Combining Triathlon and Small Kids: Gear Edition

Granted, I have yet to do a triathlon. But I'm TRAINING for one, so I'm learning how to get stuff done.  First, the jogging stroller.  It's harder to run with a stroller, but if it's the only (or easiest) way to get a run in, I have both a single BOB and a double BOB.  I bring snacks and save juices for when they get really restless. I got this stroller almost 5 years ago and I'm still madly in love with it.

Today was so cold, but I bundled up the girl and myself and despite 30 degree temps with lots of wind, she was protected by the weather shield and so cozy that she fell asleep!  Peace!  I ran two miles or so (1 lap of the track jogging, then 1/4 lap walking, for 20 minutes, with a 5 minute warm up and cool down).  Easing in slowly here.

I got the Burley bike trailer just two weeks ago.  I want to be able to ride my bike even if I am with both kids.  Granted, riding in a park is not the same as road riding, but I'm pedaling a bike, and that's more than I was doing 6 months ago, so I call that progress in the right direction.

I love you, Burley.

Yesterday was (again) COLD but I packed the kids up in the car, put the Burley bike trailer in the trunk and my bike on the bike rack, drove to the beach, and pedaled around for 30 minutes or so.  We then played at the playground. I was frozen but the kids, who'd spent half of the time in the trailer, were fine. The girl fell asleep but woke up in time to play.  That bike trailer gives me so much freedom. While she was sleeping, I got to play on the playground with the boy.  He and I so rarely get time alone- being able to trap the younger one in the trailer is awesome. And being able to trap both of them while I pedal blissfully?  Priceless!

Helmet only off for a little bit! Safety first!

Comic Humor and Joy of Conversation

I had a wonderful time observing my students give each other feedback on their comics last week. Note: This piece is from last spring.  

For their magazine project, we do NUMEROUS writing pieces: features, opinion piece, book review, creative writings... and a comic.  My students always ask if they can use Comic Life or some other computer program to draw their comics, because they say their drawings stink. I always say,  "NO. How many times are you going to be asked to draw COMICS in this life?  You are LUCKY.  This is the probably the last truly fun thing you'll ever be asked to do in school.  And why on earth would we want to see comics that all look alike?  I don't care if you draw stick figures.  They're cute."

They have a hard time accepting this; they are perfectionists. I consider it my role to break them of the need to have everything perfect and instead I praise their progress.  "Wow!!!" I say, actually meaning it. "This is so much better than your first draft!"

You never know what kids can do until you push them to do it.  Your fourth time drawing the comic?  Guess what: I bet your attention to detail has REALLY IMPROVED.  I am often incredibly impressed with their inventiveness as their drafts progress.  After they finally GET that they WILL get a failing score on the comic if we can't read their teeny, messy writing, or if all the speech bubbles are in the wrong order, they buckle down and start to get serious about their comic as a piece of art and logic.

Last week's feedback session made me giddy.  To hear the types of intellectual discussions the kids were forced to have, in explaining WHY they did not find some of their groupmates' comics funny or how their classmates could improve... it was a type of discussion I feel like kids rarely have.  They were analysts, they were critics, they were creators, they were collaborators. They laughed, they shouted, they insulted each other in the best-natured of ways. I could see how we'd built an environment of trust and teamwork over the past 6 months. I'd never be able to do comics in October or November.  We have to do comics after we know each other, after we can tell each other, "I'm sorry, that's just not funny," and not worry that the person's self-image is going to be ruined.  We can be pretty brutal with each other.  Some of my challenge is helping a couple kids be less brutal, but that is totally the lesson they need in life, trust me.

Last week's session was so awesome because I reorganized the feedback groups.  I got some inspiration from Project Runway and put kids in pairs based on an "unlikely duo" theme.  It worked so well because the kids got a fresh pair of eyes on their comic, which was in its second draft, already having been critiqued (read: ripped apart) by a group of kids they were used to working with.  Our new duos spawned some hilarious discussions. In the morning class, I wished I'd had my video camera.  They were saying the funniest things in complete seriousness, discussing how it simply was not clear that Superman had death-rayed the basketball player, or that it wasn't funny at all that a terrorist had blown up the airport, because that's actually real, and do you just not understand what a comic is?

