Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition – Page 48

Bike expo and pawpaws

We spent Sunday morning on top of a parking garage at the Mississippi Valley Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet helping at the CyclingSavvy info table.

What’s the best way to get to a bicycle expo? By bike, of course!

Our route took us past the theoretical pawpaw spot. We rode slowly, with our eyes peeled, until Matthew said, “That’s a pawpaw tree.”

I never would have found this on my own, as I don’t think the tree is particularly “tropical looking,” and it wasn’t in the spot marked on either of the foraging maps.

Whether it was birds, humans, or just a low-fruit year, there were not many pawpaws to be found. A few ripe dropped fruits on the ground, and a couple more unripe that Matthew grabbed from a tree — not sure if they’ll ripen or not.

Despite the low harvest, it was a successful mission in my book. We now know the exact location for future years AND there were some fully-loaded persimmon trees with fruit that should be ready before too long!

After our little detour, we proceeded to the expo.

CyclingSavvy’s littlest fan needs a t-shirt of his own!

We bungeed Sir’s BalanceBike to Matthew’s rear rack, and Gabriel enjoyed riding it around the expo. Sir needs an advertising contract with the bike company.

We also added one more [small] bike to our fleet, picking up a used tricycle for Sir. Our cargo capacity was already maxed out, so the trike is awaiting pick-up at a friend’s house.

Want to find out what it’s all about? There are still a few spots open in this week’s CyclingSavvy workshop: course details and registration.

*Bike expo photos courtesy of our friend and fellow CyclingSavvy instructor, Karen.

Gym rat no more?

I intended to write a “Gym Rat” post back in May, when my beloved chain fitness center branch shut its doors with only a week’s notice. I couldn’t feel too sorry for myself as a patron because the fitness center employees received the same minimal amount of notice regarding the end of their jobs. Oof.

Last October, after debating which gym to join, I chose the closer (i.e., walkable), cheaper, now-shuttered option. I quickly got in the habit of working out (i.e., lifting weights) there at least two, and often three, times a week.

Even with the $10/month unlimited kids’ room (i.e., childcare), I was paying less than $30/month total. It was definitely money well-spent, as that gym helped save my sanity during the early part of this year, when wintry weather minimized outside time, leaving me stuck indoors with this. For much of February and March, my two or three visits per week increased to four or five, as the kids’ room provided a much-needed break!

When they closed their doors in mid-May, my visits had already decreased, and with warmer weather and more built-in physical activity (i.e., active living — walking, biking, etc.), I’d been questioning continuing my membership. They transferred our memberships to another [relatively nearby, but biking distance, rather than a 3-block walk] fitness center, which I tried I couple of times over the following month, before deciding it wasn’t the place for me.

After another month of no gym, a different fitness center’s $10/month with a $1 joining fee lured me back. In a moment of weakness, I signed up for the free intro session with a personal trainer, a privilege I’ve waived at past gyms, given my training and years of experience lifting weights.

Ironically, that training session, meant to encourage me to pay for more training, contributed to my [almost-finalized] decision to leave the gym. The session itself was good — personalized and challenging — but I realized afterward that almost all of the exercises the trainer gave me were using my own body weight, not free weights or weight machines, and thus were things I could do for free, at home.

Still, I was not convinced that I would actually do the exercises at home, where there are always a million-and-one other things that need doing, making it easy to put off the workout until it ends up not happening.

Then, a few weeks ago, as I was writing my “gratitud e” post, I came across a NYTimes Well Blog post about a 7-minute workout that could be done almost anywhere.* It almost sounded too good to be true, but something about it appealed to me. Many of the exercises (there are 12 total) were identical or similar to those assigned by the trainer.

For whatever reason, this seems to be an at-home workout routine that I can maintain. The short duration helps. I mean, seven minutes?** How can I not find just seven minutes at some point in the day to do this?

Instead of saying, “Oh, I’ll workout after I do x,y,z,” my mentality with this is, “Oh, I have enough time to squeeze in a workout before I do x,y,z.” This shift in mentality is HUGE.

In reality, I’ve made the program my own, focusing on reps rather than strictly on time for a few of the moves where I want to focus on form (e.g., squats and push-ups), and adding in an extra move or two for shoulder and back muscles. Even with these tweaks, a full circuit takes less than nine minutes, and once I get going, I usually end up doing the complete circuit twice. For my fitness level, this provides a very good workout in barely more than 15 minutes!

While I did fall off the wagon a bit last week, I’m on track for maintaining a 2-3 times/week routine for almost a month now.

Since I have until the end of the month to decide, I should probably revisit the gym at least once before cancelling my membership (since I would pay a much higher fee to rejoin if I cancel), but I really don’t think I’m missing much.

*7-Minute Workout originally published as “High-Intensity Circuit Training Using Body Weight: Maximum Results with Minimal Investment” in the American College of Sport’s Medicine’s Health and Fitness Journal.

