The Gym

After I had Mariah I developed a bulging disc in my lower back which caused me 3 months of unbearable agony and then another 3 months of less dramatic pain before finally healing. Since then I've re injured it 3 times....one time fairly recently where it took a week to re heal. After much google supplied research and a few conversations with friends I decided that the best way to fix this issue and only way to really prevent it from happening again was to start doing yoga and Pilate's a couple of times a week. So far everything I've found suggests that as the only possible non surgical solution, and as I am VERY anti back surgery (it comes with extremely bad odds, very bad reviews and heck, I'm a total hippie when it comes to medicating, surgery, etc.) I'm going with it.

Today was Day 1 of my new stretched out lifestyle. I pushed myself hard to get the kids ready and out of the house by 10am and down to the YMCA. I dropped off Mariah who screamed and cried huge crocodile tears and ushered Hayden into his class where he nervously joined the other kids playing with trains, and took my very very guilty self off for a few hours of therapeutic yoga.

I'm aware that since my kids aren't used to being babysat very much they are often tentative, semi-unhappy and sometimes scream for a few minutes in the beginning when we leave them with strangers. With that in mind this morning I packed a half-full carton of raisins and a sippy cup for Mariah to be used by the staff as a consolation bribe, should the crying exceed 2 or 3 minutes.

I came back from Yoga 90 minutes later to find Mariah playing with the empty raisin container. I picked her up and started putting on her jacket, politely asking the girl behind the counter how she had done. The words she spoke struck a certain amount of horror into my being:

"The raisins really helped with the crying, she ate like the whole thing."
(lets say 6-8 adult servings)

Holy frijoles woman are you kidding me?! You fed her the WHOLE THING?! Do you have any idea what happens when you feed babies raisins??????? My gosh I though a small handful would suffice. That's what I should have said, instead what came out was freaked out eyes, an awkward smile and a nice "thank you."

Three hours and one nap time later Hayden and I were the unhappy witnesses of a pooped up bed, pants, shirt, and a diaper full of whole undigested raisins. It didn't end there either. A few hours later....more raisins.

I haven't been a fan of eating raisins since I was a little kid, but now I am even less so. In fact, I'm fairly certain it will be years if not decades before i put another raisin in my mouth. When leaving a snack for you child with a caregiver, give implicit directions on how they are to administer it. Lesson Learned.