We were in the dentist's waiting room this morning. All fairly quiet. Receptionist typing away on her keyboard. Nice leather tub chairs. Coffee table sporting the usual magazines and this morning's paper. Other parents with children that all all speaking interestingly quietly. The volume definitely seems to turn down when you walk children into clinics, hospitals and dentists. Why is that? It was all very civilised.
We'd arrived early having also hit the doctors surgery this morning., so the girls were looking a the children's books and toys provided in a waiting room 'toy-box'. All's well so far.
Eldest daughter: "Is it our turn yet mummy?"
"No, luv. We were a bit early. It won't be long though"
Youngest daughter, now 3, stands up and starts peering around the room intently.
"Mummy..." she says. Far, far more loudly that the volume we've already established is appropriate for this type of venue... "Where's the cock?"
"They haven't got a cLock here luv..." I say, speaking uncannily like Ros in Friends, with a need to stress every single letter and trying not to catch the eye of the receptionist.
It was only a matter of time before she went public!
If this post completely lost you, you may need to do a little back reading - just a paragraph... click here!
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Sunday, 24 July 2011
My Tip for New Yummy Mummys
Does anyone read the 'Times'? If so, you might have noticed this weekend's piece on Tracy Anderson. Dubbed the, and I quote, "patron saint of celebrity fitness", she trains various actresses and celebrities (Madonna being a previous client) using her 'Method'.
What struck me about the article was that it told me nothing useful about how to start to apply any of her 'Method'. In fact it told next to nothing about what the method actually entailed and since it appears that you have to train for 1 hour every day on her 'Method'. I'm extremely sceptical. I'm sceptical for the same reason that I'm sceptical about those diets that involve drinking milkshakes for 2 of your 3 meals a day. And that reason is something called "common sense".
In my mind, it wouldn't matter if I was doing Jane Fonda's original workout from the 80s (a classic I should point out), or the New York City Ballet Workout, or even just jumping up and down in my lounge randomly for an hour. Doing strenuous exercise for an hour a day would make anyone look pretty good. Even me. And I don't need to spend the annual fee of $1500 plus a monthly fee of $900 to do that. (Tracy's gym rates apparently!)
It's in the same way that if I replace 2 of my meals with a milkshake, and not even a special "costs-an-arm-and-a-leg" milkshake, just one I've made at home, with milk, fruit and a fast moving whisk, would definitely reduce my calorie intake such that I'd loose weight temporarily.
So my tip for health and fitness is this. Exercise when you can; use stairs not lifts, walk to school or work on the odd occasion, eat a little of what you fancy, with lots of variety. And if the weight's piling on; you need more exercise and less TV. It's not Rocket Science. Is it?
What struck me about the article was that it told me nothing useful about how to start to apply any of her 'Method'. In fact it told next to nothing about what the method actually entailed and since it appears that you have to train for 1 hour every day on her 'Method'. I'm extremely sceptical. I'm sceptical for the same reason that I'm sceptical about those diets that involve drinking milkshakes for 2 of your 3 meals a day. And that reason is something called "common sense".
In my mind, it wouldn't matter if I was doing Jane Fonda's original workout from the 80s (a classic I should point out), or the New York City Ballet Workout, or even just jumping up and down in my lounge randomly for an hour. Doing strenuous exercise for an hour a day would make anyone look pretty good. Even me. And I don't need to spend the annual fee of $1500 plus a monthly fee of $900 to do that. (Tracy's gym rates apparently!)
It's in the same way that if I replace 2 of my meals with a milkshake, and not even a special "costs-an-arm-and-a-leg" milkshake, just one I've made at home, with milk, fruit and a fast moving whisk, would definitely reduce my calorie intake such that I'd loose weight temporarily.
So my tip for health and fitness is this. Exercise when you can; use stairs not lifts, walk to school or work on the odd occasion, eat a little of what you fancy, with lots of variety. And if the weight's piling on; you need more exercise and less TV. It's not Rocket Science. Is it?
The Sleep Experiment.....