** I am using this circuit in addition to the “exercise” I get from active transportation. Great full-body routine or no, seven minutes a day (much less seven minutes two or three times a week) is FAR below the minimum guidelines for daily/weekly physical activity.

Biking to work again, sort-of

Shortly after I wrote this employment status update, I learned that, after making it to the final interview (round of six) for a very competitive position, I was not their top choice. With that option off the table, I accepted a part-time, work-from-home position.

Given the “work-from-home” status, the only commuting (other than walking across our front room to the desk) involves biking to and from a weekly meeting with my supervisor who lives about four miles away.

After this morning’s blistering hot commute, I am two for three on biking to the meetings. I wimped out two weeks ago, given the smack-in-the-middle of the day start time. I would have traveled there during peak sun and returned home during peak heat. Blech!

My current situation is a bit different than my previous bicycle commutes.

Previously — Biking to an office where I worked all day:

I traveled to and from work at off-peak sun times, so I didn’t really worry too much about sun protection.
It made sense to bike in one set of clothes (especially during sweaty summer weather) and clean up and change when I arrived at work, then change back into the “bike clothes” (nothing fancy, just gym shorts and a t-shirt) for the evening commute.

Current — Working from home and biking to/from meetings:

I’m trying to encourage early morning meetings to minimize heat and sun, but I don’t get to dictate when we meet.
It doesn’t really make sense to bike for thirty minutes, spend time getting cleaned up and changed, meet for an hour or two, and then change again to bike home . . . .
So instead, I have to pick outfits that work both for the bike and for the meetings.
These are one-on-one meetings with my boss who also works from home, so I don’t need anything too fancy in terms of attire, but I also don’t want to arrive wearing gym shorts and an old t-shirt.

I’m not a heavy sweater by any means, but 90°F, with 50% humidity and a heat index of 94°F (the temps I faced when returning home this morning), will make most anyone perspire. It was a bit cooler on the way there, but also higher humidity. I arrived, hydrated, wiped the sweat off my face the best I could, and spent the ninety-minute meeting in sweaty clothing. Not the end of the world, but I was very ready to get home and lose those clothes!

Changing seasons — both the cooler temps and less intense sun — will mitigate some of the above factors, and come winter, I might be angling for middle of the day meetings.

Though there are a few kinks to work out, I’m happy to have a job and to face the challenge of incorporating [work-related] bike commuting into my life again.

Hunting for pawpaws

Several months ago, a friend shared a link to a website that maps fruit (and nut) trees in urban public spaces, i.e., an urban foraging map. The concept kind-of boggled my mind.

If you knew the location of a great patch of raspberries, or a fabulous peach tree, why would you share that information with thousands of people on the internet? I’m not sure about you, but the food hoarder in me says, “Sshhhh, don’t tell!”

I mean, even if the tree/bush/vines produced more than you could consume and preserve, why not share the information with a small, select group of people, ensuring that your source wouldn’t be overwhelmed?

Apparently some people don’t share my reservations, as they are sharing their spots for edible treasure at FallingFruit.org.

Anyhow, when I checked the map for nearby options, I discovered a marker for pawpaw trees, saying that the fruit ripened in early September. We have a pair of pawpaw trees out at the garden, but they’re babies and won’t bear fruit for a few years. Pawpaws are unreliably available at the farmers’ market, and you pay a premium. Time to forage!

After double checking the map, and the description of the tree as “tropical looking” I headed out on my bicycle early Saturday morning. I arrived in the indicated area, and spotted a tree that looked promising . . .

. . . or not. Despite leaves that could possibly be described as “tropical looking,” I quickly determined that cone/fruit thing was not a pawpaw. And yes, if I had a bit more tree identifying experience, I would have known right away that the tree in question was a magnolia.

I did a bit of off-roading, circling the indicated area on my bike, looking for other likely subjects. Finding none, I did a quick check of another section of the park, thinking perhaps the marker on the map was placed incorrectly.

That effort yielded this fruit, perhaps a walnut? Or some other kind of nut?

But still no pawpaws. Were they just not there? Had the trees not set fruit this year? Had someone misidentified it?

I headed home at that point, wanting to beat the heat and more intense sun rays. I would have been quite annoyed had I used the car and struck out, but, as it was, I got a nice bike ride out of the deal.

I reviewed the maps and website again for this post and realized that my exact foraging location was based on some kind of Google maps foraging tool, and not the map at Falling Fruit. The FF map shows a slightly different location for the pawpaw trees — kind-of the same area, but different enough to be outside the area I searched, so now I’m debating a return trip.

Your Turn: What would you do with fruit foraging locations, share or keep it quiet?

Potty learned

As I mentioned in my “Deceived by EC” post, we’ve made lots of progress with the potty since the 16-month update. I’m sure I’ve already forgotten some of the details, but better late than never!

Months 17-21
Sir’s ability to climb onto the potty by himself, which developed right around the 16-month mark, did indeed prove to be a big step in his potty-learning journey.

