She Wants My Car

Sometimes the things that come out of my kiddo’s mouth astound me. There’s really no other way to put it. I don’t know how she comes up with this stuff. It makes me wonder who at school is talking like that or if she heard it on TV or even from me without me realizing it (because let’s be honest we’re all guilty of those moments).

Nonetheless, she surprises me. It’s not always crazy stuff either, sometimes it’s super sweet things like the big hugs and thank yous I get for washing her sheets and blankies, or the prayers she says at the end of her day. It’s such an insightful experience for me because I get to see how much she really is taking in from the world around her.

Apparently part of what she’s taking in right now is that she is a little kid who will one day become a big kid and becoming a big kid means she gets to drive my car. Or so I’ve been told. By her. Multiple times.

So I guess I need to realize that she won’t be my little one for forever, even though I should already realize that because she’s almost as tall as me and she’s only 4. And as she grows it does mean that she’ll be able to gain more independence and be able to have more responsibility, blah blah, adulting isn’t fun ALL the time (but she doesn’t know that yet).

At least now every time we’re in MY car and she tells me how much she loves Mommy’s car and how one day she’ll be driving Mommy’s car instead of Mommy (and in Mommy’s mind, I have a super nice Range to ensure that I still have a car when she takes mine), we also get to talk about how driving a car is a HUGE privilege. It’s not something that just happens, well at least not for me, and if it’s something she wants then she has to have responsibilities like a job.

Because cars cost money, lots of money, and there’s no way to pay for a car without a job, well I guess there are tons of ways to pay for a car without a job, but she doesn’t need to know that because that will NOT be the case for her.

The Gracie Thruster

This story isn’t as much about me as it is about my husband and my daughter. Those two are peas in a pod. People don’t believe but as much as my girl might look like me, she acts just like her Dada and she loves him fiercely. I love that. I love that she seeks him out, and that he’ll wrestle and tickle her. Just like her Dada, my child has ZERO fear and loves anything that causes her little heart to beat a little faster. So when there’s no roller coaster nearby, these two often make up their own death defying games.

It’s a completely normal thing in my house to hear Gracie squealing after being tossed in the air or while being chased during a game of tag. It’s also normal as a result, to hear the dogs barking after both of them, mostly because Daisy is constantly concerned about Grace’s safety (I think Daisy thinks she is Grace’s mommy).

Apparently one night, these two got the bright idea that they needed a new game to play. As I’m making dinner, I hear the happy squealing of my kiddo in the backyard and I didn’t even look up, because that’s so normal. I’m smiling, making dinner, happy that everyone is happy, and at some point I glance up to see Gracie flying in the air above my husband’s head. Like arms out, legs out, flying and thinking it was the best thing in the world.

Hence the Gracie Thruster. You know what a thruster is? It’s a functional movement back from my CrossFit days, where at its essence you’re moving a weight from the ground to above your head. Obviously this is typically done with a barbell or sometimes even free weights, but not with a child, much less my child.

But as I was watching my husband launch the kiddo into the air, it literally looked like she was the weighted aspect of the thruster. He was completing the squat through the shoulder press (with amazing form I might add) and adding in a toss at the top almost like a wall ball (another CrossFit movement where you toss a weighted ball to the same spot on a wall multiple times).

The whole time, all I could think was “well she’s not a small child so he’s working his booty off, but he said he didn’t get a workout in today, so this will totally count.” Sure enough, Gracie made him do this newly formed functional movement 100 times. I’m not kidding. Grace thought they discovered a new game, and my husband was absolutely worked from it.

Grace calls it the Hi-Ya, and every chance she gets, she asks for it, usually in increments of 10.  Now my husband uses it as a chance to get in a little extra workout, because why not multi-task if you have the chance?

Remember It's a Season

Parenting is NO joke. Even if you think you're ready for it, there's no way to truly prepare yourself for being a parent and really no way to accurately describe it to someone who isn't a parent. One thing can be said for sure though: the highs are high and the lows can be low and sometimes the highs and lows can occur in the same day (or maybe even the same hour).

Recently we've been having those tough days. Those days where you're checking the clock to see how much closer it is to bedtime because everyone, including me, needed sleep. Those are the days where I take more deep breaths and close my eyes, and pray for patience constantly. 

On this day nothing in particular went wrong, but my kiddo was just having a tough day so for her, nothing was going right. We had a tough day. This was one of those days where instead of working out during naptime, I chose to take a quiet moment to myself, read my devotional and meditate. It was exactly what I needed.

The afternoon was not any better, and that was no surprise so when bedtime finally came, I was SPENT. All I could do was hug my kiddo because that's what she needed and as I was hugging her, I began to ask her what made her so upset ALL DAY LONG. I know she's not old enough yet to really articulate those kinds of emotions, but I needed to say it for me.

So here I am telling my little girl that I wish she could tell me what was bothering her because I wanted to help her feel better since she was obviously upset and I said "Because Baby Girl you really pushed every single one of Mommy's buttons today".

I wasn't expecting a response. At all really, I was just expecting her to stay quiet but no, not my kiddo. She replied to me by saying "Yea I did Mama."

Just like that I remembered that life is not so serious and sometimes it's ok to have bad days and laugh about them when it's all over.

Grace and the Burpee

I was just wiped. We all have those days. Where the work seems unending, you feel like you’re moving at a million miles a minute and before you know it, the day is over. This was one of those days. I don’t even remember all that I accomplished, but I remember feeling like as soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning, I hit the ground running.

