Reflecting back to 1984

Well I dropped the bomb on B & E. Yep, Mom is going on her healthy eating kick AGAIN!!! E is practically in tears and B is just wondering how long is it going to last this time? (at least that is what his body language is telling me!)But really E is one of the reasons that I am doing this AGAIN! She got on the scale this week and weighed 80lbs!! YIKES, my 8 year old weighs 80lbs. She weighed 68lbs at her yearly appt in Jan. This was unacceptable, we have made too many trips to the DQ. Those of you that are Mortonites know what I'm talking about!

Anyways, when I saw E weighed 80lbs I quickly reflected back to my 5th grade year, I was 10 years old. We had just moved to Missouri the year was 1984, I remember the move so vividly I hated it! Okay, back on track...my mom took me shopping for an Easter dress, that is when we discovered I no longer could buy clothes in the girls dept. I had to move up to Juniors. I was excited at first because I was looking at smaller sizes 3's & 5's!! I wasn't wearing a 14/16 anymore! But then my mom brought me back to reality and said, "they aren't smaller they are actually bigger, you are supposed to be a teenager when you start wearing this size." And thus the saga began. The quest for the Easter dress in a brand new town where shopping was very limited. It was AWFUL! I tried on every dress in that town in my size, it was either, too big up top, too tight through the hips, not juvenile looking enough...Yada, Yada, Yada. My mom and I were both in tears by the end of the day. And do you know what? we ended up buying the first dress I tried on in the very first store we went to. I really didn't like the dress, it was white with red flowers on it. It didn't look very Easter-(y) at all. But that is the dress I ended up with and it was a size 5. The only size 5 dress I ever owned.

I do not wish these type of shopping trips on E. (I don't want to go through them as her mother either, I've been through them already as the child and in fact I still go through these shopping trips today with myself)I would love on my next girlfriends trip to Chicago to be able to shop alongside my girlfriends. Instead of me standing outside of the GAP waiting on them while they shop or them waiting on me while I run into Lane Bryant or splitting up from them at the dept store while they shop in their size and I wander to the back of the store to shop plus size. I want to shop in the same dept as my girlfriends for once in my life!! I would love to put those plus size days behind me.

Those of you that know E; know that she can say the darndest things and bring some comic relief. In her own innocent way she has commented on how "she wishes I looked like other moms because they are skinny". And just this week, she commented that she "didn't think you could be fat and go to college". She thinks that only skinny people go to college. Well, we all know that isn't so and we usually all graduate a little heavier than we went into college! Oh the innocence of a child. That is why it is important for me to take those reins and guide them a different direction; and sooner rather than later. Because if you know E; you know she has a strong dislike for school. And I have to wonder if she is thinking that she would like to continue to eat the junk food so that she can be fat and not have to go to college. That is just how her little brain thinks!

That is my reflection for today. I have a million thoughts going through my head and I'm trying to stay on track and not lose anyone. But honestly thoughts pop into my head and I think, Oh Yeah, I need to mention that too. But maybe tomorrow...

Thanks for your support and encouragement. Please try to post comments on the blog. I have a friend that says she prints her blog out and makes it into a book form and I would like to try to do that as well. I'm still learning on how this blogging all works. I tried to post some pics but it said my images were too big. It's a work in progress, just like me!