To diaper or not to diaper:

No diapers (i.e., bare bottom) around the house when awake
Thin cloth diaper under his bottom in the booster chair for eating
Diapers when out and about, with potty along also
Diapers for nap time (pinned prefolds with Thirsties covers)
Diapers for overnight (pocket diaper, once we discovered that their “feel-dry” material helped him sleep longer)

Despite our consistent use of the ASL sign for toilet, he never picked communicated potty needs in that way. That, along with his continued [slight] speech delay meant he did not have a great way to let us know when he needed to use the toilet.

He rather quickly reached a point where almost all of his at-home, pants- and diaper-free-time pees happened in the potty. Having the time to be home with him and offer all of the bare-bottom time definitely helped.

There were a few challenges. He had a hard time staying dry while eating, perhaps because he didn’t have free access to the potty.

Bowel movement timing was often such that he would use his diaper right before waking up in the morning and/or right before waking up from his nap in the afternoon. In addition to the frustration of this happening in the diaper rather than in the toilet, the timing often led to shortened sleep.

Month 22
By this point, Sir was staying dry at most meals, in addition to his regular success when around the house. So I started getting brave . . . .

To diaper or not to diaper:

Same as above, but halfway through the month, we started to go out wearing underwear (not training pants) instead of diapers

I figured that at some point in all potty-training processes, you call it good enough and just start venturing out in underwear and pants, bringing along a spare in case of an accident. This went well overall, with very few wet “unders.”

Also around this time, bowel movement timing shifted just enough to give Sir time to wake up and get to the potty, which meant almost zero poopy diapers — awesome, though we still had to clean his little potty.

Month 23
I decided it was time for Sir to verbalize his need to use the potty. Since his vocabulary was still limited to one-syllable sounds, mostly a few consanants followed by a short “a” (e.g., Mama, Dada, Papa, Baba), we didn’t have much to work with.

Though a “p” sound for “pee” and “poop” would have been intuitive, it was already taken (Papa). Instead I picked “t” (for “toilet” and “tinkle”), and emphasized that he was going “ttt, ttt” every time he climbed on the potty.

In less than a week, Sir added “ttt, ttt” to his repertoire, and he finally had a way to let us know that he needed to go.

He learned this just in time to take advantage of it on the road trip to Florida, quickly realizing that uttering “ttt, ttt” was a way to make the car stop. Eventually, in the interest of ever getting to Florida, Matthew had to hold his hand and encourage him to “use his diaper” when in the car seat.

To diaper or not to diaper:

No diapers when awake, either at home, others’ homes, and in public
Diapers for nap time (pinned prefolds with Thirsties covers)
Diapers for overnight (pocket diaper, once we discovered that their “feel-dry” material helped him sleep longer)
Diaper in the car for road trips

Despite our using simple, not-to-tight, elastic-waist underwear and pants, Sir cannot pull his pants down on his own, so he still very much needs our assistance in the potty process. For this reason (as well as habit), we continue to do mostly bare-bottom at home.

Month 24 — Present
More of the same, with the added twist of Sir starting part-time daycare. I feared that he would regress in the using-the-toilet department when in a new setting, with a new caregiver, and other kids around. Not so.

I informed Mrs. L about the meaning of “ttt, ttt,” and my little dude handled the transition like a champ. In two-and-a-half months there, he’s wet his pants only twice, and neither time was in the first few weeks.

In July, we took another long road trip, employing the same method of encouraging him to use his diaper in the car, though of course we offered the potty when we did stop (and we were stopping at least every two hours due to Matthew’s blood clot).

Naps and Nighttime Sleep
I really didn’t/don’t have a plan for this. For me, Gabriel sleeping well is MUCH more important than him staying dry during those times. Plus, I really have no idea how you teach a child not to pee while sleeping.

However, several weeks ago, he started waking up from some naps with a dry diaper. At this point, we’re close to 100% dry at nap time.

Two or three weeks ago, he woke up dry in the morning. Since then, I’d say we’re over 50% for dry nights. I find this particularly amazing since he sleeps for ten to eleven hours at night.

We’re still using diapers for both naps and overnights, and I’m not sure when I’ll feel comfortable giving it up, especially at night. I really dislike the idea of a middle-of-the-night bed sheet change.

At both sleep times, offering the potty immediately before putting on the diaper seems to increase likelihood of waking dry.

Tools
We are exclusively a Baby Bjorn potty family. We received the Little Potty (now with a slightly different design and called the Smart Potty) as a gift (one of the few items on our very, very small baby registry), and I purchased their potty chair and toilet trainer insert from Craigslist.

Due to the low profile, Gabriel could easily climb onto (think, walking over it from the back and sitting down) the Little Potty by himself, long before he was able to stand in front of either potty and sit down on it from that position.

He doesn’t seem particularly interested in the toilet insert, and, since he can’t climb onto the big toilet unassisted yet anyway, I am perfectly happy with him continuing to use the small potties (though I won’t miss emptying the poops).

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