Candy, Eating Well, Costumes, & Other Quick Takes

1: to Candy, or not to Candy?

Nicholas is studying nutrition right now. I wonder if the teachers consciously placed that unit just before Halloween? In any case, Nicholas got in the car after school the other day and told me he was not allowed to eat the candy we’d let him take for a snack.

Yes, I know, I’m the mother of the year for letting him do it at all. Truthfully, I wasn’t consulted in the matter. The boys make their own lunches now, most of the time. Anyway, there are principles and then there’s reality, and the reality is that I’d rather just get rid of the Halloween candy as soon as possible.

Halloween Candy — This is what’s left AFTER one week of 5 people eating on it. 5, because I’m more or less abstaining.

Anyway, my kids are good eaters, because we never gave them the option not to be. They eat vegetables, they know a balanced meal consists of a protein and vegetable or fruit, and they’re not allowed to fill up on starches, and they know there’s no dessert at all unless they eat the healthy stuff. So I don’t feel like making a big stink of candy.

2: And the Sleep thing, of course

The first grade is talking total health, actually, not just nutrition. Wednesday night at bedtime…well…long past bedtime, really, because it was after choir practice…Nicholas was hugging me good night, and he said, “Mom, you know you’re not supposed to get up early, because you need rest.”

I said, “Now, it has nothing to do with what time you get up. What time you get up has to do with what time you go to bed. You can get up early if you go to bed early.”

“Is it early?” he asked.

“Uh, no. It’s an hour past your bedtime. Now go to sleep!”

I went to bed myself, shaking my head. Even my kids know I don’t sleep well.

3: Technology

Alex’s grandparents brought him a new clock radio/CD player. Apparently you can use any track you want from the CD as an alarm. He chose the Mission:Impossible theme. (It just went off downstairs, hence this mention.) But here’s the thing: he just went down there and did it. I mean, it would take me half an hour to figure out how to do something like that without instructions, if I figured it out at all. And he just went and did it. I find this befuddling. I’m a smart person. I use MIDI and I download and upload and burn CDs and create .pdfs and all kinds of things. But the kids take to technology like fish in water. They learn things without ever being taught. I don’t get it.

4: Spiritual Awakenings

Spiritual awakenings are never comfortable, but I’m grateful for them. Mostly.

5: Age and Weight

I hesitated sharing this at all, because I can predict the response, but oh well. People are still telling me how great I look, but the truth is that I’ve gained two pounds that I can’t get back off. Five months I’ve been trying—shaving calories off the budget LoseIt.com gave me, not counting some of my exercise—but I finally had to accept that the age forty (-one) thing had finally kicked in and my metabolism has slowed. Which left me a choice: roll over, or go back on a weight loss plan. I took option B and set myself a four pound loss goal. I don’t like the new calorie budget. At all. But it is a good check on being intentional about what I put in my mouth. I’ve generally done okay about eating at meals, but when you’re starving and in a hurry, it’s easy to eat two Pringles here and a handful of raisins there and a slice of cheese on the other side, and there goes the calorie budget. Sooner or later, I know I won’t be able to maintain this weight, but it’s too easy to take the lazy, gluttonous road and let your desire for…say….Halloween candy…influence your opinion about whether that time has already arrived, or not.

(Now you know why I want the stuff out of my house.)

6: Speaking of Halloween…

I have always been wretched at Halloween costumes. Even when I was a kid, I couldn’t think creatively. My firstborn? Not so much. He’s all into Back to the Future right now, so he decided to make the Delorean.