Just Call Him 60 Cent

Sunday afternoon drama in our house:

I'm in the bathroom and hear a commotion outside. I come out to see D in tears, M looking really concerned and P choking, trying to stick his fingers in his mouth to make himself throw up. I hear M curse and I spring into action, pick up my little boy, turn him upside down and whack him in the middle of his back, hard. Ching, ching, ching. What comes out?

Two quarters and a dime.

Good Lord! We could have lost my little boy. Then I held him while he cried and coughed and then proceeded to throw up on my shoulder. But he's alive, so all is ok. He's alive and all is ok. Turns out that Big Brother PUT the coins in Little Brother's mouth. Why? Heaven knows. They do know that they're NEVER, NEVER to do that again. Scary. Very scary.

But he's alive, so all is ok.

Gap

Gosh, has it really been three weeks since I last blogged? Time flies.

Getting ready for work trip and presentation.
Interviewing and hiring new colleague.
Sorting out D's summer camp for all 10 weeks of summer.
Work trip and presentation.
Visiting and training at an aikido dojo while on the road (!).
Breaking cooktop on stove and having to order a new one.
Coming home to my three guys and getting right back into the routine.
Running, on the road and back at home.
Getting unexpectedly high credit card bill and realizing that last month's bill went missing and therefore it's now two months worth of charges and ...

Today I get to go back to my regular aikido class.

Keep It Simple

Doran Sensei's class this week focused on kata dori nikyo, breaking it down into all the little pieces that go into the technique. Stepping off the line of attack, atemi to the face, drawing out the arm on the grabbed side, lowering your center, scooping in, taking the elbow, going for the third point to take uke's center.

It's a lot to remember. Where do my feet go? Where do my hands go? How do I not get clocked by uke?

Then he summed it up in two steps:

1. Take uke's balance.
2. Take uke's balance.

And, when in doubt, refer to step 3:

Don't lose your own balance.

Just.Keep.Breathing

Sometimes my kids drive me absolutely crazy. Tonight was one of those nights. How hard can it be to write a five sentence paragraph? Apparently, it's harder than figuring out a solution to the Iraq problem.

I tried to be calm. I tried to be rational. I tried to reason with D.

But I failed. I lost my temper.

Argh.