quarantined

it turns out it's extra hard to get workouts in (and blog about them) when a) the streets, sidewalks and running paths are so icy i slip around even in my yaktrax, b) school is out, and c) your household has been in the grips of the worst stomach virus to hit minnesota since laura and mary were quarantined on little house on the prairie (ok, i think that was for smallpox, but, trust me, you really don't want to get this either).
so i am extra grateful that i got to swim today, and that we are bringing cross country skis to the cabin later this week, assuming that we will have recovered by then, a full two weeks after the first middle-of-the-night bout of illness.

Gift guide for moms who go fast (or just go)

For the pregnant athlete:

elastic shoelaces (if the reason isn't already clear, it will be soon)

2-piece competition swimsuit (order one size larger than non-pregnancy)

For the cross-country skier/biker/runner mama of two:
double chariot (duh)

For anyone who doesn't have one:
exercise ball

For the new mom:
blooma gift card
bob carseat attachment
baby bivy (this one almost makes me want to have another baby*, so I can test it out!)

For the water-guzzling nursing mom
sigg h20 bottle
(and this one for the kiddo)


*ha.ha.

Resolutions

I've been meaning to write this post for a week, but it seems like everything takes so much longer in winter. Last Friday, for instance, I felt triumphant after a visit to the Fit Kids' Gym ... when I did the calculations, though, it turned out we spent most of the morning -- at least two and a half hours -- accommodating my 40-minute run (still worth it, of course). And now that the temperature has dipped below zero, we start getting outdoor gear 25 minutes earlier than usual. Why that should slow down things like blogging...or, you know, real work...I don't know...but it has.
Anyway, last Wednesday I had the chance to talk to city council member Betsy Hodges (not my representative, but feel lucky if she is yours) about issues affecting parents of small kids. We ended up spending much of the hour talking about biking and indoor play spaces. She is committing to reducing her car commutes and trips by 100 this year. Which I think is a great way of looking at it, and as soon as my once-a-year crafty side emerges, I'll make a nifty chart. (On a similar note, I also got to talk to the director of Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling, Susan Young, last night, and she suggests charting everything you throw away for a week. And then ask for a compost bin for Christmas.)
It reminded me of how often Eric used to bike to work, Before Kids.
It's a lot of fodder for New Year's resolutions...

At least sledding is cheaper

I wanted to sign my preschooler and I up for parent-child snowboard lessons, because, among other reasons, he just seems like the snowboarder type (when I mentioned this to a friend, she said, "Well, yeah. I just assumed he'd be a snowboarder).
Unfortunately, it seems that snowboarding lessons don't exist for 4-year-olds. (Maybe snowboarders can tell me why? Perhaps something to do with the number of falls required to learn the sport...the same reason I've only tried to once, for 15 minutes?)
So I settled on skiing lessons. I called the local ski "slope" (in Minnesota, we use the words like "slope" and "mountain" generously), and learned there was one spot available. An hour later, when I called to officially sign up, it was gone.
I had no idea preschooler ski lessons were such a hot entity.
So I'm trying to resign myself to lots of sledding instead. So far, he's gone once or twice a day since we got back from Houston. He even conned my dad into pulling him up the hill in the sled on every run, for an hour and a half.
The baby, however, seems to hate her snowsuit. And her mittens. And hat. And boots.* Which might put a damper on our son's Olympic snowboarding pursuits.

*If anyone has suggestions for winter gear that toddlers will actually wear, please share!!

I remember when 5 a.m. seemed closer to bedtime than breakfast time

The baby has stopped getting up at 5 a.m. (at least, temporarily…if she sees this in print, she is sure to start again, so I will cross it out right now..see, Baby? it's CROSSED OUT), so our early-morning runs have ceased. But this morning, I forced myself out of bed at 6 and sneaked out of the house to meet a friend for a dark, snowy run around the lake. My main motivation was the weather report, which predicted that temperatures would keep falling all day.

When we got back, the house looked dark: “Yessss! No one’s up yet, so I can shovel!” I reported to my (childless) friend cheerfully. She gave me a strange look, and after she left, I realized that, to a person without small kids, shoveling the sidewalk may not seem so luxurious. I should have told her I’d get to take a shower, I thought. Then I realized that taking a shower may not seem all that, either.

It reminded me of those first few months of motherhood, when I’d scurry home from the gym, longing for the time to stop at one of the cozy coffeeshops or bookstores. Almost four years later, those desires have long passed, replaced by simpler longings: Organizing the closet! Grocery shopping -- alone! Reading a book on the airplane! Eating raw cookie dough! And, if I'm really doing some serious fantasizing, going to a movie!* (When I am out past 8 p.m., I am boggled by the number of people out, when they could be in bed. Don’t they know what time it is?!)

I'm not alone: Emily recently confessed she looked forward to going to the dentist. “I almost fell asleep,” she told me. And I remember KC lamenting to another mom at music class shortly after the birth of her first son: "I just don't have time to moisturize!"

Anyone else got something better?

*I know this is the sort of thing that acts as superb birth control for my childless friends, so here's the truth: I do get to do all of these things occasionally -- I've seen at least three movies this year alone (four, counting Wall E), and I savor and appreciate them much more. And, to be honest, grocery shopping is more fun with the kids. Or kid, anyway.

Deep in the heart of Texas

The kids and I are enjoying an extended, post-Thanksgiving stay in Houston. We've been very busy visiting our favorite haunts, including the community swimming pool and the Y swimming pool. It turns out that Texans, though, don't tend to swim outside in December. I guess they think it's winter here, or something. When we got to the Y yesterday, the kiddy pool was being drained -- they don't even bother to heat it, because no one uses it. And since I've never seen the waterslide in use, I finally asked if they ever turned it on: "Yes -- in summer," duh. At the Tuesday night triathlon swim class at the community pool, everyone showed up in wetsuits, complaining so bitterly about the cold that it took me several minutes to get the courage to jump in.
But for us Minnesotans, it's a tropical paradise.
We also revisted Discovery Green, which I love for many reasons, including the commitment to green building materials and energy use (even the ice rink, presumably, is powered by solar energy), the free wifi, and the playground, which is full of innovative designs (slides that don't get hot, spongy walking surfaces) that are so fun there's a sign restricting adults from crowding out the kids:




And, we discovered another new park:



It's hard to say which of the kids was most entranced with the skatepark. My son took a turn on a girl's skateboard and instantly proclaimed he wanted one for Christmas. We'll be back in Minnesota by then, though, so I think it will have to be a snowboard.

An abdominal training system that grows with you

Fortunately, the rate of growth decreases after the baby years...but I still think I'm going to max out within the next year:

Final results of the November ab contest pending (post your minutes!), but I predict they will show a stronger commitment to improving the state of our country than improving the state of our stomachs. I'm OK with that.