In the afternoon class, we had some moments that warmed my heart because I felt like my students were stretching as people in their efforts to communicate with people they don't usually talk to.
"I don't know how to end my comic," my cool girl says.  She's used to being fed the answers; she's also afraid to take risks.  Comics are all about risks and strangeness.
"Oooh!" says my slightly awkward girl.  "How about she parachutes down into an island full of dead people?"
My face lights up.  "That's brilliant!"
"And there's like, skeletons and bones sticking out of the sand."
"Yes, yes!" I scream.
My cool girl is smiling because she finally knows how to end her comic. This new groupmate has helped her in a way her friends couldn't, because they don't dare be weird enough, and I have started the seed of a potential new partnership. These two girls now have a relationship and a history based on ideas, and they know they can help each other.

Samurai Sister

Batmen

It's interesting... my daughter is something I've never been: a girl with an older brother.  She does all sorts of things my sisters and I never did growing up. Sing "Batman!  Nananananananananana Batmaaaaaan!" She's not yet 2 and knows a bunch of superhero names.  She runs and jumps a lot like her very active brother. She has zero interest in dolls- well, maybe a 5% interest.  A teeny bit more than her brother.  (I bought her a dollhouse when she turned one. I've spent far more time playing with the dollhouse than she has. My husband put the dollhouse in the basement, but I'm totally gonna go bring it up, 'cause I'm in the mood to play with it.)

It's fun to see this little person taking shape, and see how she's influenced by the people around her.

I can only compare it to how my sisters and I were raised... with sisters.  We played dolls, played house, and built elaborate block constructions.  We played Annie, not ninjas.  There's a different dynamic when you are all one gender.  All girls.  I can't imagine what it's like to be all boys... although yes I probably can.  It must be lots of moving around!

Getting Into Triathlons: Exercises in Embarrassment

I've been meaning to post for a while about how getting into triathlon has been a series of embarrassing events/purchases/conversations.  A stronger person might not survive it. It takes a lot to embarrass me.  Still, I admit this tested me.

First incident: buying bike shorts, and having to ask the guy at the store "Do these fit right." Bike shorts have this crazy pad in the butt.

Second incident: buying a wetsuit, and having to model it in front of the store's owner, who organizes one of the local triathlons, and asking, "Is this too tight."
Him, eyeing me with what appeared to be horror, disdain, or possibly total lack of interest or care: "It's supposed to be tight."  (That was size large, by the way, that I had to grunt and contort myself to get into. I seem to be size large in all triathlon clothing, which makes me feel, well, LARGE.)
Oh, and I had to have another (male, of course) store employee zip me in AND out of the suit.

I won't bore you with all of my other clothing purchases and conversations about what type of sports bra is best (with a male employee of the triathlon store).

Let's instead go onto events.

Step 32: learn to ride w/ kid (husband's bike with normal pedals )

So, I bought clipless pedals for my road bike, because those are supposed to be better on your body and make your pedaling much more efficient.  With clipless pedals, you buy special shoes that lock into your special pedals.  Fine, did that.  I learned how to take my feet off the pedals by twisting my ankle out to undo the locking mechanism. Good, good job KO.  Then, on one ride, coming to a stop sign, I tried to unclip myself and MY FOOT WOULDN'T COME OUT.  I kept trying to rip my ankle out, and it wouldn't budge, and I HAD to stop since I was coming up to a busy road.  Just as I was starting to fall over, I managed to WRENCH my other foot out and catch myself.  I got myself home and went online to youtube to figure out how to adjust clipless pedals, because I remembered when the guy put them on that he had adjusted something.  I tried to adjust the little turny thing to a spot that matched the pedal that I HAD been able to get myself out of, but it was still almost impossible to get my foot out. I called the bike store and explained the problem.
"There's a spot to turn to adjust it," the guy said.
"Oh, I did that. It still doesn't work."
"Huh. That's really the only thing it can be. Well, bring it in, we'll take a look."
So, I had to wait until the next weekend to bring the bike in since my work weeks are busy. I brought the bike in and explained the problem to yet another bike person.  He took a look at it.  "Yeah, you have it adjusted to the tightest setting."  He took an Allen key, turned it a few times, and said, "That should work."  Yup.