Just like mommy

Flower wants so badly to be like mommy and exercise on the treadmill. Every chance she gets, she sneaks on there and just sits and stares at my shoes, or she'll stand at the front and hold the bar and pretend it's moving. Today she actually put my shoes on and she was so cute! I wish I could let her do it but for obvious reasons, it's not a good idea. I've heard horror stories of children being burned in some form or another by treadmills. It makes me so nervous. At first I wouldn't even use it if she was in the room. Now I set up a barrier and if she goes beyond that, I stop it, like when she has to use the potty. I just think it's really important that she sees me exercise everyday so that she knows it's important to being healthy and hopefully she'll gain a love for it. I always knew my mom exercised but it was usually when we were still asleep. She'd then wake us up for school with breakfast on the table. I always admired her for taking care of herself but it wasn't something we ever did as a family. I pretty much hate it! I never act like it in front of Flower though. Rather I get very excited to put my shoes on and talk about how it's good for me and so on. I now put my exercise ball on her side of the barrier and allow her to play on that while I'm on the treadmill. She always looks up at me and says so proudly, "I exercise like mommy?" and I excitedly tell her yes. I try and include her when I can like taking her hiking but that is much easier to do when it's not freaking cold outside! Anyway. We talk all the time about healthy eating and living. I just hope I can be a good example to her of working out and wanting to be healthy. It's so important to me that she loves herself! I also hope that we can teach her that her self worth isn't tied to her weight or looks. Boy, that's a hard lesson to learn! It's so important to surround her with women that don't put themselves down. Women that show her that even if we're not particularly happy with our bodies at the moment, we can work on it! We can still be happy! We're still a good people. We're still smart. We're still worthy of love! It's so hard to focus on that! I guess as long as I'm always trying to do better, that's all I can do! It just makes me smile that she wants to be like me...especially when it's something good! Lord knows she's already picked up some of the not so great ones dammit! :)