Dingoes LOVE to RUN through February! - Page 5

[Plady]

Shanti - Hope you can locate the filter housing!

Mommajb - Is the weather in SD really only 8 degrees warmer than it is here?  I just started packing and enthusiastically popped in a swimsuit, shorts, capris...  Back up I go to add hoodies and jeans.   Cross you fingers for us, C had a fever yesterday.  've been dosing her with oscillunacinocityosimnumnum or whatever that flu remedy is.  She actually was much better at the end of the day than when she started but yikes.  Not a time for a sick monkey!

Love to all you ladies, sorry the personals have been so sparse lately!

[MelW]

Safe (and healthy!) travels, Plady!

Shanti, good luck with the furnace. I hope things get easier for you soon.

lofty, I hope things feel better for you soon, too. The daily yoga practice sounds lovely. 

RR- We spent over 6 hours at the climbing wall over the weekend. My arms and back are pretty achy today.

NRR- Hopefully I don't jinx myself, but the chinese medicine seems to be working for my youngest's allergies/asthma. She's been off all of her (western) meds for four weeks, and not a single dose of antihistamine in that time. On Saturday night we were at a Lunar New Year festival, and she ate a cinnamon bun (cinnamon, wheat and likely corn- all previously problems) with no reaction. She then asked me to officially try oranges, which have always caused instant reactions. She ate a lot of oranges yesterday with no reaction so far and a terrific 11 hour uninterrupted sleep last night. The hope is that she'll be on the Chinese meds for a while and be able to stop in a few months, possibly after her worst allergy season in April/May.

[bec]

Shanti - Oh, I get so frustrated with stuff like that!  Especially when it doesn't work right!  I hope things get easier soon.  I am so glad you have the yarn shop.  It sounds like the perfect place for you!  Remember, you have the Dingos at your back!

Nic - Listen to Geo!  She has so much wisdom on this!  We really had to use a brute force with threat of suing before we got anything in place for Emily when she was in Kindergarten.  Now, in 4th, we are starting to see the fraying of the bandaid that was the grade skip.  I am very worried, because I really don't think that another skip would be good for her, socially/emotionally.  But, academically, she is not happy, not challenged and her teacher is letting her down in a major way.  I agree, telling him that you are working on it helps.  It reassured Emily that we knew there was a problem, were on her side, and that the adults involved were the ones dealing with it. 

[mommajb]

Shanti, I hope you are at the beginning of a turn around for you. They can be so hard to see at the beginning. The yarn store sounds lovely and like there is some on-going opportunity there for you.

MelW, that the chinese meds do the job. These are some pretty amazing results thus far.

lofty, daily anything makes an impression on me. Jo really said it well about the investment homeschooling feels to be some days.

Nic, I am so disappointed and frustrated for you. I have often heard the stories about kindergarten being a place to learn to go to school and identify children's needs for interventions but to have that extended through 2nd grade and to be dealing with a teacher that so obviously doesn't get it... Your son is not the only one who is driven mad by it.

Plady, the Santa Ana winds were blowing in from the desert this weekend and it was lovely. I was just sure we would take a beach day with you. They are gone and the forecast is for highs in the upper 50s and rain the first part of your stay. We are wearing jeans and hoodies when we go out. You will see everything (uggs with sundresses, puffy coats with sandals, etc) This is so different from last year when Linus wore shorts all winter. I can't wait to see you. We are usually so flexible that we will eat and find fun anywhere but if push comes to shove I can make decisions.

In the meantime, I had no idea this weekend had officially become a holiday weekend. Here it feels like I remember Memorial Day being in the midwest. Travel, parties, kids expecting something special to happen, exhausted parents, and such. Tomorrow back to something more usual.

[Mel38]

Kitty is home!! We are all so relieved. After all the crazy things we discussed and tried, the drama between us all when we couldn't get anywhere or he ended up climbing higher, and the tears, too, kitty finally actually came down by himself.
 

[loftmama]

Endometrial biopsy came back normal! This means that there are no abnormalities in my uterus. So now to figure out why I've been bleeding for 5 weeks, through 2 cycles. Heavier than spotting. Sorry about the tmi - just sharing in case any of you have experienced something like this. Endometriosis? Estrogen Dominance? Follow up visit with doc on Thurs.

