Celebrating Six Years of ABC Yoga

We moved to Egypt when Rachel was thirteen months old. I was already familiar with Cairo (we'd visited there when we went on study abroad to Jordan a couple of years prior) and knew that I'd need ways to keep my energetic toddler busy inside our apartment. Even if going out as an unaccompanied woman wasn't frowned upon in some circles (I did go out plenty and it was usually fine) there really aren't many places to go with a baby (parks cost money and we didn't have a lot of that). Besides it was hot. And men stared. And everyone wanted pictures of my baby. Always.

I went out with some of my more adventurous friends (safety in numbers). I'd visit Maadi Club whenever a friend with a membership would invite us (they had a pool and a playground but we didn't qualify for a membership—not cool enough). Sometimes I'd sneak into Victoria College campus and play at their playground (but would usually end up getting kicked out). There was a strip of grass down the street from us (highly unusual) but only the second year we were there (the first year it was like...a big ol' construction site). And sometimes we'd even get kicked off of that.

To sum up: there were plenty of times when we'd go on adventures but there were also plenty of times when we were simply cooped up in the apartment.

I was fully expecting it to be this way so before we left we purchased some YogaKids DVDs: ABC Yoga and Silly to Calm.

We've been using them regularly for six years now. And when I say "them" I mostly just mean the ABC one because although I'd love for my kids to switch off with the Silly to Calm disc they just won't. They love ABC Yoga way too much.

When I was pregnant with Rachel I religiously practiced my prenatal yoga DVD. When I was pregnant with the other two I mostly skipped out on the prenatal yoga and instead did my prenatal exercises from memory while my kids did ABC Yoga.

Because that is the only yoga DVD that should ever be put on. Ever.

Today I didn't feel like taking the kids to the pool or the park (sorry kids—high of 93°F (34°C) and humidity of who knows what and we'll be at the pool all day tomorrow anyway) and they were getting wild in the afternoon so I asked if they want to do yoga. They excitedly got out the mats.

"Ogi! Ogi!" Benjamin squealed. That's what he calls yoga. It's like yogi but without the y (because Benjamin doesn't make that sound).

I took a few pictures of them doing yoga together when I realized that we've had this DVD for six years! We have every song memorized. We probably have every word memorized. I could probably just not put the DVD on and seamlessly lead the children through Yoga ABCs but that would defeat the point of the DVD in the first place (because Marsha Wenig has been saving my sanity 40 minutes at a time for six years).

Here are my little ones being caterpillars:

Happy home-iversary

Two years ago on this day in history we were in the middle of Benjamin's 24-hour "request," a test preemature infants have to pass before they can go home—we had to "room in" at the hospital and Benjamin had to prove he could show us hunger cues frequently enough and we had to prove we could handle any crises that might arrive (like his apnea/heart monitor going off because he was in distress).

It felt like a date, to be honest. We had a "free" night in a "hotel" with no kids...except for, you know, Benjamin. Andrew went out and got hamburgers for dinner. We watched Sherlock together. We went to bed without having to sing anyone lullabies or get anyone a drink of water. It was a regular baby-moon.

One month old and almost ready to come home from the hospital (July 2, 2012)

Fireworks

We had some friends invite us to a block party they were helping put on—with a barbecue and fireworks and everything. We thought we'd be brave and check it out. We walked all the way down there, noticed all the cars, saw all the people we didn't know, didn't see the people we did know, turned around and came home.

Planes, Planes, Planes!

Yesterday when we went to the library (and I promise I'll eventually stop talking about Philemon Sturges's vehicle books but...) we found a copy of I Love Planes! which we just had to check out. For some reason Amazon.com didn't recommend that book to me when I was checking out I Love Trains! and I Love Trucks! online. After reading it I understand why because while the books about trucks and trains were lovable, the book about planes was...meh. They kind of hit the wall with that one.

Benjamin liked it but no one else was very impressed with it. It seemed like they were trying too hard. They featured a dad in one story so they should probably feature a mom in this one, right? But they turned the mom of the story into an astronaut at the very end, which was fine because feminism. However, why didn't they just make the child in the story a girl obsessed with planes rather than a boy (who wants to visit his mom in outer space...)?

Each of the books features a little boy, which is interesting because Sturges raised a couple of daughters. Granted, that might be the illustrator's decision since the books never name the speaker by gender. Still, my little girls enjoyed the books when they were little. And I think that having a little girl loving trucks or trains or planes would be just as pro-feminist as having the mom be an astronaut.

Besides, we'd already travelled to the moon (in a hot air balloon(?) because that makes sense, though I do admit that much of the book is "wishing") so going back to outer space at the end seemed less climactic than it could have had we not gotten back from the moon a couple of pages before.

Anyway, it simply wasn't as charming as the other two books. Though Benjamin certainly enjoyed it and asked for it ("AGAIN!") as soon as we'd finished I don't think we'll be hunting the book down to add to our collection.