...grinds to an almighty halt. It's not that I haven't got the desire to sleep well, it's just that the theory of sleep patterns and cycles requires a consistency of bedtime that is just not that easy if you want to have something resembling an actual life. I'm getting up at 6.30am every morning and my Lumie light is helping to bring a consistency to the time that the sun comes up. But my bedtime is ranging from 9.30pm on days when I just can't keep my eyes open anymore, to midnight on those days when I've been working, the children have gone to bed fairly late, I've not had tea (or dinner depending on whether you come from the north or south of the country) until late, but I still just want that free half an hour to myself. A clear block of time to enjoy a glass of wine and maybe, if I'm lucky, catch a decent bit of TV.
Not you might argue that it's up to me to pull my weight and put in the effort required to be consistent at bedtime if I want to enjoy the fruits of consistent and refreshing sleep. Well yes. But this month's not really been the time to focus on it. You see, those of you who have been regular visits to this page for a while might know that I am something of a dancer. Or at least I was 15 years ago and despite my body's protests my brain still believes it now.
So 6 months ago I found an advanced Jazz and Tap class for adults in my area and I jumped at it. The fact that they were gearing up for their 2-yearly show at the local theatre made it even more enticing. And before my husband knew it he was being single-dad for 3 Saturdays on the trot for dress rehearsals and for 3 evenings of the show from 6pm until I finally got home at 11pm all excited with adrenaline still pumping from the experience of dancing in front of a sold out theatre of over 500 people.
I absolutely had a ball. And we are already back into weekly classes learning new routine for next time. So with all the good intentions in the world, sometimes life just takes over. And I'd much rather be reaching for the coffee and living life, than being a wide awake and refreshed bore.
So I'll try and be consistent. When I can. And in the meantime, let me know if you find that consistent bedtimes and wake up times makes any difference....!
Not you might argue that it's up to me to pull my weight and put in the effort required to be consistent at bedtime if I want to enjoy the fruits of consistent and refreshing sleep. Well yes. But this month's not really been the time to focus on it. You see, those of you who have been regular visits to this page for a while might know that I am something of a dancer. Or at least I was 15 years ago and despite my body's protests my brain still believes it now.
So 6 months ago I found an advanced Jazz and Tap class for adults in my area and I jumped at it. The fact that they were gearing up for their 2-yearly show at the local theatre made it even more enticing. And before my husband knew it he was being single-dad for 3 Saturdays on the trot for dress rehearsals and for 3 evenings of the show from 6pm until I finally got home at 11pm all excited with adrenaline still pumping from the experience of dancing in front of a sold out theatre of over 500 people.
I absolutely had a ball. And we are already back into weekly classes learning new routine for next time. So with all the good intentions in the world, sometimes life just takes over. And I'd much rather be reaching for the coffee and living life, than being a wide awake and refreshed bore.
So I'll try and be consistent. When I can. And in the meantime, let me know if you find that consistent bedtimes and wake up times makes any difference....!
Thursday, 23 June 2011
The sleep experiment...
OK, so I've been experimenting with my sleep patterns this week. To catch up click here. I've definitely noticed that I wake up more refreshed and ready to go if I can remember the dream I was having when I awake. Essentially if I've had time dozing, and I get out of bed between dozes, then I'm OK.
I point out that 'ok' in this case simply means I'm slightly less likely to bite your head of if you try and have a conversation with me within the first 30 minutes of being upright.
I also seem to do better if I've had a 'round' number of hours sleep. I realise that was incredibly poor grammar, and no-one will understand what I'm trying to say, so I'll try that again... When I sleep for 6, or 7, or 8 hours and wake 'on the hour' I'm better than if I wake on the 1/2 hour. I can only assume that my sleep cycles happen to add up like that.
In fact, sleeping for longer does not necessarily mean I'm more refreshed. It's more about where I am in that cycle when I awake.
I'll keep experimenting, and you never know... I might soon be lifting the corners of my mouth before I get to the school gate!
I point out that 'ok' in this case simply means I'm slightly less likely to bite your head of if you try and have a conversation with me within the first 30 minutes of being upright.
I also seem to do better if I've had a 'round' number of hours sleep. I realise that was incredibly poor grammar, and no-one will understand what I'm trying to say, so I'll try that again... When I sleep for 6, or 7, or 8 hours and wake 'on the hour' I'm better than if I wake on the 1/2 hour. I can only assume that my sleep cycles happen to add up like that.
In fact, sleeping for longer does not necessarily mean I'm more refreshed. It's more about where I am in that cycle when I awake.