Woke up with energy for the first time since last Monday. Had a great early productive start to my day but trying not to overdo it. Last Monday's overkill knocked me out for the rest of the week. Will do just yoga. No run.

Sorry no personals.

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by mommajb 
Nic, I am so disappointed and frustrated for you. I have often heard the stories about kindergarten being a place to learn to go to school and identify children's needs for interventions but to have that extended through 2nd grade and to be dealing with a teacher that so obviously doesn't get it... Your son is not the only one who is driven mad by it.
 

It's actually very much the mindset of K-2.  Not just kindergarten.  Our school (now under State Dept of Ed supervision for past misdeeds) now aims to identify disabilities by the end of 2nd.  That means doing as much as three years of RTI.  This is an improvement, as it was the mode for K-5 before, which got them into trouble.  Thankfully, with administrators who actually want to do the right thing, some kids are moving off RTI on IEPs within 2 months.  Our recent revision of gifted services, however, does nothing to move gifted services earlier to those who are bored silly.

PM'd you bec.

Yay for normal(ish?) uteri, returned kitties, and positive job appointments.

[Runningmommy]

Loft mama-I had 10 day very heavy cycles due to a uterine polyp. After a d&c and ablation, zero periods.

Melw-so happy for you and dd!!

Mel38- yay for kitty's return!

Kerc- did you decide one garmin? I had a 305 I believe and loved it but I think it's dead. WonT hold a chArge. Anything I can do to get it working again??

Shanti- hugs

Plady- safe travels!!

RR: running is going well. I bought a new pair of shoes because my shin was starting to hurt (my sign that my shoes are worn out) and they are great! Went back to my tried and true to me Asics. The best deal on them? Swimoutlet.com, which is funny because they are running shoes and I don't do any swimming here.

[bec]

Lisa - The same thing happened with my 305.  I finally gave up, and DH got me the 910XT for my birthday present.  I love it.

[Geofizz]

I just had a bit of an aha.  Duh.

Can one of you swimmer types give me an outline of a c25k for swimming?  It dawns on me I'm not really sure what I'm doing there.  I'm not improving much because I spend so much time with the kick board on account of my pathetically weak arms that I don't get enough cardio.

I have strong cardio and legs, weak arms.  I can swim 2-3 times a week (lopsided in the week towards the weekends), and I have a kick board, flippers, waist belt, and those butterfly foam things people somehow seem to prop between their knees.  I do freestyle and breast-stroke, but I should minimize the breast because of my knee.  I've been doing 1000 yards in about half an hour where I'd say 600 of the yards are with the kick board.  Saturday I used the flippers most of the time, finished the 1000 yards in more like 22 minutes, but then fell asleep on the couch afterwards since I was so exhausted.

[MelW]

MDC is crazy. If I'm not signed it, every item of clothing mentioned in the thread (and there are many) is linked to an online shopping site. Once I log in, it no longer looks like Plady and mommajb are spamming us.

Geo, how about this one? http://ruthkazez.com/SwimWorkouts/ZeroTo1mile.html  My other suggestion is a private lesson focused on stoke improvement. If you can make your stroke more efficient it might become much easier to sustain it and and to get a better workout. A private instructor/coach should be able create a workout plan for you, too.

Mel, hooray for your kitty's return!

RM, enjoy the new shoes.

lofty, I'm glad the biopsy was normal and hope you find a good solution for the bleeding (and soon!)

RR- I turned the compost and turned over my cover crops today. The theme of the week seems to be arms with the climbing and gardening.

math-related: My kids have been loving the vi hart "doodling in math class" videos on youtube and we've been making tons of math-inspired doodles for a few days. I love the rants about boring math class and teaching to standardized testing, too.

NRR- At the first meeting for the advisory committee for the official community plan there was a woman who supervised my high-school "work experience" where I did a placement shadowing her prenatal classes. This week I'll start teaching prenatal classes. Small world with strange co-incidences. Also, the meeting of the advisory committee was surprisingly fun. Three hours of discussing community planning and policy. I'm officially a really big geek, or old, or both

[1jooj]

 on the school issues. I realize now that by virtue of their personalities, ds and dd opted to slowly die inside rather than defy expectations and end up in the principal's office.  So, while it is such a slog some most many days, I am really thankful we three have had this opportunity basically forced upon us. While ds doesn't have a lot of freedom to take or leave lessons and just test through things like dd does, at least he has the freedom to fly through what's easy for him and spend longer on things he finds harder. I feel guilty I didn't do this with him earlier; I feel like he would really have benefited so much. But I don't think I was in the place I'd have needed to be for him to get the best of being home then. So we work from where we are, right? Anyway, I am stoked to have just two more school days before we take a two-week break (kind of, mostly...but will sneak in French here and there).

