The Ideal Sport

Gracie's behavior lately has been less than pleasant. To put it mildly. This should come as no surprise- she's a woman of extremes, so why should the terrible twos be any different? It feels like every day is a series of battles and tantrums and general unpleasantness. I really do think she's going through a growth spurt, because she's also been eating like a 14-year-old boy and taking 3-hour naps, which, seriously? GRACE? I had to stop myself from holding a mirror in front of her face to make sure it would fog up the first few times she did that. (Although, for the record, the powers she has possessed since infancy remain sharp, and she only takes said marathon naps when I am too amped up to nap myself. If I even look at a blanket, or think about assuming a horizontal position, she instantly changes course for a 1-hour nap. Kid'z got skillz.) Anyway, my POINT is, I know she has reasons for her behavior, both developmental and probably physiologic, too.

I also keep forgetting about one big factor- outside time. Gracie's favorite thing in the world is running around the backyard, digging in the dirt, carrying rocks around, chasing Sam- you name it. Breathing fresh air and burning off energy. But lately? It is just too damn cold. I can't do it. It's different when there's snow on the ground. It's hard to feel TOO cold when you're watching someone make their first snow angel.


But all the snow melted last week, so it's just frigging COLD outside.

We do lots of stuff inside- kicking balls, riding her cars back and forth in the kitchen, blowing bubbles inside...but it's not the same. I've been racking my brain, trying to think of something, ANYTHING we can do to pass the time, burn off energy, and cut through the boredom (the biggest trigger for rotten behavior). Today, I was sitting on the couch, pouting and whining and being a baby, and complaining to Stephen that swimming starts again today. That I hate swimming, it's an even bigger pain in the winter, but Gracie loves it so we just do it.

...Right. Look, I never said I was SMART.

We have a new teacher this session. She's no Coach Kim, but she'll be okay. And Grace? Oh wow. I thought Grace was going to lose her mind. I can't remember the last time I saw her so happy and excited and ZOMG SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH!!!!

She was a little angel for the rest of the evening.

One of the docs I work with is one of six kids. They were all swimmers- his mom, who was clearly a genius, always said it was the ideal sport, because at the end of the day, they were all clean and tired.

Add well-behaved to the list. thank GOD.