I'll keep experimenting, and you never know... I might soon be lifting the corners of my mouth before I get to the school gate!
Monday, 20 June 2011
How to encourage healthy eating....
My children will try pretty much any type of food.
I count this as a blessing. Particularly since I didn't even eat Pizza until I was 20 years old.
I was bought up in a typical English environment, where the meals consisted of 'meat, potato and veg' or were children's meals like 'beans on toast', 'dippy egg' or 'tomato soup with soldiers'. To this day my parents don't eat rice, or pasta, or anything that hints at a herb other than mint (only with lamb). Whilst you can quite happily eat traditional English food in a healthy way, I'm pleased that I have a wider variety of foods with which to now tempt my children, which I gained purely as a result of spending 3 years at university and 'experimenting'. With food, obviously. My girls are now; helpfully; big fans of pasta (even cold in salads; which I hate). They love rice (quick and easy, and they'll even help sweep up the mess afterwards). And we've recently introduced them to poppadoms and chicken bhuna, with great success.
It's not been easy though. Our youngest, now 30 months old, continues to go through stages of 'pickiness'. And I refuse to rise to it. I continue to offer a selection of foods, and the availability of pudding is directly related to how much main course she's eaten. A small amount of main course equates to a small amount of pudding. And we have, whilst out at a restaurant, allowed her older sister to eat ice cream for pudding, even though the youngest hadn't eaten mains and was therefore not allowed any. She whined. But we stuck to our guns, and she now always eats at least some of her main course.
And I think that's the trick. When you realise that they will never starve themselves at this age. That they'll eat when they are hungry. And that rising to it only makes it into a game that you really don't want to be playing. And when you realise that children's potion sizes are so much smaller than ours, and that a tiny plate of pasta and meatballs is actually quite filling, and that a single 'dippy egg' with one slice of bread to dip can keep them going for ages.
These days we would probably be considered old fashioned for our approach. Which consists of this: make dinner, place dinner in front of children, allow them appropriate time to eat dinner, call end to dinner and remove remaining food. If they choose not to eat it, well they'll need to wait until the next snack time (for fruit) or for the next meal (where they inevitably eat a whole lot better.)
Sometimes you just need to remember who's in charge!
I count this as a blessing. Particularly since I didn't even eat Pizza until I was 20 years old.
I was bought up in a typical English environment, where the meals consisted of 'meat, potato and veg' or were children's meals like 'beans on toast', 'dippy egg' or 'tomato soup with soldiers'. To this day my parents don't eat rice, or pasta, or anything that hints at a herb other than mint (only with lamb). Whilst you can quite happily eat traditional English food in a healthy way, I'm pleased that I have a wider variety of foods with which to now tempt my children, which I gained purely as a result of spending 3 years at university and 'experimenting'. With food, obviously. My girls are now; helpfully; big fans of pasta (even cold in salads; which I hate). They love rice (quick and easy, and they'll even help sweep up the mess afterwards). And we've recently introduced them to poppadoms and chicken bhuna, with great success.
It's not been easy though. Our youngest, now 30 months old, continues to go through stages of 'pickiness'. And I refuse to rise to it. I continue to offer a selection of foods, and the availability of pudding is directly related to how much main course she's eaten. A small amount of main course equates to a small amount of pudding. And we have, whilst out at a restaurant, allowed her older sister to eat ice cream for pudding, even though the youngest hadn't eaten mains and was therefore not allowed any. She whined. But we stuck to our guns, and she now always eats at least some of her main course.
And I think that's the trick. When you realise that they will never starve themselves at this age. That they'll eat when they are hungry. And that rising to it only makes it into a game that you really don't want to be playing. And when you realise that children's potion sizes are so much smaller than ours, and that a tiny plate of pasta and meatballs is actually quite filling, and that a single 'dippy egg' with one slice of bread to dip can keep them going for ages.
These days we would probably be considered old fashioned for our approach. Which consists of this: make dinner, place dinner in front of children, allow them appropriate time to eat dinner, call end to dinner and remove remaining food. If they choose not to eat it, well they'll need to wait until the next snack time (for fruit) or for the next meal (where they inevitably eat a whole lot better.)
Sometimes you just need to remember who's in charge!
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