Vices

I have a lot of weaknesses. I love TV. I love fast food. I love Coke. In the back of my mind, I've always thought that I should cut back on those things. But now its a must. Helen is picking up my bad habits!

She loves TV. Well, to be fair, she loves one TV show. The Backyardigans. She calls it "Tasha," because her favorite character is named Tasha. She sees the TV and asks for Tasha. She hands me the remote and asks for Tasha. The other day at gymnastics she asked to watch Tasha. The TV problem is really my own fault. Before Helen turned one, she wasn't allowed to watch any TV. Then I was pregnant, puking, etc. and I needed some quiet time. So I discovered The Backyardigans, decided it was the only children's television show I could stomach, and plopped her in front of the TV. She didn't even like it at first! I forced it on her day after day for a week. Finally she was hooked. Then it was just one episode a day, it slowly turned to two, and now, well, I won't lie, there are days when she gets 2 hours of Tasha time. I try to tell myself that its educational. Its a pretty wordly show. It teaches a great deal about other countries, other cultures, history, etc. Unfortunately, the only thing I think she's learned is to shake her drink (from the episode spoofing James Bond, where Pablo the penguin likes his juice boxes shaken, not stirred).

The fast food is problematic too. Its hard to swing through the McDonald's drive-thru and just get something for myself. I just hear a little voice in the backseat asking for "fries, fries, fries!" Today for lunch Helen and I both had peanut butter sandwiches. I had mine with chips, she had hers with grapes. She threw the grapes on the floor and kept asking for "picks, picks!" Translation...that means chips. I thought to myself, "well, I can't really sit here and eat chips and tell her no." So she got some chips. The sandwich hit the floor and I heard requests for "picks" the entire lunch. I can also trace this problem back to my pregnancy. I used to be a little crazy about what Helen would eat. No junk, no juice, I was even going to make my own baby food so I could be sure there were no additives. Again, the pregnancy and puking hit and Helen started eating chicken nuggets.

Thank goodness she's stayed away from Cokes. Although if you leave one unguarded for even a second, she's on it. And she likes it. A lot.

I just want her to be healthier than me. I want her to be active, fit, exercise, and eat healthy. So many children today are struggling with weight issues. I've heard that today's children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of the rise in obesity. That's so scary! I think what's even more scary is how quickly your children pick up your own bad habits. So I think if I really want to change Helen's habits, I've got to change my own. So I'm cutting back the yummy...I mean yucky...food, I'll make sure to only turn on Tasha when I absolutely need her, and I'll only drink Cokes when Helen's asleep. Which reminds me, she's asleep now. I better eat a cookie and a Coke while I watch my DVRed shows from last week!!