The Mind Of A Four Year Old

I don't know if this kind of thing is normal or not, but I thought it was pretty interesting. My four year old daughter, out of the blue, says the following to me at the breakfast table one recent morning:

If you were the first person created, and you were on Mars where there was no air, you would just be bleah (Zoe sticks out her tongue and closes her eyes for effect on the word bleah) dead. No one else would be created. You'd just go straight to heaven.

And that was it. She didn't add anything to her comments or give me any other hints to clue me in to her many deep thoughts that lead her to the conclusion above.

All I could say was, "Yes, I think that if the first person was created on Mars, that's exactly what would happen."

My Weight Loss Plan

Way back in January I talked about my Christmas weight gain and how I planned on somehow trying to lose the weight. I can say I've probably lost 1 1/2 pounds, though it's hard to tell on any given day. (My weight fluctuates, but lately it's about 1 1/2 pounds down from my highest weight after Christmas.) I haven't really done anything specific, though I am watching what I eat and snack on. I only eat one muffin at dinner, only one piece of garlic bread, that kind of thing.

Three days ago I decided it was time to add exercise to the routine. I am not a great exerciser. Although I was extremely active in high school (cross country, basketball, track, summer league softball), I just don't have the self motivation to keep myself moving on a regular basis. I go through periods of good exercising, followed by periods of complete laziness. My best exercise period was in 2005. I was in my sister-in-law's wedding in the Spring of that year, followed by my college 10 year reunion that June. I had excellent motivation. And lost a lot of weight through regular use of Pilates DVD's and careful eating. But once those events were over, so was my regular exercising.

I find that when I exercise, I eat better, because I don't want the exercise to go to waste. So if I can just add exercise to my regular daily routine, I know I'd have a better chance at losing weight. So this is my plan. For now, walk on the treadmill at least ten minutes a day. I know it's not much. I know it won't kill thousands of calories. But it's a start. And for me, the thought of finding a half an hour or more to exercise is difficult. But 10 minutes? That's nothing. I can start a show for my kids on the TV, run down to the basement, start the treadmill up and be done before the show is over. It feels doable. I know to really lose a significant amount of weight, I'll need to do more than 10 minutes on the treadmill. But for now, if I can just make this a regular part of everyday, I think it will help in my weight loss and help me to lead a healthier life.

That's my plan. I'll let you know if I don't stick to it.

Kids TV Shows

It's funny how in just a few years the popular preschool kids shows change significantly. My oldest, a nine year old now, loved Playhouse Disney. One of his particular favorites was Bear in the Big Blue House. It was one of my favorites, too. We watched Barney, Blue's Clues, and Roley Poley Olie, but Bear was my favorite because it was just downright entertaining. Ojo, the little girl bear, was cute. Treelo was unintelligible. Tutter the mouse was high strung, but likable. Pip and Pop, the two purple otters, were hilarious. Shadow told interesting stories. And of course Bear was the voice of reason. The songs were always catchy and fun to sing, enough so that we bought a CD for Ian to listen to when we went places in the car. There was usually a moral or lesson to be learned, but it wasn't preachy or overly sentimental. Really the show was just good clean fun.

I now have a four year old daughter who pretty much missed out on Bear in the Big Blue House. She loves Dora, Sid the Science Kid, Handy Manny, and the Imagination Movers. And those are all good shows, but none compares to Bear. Bear never made me want to cover my ears with earmuffs to drown out the sound from the TV, but instead made me want to sit down and watch it with my kid.

When we were at the library yesterday, Zoe found a "Potty Time With Bear" DVD. We checked it out and she watched it this afternoon. I was immediately reminded why I love this show. It's for songs like the one entitled, "Toileteer." Zoe has been potty trained for over two years now. She doesn't need a DVD to help her to learn to use the potty. But that's what is so great about even this episode. Even if you know how to use the potty, it's still just a fun episode. If you get the chance, watch the video. Pip and Pop show up to talk about being a Toileteer at about the 1:20 mark. And the song starts at about the 2:00 minute mark. It is worth it if you've never seen it before. And if you have, it's a fun trip down memory lane. Maybe you'll even be humming the song tomorrow. It's that good.