A little bit of perspective...

First, I have to admit that I did not swim yesterday. It was a wild and wooly day fully of temper tantrums (Ladybug), calming people (Mr. Darcy), questions (work folk), and meetings. Plus a request for a meeting with Ladybug's teacher. Plus we needed to straighten a little (errant laundry) before the cleaning people came today. Stress ran wild. I even cried because Mr. Darcy told me that Ladybug's terrible two behavior might be exacerbated by my workouts in the evenings.

But today, after getting a chance to step back and take a 20 mile bike ride plus have a chat with Ladybug's teacher, perspective has been regained. Ladybug is what you would call a strong willed child, so the boundaries we set with her merely need to be more defined and we need to give her a shorter period of time within which to comply. Tightening the reins as it would be... but even better - we are now empowered with the knowledge that it is perfectly ok and actually the only proven method of curing tantrums is to walk away and completely ignore her until the tantrum is completely over. I am no longer responsible for trying to reason with her when she is in an unreasonable state. I merely have to make sure she won't hurt herself or others and then walk away until she is sane again. What a load off of my shoulders!

Then to add to my lightness, the yard man came and mowed and the cleaning people came for the first time and did a good job (except for my cook top, but I've already talked to the owner about it and he's making a note of it for next time). It's like yet another weight has been lifted. Now if only my laundry would get up out of the baskets, sort itself, wash, dry, and fold itself... and if the grocery list, meal planning, and grocery shopping could miraculously occur on its own. But, 3 of 5 (I'm including the "Ladybug situation" in here) isn't so bad!

My ride this morning was good too, btw. Although I did have to ride my bike through a busy intersection without being able to trigger the turn signal which was a little disconcerting but luckily I was careful and so were the cars. I was a good bit less stressed by the end of it which is always a needed and delightful side effect of my training efforts. I even got up to 18.4 mph for a stint of road, and it wasn't even down hill! I felt really good on the bike today, so that made me happy.

Now it's off to get the girls from school and head to watch Mr. Darcy play volleyball... no rest for the wicked!