Back in Action

August 7, 2013

It's been a while since I have blogged about anything but it's time to get started again.

We are here in Orlando where things left off almost a year ago. Motherhood has  come with great triumphs and great challenges. I'm sure all mothers would agree. Some days I never want my little boy to grow up and I want to keep him all to myself as my baby boy. But that can't happen and wouldn't be healthy if I tried. Instead I choose to work to make sure my son grows into a contributing member of society who sets, and goes after his goals. I believe every experience is an opportunity to learn and learn from and it is my job as his mom to make sure he understands that. Some people believe kids should only have fun and they will just turn out fine and that might be fine for their families, but in our family we want to give our son every advantage in life and not leave he successes up to chance. That means that when we see him thrive in something, we encourage him in it. When we see him struggle we teach him through it. When we watch him give up, we don't let him and when he experiences something new, we teach him about the item, action, or location. This is how we parent?

The best way to teach a person, is by action. Erik struggles with Math. It's expected that he is still learning English, so reading and speaking is still difficult, but he is very far behind in math skills. Math homework during the school year resulted in a lot of tears and frustration for both child and parent. So it has been immensely important that we continue to work with him over the summer to help bridge the gap. Any break in the practice has proved to reverse his understanding of math which just proves to be increasingly more frustrating. We keep telling Erik he needs to keep practicing his reading and his math so that he can get to point when he will just "get it"and it will become easier and when he takes a test with confidence and gets an A on that test, he will see the results of his hard work and dedication.

While I work to teach him this lesson, I decided I needed to follow my own advice. I have had the goal of achieving a marathon for many many years. I have such respect for anyone who can complete one, that I want to fall into that category of people I respect. This year I planned to attempt a half marathon in the first of a 5 year Big Bang series of marathons at the Space Coast. I put off signing up thinking I had plenty of time, but suddenly the half sold out and the full was about to. I had to make a decision: Give up and plan for something else or go for the gusto.... I'm not really good at hearing I can't do something, so I decided I am up for the challenge!

Something you should know about me... I'm not a runner. The most I have completed is a 5K which is 3.2 miles.... A full marathon is 26.2 miles. This kind of a jump is only for the clinically insane. I must complete it in 7 hours (in my defense I did look for a time limit and did not find it until I had already signed up and paid for the non refundable, non transferrable race). Also, I hate running. I mean I despise it. I don't get that runners high and I don't enjoy it and it doesn't give me time to think or relax.

This just made my connect to Erik and his math all the closer. We both hate our task, have a huge obstacle to overcome, aren't naturally good at it, and don't get any enjoyment out of it. BINGO.

What's was unexpected was to find that Erik IS good at running. He enjoys going with me. He puts on his MP3 and I put on mine and off we go. He pushes me and sometimes I push him. It works pretty good and I don't know how I will complete the marathon without my little running partner.

As for now, I begin training as a novice runner, running in an experts race.  I try to go out a few times a week with different friends who are available and up for the challenge.  Follow us as we put our life into action and train for the many marathons of life!


I wrote this when I started to blog but lost the password so had to start again:

July 23, 2013

Trying this out from my phone so we will see how this goes but tonite I intended to register for the oh so scary half marathon in December. However the half was sold out with very few full marathon spots left. What did I do? I registered for the full! I am scared and excited all at once and the next couple weeks are going to be a huge eye opener. Training is going to have to become a huge priority. Right now I am over weight having recently gained a bit of weight back after a weight loss followed but the adoption of our first child.

Help keep me accountable and join me on my journey!

- Dream Big Jenn