I really wonder what is going on inside the heads of teachers who are approached by engaged parents and then respond with the whole first-we-must-break-the-spirit routine. Is it that too many other concerns are crowding out the ability to respond to the needs of an outlier?

Mel38, I am so happy your kitty is back. I thought of him as I ran along the Corniche this AM. Someone went out and did a mass stray-cat feeding. There were piles of cat food--and I mean enormous piles--and many repurposed plastic bottles cut into water dishes--all up and down the walk. Guerilla compassion. I love it.

MelW, I'm just amazed by the results you've seen for dd. What a feeling that must be for you, making it like this even through flu season. Just amazing. Sucks that so many people don't have coverage to access "alternative" treatments outside the usual pharma.

lofty, whatever it is, I hope your sleeping binge helped bring about healing. , mama.

Shanti, I am thankful you have the new job to feed your soul. Things do turn. Sometimes it feels like forever. I hope you figured out the furnace. I know I have had luck sometimes just calling, like kerc said, the number of whatever service sticker was on and just asking over the phone. They would usually, esp in heating season, just as soon help you out than add another service call. I hope you solved it.

Plady and mommajb, enjoy!  I hope you get to meet up and that it's lovely.

bec, thought of you and your LRs while out on my very humble little run-walk this morning.

RR: A lovely, if humble, hour-long walk/run this morning. About 5 miles total. Humidity is up, will probably need to start using the inhaler again. Could certainly be worse. Plans for the rest of the day include riding bike with the kids to go buy that birthday present, and if we're lucky, pool time.

[Realrellim]

Originally Posted by 1jooj 

I really wonder what is going on inside the heads of teachers who are approached by engaged parents and then respond with the whole first-we-must-break-the-spirit routine. Is it that too many other concerns are crowding out the ability to respond to the needs of an outlier?

DH and I have had a lot of conversations about this, in part because bright personalities really do run the gamut. Among a group of IRL friends, most of them basically said that if a kid wasn't acting out and just needed more challenging work they weren't "really" gifted and I disagreed rather vehemently. There's probably a number of things--including the fact that so many classrooms have more kids than ever and more problems on either end of the spectrum than ever, and so there are a lot of outliers and a lot of pressures on teachers, and very little in the way of support or resources. But I think the kind of personality that tends to go into K-8 teaching also likes following the rules, was a kid who followed the rules, and doesn't really understand why someone who wants something beyond what the rest of the class is doing--and is one of the bright ones--wouldn't do the blasted worksheet first. And yes, I was the kid who, as bored as I spent many, many years of school being, wouldn't have dreamed of not doing the worksheet first. I've always been pretty logical and even as a kid I knew that not doing the worksheet would get me in trouble, but doing it, especially because it doesn't take any time at all, would get me positive rewards and maybe I'd even have time to do what I really wanted. It didn't break my spirit or crush my creativity or anything. The hardest part of school for me was being the freaky bright kid who was ostracized by my peers, even if the teachers loved me. My guess is that many teachers, already frustrated by classroom behavior issues, don't understand why a kid wouldn't go for the path of least resistance (i.e., "if you're so smart, why can't you figure out that you'd get what you want fastest by just doing the worksheet?").

Working with the kids in R's class has been...interesting because I haven't ever seen what that spectrum looks like. I like the bright kids, but I really value behaving well and would be a terrible GT teacher for elementary kids because I just don't have that kind of patience for the multiple intense, demanding, and challenging personalities in that class. The GT program places about as much emphasis on meeting the social/emotional needs of that population as it does on challenging them, so we feel blessed. The demand for the center classrooms definitely outpaces the need though, and I'm not sure what kind of an experience parents are having with kids in a regular classroom with an ALP. I've long thought of one of the biggest benefits being that R doesn't have the experience of always being the freaky bright kid in the class and instead being with a group of peers, but I know many of our other parents are glad to have the social/emotional component to address a myriad of issues.

