"My Body"

Through the help of a wonderful speech teacher, Zach seems to be expressing himself better all the time. He has gotten really good at announcing, "That makes me feel mad!" Or sad. Or whatever fill-in-the-blank emotion is churning through his body at the moment. He also has developed this interesting structure of talking about how his body feels. As in, "I know I'm not supposed to have another cookie, but my body really wants one." Or when we are at Target: "I know we said we weren't going to buy any toys right now, but my body really wants a new train set." Dave and I, privately, have turned this into our own joke once the kids go to bed, e.g., "I know I should be doing laundry but my body really wants to watch Downton Abbey."

Luke's body, for the moment, really just wants to cook stuff. Preferably with me and without Zach. When he gets in full cooking mode, he suits up with an apron and closes the pocket door on one side of the kitchen and barricades the other side with pillows. He also created an intimidating "KEEP OUT!!!" sign to hang over the pillow barricade. I'm not sure exactly what the fascination is about, but I know it has something to do with special Mom time that he doesn't get much of. Last night he and I made a beet green salad with chopped endive, strawberries, and leek, all topped with bacon dressing. Yes. Even though we call him a picky eater sometimes, he'll happily eat any raw vegetable. Salad dressings are new for him, but he was so impressed with the bacon dressing that came with a kale salad I got recently that we decided to recreate it. He has already decided that he wants us to throw "lots and lots" of dinner parties in the next few weeks, and we're going to spend some time this weekend planning menus.

As for my body, it is in a little transitional state right now. I signed up for, and was excited about, the Hollywood Half Marathon in early April. However, after just one month of training, my 43-year-old knee cried foul on the whole operation. Two doctors' visits later, I was sent to a physical therapist, who turned out to be a total gem. She sized me up and instantly was able to declare, "This side is a little stronger right here; this foot is a little lower on this side..." etc. At the moment my foot and knee are taped up at the vulnerable points with athletic tape and I'm on a knee-strengthening regimen. Next week she's going to set me up with some pilates workouts, and by the week after that I should be a lean, mean running machine. Or something. I don't know if the half-marathon is going to happen (it's looking unlikely) but if the end result is that I get stronger and fitter, I won't have anything to complain about.

Tired of body talk yet? If not, and if you're not offended by talk about breastfeeding, check out my interview for the "Clever Cleavage" series that ran this week: Clever Cleavage.