Inadequacy at The Gym

Today Dante and Dominic and Jane and I went to "Pint-Size Playtime" with Aunt Gina and Emma.  It's in a big gymnasium used for gymnastics with all kinds of equipment for all sizes, a rope swing, and big soft wedges and blocks and things to play on.  We had gone before and had the entire place to ourselves, and the triplets (nickname for the twins and cousin when together) had a blast.

When we arrived, I sat down with Jane in the area with all of the soft climbing and playing things and nursed her and let her cling to me until she gained enough confidence to explore on her own.  Gina helped each of the triplets with a few turns on the rope swing and then sent them off to do other things.  I was perfectly content to sit there with Jane and watch them play while promising to help them with the swing when Jane was ready to let me go.

Quite honestly, I'm having a low-energy day, and was quite happy to use Jane as an excuse to sit in one spot without moving.  I'm perfectly capable of being energetic.  When we go to Pump It Up, I think I might be more active than the children.  I'd like to say that I'm normally very energetic and today was an off day, but really it's just random.  Sometimes I'm very high-energy and sometimes I'm utterly lethargic.  Occasionally I find a happy medium.  In my mind, I was doing a great thing for my kids by taking them for some active self-directed play time when I was so low energy.  Apparently this is not what other mothers have in mind when they take their kids for Pint Sized Playtime.

Shortly after we arrived, another mom showed up with two little boys.  Immediately she was climbing all over the equipment, standing, jumping, balancing and running.  She went and got out jump ropes and started running with the end trailing behind her while her boys chased her.  She was all over the place, and the only thought I could muster while watching her play was, "Huh.  Well good for her I guess."

Enter mother number two, and her little girl.  She's wearing spandex work out clothes, and is in great shape.  Now she starts playing.  She is swinging on the rope swing.  She's picking up and rearranging the little kids' equipment to maximize the fun experience for her daughter.  She picks up a huge foam circle thing and puts her daughter inside and rolls her across the gym like a hamster in a wheel.  They are just go go go non-stop!

Another mother arrives with a little girl.  Quite honestly, I don't recall exactly what extraordinary mothering feats she was accomplishing because I was too busy trying to decide if I should get up and pretend to be just as athletic as these other women, or if I just hated them all, but I know she was doing something energetic because at one point she ran up to us out of breath and said, "Don't you wish you had that much energy?!" before running off to play some more.  At first I thought she was bragging about her own activity level and that of the other moms, but then I realized it was just one of those cliche statements that adults always make about children.

I was forced to get up when Dante and Dominic began trying to kill each other over whose turn it was on the rope swing.  It turned out that Jane didn't need me sitting right there next to her anyway, she smiled and wandered off when I got up, so my cover was blown.  I gave the triplets all some turns on the rope swing, and then Dante and Dominic decided that I should engage in some of the games that the other mothers were playing.  They grabbed jump ropes and demanded to be chased, so halfheartedly I complied.

That's when I turned around to discover that MY OWN SISTER was jump roping and crossing the jump rope doing fancy tricks.  I stood there with my mouth agape, dazzled and impressed and only the tiniest bit resentful.  I weakly tried a few jumps, but it looked more like I was half hop-skipping with a gimpy leg and I couldn't stay in one spot.  I decided I'd better quit, lest I trip and flatten a child.  She says her mad skillz were the result of public education, and homeschooling was to blame for my ineptitude at jump roping.  Oh well.  I will have to make sure to get my kids some jump ropes. 

I glanced around the room again, and I saw a mother doing push-ups.  I'm not kidding.  She was doing push-ups.  Then she did some cartwheels.  Another mom was walking across the high-beam.  Another mom started jump roping too.  That was when I decided to just give-up and went back to "taking care of Jane".  Fortunately play time was up right about then so we packed it in and headed home.  In the future I will have to make sure to really psyche myself up for Pint-Size Playtime.  I swear, I'm going to be so active those other moms are going to go home and cry at their own comparative inadequacy.  Really.