Ohhhh Emma

My youngest Emma is like a sponge! Last year, in Kindergarten Emma's teacher attempted to educate the kids during Black History month. I have to say that Emma has taken the topic very seriously. I am surprised at such a young age she has taken such an interest in the topic. On several occasions though this topic will often come up as some of the oddest times. They are humerous, not beause of the topic but the way they come up and the situations themselves. I have been told that I need to write them down. We had another "episode" this weekend, which made me chuckle on the inside so I thought it was time to chronicle this for her.
Last year, while in the kitchen my 5 year old comes up to me and says "mom, let's play slave". My curiosity made me responded calmly with a "how do you play that?". "You know, I will be the black person and you be the white person, and when you get mad at me, you send me outside to pick cotton."

I was caught so off guard. Where the heck did this come from? I tried really hard to hold it inside.

A few days later, I was for what felt like the 10th time, asking the girls to pick up toys downstairs. Emma, somped in front of me and says "why do you treat me like I am the black person and you are the white person?"......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. What is so hard about these comments is they are not meant to be harmful and they are not terribly out of context, but they come at the oddest times.

A few weeks later it was parent teacher conference time. Wheww. After we finished talking about Emma's social and academic performance, it was time to bring up the subject of Black History month.
I told her of Emma's comment about wanting to "play slave", I said "it may be a good idea to put a little more emphasis on the negative part of this period in time". We both got a good little chuckle.

So here we are 1 year later. Besides the occasional "he is a famous Black American" everytime she hears Tiger Wood's name, we have been relatively comment free....until this weekend.

Emma's oldest sister decided that he didn't want to share with her sister. Something so silly as hair bands became a major issue and an opportunity to teach them both about sharing and hurt feelings.
While in the car, We talked about how it made Madi feel that she could not "share" the viewing of Emma's DS, and how Emma might have felt with Madi declared that Emma was not to use her hair bands. Emma pipes in....

"now I know how the black people felt when the white people wouldn't share with them." Emma so profoundly exclaims.

Huge sigh from Mom, Emma I am sure it is not exactly the same but I see what you are saying.

Ahhh Febuary. Each year you supply my daughter with more metaphor material.

Emma is not just funny, she is hilarious!

There are 2 ways to "hate" someone

I realized this week that there is 2 different kinds of "hate". There is the kind where you truly do not like someone. The kind of dislike that makes your stomach turn every time you think of them. It has been my experience that eventually this kind of "hate" wears off.

Then their is the other kind of "hate" the kind where you say you hate someone yet secretly realize you do only because you wish you had what they had. I suppose some would call that envy or jealousy. I decided this week that I would call it inspirational. Wanting something someone else has is more like a undiscovered dream or goal. Having a dream or a goal is what keeps most of us going on a daily basis.

Now I do not consider myself some who "hates" a lot. In fact, I can count on half of one hand how many people I have "hated" in my lifetime. But I do think that dreams and goals can get lost in the everyday shuffle. So I thank those recently that I have "hated", it has put my life back into focus.

Life is funny that way.

TIme to Reflect!

Since I do not call my new life focus a "resolution", I decided to check in with myself on how I was doing with the changes I made prior to the end of 2009.

I am almost 1 month in to my new routine of getting up early to workout and shower (I know, this is a lot of detail) before getting the kids up. I have to say, I am really starting to enjoy it! I feel like I get so much more done,  my mood is drastically different, and I don't feel the constant stress of "running" out of time and not getting it all in. I think it has improved my personal frame of mind and professionally too!

Today I began to reflect on the physical results of my new lifestyle. While I haven't seen any drastic results on the scale, I do feel much better, look leaner and seem to have more energy. I took to the message boards for the exercise program I am using and apparently to make sure my results are typical and found some good suggestions on small changes to make. Confiding in others who are doing what you are doing is a great way to find out what works and what doesn't. Don't pretend to be a expert that knows it all, even they learn new things now and again.

What makes life funny is that I have apparently traded late nights of t.v watching ( I now am in bed before most 60 year olds)  for 5:30 wake ups and workouts! And you know what??? I like it!

The Geek in Me Says "no"

I consider myself to be a gadget geek! I love all the new technologies and admit I love to get the newest "toys". But I am having troubles embracing this years "hottest" item.....the Kindle!

Don't get me wrong, I dig it! And who ever invented it did an awesome job! To be able to carry an entire bookstore with you in something the size of a piece of paper is awesome! But here is my beef.....
One of the most exciting things about reading is being able to boast about the size of the book! How impressed are your friends when they see the dictionary sized book your reading sitting on your table? And what about amazing your spouse with how many pages you read in one sitting? But the biggest disappointment with the Kindle is not knowing when the end is near! How disappointing it would be to just being reading along and WHAMOO, it is ends and you had no idea it was even coming because you didn't see just how far you were into the book!

Technology is cool, but life is funny, and there are certain joys in reading that a Kindle can not replicate!