Do Over!

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Amy

I am demanding a redo of the last 2 days. I started off the week excited about the fun activities we had planned. Most of them centered around Kamryn finishing up her school year.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kamryn wanted to start her own running club. She has a goal of running mile for mile with the top runner from her PEPP class next year. I’m really impressed that she came up with the idea of training this summer all on her own. We sat down after school and made 30 lap cards and then I used my running app on my phone to measure the distance around the pond in front of our condo – it equaled .10 of a mile. I told her she would have to run around 10 times to get a mile in.

And just like that, she took off running. Rory wasn’t about to miss out on the fun and was quick to follow. I thought Kamryn would run a couple of laps and get bored, but that little girl wasn’t going to stop until she had a mile. Rory stopped after 3 laps and giving him his 3rd lap card was generous since he cut across the grass on the last lap. Once she had completed her mile, we went in to have lunch. I was fixing lunch for the kids and peeked out in the living room to see Kamryn laying face down, butt up on the couch. She looked absolutely exhausted. I was a little surprised that she was so tired and I kept trying to get her to drink more water, but all she would take is a little sip. She felt a little warm, but she had just been out running in the hot sun so that didn’t seem too unusual. I gave her her lunch, and she nibbled at it a bit before telling me she needed a bucket. Up came her lunch and a pink cupcake that she had at school.

The next day was the last day of school and Kamryn had made it through the entire year without one absence from illness, I couldn’t have her miss the very last day! I pumped her full of ibuprofen and got her to school the next day.

At 10:00, I went to Kamryn’s classroom to help out with the ice cream party they were having. The kids each got a bowl of ice cream and had lots of little toppings they could put on top to make their own sundae. Kamryn made hers and went and sat at her seat. After a couple of minutes, I looked over right as I saw her gag. SHIT! I ran over, grabbed her ice cream and took her outside. Her classroom opens up to a courtyard area so as long as I got her out of the carpeted area, if she yacked, I wouldn’t feel so bad. Kamryn kept insisting that she wasn’t going to throw up, but I wasn’t so convinced.

We made it through the rest of the school day (11:20) and went over to have a picnic with some of her classmates. We were there for about 20 minutes before Kamryn came over and asked me for her lunch. When I went to hand her a sandwich, she gagged again. I told her we needed to go home, she agreed and Rory freaked. I left Rory with the mommies from Kamryn’s class and took Kamryn home where she promptly fell asleep.

After a couple of hours and another dose of ibuprofen, Kamryn wanted to go pick up Rory and go to gymnastics. I told her that wasn’t a good idea and she got really upset. Her fever was gone, but I didn’t think it would be for long. However, against my better judgment, we went to gymnastics. She made it through her class, although a little slow.

By the time she went to bed last night, things seemed almost completely back to normal with her, but I was starting to feel like I got hit by a Mack Truck. I had been fighting a cold for about a week and last night, I lost that fight.

Rory woke up at 5:30am this morning. I fixed him a bowl of cereal, turned on cartoons and went back to bed. I halfway thought he would fall asleep watching TV or be back at my bedside within a few minutes of finishing his cereal, but to my surprise I got another hour and a half of sleep before Kamryn was the one who woke me up.

I was up for a full 4 hours before I fell back asleep on the couch. I cancelled one of my two appointments I had today and am just waiting to put the kids to bed so I can retire for the evening.

I’m officially starting our summer vacation on Monday and this weekend is going to be devoted to disinfecting every square inch of our house.

WTF Wednesday

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Amy

Yesterday Kamryn earned her 15 Mile ribbon for running club. That was the big one because at 15 miles they get a free pass to The Birch Aquarium. It’s the one thing that Kamryn has been working for all year. When I picked her up from school yesterday, the minute I saw her, her lip started quivering. She had her 15 mile ribbon pinned to her shirt so I really had no idea what she could be so upset about.

By the time she got to me, she was in a full blown cry and was trying to get out that she didn’t get her aquarium pass. Uh-oh. Kamryn’s teacher has been out the last couple of weeks recovering from surgery so the kids have had a substitute, Mrs. D. Obviously, there is an infinite amount of information to pass on regarding the daily goings on of a class of 23 five year olds. Just keeping track of all the crazy kids is more work than any one person should have to endure. Mrs. D felt so bad and was apologizing because she didn’t know anything about it – I felt more bad for Mrs. D than I did for Kamryn! Anyway, I had promised Kamryn a necklace once she had reached her 15 mile goal so I told her we would go pick that out later that afternoon to settle her down.

