Friday I returned to a place I'd not been in over a month - the gym. Never sign up for an expensive year-long membership - you WILL break something and be unable to use said membership. It's a law of nature. But the little guy had his swim class on Friday, so off we went as a family.
If a year ago you had told me that I'd be looking forward to swimming with a broken bone, I would have told you you are insane. Heck, even on a good day swimming is not my favorite thing. They say a truism about triathlon is that you will dread your swim workouts more than you like them for your first year of training. I am no exception.
Swimming is supposed to be the best form of cardio you can do with a fractured metatarsal. I've read websites that say "it is impossible to further injure a stress fracture in the foot while swimming". Yeah, I think, but what about kicking a lane line? Slipping and falling on the pool deck? Biting it in the locker room? I'm pretty sure those would re-injure. So with the Jedi's help in the family locker room I very slowly and carefully changed into my suit, very slowly and carefully crutched through the giant puddle in the shower area and across the pool deck and eased into my lane. Set up my boot and crutches at the end of my lane as a giant flag to other swimmers - broken fish in this one! Go share with someone else!!! |
| Lucky fin.... |
As I was swimming, I thought of Nemo (yes my mind only thinks in Disney). Nemo: "I have a bad fin!" Gil: "Never stopped me...." Gil = Paratriathlete! Snort with laughter underwater. Thank god I think I'm funny..... After 25 minutes I was suitably tired (I used a pull buoy for at least half). I then carefully pulled myself out and crawled across the pool deck to where my towel and boot were. I'm sure I looked very graceful and elegant doing it. Whatever. That, plus the 45 minutes of playing in the 4 foot pool with my kiddos, is by far the most logistical hoops I have ever jumped through for a sub-30 minute workout. But worth it, right??
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Halloween is in full swing around here. When I was a kid, there was one day for Halloween. October 31st. You got dressed up, went trick-or-treating, and were all set. Done. These days, it is a season. A season that starts at least a month in advance with the endless negotiation of what costumes which kids want, how to make them, lots of inner ranting and raving about the pros and cons of making them instead of buying them, and then the careful planning of the zillions of events and parties that comprise the kid's social calendars. I think this year we count six different costume-warranting events. Oy.
Last night was the first of the events - a Great Pumpkinfest in the evening at a local kids science museum. We go every year. Tons of lighted pumpkins, hayrides, activities, etc. The day went kind of like this:
- Soccer practice for both kids from 8:30 to 11.
- Kids ask me to make a last-minute Black Cat costume for self. Fine. Mentally wishing that Jedi had taken me seriously when I said I wanted a black Catwoman suit (which I still do. I could rock that look....)
- Jedi grumps that he is too busy for a costume and refuses to talk about it. Goes off to grocery store
- Both kids are sick, so I give both Benadryl and try to get them to nap. Only successful with my son.
- Girl child endless tortures me about my costume and oversees every aspect until I get it just right. Made to her every specification.
- Girl child then announces she does not want to wear the homemade pumpkin costume that Grandma and I sewed for her. She wants to be a clown. After a few "are-you-sure?"s and a check in with Grandma that she won't be offended, I go to her room and pull a bunch of random brightly colored clothes.
- Repeated attempts to get girl child to focus and put on the clothes. Hair in pigtails, paint up the face. Again, with tons of direction and negotiation from the little one.
- Meanwhile, son is woken up from his nap and he is PISSED. Sobbing. He now hates his bat costume (which he previously loved) and doesn't want to go.
- Slap on my makeup, bundle unhappy kids into the car along with the non-costume-wearing husband.
- Get 3 miles from home and realize I forgot my crutches. Continue as planned. I have plenty of painkillers in my purse (note how I never forget those??)
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| Don't they look thrilled? |
Once we got there, the policeman granted us handicapped parking (I love this man so much), and the kids did have mostly a good time. There was a bounce house (always a score), crafts, an animal show, a fire juggler, and lots of cool carved pumpkins to walk around and look at. The lines for the hayride and train ride were hours long, and my little girl spiked a fever about an hour after we got there and wilted. Truly alarming to see a child that is usually unable to stand still or be quiet for more than 5 seconds lying on the ground saying she is too tired to move. So we cut the evening short. Oh, and I walked up and down endless flights of stairs and about a mile or more with no crutches, so I felt like I my leg was made of hamburger from the knee down. At one point I fell in the pine needles and was unable to get up for at least a full minute despite my daughter's help. It was dark - my husband didn't notice. Good times.
On the way home, Jedi tells me I shouldn't force family time. Ease off. I think REALLY? If I didn't plan things, we wouldn't do anything!! I put events up on our family calendar in the kitchen - he asks me five and six times what we are doing X date, and then inevitably schedules a cake order for that day anyway. Case in point, we were up early this morning finished an order for a 9 am delivery. To be fair, its is probably bc I schedule so many no human man could ever keep up. But still.
So you know what? I've giving up. (For now. I know how long my sweeping resolutions usually last). I am so tired of trying to make everyone in my family happy. I hope that doing fun Halloween stuff will somehow imprint on their little brains and make them grow up feeling loved, but I'm just not sure. They probably won't remember anything anyway. It's too much work for a few pictures in which they refuse to smile or look at the camera anyway. I want to put the Jedi in charge of all family festivities and see what happens. Including the daughter's birthday. I might find out that it's just fine and they like it just as much as all the stuff I work so hard to get them to, to craft, to set up, to plan for, to photograph. Mommy is tagging out. Right after I fix my son's bat costume so it's more comfortable....
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| Gorgeous family portrait. Guess how many hoops I jumped through for this one??? |
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