Geo--1000 yards in 30 minutes seems pretty decent to me. That's what I do, but I do it all freestyle except for 2 laps of breaststroke to warm up. Then again, I'm not a particularly fast swimmer.

Nic - hugs and . I hope you can find a workable solution for your son.

to everyone dealing with (or dreading) perimenopause.

[bec]

1000 yards is pretty decent for 30 minutes.  I am not a very fast swimmer (we probably get around 1200-1500 in the 30 minutes we have during tri class in the pool).  I worked my stamina up by really just trying to do gradually increasing my continuous swimming.  I started with a lap (sounds like you are further than that), take a break (about 15ish seconds), and would repeat.  Next swim, I would do 2 laps, and so forth.  I had a little break through around 6-7 laps.  However, at that point, I really just had to push through it.  The tricky part was finding my cruising speed and figuring out how to breathe.  Once I had the breathing down (I started by only breathing on one side, and breathing on every other stroke), I was able to concentrate on the speed.  I felt that I was either drowning or sprinting.  Finding that in between was tricky.  Using the pull buoy (the butterfly thing between the legs) is probably the easiest way to increase your arm strength.  There are a whole bunch of drills that are designed to improve your form as well. 

I have a lot of running on the schedule this week, and it just looks awful, awful outside!  I think I'm going to do 8 on the treadmill today and hope for better weather for my 17 later this week!  Eeks!  It doesn't help that my period started yesterday, so all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a blanket, a sad movie and some pudding!

[kerc]

On schooling:  it turns out that we don't actually teach people how to be accommodating. There's the whole ginormous collective on the web that says the reason against public schooling and pro: homeschooling is to allow for kids not fitting into the pigeon holes we like to put kids into. And I think how that happens depends on (a). the teachers' personality; (b). the teachers' experience (or lack thereof); (c). the prinicpal's willingness to think outside the box.  But it is like so many other things in this world: the result you get depends on what you put into it. We're now in a place where baby boomers are retiring and sadly, the new generation of smart women aren't always teaching. Before, less career choice meant lots of super smart, innovative women went into teaching. Now, I think we don't see that as often. I think too, if you're a not super smart teacher (but smart enough to get the job done) you could be threatened by a super smart kid/family.  My oldest has the smartest teacher she has ever had this year.  Ok she had her last year, but honestly, this lady is sharp. She's ok with kids doing different things as long as they get the basics done.

On swimming:  most people who swim for fitness don't pop into the pool and just crank out the miles. Most, all?, people who train in the pool train using intervals. So although yes, I can swim 3000 yards in a row without stopping, I don't. Also when I do swim 3000 yards without stopping I'm swimming at a low heart rate for a long time vs. pushing it for a longer time. That website 0to1650 is great, the link didn't work for me so I googled it and it came up. If you look down at the bottom of the page, there's a "lunchtime swim" tab. That's good too.

waist belt -- not usually a big help for swimming horizontally -- but usually you use it to "run". I tend to call it a water jogging belt.

I don't usually use fins because it puts a lot of stress on my knees. But your mileage may vary.

"butterfly foam things people somehow seem to prop between their knees" -- called a pull buoy.  Put it between your thighs, not your knees. The basic idea is like that of a kickboard -- isolate the legs so you don't have to kick. Lots and lots of runners like to use a pull buoy once they get used to it because they find their legs are not efficient at kicking (and they normally feel like their legs are sinking). So although technically you aren't kicking, in reality you do use your legs a smidge.

If you feel like you can really move with your legs and not much with your arms -- consider doing stuff like swimming one length, turning onto your back and kicking back. Rest ~10-15 seconds. Repeat 8 (?)  times.  (so in swim lingo:  you're doing 8 x 50 (25 swim, 25 kick on your back), 15 sec rest.).

Also: there is a masters' group at your major state university. I know someone from college who has been quite involved and I'll ask about where the best beginner workout is. I second the idea that masters swimmers are super open to newbies.

[bec]

Quick run by to report 8 dreadful miles on the treadmill.  It was so cold, windy and icy outside today that this was preferable.  Why do I dread these mid-length runs more than the long runs?

