Trying to decide what you all might find interesting of the things batting around in my brain this morning and I give up – none of them are that interesting but thank you for reading anyway, so I’ll just tell you all of them.

1) Got my trainer lined up!  Thursday evening for an hour – two sessions.  I’m planning on tips for a full-body workout I can fit in once a week.  He has a big personality and was in the military.  Just my style.  Plus he makes fun of my ponytail bobbing when I run, so I love him.  I’m looking to be sure I’m hitting all the major muscle groups in the strength training I’m using to enhance the running that has become my greatest sanity saver. (Well, what’s left of the sanity, anyway.)

2) Major gym fail this morning.  I was so excited about the trainer, and my new gym bag my parents gave me for Christmas, and my awesome new Fila bra (ok, so it’s a little padded – I miss my milk boobs now that I have no nursling)…wait, where was I? OH right, gym fail…so I packed up my new gym bag, set my alarm for 5 am – and then stayed up laughing with my husband (that’s just an all-the-time thing with him; the laughing.  He’s funny.) until way too late.  Alarm went off and I ALMOST got out of bed.

3) I’m going to have Farmer Boy screened for dyslexia.  There is a history in my husband’s family, and I’ve been suspicious for a year now.  The more I read, the more I discover markers he hits right on target.  It may not be dyslexia, but there is something going on and we’re going to figure out what it is.  My greatest concern is his fragile self-esteem.  Homeschooling has done wonders for him in that department, but it is part of his personality to expect perfection of himself and always feel he is falling short.  He also tends toward anxiety before a new/unknown experience. 

Fortunately, I know and trust the psychologist who will be doing the screening, she is wonderful.  She is the same professional who was recommended by a friend whose son turned out to have pretty severe dysgraphia when my oldest was having issues in school.  The school told me medicating my child was inevitable, but after screening with this doctor it turned out I was right all along – he was just smart and bored.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in my (nearly) ten years mothering, it is to trust my instincts.  If I could express the one most important parenting tool every new mother should have, it is to tune into those feelings and follow them.  No one knows a child like the mother (parents) and she (they) are the ones best equipped to understand and evaluate that child. 

My instincts have been telling me for quite some time now that there is another issue occurring with Farmer Boy’s learning.  It’s time for me to follow up on it.

4) I have no idea what I’m making for dinner tonight.

5) Major goal for the day: de-Christmas the house, beginning with the tree.

A related tip I tried last year that is terrific – Store your breakable ornaments in egg cartons.  I know what you are thinking:  gee, thanks SO much Jessica for that great tip that I have no way to use now that all the NORMAL people on the planet are finished putting away their holiday decor and there is NO way I will remember it in 11.5 months.  But nice try.

You’re welcome! xo