Tag

training

Preparing For For My First 5K And A Healthy Snack

homemadegranola.jpgHere is a funny tidbit of information about me. I worked as a regional manager for a chain of health clubs for about 10 years, I married a marathon runner and I absolutely hate exercise. Everyone always assumed that I was a health nut. Nope! While my husband is running marathons, I am trying to find my way to the finish line with a forty ounce of beer. I don’t workout & I definitely do not run. For years my husband has been trying to convince me to run a race with him, but I just would not budge. I just could not understand why he and so many others loved this. Running hurts my knees and my shins. I am a big baby. I just was not interested in putting my body through this torture for no reason. Lately, I have begun to find myself more and more curious as to why so many loved to run. I know that obviously it is great for weight loss, but there are other ways to do it, so what is the draw. I have been gaining motivation through watching my husband, friends and even some of my fellow bloggers, Runsaltrun .

Soooooo, I, Kim the anti-runner have agreed to do my first 5K. I am a registered participant for one at the end of next month.  This week, I began my training. What I have discovered is that I am grossly out of shape, but I am working on it.

When ever I start a exercise routine, I know that I am going to need some extra fuel to keep my body going. One of my favorite energy foods is granola. It is healthy, delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 cups of quick oats

1/4 cup organic honey

1/4 cup organic peanut butter – Make sure to stir the peanut butter well before measuring out as organic peanut butter can have an inconsistent texture if not stirred well.

1/3 cup coarsely chopped almonds

1/4 unshelled sunflower seeds

1/3 cup dark chocolate

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp of sea salt

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix oats, honey and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl. Mix well, breaking up any chunks of peanut butter and evenly distributing honey and peanut butter through the oats. Mix in the almonds, sunflower seeds and chocolate. Add the vanilla and sprinkle in the sea salt. Stir well. Spoon on your mixture onto a greased baking sheet. Spread out the mixture compactly to form larger granola chunks or scatter for smaller bites. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Watch carefully not to burn. Remove from the oven & let cool. Toss in the cranberries and crumble granola in to chunks.

114

115

116

117

124

127
I bagged up snack sized portions in snack baggies to take to work.

The great thing about granola is their are so many possibilities and different fruit and nut combinations. Granola is great alone or sprinkle over yogurt or even ice cream.

Stay tuned for more on my 5K training saga…

Potty Training Methods & Tips

PottyTraining.jpgToday was an exciting day in our home. Today our daughter reached another milestone. She peed in her potty for the first time. Let me be more specific, she peed on the potty for the first time after telling us that she had to. While she still has a way to go this was a huge step for us.
As most parents of a child in diapers know, there will come the time where you will need to start potty training. As much as you may be sick of changing diapers, the idea of starting the potty training process may be a little scary. There are so many methods and tricks that parents use, it is hard to know which one will work best for you and your family. Every child is different, so what works for one child may not work for another.

“The Monkey See, Monkey DooDoo”
Children learn by watching. They especially love mimicking our actions. Show your child how you use the potty. My daughter comes to the bathroom with me and will tell me “Mama, mama has poo poo in the bum.” Just pee pee baby. I’m just going pee pee.

“Potty Boot Camp”
Pick a free weekend and spend the weekend in the bathroom with your child, some toys , books and their potty. Keep your child in either training underwear or go bottomless. If you see signs of them having to pee or poop or if they are in the process, direct them to their little toilet. I have known friends of mine to have great success in a short time using this method.

“Read All About It”
There are so many different potty training books out there. Everyone Poops is probably the most popular and famous of these toddler stories. One of my daughter’s favorites is “Potty Time”. It is a cute little story with an audio flush feature that my daughter loves. At the end there is a nice potty chart to keep track of their progress.images

“The Wait & Pee”
You may not be in a rush to get your child out of diapers. What is the rush really? When your toddler is ready they will tell you. My daughter started being verbal about having poop in her diaper around the time that she turned 2. She understood this without very little pushing from us. She picked up on poop & pee just from us discussing it during diaper changes and such.

“Web Training”
I actually picked this up from another blogger. She was offering a review for a potty training app & it piqued my curiosity. We downloaded this app to our daughters Nabi Tablet & she loves it. She cheers every time the animals go potty & she loves the music too. The app she uses is called Potty Training: Learning Animals, but there are many others out there.

IMG_20140323_100450223

“Potty Champion”
Who doesn’t love being rewarded or praised? Offering incentives, prizes and praise after a successful potty experience can be all the motivation your little one needs. Our daughter received a little piece of chocolate after today’s success. You can try keeping a potty chart where they earn stickers or ribbons too.

“Potty Here, Potty There, Potty Everywhere”
Try putting the potty where your child resides the most during training. Move it into the living room and let them get comfortable with it. My daughter will sit on the potty in lieu of her chair. When she wants to sit on the potty, we take off her diaper & let her sit. If they pee or poop, tell them “Good Job” for pooping or peeing. Keep a package of wipes handy.

“The Renaissance Trainer”
Have you ever done so much research on something that in the end you were not sure which option to take? Well that’s me. So what do you do? Try them all. We have dabbled a little bit in all of the above.

I am in no rush to have my baby grow up too quickly, but she is starting to get the hang of it on her own. She will get there in time.

Look for the signs of readiness: http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-readiness-checklist_4384.bc

Remember to be patient with your child.

Don’t get frustrated. You do not want your child to feel negatively about potty training.

Be prepared for accidents and messes.

Get a fun potty. Ours sings a little song whenever pee pee hits it.

Please feel free to share your potty training advice, tips and anecdotes.
Good Luck & happy potty training.