Running in Circles

I am sick of the cold from keeping me from exercising outside. On top of that the kids are home because of one of those fun home days from school. My choices were running on the treadmill or running in circles at the park's parking lot. I don't know what's more boring. Okay so I chose to run in circles in the parking lot while the girls rode their bikes (great exercise for me and the girls). In addition, I couldn't listen to music because I had to make sure I could hear them if they needed me or a car was coming into the parking lot. This isn't exactly how I like to run, but as a "mom" (a compromising, under appreciated door mat) it is part of the job, which I enjoy about 70% of the time. Of course this arrangement only lasts about twenty minutes when Child #2 wants to go home because she is bored. I was able to push her another ten minutes before the complaining was unbearable and she started to whine about being cold. Back to the house I go. At least I got thirty minutes in.

Drill confusion

Our first day of 80 degree weather this year actually landed on a weekend day. What a miracle. The kids were in shorts, riding their bikes, and having fun with the water from the hose. As the evening progresses, the weather turns to thunderstorm conditions. Nothing out of the normal considering this is Wisconsin. We were inside watching a movie when the tornado alarm goes off. Understand that the tornado horn is actually located at the park across the street from our house. This makes the sound extremely loud so it always scares the kids, even when the practice alarm goes off every Saturday at noon, except it wasn't Saturday and it wasn't noon.

Dad jumps up and says lets head downstairs. The girls jump off the couch. I start gathering water bottles to take downstairs with us. Suddenly the front door opens and slams shut. Child #1 starts screaming (And I mean screaming) Child #2's name. I head for the door yelling at Child #2 to get back in the house. Because Child #1 is screaming so loud she can't hear me. I open the door trying to get past Child #1 to run after Child #2. All I see is this little body running faster than I've ever seen her run before toward the street. I finally got out the door yelling at her to stop. Before I got off the porch, she stopped at the edge of the street and turns around to look at me just as a large pick up truck passes by. I had a heart attack. She could've been hit by that truck.  She came back into the house and we all went downstairs.

To child #2's credit, the school has been emphasizing fire drills. Apparently they need to start practicing the tornado drills too.

The funny thing is Child #2 was so focused when she was running, but had no concern for anything other than herself. At least, she knew what to do for a fire drill. It is interesting to see how my children react in a stressful situation.

Curious Questions

Since our chipmunk experience, there has been a lot of talk about chipmunks. Most have been very normal questions. For example, Where did Dad put the chipmunks? (Outside) Will the chipmunks be okay once they are outside? (Of course, they will be free).  I'm not sure that they quite understood the chipmunks were dead, but we didn't dwell on any of the details. It was best to just change the subject.

Anyway, it was my Grandma's birthday today. She turned 86 years old. We went down to Chicago to take her out to lunch and hang out with for the day.

Lunch was going well. The girls were behaving so far. Good conversation with additional relatives that joined us. Of course, the conversation leans toward the chipmunks. So I tell the story about our furry friends and the girls start to get silly.

It never fails whenever we feed them they tend to get a burst of energy. In order to cut the out-of-control behavior, I take Child #2 and Child #3 to the bathroom.  

I've mentioned before that Child #2 will ask and say some strange things.

We enter the bathroom. There are two ladies washing their hands. I tell the girls to go to the bathroom and no talking.

Out of Child #2's mouth comes "Mom, I want to know what a chipmunk smells like."  Laughter escapes out of both stalls my two lovely children are in.

The shock in my face makes the two ladies giggle and exit the bathroom. I remind the girls "No talking and finish up."