Making time to care for yourself - join us for a run!

I had mentioned several weeks ago in a post that I had begun working out as part of a new year's resolution with the hope of beginning to run again. Since that time I have in fact continued my training twice a week with the TRX (did I mention that I really love using this to work out with - it makes for such a smooth, fast, full body workout that you can take anywhere!) as well as running again.

I had forgotten how much I really enjoyed running and the energy it leaves me with for the rest of the day. My goal is to work up to a 10km and so I have signed up for several races to keep me motivated over the next 6 months. I am presently registered for the Manotick 5km run in a few weeks, the Spartan race in June, and a 10km run in the Fall - there are actually races almost every weekend - it kind of gets addictive! As you can see once again, I have trouble doing anything in moderation and I tend go to the extremes with new interests -  I actually almost signed myself up for a triathlon! But balance - I am trying to keep a sense of balance without letting any one thing take over all of my time.

With my new found motivation to run I have also been chatting with Katie from Fit Mom in Barrhaven and we are throwing around the idea of a free 5km group run on Tuesday afternoons beginning at 1:15pm - yes, I said FREE. You will also have the option to drop off your child (3 years and up) at A Gym Tale while you go for your run - if there are younger children you are more than welcome to use a jogging stroller and bring them along - there is nothing better than living an active lifestyle in front of your children. The Drop Off Play will be $8 per child and they will have the opportunity to be active themselves on the Castle and Pirate ship while you go for your run.

The tentative start date would be Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013. The run would begin at 1:15 and the Drop Off program would open at 1pm if you are in need of care during the run. We are proposing a 5km route and experienced runners or new runners are more than welcome to join us. Katie is a wealth of running and fitness knowledge and will work specifically with the new runners -  no one will be left to run on their own. My hope is that being around other runners will inspire and motivate more parents to continue leading an active lifestyle or to encourage people to try running as a new form of exercise and to show their children how they are leading active lifestyles themselves. I am also really looking forward to getting out and meeting some new running friends!

If you think this may be of interest to you or someone you know please comment or send me an email - this is a free community event that Katie and I are looking to host so we are trying to get a sense if the interest and timing is right before we finalize the plans.

Spring is in the air - kind of... Camp Registration!

Spring is here (except for the blizzard outside) and there is plenty going on at A Gym Tale! I just haven't had the energy to write about it all! Poor Isla is getting her molars in and is sleeping for only 1-2 hours at a time - the joys of a teething baby!

We had a very successful March Break camp week! We filled every space available and had absolutely wonderful groups of kids all very excited and eager to participate in the games, gymnastics obstacle courses, art, special visits and of course the pirate ship & castle. It was a week to remember for all of us.

Registration for the summer camp program has just begun and we have so many events planned! It will be full of even more special visits - superheroes, princesses, crocodiles, snakes and more. We will also be venturing outdoors on Tuesday's for water balloon fun and parachute play and exploring for nature elements for art activities. Each week will feature a new theme from Jungle to Dinosaurs, Princess & knights, superheroes, pirates, sports and pop stars!

If you are in need of child care for the summer - look no further, we will keep the kids active and engaged in a variety of imaginative and creative activities. And the childcare discounts are the best across Ottawa! This year A Gym Tale is also offering pre care from 7:30-9am and post care from 4-5:30pm.

If you are home with the kids, but looking for a few special days out  - A Gym Tale offers single day options for both half and full days. So you can make the camp program fit your schedule without saying goodbye to the kids for a full week at a time. You can spread the fun out all summer long.

Registration time is underway for just about all programs running at A Gym Tale. If you are looking to keep the youngest of guests busy (children 3 months - 3 years), the Spring session of the Gym & Music programs will begin on Tuesday, April 2nd and there are still spaces available in each of the classes. These classes are a wonderful way to spend some time with your little one and let them explore their physical capabilities with jumping, climbing, tumbling with ever changing obstacles, themed songs, parachute play and always ending with bubbles!

Nursery School registration for September has also begun and the mornings are quickly filling. There are 5 spaces remaining in the morning program and afternoon spaces are still available.

For students attending Jean Robert Gauthier, Mary Honeywell, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Michaelle Jean - there are still 3 spaces remaining in next year's Before and After School program running from 7:30-5:45pm.

We are looking forward to seeing returning guests and meeting many more new families! Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or to book a tour of A Gym Tale!

