Exercise a little differently

Exercise on Monday worked both my legs and my upper arms. First, we walked around downtown Stuttgart to choose a place to eat dinner, and second, I nearly choked the living sh*& out of him for not being able to choose a restaurant until I was completely worn out from the walking. My right leg was hurting, I was limping, I was beyond grumpy, and still he couldn’t choose. Grrr. At least choking the living sh*& out of someone builds the biceps.

Sometimes my DH has to make a decision that pleases him, rather than one that needs to please us both, or the whole family. This can be hard for him, since it means that he has to decide all by himself. He loves pleasing all of us, and hates having to choose something that I might not like. He’s a sweetie until he reaches this point, then I want to scream.

ANYWAY, dinner and a big glass of wine restored my love for him.

The rest of my exercise has come from swimming on Sunday and stair climbing all week. My temporary desire to punish my husband has only been exceeded by the fact that DH has reached the end of his rope with our teenager.

She kept getting up later and later for school, and has wanted us to drive her the last several weeks. Normally she prefer the bus, but comfort has won out. Her morning habits have become sleeping at late as possible, then going downstairs for a toasted English Muffin with butter and orange juice.

DH, angel that he is, has been the one to remind her multiple times to get up on time, fix the muffin, get the juice, and in general allow me quiet time in the morning. However, our daughter’s behavior got so teenager-y that he just completely rebelled. This week he has chosen to take the bus, and doesn’t help her out at all in the mornings. More power to him, because it releieves a lot of his stress.

This has not gone over well with DD. I am apparently completely incapable of buttering a muffin, and she has informed me of this in her inimitable teenage tone of voice. Yesterday I toasted the muffin, then she didn’t come downstairs in time, and she complained that “it was too cold to butter.” I told her to put it back in the toaster for 5 seconds, then she could butter it properly. She chose to go hungry instead.

For the first two days, she also tried blaming me for her being late, but I’ve since adjusted my thinking and my words so she hears me telling her “It looks like you’re running late” rather than “Time to get up now.” That’s a big difference in words, because the second set empowers her to take responsibility for her decisions. I also searched out other, possibly faster ways to go to school, and told her about them, so she gets a sense that I’m on her side.

Today she skipped breakfast without blaming me for not having time, and we got to school with 1 minute to spare. She was even borderline polite when I offered to stock foods that don’t need to be toasted in the morning and she could eat in the car on the way to school.

Oh, I digressed - my exercise has been climbing up and down stairs to wake her, remind her, get juice, get her laundry, and because DH is taking the bus, we don’t park in the same place, and I have to take 2 huge flights of stairs to work. This is all a lot more exercise than I ever thought. I’m tired.