Reprise-Life at the speed of Toddler

Once upon a time I had my own toddler.
Acutally I had 3 of them in 2 year intervals.
It was long enough ago that it seems far away.

For half the month of March this year we had a reprise of life with toddler. Suddenly, morning comes early with a grin as we release him from the crib, change the (very) wet diaper and play with stuff on the bed for 20 min before breakfast.
The rest of the day we keep track of his busy pregenerations around the house working on the fascinating business of finding out how doors open & close. What happens when you shout at the cat. How do you put the lid back on ,the box, the food jar, the other box. Sometimes we go on errands in the car and visit the post office, bank, library, great grand mother, the playground. All these things are greated by a stream of friendly commentary in a language that sounds like English but it isn't.

My friend says that at this age baby's know the secrets of the universe and are busy telling everyone they meet. Unfortunately we don't understand the language and by the time they speak ours they don't remember the secerts.

Maybe he will take a nap or two. In any case he is very ready for bathtime and beddie bye by 7pm or so. He dives for that mattress with a sigh I can relate to and settles in for a good 12 hour sleep.

Life at the speed of toddler is kind of relaxing if you arn't trying to do much else besides keeping everyone fed, supplied with clean clothes and tidy living space. You can even read the paper in the course of the day and speak to people on the phone. Much more ambitious plans need to wait till he gets home to Mom & Dad.

It's very quiet now with him gone.
The cats are getting used to peace.
When can he visit again?

Information Resistance

Lots of people have heard of "Insulin resistance". It's blamed for gaining weight and implicated in developing Diabetes. Nasty condition though where in the triangle of insulin resistance/weight gain/diabetes is the start is a good question. Once that cycle gets going it is hard to stop.

Another "resistance" may be FSH or follicle stimulating hormone ressitance in causing menopause. The men. cycle is a complicated cascade of hormones etc that works for 35 years or so in human females but it seems that it comes to a halt when the ovaries containing the "egg" follocles become resistant to the FSH that starts them into development monthly. Eventually the Pituitary gives up producing the FSH stuff and the Menopause is established.

I've noticed something in mostly older people (young ones get it too though) I call it "Information resistance". Somewhere along the line people decide that they know it all or enough of it all that they don't want any more information. This can be amusing as when the retireee has to get his grand kid to make the VCR work but essentially it is a tragedy. When we cease to learn we cease to grow and we start to shrivile and will eventually die. In some cases the facts we refuse to learn my materially hasen that demise. But mostly its a mental thing. Young people, even ones of great chronological age, are ones that will still learn, still be willing to get fresh information, still be teachable by life and people.

Tuesday already

Last post was Friday and the weekend flew with activity and impressions. We drove up to VT in about 5 hrs. arrived safely between snowstorms and got to our friends house after dinner. Quiet night chatting and knitting. Sat early we left for the MOUNTAIN. Skiing is something I know I can do but the thought of actually doing it has been VERY SCARY since last year when I got hurt skiing in the extreme cold then panicked a week later when, still injured, I tried a trail too hard for me. Well, I was determined to overcome mental as well as physical issues (extra weight) and do it. It worked. I rememberd how and relaxed sufficiently to be able to ski OK. Lots of powder Sat. Snowed on us all morning. Quit after 2 hours while realy tired but before anything bad happened from overdoing. We went back to friend shouse and I went to SLEEP. Naps are quite restoring. In the evening we went out to the local arts theatre production of Princess Ida by Gilbert & Sullivan. Funny show. We laughed lots. The actors all hammed it up amuzingly and I have a true visual now for ROTFL. A couple of the cast members came back to the house and we all chatted til midnight. Sunday AM got up and had pleasant breakfast with frinds then head out to RI to collect our grandson for a 2 week visit. He is 15 months old and babbles a lot but dosen't talk. He walks though and plays a lot. Another long drive home and all went well.

Untill next time

Discovery- Hi/Lo

Sorry for not blogging in a while.

Discovered an interesting concept recently. Determining the hi point of a day & the low point of a day. It was being talkd about as a conversation starter around the dinner table but it strikes me as a good idea in many contexts.

It has the disadvantage of asking you to make judgements that may or may not be warranted. Afterall, something that was unpleasant to start with could really be a good thing. Childbirth leaps to mind here. Not fun but what an outcome!

On the other hand it encourages you to be more mindful of your actions and surroundings.

So some recent hi/lows

Wed. Hi- unexpectly acquiring some really nice pieces of furniture from a store that was clearancing. they really puul together the kitchen and the parlor.
Lo- being in tune with my youngest as she stresses about being unable to find a job. Been looking for a medium long time and nothing seemed to be working.

Today Hi- so far hearing that one of the jobs is going to offer daughter employment and getting to tell her to call them back
Lo- realizing that it is snowing & I need to go shopping in it.

Looking forward to an interesting weekend. Skiing, going to the theatre and collecting the toddler for 2 weeks.

BREAKFALL !!