Making and keeping resolutions

Once again this year, I put being active and getting fit as one of my top resolutions in making the time to take care of myself.  Yes, I know, I have been told by many that I am in shape, however, for me  getting fit is really more about a state of mind and how my body feels. For the past few years I have really felt like I am always one step behind and oh, so tired all of the time. I have also relied heavily on chocolate and caffeine to get me through my days. I am well aware that it is a vicious cycle of not having enough energy to work out and then continuing to feel lethargic because I am not working out.

So this year I decided to take action and make some real changes. To begin, I started making going to sleep at a decent time a priority and getting at least 7 hours sleep - which is a dramatic improvement from about 5 hours sleep. I also booked a personal trainer for several sessions to give me the motivation needed to get myself out of bed in the morning. It is too easy to fall into the trap of saying that I will work out later or that I should sleep that extra hour since Isla woke up during the night. I never end up working out later - at this time in my life there is never time during the day with the kids and I am exhausted by the end of the day and the gym is the last place that I want to be. And, truthfully, when I work out in the morning it gives me more of an energy boost than the extra hour of sleep or any caffeine or sugar rush would ever provide. And that is the push that I needed.

I now remember how amazing, healthy and self confident that I feel after a work out and I carry it with me throughout the day. I am more conscious of the food I am choosing to eat - fruit and veggies become much more appealing as opposed to craving muffins and chocolate (which don't get me wrong are still very appealing, but I feel better about eating those types of food since I have also had fruit or veggies along with them). I am also making an effort to be more active with my family - like choosing to go skating or get outside to build a snowman - things that before were just too much effort! I also like the example it sets for my children. It is very important to me that my children grow up to lead healthy, active lifestyles and the only way that will become engrained within them is to live it as they are growing up.

The personal trainer that I have to thank for providing the push that I needed is Katie Squires from Fit Mom in Barrhaven. Katie has an amazingly inspiring story of how she came to reach her present fitness goals. She is a certified trainer and runs multiple marathons a year - so a great resource if you are interested in training to run. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable when it comes to fitness training and I was really only looking for someone to get me out of bed, but Katie has done so much more. She has introduced me to new training tools to achieve the goals that I had - I now love the TRX and I am inspired to begin running again. She is so fun to train with and one hour feels like minutes. I now have a whole new training routine and so many new exercises to push myself to a whole new fitness level.

In order to try and keep up these changes I have tried to remain realistic. My goal is to train two days a week. Right now that is all the time that I am able to commit without feeling overwhelmed. So far, I have also been able to fit in a run once a week without feeling the stress of not enough time.

With spring feeling like it is around the corner, I am excited to get outside soon and begin running again. I have joined a team and I am now registered to take part in the Spartan run. I have never done a run before, so this is a little out of my comfort zone, but I think it will help keep me motivated and I am excited to try something new.

What inspires you to remain active? Or what fitness goals do have for this year?

Amazing kids clothes & a Drop In Play Fundraiser!

I do not often promote products unless I truly love them, and I have to say that I am very impressed with the Peekaboo Beans clothing line for children 6m-14yrs and the fact that the sales of the clothing (from this particular stylist) will in turn help raise funds for the Red Balloon Project is another added bonus.

A mom who has been a long time guest at A Gym Tale, one of the 'originals' from the old Gym Tale actually, brought both the Peek A Boo beans clothing line as well as her photo project to update the CHEO cardiology waiting room to my attention in January. After trying a few pieces with Ewan and Isla, we all fell in love with the line!

If you are a fan of Lulu Lemon clothing; it is no secret that the majority of my wardrobe is lulu wear, than you will absolutely love the Peekaboo Beans clothing for kids. It has many of the same qualities that make the lulu clothes so popular - style, comfort, easy to move and play in, amazing quality and thumb holes - really which kid wouldn't love thumb holes! The company promotes the benefits of play and imagination for children and creates quality clothing that kids can really move in and that will withstand even the hardest play. An added bonus is the ease with which kids can dress themselves. Without needing to worry about buttons or snaps and easy to pull on pants, they are ideal clothing pieces for preschoolers and children going to kindergarten. Likewise, children with sensory issues will love that the clothes have no tags and the fabric is super soft - even the pickiest kids will love them. 

A Gym Tale is proud to be hosting an evening of 1/2 price Drop In Play on Thursday, March 7th from 6 - 7:30pm, where the proceeds of the Drop In Play will go towards the Red Balloon Project AND you will have the opportunity to shop the new Spring / Summer line of the Peekaboo Beans collection while the kids play! Again, even if you are not interested in shopping, the Drop In play proceeds will still be going towards a great project. 

