Every family has their seasonal traditions and today we are commemorating a big one at our house. It’s annual Pink Eye Day. We celebrate this special day every year come winter – sometimes more than once! While this day doesn’t usually involve festive decorations or special foods, it does involve missing school (and, for me, the gym, the store, and all adult company). Pink is the color of the day and each child is gifted with his own bottle of Purel, a box of Kleenexes and the admonition to touch nothing, including themselves.
The first thing we always do on this great day (and every 4 hours afterward) is the Ceremony of the Eye Drops. Some parents think this ceremony is not very fun as it often involves kicking, screaming, scratching and crying. The children often behave no better. However, since this ceremony is required to celebrate Pink Eye Day, not to mention the Great Day of Returning To School, I have developed a patented eye drop administration technique. First you place the child on their back on a padded floor. Next you place both legs over their body, pinning their arms to their sides. You have to really use those quad muscles here. Just ignore any protestations from the child – remember it was them and their germy fingers that got you into this mess in the first place. Use one hand to hold their head and hold the other at the ready with the eye drops. Now here’s the trick: hold a piece of candy between your teeth and yell “Look! A treat!!” As soon as they open their eyes to see that Tootsie Roll dangling above them, strike with the eye drops. Then – don’t be a jerk – give them the treat.
Despite the fact that the Eye Drop Ceremony usually gets me all sweaty, I was still bummed to have to miss my daily sweat fest at the gym. Today was supposed to be boot camp and I was greatly looking forward to doing my best to reinact those Gatorade commericals with the colored sweat (I ate beets last night, it was a possibility!) but thanks to my disease-carrying progeny I am stuck at home. So instead I pulled a Workout Mommy and turned to one of my favorite home workouts ever: The Monkey Bar Gym.
Looking back through their archives, I finally came up with a circuit that looked like this:
- High Knees to Hindu Squats
- Lateral Slides to Skaters
- Butt Kickers to Mountain Climbers
- Cariocas to Jumping Jacks
- Crawling to Sprint in Place
Do 30 seconds of the first exercise immediately followed by 30 seconds of the second. Proceed through the list 5 times taking a one minute rest after completeing the circuit for a total of 25 minutes of work, 30 minutes total workout time.
So okay, it wasn’t boot camp but, as the exercise gurus are fond of saying, anything is better than nothing, right? Plus it sure beat running in place on my pretend treadmill for 30 minutes. I threw on some clothes (it’s amazing how little care I put into wardrobe selection when I know no one is going to see me!), set up a fort to keep the wee ones occupied and went to work!
At first the kiddos (a.k.a. The Lepers) stayed holed up in their den with a bag of contraband Teddy Grahams and watched mommy go all Flashdance on the 6-square feet of carpet their fort did not take up.
But then they saw how much fun I was having as evidenced by the sweat drops splattering their tent off my elbows and my heavy breathing and decided to further investigate. (Note protective eyewear. Their idea, not mine. I figure if you’re in our house during the Pink Eye Festival, you’re just doomed. Admit it, your eyes are suddenly feeling itchy.)
The four-year-old decided he wanted to be the official photographer of our group exercise event so he chronicled the fun. Here’s me doing Hindu squats (the tongue is part of having good form, trust me.)
Momentary distraction to take a picture of an owie incurred when Mommy stepped on his foot while doing skaters. Don’t worry, he’ll live.
While the four-year-old could basically follow along (Monkey Bar Gym – So Simple a Preschooler Can Do It!), the two-year-old’s favorite activity was crawling through my legs when I did the crawl. It’s like reverse birthing. I’m sure we just saved money on therapy there.
We ended with the baby’s impersonation of me doing the Carioca. (Notice the broom? The four-year-old apparently thought that random dancing around the room meant limbo time.) Personally, I did his choice of workout wear. Tomorrow I’m totally going to the gym in my pajama shirt, no pants, one sock and ski goggles.
What do you do when your planned workout gets foiled? Do you have a favorite at-home workout? Or do you call it a rest day? Anyone had pinkeye as an adult? I have (during the Pink Eye Fest last year) and trust me it’s way worse than you remember. Took me two solid weeks to get over that. This year I’m wearing surgical gloves.
You never fail to crack me up. Thanks for the ab work out!
Your children are precious. Love the protective eye wear.
I hope your annual pink fest is gone as quickly as it arrived!
