Pediatric Pedometer

Okay! I have figured out why my children are so slim and trim! I have been trying to walk around three miles a day to get into better shape. The other day, Rayna begged to wear my pedometer. We were getting ready to go on our walk when I put it on her, but, the phone rang just as we were walking out the door. I turned back to answer the phone. As I hung the phone up, in came another call. Needless to say, our walk was delayed by about 45 minutes. Getting into the car to GO to the bike trail where we walk, Rayna asked me how many steps were recorded on her pedometer. I about fell over. She had way over 3,000 steps and we hadn't even started our 'walk' yet! She wore the pedometer several hours after our walk, too...her total? 9,456 steps! A friend told me that 10,000 steps is a good goal for a day...here my four year old had almost that just in a few hours of HER normal activity!

Rayna and I (along with Rivie, our smallest dog) have gone walking every day this week except the cloudy, rainy, yucky day (was that Wednesday?). The first day Rayna walked the whole distance. The second day she rode her little bike (with training wheels) the whole three miles. The third day she walked half the way and rode in the wagon half the way (me pulling). Today she only walked one and half miles and I pulled her in the wagon three and a half miles (we went 5 miles today because it was just so gorgeous outside).

Life is pretty uneventful around here without the oldest child around to keep everything stirred up! I'm sure I will have more to post about once I get Darcy back home! We will leave for Texas on Wednesday to pick her up. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!



Who knew that riding in a wagon could be so exhausting?! This is Rayna a few minutes after our five mile walk this afternoon. (She RODE three and a half miles of those five miles!) The only thing I can figure out is that it was a cumulative effect...maybe all the walking this week just caught up with her this afternoon! (Rayna is so funny...this morning she was hopeful we would be going on another walk, so she asked me, "Mom, can we have another Mother/Daughter/Dog Day?" If we go on a walk together and bring the dog along, THAT constitutes a Mother/Daughter/Dog day in her book! (If we just go to the grocery store and pick up a pack of GUM, THAT is a Mother/Daughter Day.) She is easily pleased! She did get a little bit put out a couple of days ago when I insisted we take GLORIA (our dog that is about 100 pounds) on our walk instead of Rivie. It just seemed fair to me since Gloria has been DYING to go and Rivie HATES the necessary car ride to get to the lake where we walk. Gloria, bless her furry heart, was so EXCITED at being called over to the van, instead of Rivie, that she cannonballed into the van and kept right on going, JUMPING UP INTO RAYNA'S LAP!!! Rayna was already sitting in her little booster seat with her seatbelt on when our overly exuberant overgrown dog who honestly believes with all her heart that she is actually a chihuahua, climbed up into little Rayna's LAP. It was the funniest sight! I wouldn't have thought it possible for her to curl her body up small enough to stay balanced in Rayna's lap, but there she was! Meanwhile, Rayna was crying at the top of her lungs...more from anger, I think, than anything else. She wanted that dog out of her lap, but try as she might, she could not push Gloria off and it made her FURIOUS! I grabbed Gloria by the collar and almost couldn't pry her out of the van, myself. Needless to say, we took Rivie instead of Gloria that day and I haven't suggested to Rayna that we give Gloria a turn since then. Poor Gloria!