I absolutely love this photo of Ewan, thank you Elizabeth Fulton Photography!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It has once again been a little while since I have written - even though there are so many things that I have been hoping to write about. I guess a teething baby can really consume a lot of time and limit what can be done while in your arms!

We have also been spending quite a bit of time preparing for Valentine's Day. Now that Ewan is really starting to anticipate events and holidays I try to work in more themed activities around the house leading up to the day. Many of the ideas are very simple and easy to work into even busy schedules. I am still very much trying to work in more memorable moments in our family life to add special little memories, not just rely on big events.

Some of the Valentines Day related activities included making some pink, peppermint scented, sparkly play dough. Play dough is always a huge hit with Ewan and all of the nursery school children as well. I have been loving adding pipe cleaners as well as baking tools when the play dough is out - the children really get into making more sculptures instead of just breaking the dough into a million little pieces! The peppermint scent and colour also helps to create an activity that incorporates all of the senses. My favourite recipe uses 2 cups of flour, 1 cup salt, 2 tbsp of oil, 4 tsp of cream of tartar, and 2 cups of water; mix over medium heat until it sticks together and then knead (that is also when I add the scent and sparkles).

Together Ewan and I also made Valentine's to give out to all of his friends at school. We came up with a few ideas, but our favourite was making crayons. These turned out really well and were very simple to make. A Gym Tale has an abundance of broken crayons so we capitalized on that and peeled them and continued to break them into little pieces. We then sorted them by colours and then put them into heart shaped moulds and baked them at 275 for 15 minutes and then let cool. Ewan and Isla have both been having a great time colouring with their set of hearts.

We have also been reading books about friends and Valentine's Day - curious George is once again the favourite book, but Love You Forever was also a close second.

Tomorrow morning we will be celebrating Valentine's Day with a pancake breakfast, red streamers decorating the kitchen and a little gift. I have tried to stay away from chocolate and candy treats, so instead I bought them each a new book. Isla has a rhyme book and Ewan the new Oliver Jeffers book - This Moose Belongs to Me. If you have not read any books by Oliver Jeffers, they really are fantastic books for preschoolers - Ewan loves his stories, the characters and pictures. 

If Alan and I are lucky we will get the kids to bed early and enjoy dinner for the two of us and a glass of wine.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

New Program - Naturally Social Babies

So, I'm ready to try something new with Isla!

Over the past year I have taken a real interest in the philosophy of Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) and I have put many of the ideas into practice with Isla. To begin, I stopped using all of the baby gadgets that are marketed as a necessity. The baby swing, the exer-saucer, bright, loud and flashy toys - all gone. And I have to admit it was really nice to rid our house of so much baby gear and replace it with a simple blanket and simple toys - balls, scarves, cups and teethers. I then began waiting and watching as she 'played' laying on her back on her blanket. First with her hands and then her toes. Then reaching, grasping, rolling, etc. All at her own pace. No expectations of her, simply letting her body dictate her development. It also never got her into the habit of being constantly entertained - by music, by lights or by movement that comes with all of the gadgets. Isla is able to focus and play for great lengths of time - the reason could be because she is a second child, but I really like the simplicity it has brought to our home and the ideas behind the theory make sense to me.

The idea behind RIE, created by Magda Gerber, is to encourage babies to be attentive, active, exploring and to be aware of their own bodies and others around them. RIE also focuses on encouraging babies to develop naturally at their own pace and to begin socializing at an early age with other babies to learn important social skills naturally through interactions as opposed to being taught by an adult. RIE helps parents to be confident in their supportive role and to trust and offer respectful communication with their child.

This is not an all or nothing philosophy. Many of the ideas have resonated with my natural parenting inclinations. The ideas are simple and straight forward and have been very insightful. I have taken many of the suggestions and added them to my own parenting tool box. For instance, the very idea of spending more time observing your child to get to know their interests and abilities from infancy as opposed to doing so much for them from the start. This is not to say that infants are not dependent on us, but it recognizes that they are not simply objects to be moved around and entertained, they are individuals from the very beginning. I like the goal of fostering a child's creativity, motivation and self confidence by simply waiting more often and allowing your child time to try, to solve their own problems, and to feel the joy of doing something by themselves.