[mommajb]

Lofty, I am glad your health news is good and I hope it continues in that direction.

Is there a resource (I prefer a book) that is accessible but good and informative to put some of this peri-menopause and menopause? There was an author I remember seeing on my mom's shelves that I could ask her about but I am looking for something up to date. I want a frame of reference for symptoms and 'treatments'. I am due for a check up but I do not want to go in without a better of understanding of where I stand. Links are good too but serve me differently - just another sign of how old I really am.

Geo, I am not a swimmer but an old rp from before the move was the highschool swim coach and she helped quite bit. You have gotten more information than I can offer but I want to add a to the intervals.

kerc, I think I understand and agree with so much of what you said about schools/teachers/administrators though you framed it much more positively than I often do. The incredible teachers make such a difference in a child's life (and the family's).

bec, those mid range runs are still long and I found them harder to co-ordinate during the week with all the other regular obligations.

No run for me today. It is cold and rainy. I am supposed to go to dinner and Costco with dh when he gets home. I made the kiddos go grocery shopping with me earlier. My plan is to talk him into something easy like Chipotle and to check out the JCC instead. I think I would like a gym membership again but I have not found a good fit yet.

[MelW]

Swimming with masters one summer when I was in university gave me a range of swim workout strategies that I still draw upon now. They were wonderfully supportive of every level of swim speed and experience, from uber-competitive to the old man who always wore flippers and cut down the workouts to finish in time.

kerc, I was thinking of the smart teachers I know and they are all either older, teach high-school, or have moved on to various "niche" programs (gifted ed, special ed, private schools, charter schools, etc). In the general population of elementary school teachers, I'm generally not impressed.

jo, I'm so lucky to have the access to our TCM practitioner. I'm even more lucky that it's entirely free. He does it out of kindness and service to the community. We usually bring some fruit in exchange for the care and herbs (and I'm told he often passes on the fruit to people in need). I feel so, so grateful. I googled your corniche recently to see photos, and it's truly gorgeous. I love when you share when you're out for a run/walk there, because now I can imagine where you are.

mommajb, I also googled Chipotle. I've often heard US friends talk about it (mostly when I lived in Oregon and newcomers talked about missing Chipotle). It looks yummy- have a great evening and I hope you find a good fit gym!

I've heard good things about Christiane Northrup's "The Wisdom of Menopause", and seen it on a lot of shelves.

My RR for the day was snow/slush shoveling, though most has melted. There was just enough to cancel the plan to run alongside my oldest biking while the little one was in preschool.

NRR- Fiddle group tonight. We'll be celebrating the 99th birthday of the oldest member, and my youngest wants to bring her ukulele to play along for a song or two (only songs in A, since it's her one chord). I'm excited!

[Geofizz]

That swimming plan looks great. How do I work my way up to week one? Of my 1000 yards, 600 are with the kickboard. My freestyle is evidently "gorgeous" and now all I need to do it "go faster.". I'm feeling a little mystified,

Despite all our trials, I do think that the general approach of K-2 learning school skills is well placed. These broadly are consistent with social norms of interacting in group situations. Shrug. The problem comes when you have a kid who falls outside the 1-in a 100 for a particular issue (no matter what it might be). A teacher who has taught less than 100 kids (5 years experience) will likely then encounter the issue in your child for the first time. When the issues don't look obviously or stereotypically outside the norm, the teacher, drawing on reasonable experience, will tend to misinterpret the issue along more typical lines. 10 years experience seems to be the breakpoint for my family - any less than that and we need to bring in something external to allow for the variances to be interpretted. Both my kids have thrown even experienced teachers for a loop, the difference being those teachers can now identify that the issues are something requiring more. We've seen this on both ends of the spectrum, with DS' teacher saying that DS' issues aren't articulation or any speech issue she's seen, but that DS needs a speech eval. Now, I've been saying this for what, 2 years now? Hopefully the weight of this teacher's experience will get us more than laughed at by a SLP.

[Geofizz]

Ok, just scrolled up. I guess I missed kerc's post.

Yes to everything she said about education.

Ok, the swimming thing makes sense, though the whole "intervals before distance" seems wrong to this dingo. I'll keep at it.

The masters group is incompatable with morning kid duty.