Healthy kids

Someone is coming to my house on Wednesday to talk to me about why my kids are healthy. It is part of a USU study on healthy habits and healthy weight in children. Gabe is in the normal weight range for his age, so we were given the option to participate (and they pay you, so why not?). Since we made the appointment, I've been wondering what they are going to ask ... and what I would answer. Why are my kids in the normal weight range? I've been surprised at how many kids I see at Gabe's elementary school who are heavy. What am I doing right ... we eat okay, but sometimes we don't. We have a computer, and sometimes the kids play it.

I don't think I have any secrets. I'm one of those people who have struggled with my weight on and off. But I feel good now. And it doesn't have much to to with how much I weigh, just about how active I am. Being active -- right now in sports -- makes me happy. And strong. And I use calories without trying. And it is fun. And I get to socialize. And I have a sense of accomplishment when I learn a new skill. And I can eat what I want without the psychological distress I've had about food in the past. There are a lot of great things that come from being active.

I worked for three years at Zion National Park. It was paradise for a lot of reasons, but one of them was because I had to be active every day. I hiked, I jogged, I walked to work, I biked. It was just part of the lifestyle there. Everyone did it, and that made it easier to do. Most people didn't have TVs in their houses. We talked and played games. We read books and looked at maps. We told stories and cooked food. We had dumb contests. It was fun.

I remember a heavy man from Australia came into the visitor center one day. He had talked to several of the rangers behind the desk. He approached me and said, "Why is it that all you park rangers are so damn beautiful?" It wasn't a pickup, he was just curious. It was because we are healthy, I replied.

It is a priority for me to pass to my kids the benefits ... physical and psychological ... of that lifestyle. There are a lot of ways to get to the same end; some people thrive on competition, some people are motivated by love of nature, or adventure. The way I am trying it now is modeling it for my kids, and teaching them some skills. I want them to have a healthy body image, but more importantly, I want them to feel strong, and to know they have control over their muscles, their brain, and their health. But I don't want them to be paranoid ... to think that if they are overweight, they are somehow worth less.

What has worked for you?

Bricks

I changed the name of this blog. When I was at Ricks, starting a degree in journalism, one of my professors had us read an article about writing ... I don't remember the details. The gist was that if you can't think of a topic to write on, you are thinking too broadly. Don't write about the world, narrow it down to your city, to one street, or one building in your city. Or one brick in the building on the street in your city. Then you can write forever.

So now, whenever I can't think about what to write, I think about bricks.

Here's a tag from Bryn.

1. go to my documents/pictures.

2. go to my 6th file folder.

3. go to my 6th picture.

4. blog about it.

There was a 5th step, but I never forward things. Hardly ever.

This is Gabe. He was almost a year old. Our sweet neighbor Emma Dutson (Grandma Emma) had given him this toy, leftover from a toy stash for visiting kids she had maintained. He wiggled out of my grasp one morning when I was dressing him and pushed it around. I was charmed by his complete lack of self-consciousness being in the nude, playing with a toy. And that cute little baby bum.

He was just learning to walk. His body was soft and round and shaped like a jellybean. Now he rollerblades.

Something has happened to me two years in a row ... in the springtime, I get achy for color. Last year, I visited a green house that had row upon row of hanging baskets in bloom (long before the grass had turned green in Logan proper). As I stood among these flowers, it felt like I was eating up the color ... like a vitamin deficiency being corrected. I had a hard time leaving, but when I finally did, I felt re-energized.

This year, I walked by a talented friend's painting studio. It was packed with his work, intense tones, yellow with depth, bright turquoise blue. The same thing happened ... I felt like I was eating up the color. I wonder if color effects other people like this? My theory is that humans didn't evolve to survive a long Logan winter. Spring should be here by now, evolutionarily speaking. And my body is like, "What the heck?" This yellow painting is his, by the way. He is really a great artist. Check out his website.

I was reading in Diane Ackerman's "A Natural History of the Senses" about Synaesthetes (people who experience sensory crossover - like seeing music, or hearing color.) True Synaesthetes are rare, but I think we all have aspects of sensory crossover to some degree. Music effects a lot of people that way. Often, when I have my eyes closed, like when I'm falling asleep, sound comes across my eyelids as fireworks. According to Ackerman, this is a primeavial mistake in the brain, in which sensory centers have not fully separated. I wonder if great artists/writers can use that kind of crossover information.

We have a dilemma at our house that involves pink Ikea tableware. Nobody wants them. I'd pull a pile of dishes from the cupboard, and a big fight would follow about which unfortunate sap would get stuck with the pretty-pretty-princess dishes (that is the worst insult possible in our house). Finally, I convinced the boys that the pink dish is a wish dish. If you get a pink dish, you get to make whatever wish you want. So now everybody wants them.

Yesterday, Leo got a pink fork. "Star light star bright I wish I make a wish today," he said. He thought for a moment. "I wish Lael was my mommy."

"I already am your mommy!"

"My wish came true!" he exclaimed with relief.

It makes me feel good that I am my three-year-old's wish. Or maybe he is shooting too low.

We all have colds, but they aren't the knock-you out kind. They are the sniffle all day, and feel congested at night kind. I'm looking forward to spring, and airing out the stuffy-germy air in our house. I'm going to open all the windows and doors, wash all the sheets, and Lysol everything that doesn't run.

I Heart Jeff

Here are a few reasons why:

-He eats frosting straight out of the tube
-He researches things before he buys them.
-He is tolerant of people
-He understands taxes
-He likes to eat out
-He is civic minded and acts for the good of the group
-He gives people second, and third and fourth chances
-He bears responsibility, even when it isn't fun
-He'll watch "Bizarre Foods" with me
-He sees the big picture, and is willing to explain it to me
-He wrestles with the boys on the floor after work
-He likes Disneyland
-He plants a garden, builds a fire, paints a wall, scrubs a toilet
-He likes dogs, and dogs like him
-He cares for the environment
-You can always call him in a pinch.

He is such a great man. Take that, Chinese Calendar. An ox and a sheep can find harmony!

Passing Week.

This was the week of passing things on. I passed on our Saturn to a new home, and passed my old job to a new torch bearer. All within three hours.

We casually posted an ad on KSL.com for our car during Jeff's lunch hour on Monday. Jeff returns to work. Five minutes later, I get a call from the first interested party. They want to drive up from Price, but can't come until Tuesday.

Then the doorbell rang. It is the new prodigy my ex-boss has finally hired to replace me (I quit around Thanksgiving). There are a lot of really talented people out looking for jobs lately. This very smart individual has a MBA, and is willing to take a part-time job that pays a mediocre wage. I show her the ropes. The second inquiry for the car rings in. They are from Pocatello, and are driving down right now. Back to the job training. I throw complicated information at her for two straight hours, and she eats it up with efficient grace. I kind of wish she wasn't so competent ... just to make my boss miss me more. He won't miss me.

Efficient girl leaves. Third phone call on the car. I answered questions while desperately looking for the title in case the Pocatello people actually want to buy. I don't know how to sell a car. I call my husband's cell phone three times. Not answering. I find the car title, call my Dad to find out how to sell a car. Not there. Doorbell rings. It is my neighbor. She gives me some pointers on how to sell a car. I clean out the cheerios and child safety seats. The Pocatello people come, test drive, want to buy it. Write a check, off they go.

I call back callers number one and three to tell them not to come. Three says, "Unless they paid in cash, it isn't really a done deal." I tell him sorry, he can't come.

Maybe we underpriced the car?