Screen Time

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of screen time per day. This includes television, computer and video game time. They also recommend no television prior to age 2 (this clearly does not occur, hello Baby Einstein empire!).  Although I am quite familiar with the recommendations,  I am not super strict with the 2 hour limit.  When I was little, we had cartoons only on Saturday mornings and occasionally a sitcom in the evening. As I got a little older, cable emerged, and my youngest brother reaped the benefit of USA network's Cartoon Express and a VCR.  Now, with cable, satellite, DVDs, TV on Demands, DVRs, Tivo, and multiple video game systems, kids have whatever they want to watch when they want to watch it.

For example, my son T. played probably close to 10 hours of Lego Indiana Jones 2 this weekend.  It's a newer game for him and so his interest level is high. From our experience with the Wii over the past year, he will lose interest, and then he will have weeks of not playing.  Since we do a lot of driving up north on the weekends, Santa brought a DS last Christmas. Again, he will go through stretches of playing, then he won't play it for a long time.

When we go up north, we have about 3 channels we receive with our antenna. We have a lot of hand-me-down VHS tapes, and (unless it is cold or rainy) the Wii stays home.  The kids love to "adventure" in the woods there. At home, both kids have swim lessons once per week, C. has dance once weekly, and T. just finished his first season of soccer (3 days per week).

It's all about balance.  Living in Wisconsin, we have to adjust to increased outdoor time in the spring/summer/fall and slightly more screen time in the winter.

By Sunday afternoon, I had had enough of the rain, cold, and video games.  I took the kids to a local inflatable play place, and the kids bounced their brains out for 2 1/2 hours.   Only once they were sufficiently sweaty and tired did we return home.

Of course, with it being the onset of the winter viral season, who knows what germs we picked up along the way. But that is a topic for another day!

Such a long, long time

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted anything. Almost two years.

A lot has happened. My children are now 6 and 4. They are now in school. I have been in practice for over 8 years. I went from "full time" to "part time." I've lost 20 pounds. It's been a good couple of years.

At the end of 2006, I started running. I kept up with it long enough to complete a 5K on May 1, 2007. It was painful. 3.1 miles felt like forever. I was completely cashed the rest of the day.

I put my running shoes away until December 2009. I started running again. Over the past 11 months, I have run a 5K, 8K, 10K, and a marathon relay (7.5 miles). I am signed up for my first half in February 2011.

Since I have started running again, I have started reading blogs of other mother runners. I love reading how other women balance family, work, life, running. In leaving a comment on another blog, I had to sign into my Google account. Which led me to here.

Hmmm. Perhaps it's a sign I should give it another go.

Birthday Boy

My sweet little boy is now 4 years old. So big, yet still so small.

When T was born, I HAD to have a video camera. Unfortunately, it is a bit complicated, so we have not used it much. Any video we have taken has been waiting patiently on itty bitty video tapes. How difficult can it to transfer this to DVD? Apparently, difficult and time consuming enough to prevent us from doing it.

Finally, we are working on it. Hours of random video that is yawn inducing and repetitive to others is so sweet and special to me. Plus, the kids love to see themselves. I always loved the old reels of family movies on the actual projector when I was little. I think they have recently resurfaced, and I would love to see them again!

Back to the birthday...on his big day, T and I had a nice trip to the Veggie Tales movie and the candy store (gummy sharks). After dinner, he blew out his candles on a cupcake. He received a sing-a-long CD player and a soccer goal from mom, dad and C-bear. The rest of the night, we heard a thousand sing-a-long renditions of "We are the Dinosaurs" by Laurie Berkner. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately...), the microphone was busted by this morning. That didn't stop T from performing another dozen versions of his song for the video camera though!

When he unwrapped the soccer goal, he said in a very serious voice, " Dad, this is not a present. This is a summer toy." Hmmm. Yes, that's the trouble with a winter birthday.

Run, Run as Fast as You Can

I am trying to take up running for exercise and good health.

I have never considered myself a runner. I have never been good at running.

Well, maybe when I was 5, my best friend was a boy next door. At that time in my life, I remember running as fast as he could.