Bike Parade

As Alexa predicted we were the only bikes not decked out in red, white, and blue. Miriam rode her pink and purple unicorn tricycle with pride but Rachel felt a little silly about her Gryffindor-themed bike. Andrew said that the patriotic theme was implicit because it's Independence Day. And then I said, "Have you ever been to a parade?" because not every float is patriotically themed.

Regardless, we all had a lot of fun though.

Bike decorating

While we were at the museum I got an email "reminding" me of the annual 4th of July bike parade in our neighbourhood. I say "reminded" because this was the first I'd heard of it. It was short notice for spectacular bike decorating but I told the girls about it because we have zero plans for the 4th. They went to work right away—like, we pulled into the driveway and they went into the house, grabbed the key to the shed, hauled their bikes out, and started taping paper all over their bikes before I'd even carted sleeping Benjamin into the house.

I'll leave Rachel's bike a surprise for tomorrow since she did it all on her own.

Miriam and I worked on her tricycle together. We turned her/her bike into a unicorn. She's super excited about it.

We went on an actual outing

Rachel was complaining about how tangled her hair keeps getting (because she goes swimming for hours everyday and never brushes her hair but she "thought that pool water was a detangler so it didn't matter if [she] didn't brush [her] hair") so I braided the front part and threw the rest into a bun.

She was so mad at me for giving her "fancy hair."

I was like, "Dude. I assure you that by the end of the day your hair will not have a single tangle in it, so what I actually gave you was tangle-free hair."

Miriam was like, "Do whatever you did to Rachel's hair to my hair but make it even fancier!"

This was how Miriam's hair ended up:

Trucks, Trucks, Trucks!

Shortly before dinner the doorbell rang. We opened the door to find a package sitting on our welcome mat. Inside the package was a copy of I Love Trucks. It was an instant hit. I think we've read it fifty times already today (and I'm not even kidding).

We halted dinner preparations to sit down together and read it—because it was just that exciting—and at the very first rhyme it got Andrew's head nod of approval. Rachel was less impressed with the rhyming scheme but that's only because she had no idea what a rhyming scheme was. (Now she does and is slightly more impressed.)

Benjamin was particularly enamoured with the page where you have to turn the book sideways to look at the truck the right way. It's thrilling, I tell you.

As soon as we finished the initial reading Benjamin said, "AGAIN!" so I read it to him again and again and again. And when I was tired of reading I told him to find someone else to read it to him. So he made Rachel read it to him over and over and over again. When she was sick of reading it Benjamin hit up Daddy.

When it was time to eat dinner we had to pry the book out of his hands. The only way we stopped his temper tantrum was to prop the book up where the dump truck could watch him eat dinner.

After dinner everybody read the book to Benjamin a few more times. We read it again at story time. And then I read it to Benjamin again after the girls got in bed. Benjamin took the book to bed with him.

More adventurous than she seems

Andrew recently picked up a tagline (Andrew Heiss: Missionary for the Adversary) so it was only a matter of time before I got one for myself. We're always trying to one-up each other. Because that's what healthy relationships are built on.

Before I get too far into my story I should perhaps explain that I have little to no patriotic feelings for the United States. I'm sure that sentence will get us into trouble when Andrew (Missionary for the Adversary) runs for president or tries for that job with the NSA but I can't help it because it's true. The Star-Spangled Banner has never made me emotional. Sorry—not sorry, because I have had a box of Maple Leaf Cream Cookies hiding in my cupboard since April and those are making me emotional.

Real. Maple. Syrup.

Did I mention they have been in my cupboard since April? Talk about self control.

Talk about how much I should stop talking about them because now I want one even worse than ever but I can't have one yet because I'm saving them for tomorrow. Spoiler Alert: It's Canada Day!

Now, back to our story...

My friend's father-in-law is in town. He's great. He came to the church with us this past week and played with (all six of) our children in the gym while she and I worked on cleaning out some closets and at the end of the day he said, "Your eldest daughter is a gem," and my heart melted into a puddle right on the spot because that's true—she is a gem. I'm sure my other children are great, too. They just happen to be four and two which are rather unsavoury ages.

When you are watching a five-, four-, three-, and two-year-old, as well as a baby, that almost-seven-year-old gives you hope that one day all those other children will also become rational individuals. And she can actually kick a soccer ball without falling over. So...

And it's like a fog has lifted

Last week when things were still pretty bad—like, when I couldn't open my eyes without feeling like I was going to fall over, and when I was wearing a sun hat indoors because LIGHT, and when everything was blurry, and when all I did was nap because I couldn't see to do anything anyway—I made a doctor's appointment.

Things have gotten better since then (thank goodness) and while things are still a little blurry I can at least open my eyes without pain and I can look at the computer screen for longer than five seconds at a time.

I still kept my appointment because it was also my "become an established patient" appointment (because it's possible that I haven't been to an actual doctor since my six-week appointment after Benjamin was born).

The diagnosis for my current ailment: drug reaction.

Apparently that antibiotic was not a good fit for me, though I have to admit that it got rid of The Pink Eye quite effectively.

After two full weeks of eye discomfort (and counting) I am really looking forward to getting back to normal. I'm also incredibly grateful for the gift of sight.

Seeing things makes me so happy.