They tell you that you need to learn to breakfall. At least in the Jiujitsu classes I took they did. They tell you that "one of these days someone will throw you and only a breakfall will work & not hurt"

One of these days happened this evening. It was an innocent gathering of Aikidoists, 1 Aikodo black belt, 1 Akiido brown belt/Jiujitsu Black belt, 1 Aikido yellow belt/Judo Black belt & myself Aikido yellow Jiujitsu black belts. We had been working on concpet throws all evening and were finishing with a lione fre form format. The Judo BB was up and throwing he held on just a touch longer than expected and I did it launched into a breakfall. It worked.

It's a good thing I persisted in learning that fall. While they said it was useful they never put it on the required list.

More later.

Aikido reflections

Well everyone came back from skiing Fri in a good humor and we had a very pleasant dinner and evening.

Sat. AM the visiting daughter went off to carry out the main reason for her visit, a bridal shower in the next state. She is probably flying back by now as she was going home directly from the shower. It was very good to see her even if is was for so short a time.

Sat morning brought a pleasant surprise for me as well. I went off to Aikido class as I am likely to do on Sat morning and one of the teaching Black Belts was very complimentary about the test I had done the week before. Wow, a whole week later and he was still impressed. It was a good test. it looked especilly fine in contrast because I had been in a serious funk and being very flaky with technique for the previous weeks in classes. It seemed that the more I practiced the worse I got.

So I stopped obsessing about the test and just did it.

When it came time for the test I kept my center and simply let the techniques happen. Shodon is a matter of attutude as well as basic knowledge. I have achieved the internal qualities already in Jiujitsu. While I need to acquire much more technique knowledge and practice to be Shodon in Aikido there is much to be said for exercising the internal qualities in the performance of the Aikido techniques that I do know and can demonstrate. Tai chi practice is a help too. Tai chi concentrates so firmly on the internal aspects of the energy dynamics that underly the effective techniques of all the martial arts that it is a major aid in aikido practice. It is so easy to focuss on the external aspects of a technique, the choreography, so to speak, that you can never have time to get to the internal aspects that actually make it work. Tai chi chuan looks seriously at those internal aspects. If one is so inclined they translate beautifully to other places.

Quiet Day/frustration

It's another quiet Friday. Husband is off skiing, this time with 2 daughters. It's nice to see family solidarity.

Why am I not skiing too? several reasons, not the least of which is I'm not at all sure that I still fit in my ski pants. My rear end seems to have expanded out of all expectations this year. I have added weight but all of it seems to be in my butt. Also, my knees have finally recovered from jan'04's bad cold & ski experience and I'm not too keen on damaging them again. I like my knees. I like doing things that use them heavily, ie Aikido, jiujitsu, tai chi, walking getting up & down the stairs in my house etc. Third, it's good to have someone answering the phones for the Vet. business. I may not be able to send him out today but I can make appts for other days and listen to updates and take notes on who needs refills and so on. Finally, I hate to miss my Taichi class on Friday afternoon. It's only once a week but I do enjoy it.

Just because I'm home alone is no reason to be bored. I have a large needlework project underway, a good book to read, grocery shopping to do and a new computer (newish) to play games on.

What's the frustrating part. well I went with husband and another couple to see the Gates last Sat and wrote a cool assesment of them but it got lost in edit somewhere and I can't find it to post it. Will need to post immediately now & in the future.

Busy Sunday

Sundays are especially busy this Feb. It started when I agreed to teach a Self defense series on 3 sunday afternoons in Feb. At that time I figured who would be planning more stuff in Feb. Well I suppose I'm not the only one who thought that & theres been a major Aikido seminar (for Tsunami relief) and today a seminar on Taichi's Martial applications. I get to go to both but leave early to meet with the Self Defense class. Now I need to make certificates for the students as it's the last session in the series.

This self defense class is pretty basic escape stuff. I think of it as a first aid course. Red cross will teach you how to assess a situation and phone for help. Maybe begin CPR. but first aid is not a subsitute for medical school. Self defense classes are about the same on a Martial Arts level. They can introduce concepts and actions that ought to help so you can get away and call for help. They are better than being clueless.

Til later

Celebration

this is a short post to celebrate the fact that I managed to find my way back to the bolg site! I may look pretty computer literate but certain things flummox me.

Finally started

Its' been several weeks now that I've been meaning to start a blog. My family has been encouraging me to talk out loud to other people. Strangers in the supermarket would think I am weird but somehow strangers on the internet might be interested.
I have a wide range of interests and lots of opinions. Probably everyone in the world will agree with me on something and disagree on something else. That's ok with me. I'm not here to make the world agree with me but sometimes I'd like to raise issues from different perspectives.
As I said, my family is a little tierd of being my main sounding board. They think I should share more widely.

I have things to say on- Martial Arts, Church choirs, needlework, abortion rights, gay marriages, social security, tea, family relationships, work visas, immigration, books, immune system function & allergies and more.

I'll probably cycle through most of these as events take me.