Once we got to the store, Kamryn sat looking at about 20 different necklaces trying to pick out just one. Meanwhile, Rory was wandering around looking at toys and asking what I was going to get for him. I couldn’t leave the store without getting something for both kids even though Rory hadn’t run 15 miles, which Kamryn had no problem reminding him of repeatedly.

There was a little display by the register with these little fuzzy creatures that “magically” jumped and slithered around – they even had a video showing the tricks they could do. These little things were called Squirmles and came in a bunch of different colors. They were fairly cheap and looked like something that would occupy Rory for awhile so I let him pick out his favorite color of Squirmle, which yesterday, was orange.

There really needs to be an asterisk next to “They Magically Move!”

Once we got home, I opened the Squirmles and was immediately pissed. I looked over the box pretty thoroughly at the store because I thought it was odd that these things could move around on their own, but I thought the “head” of the Squirmle was probably weighted and that was what was making it appear to move on it’s own.

Nope, that was not the case. This was basically an overly fluffy pipe cleaner without the little wire down the middle. What was magically making it move was the idiot that bought it. Attached to the Squirmle’s head was the “invisible” thread seen all tangled up in the picture, and on the other end was a piece of cardboard that is supposed to go into your pocket. You maneuver the Squirmle with the thread. I did a once over of the packaging again to make sure I didn’t miss where it said that this toy was a huge farce. I know I’m fault for being a little too optimistic about the workings of this little fuzzy worm, but come on, you can’t say that something magically moves without either putting magically in quotes or putting some kind of disclaimer on the box! Especially when you have to pull it around with a string!

Congratulations Carl Zealer, creator of Squirmles! You are the winner of my WTF Award!

10 Miles!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Amy

For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, you may remember me posting about Kamryn and her reaching her 5 Mile goal in running club at school. It took her nearly 5 months to reach the 5 mile mark, but she’s 5 and I know I hadn’t run 5 miles in an organized fashion when I was that age. That is a lot of “5”‘s in that paragraph.

Today, only 3 months after reaching her 5 mile goal, she has earned her 10 mile ribbon!

10 Miles!!

I’m pretty impressed that she has shaved 2 months off of her time. I’m always striving to knock off a few seconds here and there, but Kamryn is committed to this running thing. It may or may not have something to do with me promising a trip to Legoland when she reached her 10 mile goal.

Tomorrow is the school Family Fun Run, a fundraiser where the kids get pledges and donations for the school based on how many laps they run. Kamryn raised $100 and while she doesn’t have to run a specific number of laps, I plan on running with her. They only have about 45 minutes and if I can keep her on my pace, we should be able to run about 5 miles. I’m kidding, but I am looking forward to running with my little girl tomorrow. Rory has already said he isn’t going to run, but something tells me he’s going to change his mind once he sees all the kids running tomorrow. Not to mention, the boy doesn’twalk anywhere. He runs every place he goes.

5 Miles!

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Amy

My workout of choice is running. I’m not fast nor am I able to run far, but I somewhat enjoy it and it keeps my flabby areas a little less jiggly than they use to be. When Kamryn started school this year, I kept hearing about a Running Club that they offered. I didn’t really think it would be aimed at the kindergarten kids, but to my surprise, all grades are encouraged to participate.

Running Club is every Tuesday and Thursday. The kids can run during their recess and for each lap they complete they get a card. Each lap is .2 miles so 5 laps = 1 mile. Kamryn’s recess is only 15 minutes and in that time she has to eat her snack, giggle with her friends and then try and get a lap or two of running in, if she chooses to participate.

The first couple of times she had running club she would run a lap or two. She handed in her lap cards and basically got nothing in return and I noticed her enthusiasm waning. I kept encouraging her because for every 5 miles a child runs, they get a ribbon. If they make it 20 miles, they get a ticket to the aquarium. She would run a lap on most days and other days she told me she wanted to play on the playground instead. That was perfectly fine with me, but I just know my little girl and I know if she got that ribbon, she would be so proud of herself.

Right before Kamryn’s holiday break there was a special guest who came to Running Club to talk to the kids about exercise and running. On that day Kamryn got to do something that the majority of us will never get to do. She got to run with an Olympian! Steve Scott, who is known for being one of the best milers in American history was running with my little girl! Of course I found it to be more impressive than she did, but one day she’ll appreciate it, I hope. I did make a pretty big deal about it and it got her excited about Running Club again.

Today, on the first occurrence of Running Club in 2012, Kamryn earned her 5 Mile ribbon! And just as I suspected, she’s been wearing her ribbon all day and she couldn’t be happier!