Me & You Makes ... One

Rain is on me like the skin on a tomato. In the last two weeks, she's that I can do two things: play with her and watch her play. When I deviate from these, punishment is swift.

Two weeks ago, I cancelled my gym membership. The first reason I did this was because the gym closed too early for me to make use of it. The second reason--the real reason--is because I couldn't find anyone to babysit Rain while I worked out. The gym I was going to had a daycare, but guilt kept me from dropping Rain off. Do I really believe one of those lovely young girls working in the daycare would harm Rain? No. But, I worked in a preschool program before, and let me tell you, kids can hurt each other faster than you can say "lawsuit." The plain truth is that kids who can't defend themselves (can't run away from a situation or articulate to an adult what the problem is) are punching bags for the kids who can. I'm not only referring to bullies, either. There are kids who, because of their size, hurt other children without meaning to. Some kids play rough with their brothers and expect to play the same way with new friends. I want to go back to the gym eventually but not until Rain can walk and speak well enough to help herself. Unfortunately, that means another two years or so.

Hmmm.

I'm about 180 miles south of where I wanted to be in this blog entry, so let me get back on topic. OK, so I cancelled my gym membership, right? I went out and spent a pretty penny on new athletic shoes, weights, an exercise ball, and 2 workout DVDs. I've never owned exercise DVDs before, so I was excited to see how I'd do. I set Rain in her chair, gave her some snacks, and got to it.

Wow. The first DVD was fun and challenging, too. I loved it for about ... 15 minutes. This is when Rain realized I wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Sure, she had snacks and could see me five feet away, but I wasn't keeping eye contact with her. I couldn't play or talk to her while trying to follow the instructor. She cried and fussed so much that I put her on the floor. I figured she'd be happy once I let her crawl around.

How 'bout a big glass of NO? She was mad, mad, mad. She grabbed onto my feet, wailed, and crawled between my legs. At one point, I was standing doing weights while she stood with one hand on each of my knees. Hercules tried to topple me over, and I had to dance around the room to keep away. Ridiculous! I told her so, too.

"Baby, Mommy gave up her gym membership to make things easier for the both of us. Please don't be selfish," I said. Rain, of course, didn't care or understand. Her idea of exercise is, "Drop and give me 20 ... minutes of cuddling!" After starting and stopping the DVD several times, I quit. I took a shower to calm down. I was bitter. Why couldn't I have 30 minutes to do something that was good for me?

Tune in next time for "Cages: A Baby's Best Friend."