were well short of the 25 kid maximum for the party, but it was still a lot of fun.

Mira, of course, LOVED being the queen of the party.

No, Mira, they’re not ALL for you.

Sigh…my baby doesn’t need help opening her presents anymore.

Everyone bounced and jumped and played, even the adults. Everyone ate snacks and cupcakes. I’d like to hope that every child expended enough energy to sleep well that night. (You’re welcome, parents.) And like a good little hostess, Mira thanked everyone for coming and personally handed out the goodie bags at the end.

Overall I’d call it a success. Now if we could just get her to understand that she’s turning five, not sixteen.

Filed Under: growing up, memories, Mira ·


May 18, 2012

Walk With The Animals and HOOFit for Health

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One perk of blogging is that I occasionally get advance notice of cool, local family programs and activities. Compared to all of the emails I receive for events in New York and California, I’m thrilled when local organizations find me.

Earlier this week I was invited to come out to the zoo for the kickoff of the HOOFit program, sponsored by OhioHealth and the Columbus Zoo. The idea is simple: we’re all looking for ways to keep our families healthy and fit, so why not incorporate fitness into activities we already do? The HOOFit program is a series of guided walks through the zoo this summer, where you’ll be joined by an OhioHealth doctor who will discuss common health issues and answer questions as you stroll and visit the animals.

The kickoff event was a lot of fun. Several local bloggers were invited to attend, along with the media and representatives of the zoo and OhioHealth. (And I was briefly interviewed for TV – yikes!!)

@cbusmom, social-media-maven Mikaela Hunt from NBC4, and me

And we got to see Jungle Jack Hanna up close and personal. While he’s a local celebrity, you may also know him from appearances on late night TV with his animal friends. (Or from his old Saturday morning TV show, long before most animal conservationists were on the media scene.)

Also? He just had double knee replacement! Understandably, he didn’t walk much with us.

There were a few animal guests in attendance, too, happy to pose for photos with their fans.

 Baby kangaroo! All together now: awwww.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me that going to the zoo is a workout. We have an annual pass, so we like to go to the zoo frequently. Anyone who has been to the Columbus Zoo will tell you it’s huge and involves a lot of walking. We rarely see all areas of the zoo in one trip, because it’s just too much to take in, and because Mira will eventually slow down and remind us, “Guys! I’m tired because I have LITTLE legs!”

She’s right – to start the walk we were all given a card showing the minimum number of steps you’d take going through each area of the zoo.

The guide breaks it down for small, medium, and large strides, proving the Mira’s little legs really do mean she meets her daily step requirement long before we do.

HOOFit was a great reminder that some of the everyday activities we do can actually be great for promoting family fitness, too. Ask my kids to go exercise, and they’ll probably groan and refuse to do it or lose interest in a few minutes. At the zoo, however, they’re taking thousands of steps as they laugh and play and learn about the animals. (And it’s a good excuse for me to get some activity in, too.) It’s like a health activity cloaked in fun. Sneaky, eh?

This guy preferred swimming to walking.

All participants in the guided walks are given a bracelet pedometer to track your steps through the zoo. (Children will receive shoelaces instead of a pedometer.) You can sign up on Facebook to attend one of the guided walks, or if you can’t make it on those dates, you can pick up a map/step chart at the zoo for your own solo walk. Strollers and people of all ages are welcome on the walks.

I’m already signed up for the next HOOFit walk on June 21 – it’ll be my birthday, but starting with a great walk with the zoo animals in the morning is pretty good way to celebrate, I think.

Anyone else want to join me?

Full disclosure: I was invited to this event by OhioHealth and the Columbus Zoo. I received a t-shirt and wrist pedometer while there, and a healthy snack bag at the end of the walk. All adult participants who come for the walks can receive a wrist pedometer as well.

Filed Under: healthy living, local fun ·


May 15, 2012

Setting Up A Token System

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In the past week I’ve described the token system we use for chores and good behavior for the kids to three different people, so I thought why not share it with everyone? We don’t give an allowance weekly at this point because neither of our girls have a strong enough grasp of money, and because many of the things they want aren’t things at all but privileges that have little to no cost to us.

We reward Cordy and Mira for good behavior and for helping around the house with doubloons. The idea was originally given to us by one of Cordy’s therapists, suggesting a token system can work well for kids with high-functioning autism, as they can see a concrete reward for tasks they accomplish and then use those tokens to “purchase” the perks they want.

The idea for using doubloons came from Jake and the Neverland Pirates last fall. Cordy saw it on TV and loved how the pirates collected doubloons for solving problems throughout the show. At the same time, Cordy was obsessed with dressing as a pirate princess for Halloween. Aaron realized that would be the perfect token system, so he bought a big bag of plastic gold coins, grabbed a mug for each kid (from our renaissance festival days) and we started to plan the system.

I think they’re Greek coins instead of pirate doubloons. Eh, they don’t know the difference.

You can make the system as loose or rigid as you like. We’re somewhere in-between. There are daily tasks that they know they earn doubloons for – these are often tasks that they have trouble remembering to do, or are difficult things we want them to master.

For example, Cordy has trouble remembering to turn off her bedroom light each morning. She gets one doubloon for remembering to do it each morning. She also has to take a pill each morning, which she doesn’t like to do, so she gets a doubloon for doing that, too.