Isla exploring her basket

From talking with many parents about these ideas, there seems to be quite a lot of interest in learning more about the program or in taking part in discussions on how to work RIE principles into their parenting. I would like to begin a playgroup that is open to interested parents and their infants to take part in at A Gym Tale. The play group would come together in a relaxing, infant friendly environment to take pleasure in observing their child's unfolding development and play. Janet Lansbury, a proponent of RIE, highlights beautifully the benefits of successful infant playgroups in her article 'The Baby Social Scene'.

This is not a structured program like the New Magic class, which is a 12 week program in which your space is guaranteed each week and introduces parents and babies to songs, baby massage, mirror play, gross motor and sensory activities. This program would be complementary to the New Magic class and allow greater time for the infants to move freely and interact with other babies and parents to discuss their observations. The curriculum would follow the parents and infants in attendance and what they observe their child doing at A Gym Tale as well as their observations of their babies at home. Some of the topics may include age appropriate expectations, the importance of play and observation, balancing parents and children's needs, sleep and setting limits.

This would be a pilot program as I am still learning much about the philosophy and will not be available to take the full training until the summer. But I thought this would be a great opportunity to gain more experience and to introduce the concepts to interested families.

Currently, the program will be open to infants under one year and it will take place on Tuesday mornings from 11:30-12:15 in the Enchanted Forest for the same rate as Drop In Play - $3 per visit. There is no preregistration and I can have up to 10 babies and parents at a time. If the demand is high, then I will open other time slots.

I am looking forward to meeting new families and babies and putting these ideas into practice.

Nursery School and Prehistoric Play!

This week and last we have been exploring Dinosaurs at Nursery School. All of the children, including both boys and girls, have really been enjoying the topic. The topic also lends itself to great language, math, science, sensory and dramatic play opportunities. When planning any of the Nursery School themes the learning goals and objectives are planned out to ensure that each opportunity to play is serving a purpose. So if you have a dinosaur lover, take advantage of the many learning opportunities that can present themselves!

Contributing to the children's exposure to language and reading is always a priority. Some of the language activities that we have focused on have included the numerous books available on dinosaurs - from science books to stories with dinosaur characters. Two of my favourites are Patricks Dinosaurs and the Curious George dinosaur book. We have also been brainstorming the many synonyms for the word 'big' to emphasize how huge dinosaurs really were.

The dramatic play with dinosaurs has included a natural area with logs, sticks and rocks and dinosaur figures to go exploring. The children are also using mini dinosaurs in the block area to make caves and houses for the dinosaurs. The favourite dramatic game has definitely been pretending to be dinosaurs while running through the indoor playground of course!

Number concepts have worked their way into dinosaur themed number songs, matching games as well as comparing the size and weights of the dinosaurs to various things surrounding the children today - for example, did you know that a Brachiosaurus weighed as much as ten elephants or that a Stegosaurus measured as long as 5 cars?! Comparing the dinosaurs to things the children can picture helps to put their size into perspective.

You cannot bring up dinosaurs without including a myriad or science concepts. Discussions on where the dinosaurs lived, what they ate as well as their environment had many of the children eager to participate. The children also very much enjoyed being preschool Paleontologists and digging for dinosaur bones as well as brushing them off and spraying them down afterwards - all offering excellent science, sensory and fine motor opportunities.

The children have explored their artistic talents through painting giant dinosaur murals, ripping paper and gluing the bits as scales onto dinosaurs and today creating fossils with baking soda clay. The children really liked the sensory experience of kneading the clay and then using various shells and dinosaur to make prints. The baking soda clay was very easy to make and used items you probably have in your kitchen. It consisted of 2 cups of baking soda, 1 cup of corn starch and 1 1/4 cups of water. To begin, mix the ingredients in a pot and heat over medium heat while stirring continuously for about 5 minutes. When it begins to look like mashed potatoes remove it from the heat and let it cool. You can begin to mould the dough or store it in an airtight container. It will need overnight to dry and then can be painted the next day.

Dough looking like mashed potatoes.

Dough rolled into balls ready for the children to knead and flatten.

Fossils set out to dry.

Lastly, if you are able to squeeze in a trip to the Museum of Nature to visit the dinosaurs, which is our plan for this weekend, you have completed a very thorough exploration of a preschool dinosaur theme. Hopefully this has given you some new ideas to share with your little ones. What are your favourite dinosaur themed activities?