I got home from work tonight, after running 3 miles in the most gorgeous weather, to find my children as sweet as sweet can be. I love it when they are like that.
They were on the floor playing & Sophie decided to do a backbend. She's been able to do them since she was 5, when she took gymnastics for 6 months (she has balance issues & could never master walking across the balance beam, so we switched to swimming).
Anyway, every so often she breaks out into backbends like some people break into song. She challenges herself to see how long she can hold them. Tonight she got all the way to a count of 94 (we are counting fast). She was so proud of herself. (As I am writing this she tried again, after having dinner & resting a while, & got to 105! Her goal was to hit 100...I love that she sets goals for herself.)
I was proud of her too.
Before she did the long one, she did a few quick ones. & I got on the floor with her to see if I could do one. I had tried to a while back--can't remember if it was this year or last. I remember being able to get myself about half way up, & that was it.
Tonight I went right up. It wasn't easy, but I was surprised at how strong I felt & how I lifted from my core & went all the way up, lifting my head off the floor & everything.
I did it 4 more times, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke.
Then we did a few pushups & we worked on Sophie's form some more. She did one really solid push up (on her knees) & I think she finally "got" where her arms & butt were supposed to go. We'll continue to work on it.
She's getting so tall (she's 4'5''! at 8 years old!). & her belly is not flat, but she's thinning down a lot and it doesn't bother her like it used to. I think if we continue her swimming & we work on strength at home (& continue to talk about nutrition even though her diet is far from perfect), we'll make baby steps in the right direction--which is healthy & strong & confident.
More than anything, I want to be the example that I never had growing up. I want her to see a mom who is strong, & is happy with how she looks, & isn't obsessive about the scale or food or exercise or extra fat on her body. I want her to know I like myself.
Because some day, some day way too soon, someone's going to say, "You are just like your mother." And I want her to smile & say, "Thank you. That's the greatest compliment you could give me."
8 comments:
What a sweet post Laura! Isn't is nice when the planets align and all the kids are behaving? ;)
I am mucho impressed that you can do a backbend! Four backbends, no less - awesome!
It's nice when all that working out finally proves useful. :)
What a nice post, Laura. You are well on your way to earning that comment from your daughter!
I love, love, love your last paragraph!
Congratulations to both of you on your backbends. My goal is to do a sommersault - currently cannot to one.
Have a great weekend.
good for you and good for Sophie - loved this posting.
Keep doing the backbends - really good for reversing the hunchiness that we all have during the course of a day.
What an awesome evening with your daughter! I love that you are working so hard to be a healthy role model.
Great job on the backbends (both of you).
I think that is one of the best things that you can be for your daughter. as much as I do love my mom, she raised me to always think about my looks and how I appear, wouldnt buy me any clothes that she didnt approve of or like how I looked, and when I was overweight, she told me so. While I am the one who made myself the way I am, it would have helped to have a mother who didnt focus on looks so much because then my sister might not have an eating disorder, and I might not have let myself get to the point that I did.
Aww, what a wonderful post. I love your last paragraphs too.
I remember when I was yoga-fittest and got up into backbend regularly. It was awesome. :-) I'm happy with bridge again at the moment because my arms are not strong enough for backbend, but I hope to get there again someday. Yay for you!! It's a GREAT pose. :-)
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