OH, I totally feel your frustration Charlotte. With 4 at home myself, the germs really just spend the winter circulating the house. We’re all trying to get over a bug as we speak. If an illness means I’ll miss Turbo, I simply beg the hubby to keep them at home and give up his workout. I say as long as he weighs less than me, he forfeits his gym time when the kids are sick. I jumped on the treadmill at home tonight but hated every noisy step. If I can’t get to the gym, I unfortunately don’t workout usually. I’d love it if anyone can give me advice on a good at-home workout that doesn’t take forever and is at least mildly fun…help!
Oh you KNOW that is my life.
I usually try to do something mellow like yoga to channel my inner chi whilst I in prepare for the Great Day of Returning to School. (when I’m lucky, as soon as the other half gets home, I book it out the door for a run.)
Actually no, that’s mostly untrue. I usually just say forget it and give myself a pass for the day.
Love the ski masks.
(and p.s. I have a pretend treadmill too! I hate it.)
LOVE THE PICTURES! Almost makes me want my own little rugrats.
When my gym plans get thwarted, I just try to go for a run, and I’ll do sprint intervals to get some extra fatigue in there. Otherwise, I’m not very good at coming up with creative at home workouts.
Too funny!!!
And your kids are freakin’ adorable!!!! (LOVE that they decided to wear goggles!)
We’re in the midst of The First Cold. My son has it, my daughter’s getting it, so hubby and I will have it soon.
I work out at home a lot. I have a bunch of DVDs that I like, and we have a mini-trampoline. Plus, at the gym, you don’t have little ones sitting on your stomach when you do abs, your back when you’re trying to hold plank, or a dog slurping your face while you stretch.
BTW, last night my 5 year-old picked up my 15 pound kettlebell and carried it around. She’s kinda strong!
Missing a workout while being stuck at home? No problem, i have enough bodyweight circuits bookmarked for a month of hometime.
Missing a workout because i’m stuck at work/school all day? That’ll have me doing squats in the bathroom (you do them there anyway!) and doing pushups when my coworkers pop out for a smoke. Makes it quite emberassing when they get back too early.
Somehow they never believe i was tying my shoelaces
I take it as a sign I need a rest day…if Im superstressssssed out I just drag the Tornado outside to play as, usually, it is her woundupness 🙂 which is making me stressed.
love the kids pics, char!
AWESOME PICS, love your new gym buddies. They’re supercute if a little on the short side. And have you been lifting weights with that tongue? Seriously, it’s BUFF.
Missed workout? First I scream, then I cry, then I sulk. NEXT I will try to skip meals, then my boyfriend will shout at me, then I cry some more, then we make up and I eat a bigger meal than I would have done anyway just to appease him. Then I feel guilty about all the above for the next week.
Sometimes, if I’m really smart, I do my Ministry Of Sound workout DVD for an hour, followed by a bit of lifting at home, and avoid all of the above lunacy.
I’m working on it!
TA x
haha, hilarious. Priceless photos! If I can’t make it to the gym, its usually because I’m glued to the computer, but I always keep good posture. Does that count?
Anyway, occasionally when I just can’t find the time to hobble the 10 feet it takes to get to the gym from my flat, I do some jump rope cardio intervals, squats, lunges and plyometric jumps onto the coffee table (it has a short lifespan ahead).
Good stuff!
I had pink eye last Monday. I am the only one in the house that gets it. I wash my hands, I swear!
I usually call it a day off. Even better I try to be really productive that day around the house. Recall Kara’s blog post about cleaning and exercise. I’m a believer!
Great to see your kids!! Lots of potential there. You must be so proud!
Love love love the protective eye wear! Hope the pink eye clears up fast. I have vague memories of being held down and eye-dropped; I must have blocked most of those memories.
Seeing as how I work out at home anyway, I don’t have this problem too much. If I have to work late, I can always put in a half hour after dinner/before bed.
Ok, what a FUN post! Loved all the pics, found the protected eyewear hilarious and hope that your Great Day of Returning to School arrives sooner rather than later! 🙂 Thanks for the morning giggle.
these pcis are fantastic – they totally MAKE the story! I didn’t realize it was Annual Pink Eye Day…is there mail today? Do banks close?
Reverse birthing…ha!
I got pink eye as an adult last year. I don’t have kids and live alone, so I’m not sure where I got it. I did have lots of colds, and the doc mentioned that it’s a virus that can happen when you have a cold (sometimes from blowback in blowing your nose). It was awful. I had to throw away all my makeup and buy it again, I couldn’t wear contacts for almost 2 weeks (and by the time I was done teaching cycling in glasses I could barely see for all the sweat on them). So glad that’s over with.
When my workout plans are derailed, I usually just make it an excuse to take a break, since I work out often. Sometimes I’ll do some lifting at home, but not very often. I have a stack of dvds that I haven’t watched in months because when I get home the last thing I want to do is exercise, even if I’m just watching them for ideas.
Oh how I wish I had such fun little work-out partners! You little ones are ADORABLE!! When I’m derailed I try to do something in the house like weights (since I don’t do them nearly enough), but sometimes I make it a rest day. I’ll admit to sometimes being derailed by an intense need to eat dinner early! 🙂 Thanks for sharing – they are sooooooo cute!
You are a crack up!
A jump rope and some hand weights and I would be good to go on a quickie workout. Gotta go look up all your exercises cause I’ve never heard of half of them.
Looks like you’re having fun though.
I do pretty much the same thing. I make a list of a bunch of exercises with numbers of reps next to them and cross of the sets as I finish them.
Adorable kids!
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
They are so cute! Next year they should go as little pink-eyed creatures for Halloween hehe.
This morning I had a similar experience (though pink eye-less). Overslept and missed 15 minutes of boot camp! Ack! Luckily it was just the warm up that I missed. Even so, I think that I’ll be doing some jumping jacks and stuff throughout the day to make up for it. That’s the kind of exercise I do if I miss something like this- maybe a little bit of core work, and then bursts of cardio. The strength training is usual something that will be put off until next time:)
Gross eyeball picture (at the top) but hilarious post, Charlotte.
If my workout gets thwarted I try to find time to run and if I can’t run I walk EVERYWHERE to complete my errands. I have workout DVDs but I am not in love with them.
You could always checkout this home based workout: http://blog.marksalinas.com/2008/11/18/challenge-get-the-burn-on/
Your kids are SO CUTE!!!! Pink eyes an’ all. 😉
After my first year of teaching, I was lucky enough to experience good ole’ PE. (Funny how I didn’t mind it as a kid – day off from school? Get to watch T.V. but don’t feel like poo? Sure!) So. horrible.
I love, love, love your post today!! I wish I had your sense of humor when the kids are sick. Everything shuts down at my house when someone is sick.
Last year my then 4-yr old had pink eye and shared it with me. Fortunately, his case cleared up in a few days and he could return to preschool. My case was somehow different because it took 3 courses of antibiotics, a different one each time, to clear up and it was 2 months later. That’s a case of pink eye I don’t think I’ll EVER forget.
Getting out the hand sanitizer now… Thanks for the reminder.
Charlotte, you seriously have the winning spirit. Way to get your workout in and make super fun memories with your kids.
I HATE pinkeye. Not because it’s nasty and incredibly contagious but because there are some very anal med receptionists at my dr office. My dr knows I know what pinkeye looks like, what dose of the drops we need etc. But stupid office people make me schedule each child individually to get checked out to get the coveted drops. Not to mention the time and copays this takes away from my life, it’s very irritating.
cute post! my favorite home workout is 8 minute abs- cheesy but i like it
oh charlotte, you are just all kinds of awesome!
the pictures are adorable and your reverse birthing comment CRACKED ME UP!
my home workout usually consists of me trying to do the wii fit along, and failing miserably.
or trying to lift weights without anyone’s toes/fingers getting crushed.
i love them to death, but why must they climb all over me when I am trying to exercise!?
What I do when I can’t be bothered to leave the house is 40 mins of Dance Dance Revolution and a 20 minute yoga session. Its fun (well, the DDR is, I’m still trying to figure out why people like yoga but I can definitely see the benefit so I do it), and I can split it up in parts if I don’t have the full hour to devote at once.
If I really don’t feel like that, I’ll run up at the middle school track or make use of my sorely underused ball thingee and wimpy 7 lb weights.
Ack, hit publish too soon. I also meant to say it looks like you were having a whole lot of fun in spite of the circumstances :).
Oh man, did I love the photo essay! What cuties. And dare I say, you looked as if you had as much fun as you do with your Gym Buddies!
The land of no excuses! Tomorrow our rec center is closed for deep cleaning, so my husband and my new gym buddy are doing Tabata circuits. Doesn't matter what exercise you choose, but it'll kick your butt every time!
http://ezinearticles.com/?Tabata-Anything—Four-Minutes-of-Pain-to-Gain&id=348486
We don't have annual pink eye day, unless I'm pregnant. Then it gets me every time!