Of course these are the days when Grace decides to not nap, or have a tough day because things aren’t going the way she thinks they should be going, and it just culminates into a rough afternoon. I know you feel that sometimes mamas. Like everything is piling up, there’s no break, and you’re literally counting down the minutes until bedtime because holy moly, you’re just EXHAUSTED. I felt like I had blurry tunnel vision.

Finally the day was winding down. For us, that means a little downtime at the end of the day for Grace where she can watch a TV show before she gets ready for bed. Usually it’s Mickey. That’s the golden ticket right now. I could sing you the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song along with hand gestures and dancing, but alas, I digress…

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse also means snuggle time. Honestly it’s one of my favorite parts of my day. Because I don’t have a kid who normally snuggles, she’s just too busy playing. I get it, that’s the season we’re in right now. Her business is playing, that’s how she’s figuring out her life.

So I take advantage of snuggle time when we watch Mickey. We get a blankie, she normally has a puppy on her lap and we talk about Mickey as we watch it. Side note, I don’t want this to change as she gets older, I just want it to be us commenting on a more adult television show.

Here I am getting the blankie of her choosing, making sure we’re ready to snuggle, I call Grace over, she walks to the couch and says “Hold on Mommy, I have to workout”. She then proceeds to do a SINGLE BURPEE and then sits down. I mean she went for it. Full burpee with the push up from her toes and then just sat down. Like ok workout done, I’m ready for my Mickey. Frankly I was so astonished and impressed by her form, I asked “Grace can you do that again so Mommy can take a video?” and in true Gracie fashion she tells me “No Mommy, my workout is done.”

I can’t even be mad about it. She listened to her body, did what her body needed and now is getting some well deserved snuggle time before ending her day. 

Grace post burpee looked way more composed than I ever could post burpee.

Where Does the Time Go?

My brother once told me that when you’re a parent, the days seem long but the years go by quickly. He couldn’t have been more right and it’s honestly something I remind myself of when the days seem REALLY LONG. Because we all have those days.

It feels like three years old has been one of those long days. I thought the two year old stage was hard…and then we hit the threenager phase and I got my butt totally handed to me. As hard as it’s been, I constantly remind myself of how blessed we are that everyone is thriving and healthy, and that our problems are typical problems to have.

So bring on year four. We’re ready for it.

The little one had her birthday recently and let me tell you, she had an amazing birthday. I mean you only turn four once right? There were balloons and cupcakes and DISNEYLAND. It was epic. Every kid should be so blessed.

The celebration continued for a whole week until her actual birthday when she got presents and all kinds of spoiled. Here I am thinking that finally we’re good, birthday is done, celebration is had, and I’m TIRED. All is good. I have a happy kiddo, I’m happy because she’s happy and because everyone got a nap.

But alas…when she woke up the next morning, I was informed that it was still her birthday and will be her birthday every single day until she turns 6. When I asked her why the cut off was at 6, she told me that 6 years old is when she becomes a big kid. I’m not quite sure how that all ties together, but for her it does so I guess I’m singing the Happy Birthday song everyday until she turns 6.

Just a Little Background...

When I first had Grace, one of my biggest priorities was figuring out how I would fit working out into being a new mama. I have to move my body. Not just because it’s so important for my overall mental and physical well being, but also because of my injury, if I don’t move my body, I know I’m looking at a huge potential for mobility issues going forward.

As a Pilates instructor, I was so blessed because I have this background of knowledge for how to safely get your core strength back post partum and obviously have the ability to write my own workouts. But here is what I didn’t anticipate that every OG mom will (I’m sure) have a good laugh over. My child. I really didn’t anticipate that every time I would try to work out in my living room, my amazing and beautiful little girl would scream like she was being tortured and my workout would, of course, be done at that moment. I tried everything, including working out during naptimes (you know that time when you’re supposed to be sleeping too, haha) and nothing worked. All I wanted to do was move. I wanted to feel my blood flowing; I wanted to feel like I was gaining my strength back, I wanted to feel good in my body again. Honestly, what I really wanted to do was get back into the studio 5 days a week, but as all of us moms know, best laid plans are just that right? Every time something would happen that would inhibit me from working out, I would tell myself “God laughs whenever I make a plan”. Unfortunately for me, not a lot of Pilates studios have a childcare situation, and Grace is my traveling companion so that was a must.

Which lead me to joining a YMCA. I figured something was better than nothing really I was just grateful that they had childcare so I could have the opportunity to move my body for at least an hour each day. I can’t even lie; it was also nice to have the chance to workout without having to stop every 5 minutes to address what my sweet girl needed. It became this huge blessing because I was able to have a second to myself, without being covered in spit up, I could shower there in peace, and I felt like I was actually kind of back to my active self.

The bigger blessing is that Grace has essentially grown up in this fitness lifestyle, and understands the importance of moving your body. She loves to go with us to the gym, she loves the friends she’s made there and loves to play there and now she loves to go to yoga with me as well. She even does a little yoga herself and I do have to say; her plank game is much stronger than mine.

But I love that she gets to see this side of my life. The side of my life where I’m taking care of my physical well being so I can be a better participant in my family life because it does all these amazing things for me like keeping me mobile. I love that she asks to go to yoga and asks to do yoga with me after class, and has even learned how to use a singing bowl and will try to meditate.

I believe these healthy habits do start now and they start with me and my husband and her seeing that your health does need to be a priority before it becomes a problem. I cannot wait for the day when she’s old enough to put on a reformer and learn the method of Pilates because I know it will give her a greater appreciation for what I do, but it will also help to grow her own mind/body awareness and connection which is so critical for living a healthy life.

I know one day she’ll be in my classes, one day she might even teach her own classes or build a fitness empire of her own but I love that she’s not intimidated by fitness or health. And I love that I get to be integral in her evolution in this world.