By grade school, it was all downhill. Remember those awful Presidential Fitness tests?
Bent arm hang, sit up, long jump, flexibility, shuttle run, 50 yard dash, 400 yard dash, and (gulp!) the horrible 1 mile run?! Talk about torture! And Mrs. Fredenburg, the gym teacher, yelling from the side of the parking lot where we were running "Run, run, don't walk!"

I briefly considered cross country in high school, but seeing as I couldn't even complete a mile, I didn't even go there.

In college, I suffered through one 5K run for extra credit for our "gym class," Health Dynamics. I think it was painful, even running around the picturesque windmill on Windmill Island in Holland, Michigan.

When I was in medical school, things changed a little. I started working out at a gym regularly. I had increased cardiovascular fitness. I did a little running with a friend, mostly to gossip. I think I may have run up to 2 miles straight on one occasion. But only because it was getting dark, and I was alone on a tree lined parkway where the houses were few and far between. Fear is a powerful motivator.

So you ask, why now? Well, running doesn't cost a lot of money. I already have an ipod and some shoes. I just have to step outside my door. No driving time, no monthly fees, no equipment slick with sweat from others. My kids are in daycare during work, so I have a very hard time sticking them in daycare at a gym. Plus, parents are always complaining to me about how dirty the kid care at the Y is or that's how their kids get sick.

Since I need structure, I did some searching on the internet. I settled on Hal Higdon's training schedule. The first part is 30/60. Thirty minutes a day, every other day. You have to walk the first 10 and last 5 minutes, and start with 30 secs intervals of running in between. After thirty sessions, I should be ready to start the 5K training. So, here I am, two sessions down, 28 to go. The hardest thing now is to find 30 minutes away from my husband and kids. Apparently, I am necessary every waking minute of their day!

My goal is a 5K run in Door County on May 3rd. I'll keep you updated.

Giant snowflakes

Snowing again tonight. Tons of snow all through December. Melted in early January with Wisconsin temperatures up to 60 degrees and tornadoes! J. and the kids went outside to play. They ran around, made tracks in fresh snow, rolled and stomped out two snowballs, and came in soaked.

Here are some photos from a big snowfall last year April. Guess that means we still have three months of winter to go...

Bad Breath

I had a professor in college with the worst coffee breath ever. The man stunk like a hot old pot o' coffee. Drove me nuts....but I wonder to myself, do I smell like that?

I love a cup of morning coffee. I admit, I am a bit of a coffee snob. My home coffee maker does not satisfy my coffee tastes. Perhaps it is not the coffee maker, but the person who makes the coffee. My husband makes coffee every day, and it tastes like bitter swill. My coffee doesn't have to be Starbucks (at $4 per latte, I cannot justify that everyday), but even the big coffee pot at work is better. The best is the neighborhood bakery/restuarant, City Market, with it's delicious "Velvet Hammer." It's stong and smooth and, boy, can it make me happy!

So, to my little patients, do I have stinky coffee breath? I hope not. I try not to breathe right in their faces, just in case.

When I was a 4th year med student doing a rotation in opthalmology, a patient did offer me an Altoid once. I do believe it was after a tuna sandwich for lunch. How embarassing! but maybe not as embarassing as the time I drooled on a patient. That's a story for another day.....

I'm NOT perfect!

Hello!

I am using this space to chronicle my adventures as a full time mother and pediatrician. The most important part of my life is the MOTHER part. Because my family needs to eat, have a place to live, and to pay off my student loans, I need to work. I love my job as a pediatrician most days. I especially love my very own patients...watching them grow from little teeny babies to toddler monsters to sassy teenagers.

The two loves of my life are T., boy, age 4, and C., girl, age 22 months. Our family is completed by my husband, J. and our dog, Cephus.


Besides treating ear infections, constipation, etc. and seeing kids for well checks, peds run a lot of interference with behavior concerns, sleep problems, and discussing normal developmental changes and expectations. I have learned a lot and read a lot about these topics. Perhaps I could even be considered an expert in these areas (if you do something one hour every day for 5 years, aren't you considered an expert?!?)....but I AM NOT PERFECT! I deal with the same problems at home as everyone else with my kids.

And so here is the story of our often humorous adventures ...

Oops...I just realized I spelled perfect incorrectly in the title and I can't figure out how to change it!