When the task can be done without reminder and without the need for a reward, we phase out the doubloon reward and find other routine tasks to reward for. They get doubloons for helping Aaron or I without complaining (like helping us load/unload the dishwasher or take out the recycling) and for assigned chores that they complete.

We also award them doubloons for good behavior. If they’re playing well together, or if they spontaneously do something helpful, they can get bonus doubloons. 

They keep their coins in the mugs and then use them to buy privileges. Some of the privileges they can choose from:

  • Extra 20 min on the computer/iPad – 1 coin
  • A treat of 1 piece of candy – 3 coins
  • Staying up an extra 30 min after normal bedtime – 5 coins
  • Getting fast food for dinner – 5 coins
  • A trip out to the zoo or another fun place (if we didn’t already plan for it & time allowing) – 10 coins

Of course, anything that Aaron or I decide to offer to them doesn’t cost anything. If we plan to go to the zoo one Saturday, they aren’t required to pay. If they want something that isn’t on our list, we can assign a doubloon value to it. Mira once wanted a Happy Napper toy, but she had no money. We set a value of 20 doubloons for it, and she saved her coins until she could cash them in to buy her toy.

We like using this system at the moment because the coins have no actual money value (other than the few dollars it cost to buy the bag of them), so they can use them for non-money privileges like extra computer time or staying up late. Many times these privileges are just as valuable to them as anything they could buy. When they’re older we can move to an allowance instead of tokens, but at this age it works very well.

The system works well because it is flexible and can be adapted for nearly any family. You can set your own guidelines on how tokens are earned and cashed in, and you can adjust the rewards and tasks that earn tokens as a child grows and masters new skills. It’s a fun system that lets kids earn their privileges and gives parents a chance to set non-monetary rewards for good behavior. Win-win.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, Mira, money ·


May 11, 2012

We (Don’t) Wear Short Shorts

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Now that the weather is warmer and my children have proven they’ve grown just enough over the winter to no longer fit in last summer’s clothing, it’s time for my annual disgust at clothing for girls. And really, it focuses on just one item: shorts.

I’ll begin by saying my girls are not the dainty flowers who never show a drop of sweat. Oh no, they’re hot, sweaty creatures who come home from summer camp each day with their sweaty hair matted to their heads. So shorts are kind of a necessary item to help keep them cool.

My problem with girls’ shorts is in the length. Nearly all shorts for girls have an inseam somewhere between barely reaching the top of the thigh and indecent. Those that are slightly longer often have leg openings so wide that they might as well be loose mini-skirts, or are skin-tight bike shorts.

 I love the fabric of these Children’s Place shorts, but that inseam is WAY shorter than you might think!

Cordy and Mira are seven and nearly-five. (Mira won’t let me forget her birthday is coming up in a few weeks.) They are not lady-like in any way. When they wear dresses, we must pair them with bike shorts or leggings, and probably will continue doing so until they’re older. Like maybe eighteen.

I don’t want people seeing my children’s underwear. I want them to have shorts of a reasonable length that they can play in comfortably without fear of someone seeing a flash of Disney Princesses or Dora underneath. Is that really so much to ask for?

No. Way.

Apparently it is. In my search for shorts this season, I’ve come across very few options. When I do find “bermuda” shorts (which fit the length requirements, even though some manufacturers apparently go too far and make these nearly capris), they’re often out-of-stock so quickly that I missed out on the sizes we need. I guess I’m not the only parent looking for longer shorts.

Target had some great longer shorts last year and I bought as many as I could at the time, even buying a few a size up for Cordy. We’re using the larger size shorts now, but we still need more thanks to a kid who is hard on clothing. They have a new bermuda design this year, but the fabric is even heavier and the waistband is very thick – I bought a couple of them to try, but the fit isn’t nearly as good as the previous ones.

Thick fabric (waist tie isn’t real thank goodness), almost knee length, but otherwise not too bad.

All I’m asking for is a reasonably priced pair of knit shorts with an elastic waist (Cordy can’t work zippers or buttons, and yes, we’re working on it.) with a length that falls somewhere mid-thigh with a straight leg or slightly tapered shape to them.

Maybe it’s time to start shopping in the boys’ section?

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, growing up, Mira, pop culture ·


May 10, 2012

Scale Happiness

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So this happened over the weekend:

Yikes, my scale looks filthy on camera!

Excitement? Yep, I was pretty damn happy. The first time in my adult life being under 160lbs – probably the first time I’ve been under 160 since I was 15 years old. A mere 1.8lbs away from the goal weight I set for myself when I weighed 212lbs and more.

However, I know my body too well. It couldn’t last, and two days later I was back to 161. Still…I saw it. I have proof it happened. Which means I can make it happen again.

If I charted out daily weights for myself, you’d see a lot of little ups and downs. Of course, the valleys have been greater than the peaks, leading to the overall downward trend, but I never let a single weigh-in be the concrete number that I’ll believe in.

I’m frustrated that my weight popped right back up after that short, celebratory scale reading. (I stepped on the scale three times that morning to make sure it wasn’t an error on the scale.) That frustration has turned into determination to see this through to the end and reach my goal.

So yeah, I’m thrilled at seeing 159.8. And I’m looking forward to seeing it again – and numbers lower than it – very soon.

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Filed Under: motivation, photographic evidence, weigh-in · Tagged: