Day 10 - to dance as a child

I really enjoy being around kids. This is probably at least partly due to the fact that I am slightly immature, and I can relate to them and their goofiness. Seriously, I really appreciate the honesty of a child. Once a child asked me why I had so many red spots on my face (pimples), and another time a kid asked me why I was 'big'. You don't get that kind of smack-you-in-your-face, unfiltered honesty anywhere else - and you can rest assured that when kids say things like that, they almost always are not saying it to make you feel bad or to point out a flaw to be cruel - they're just genuinely curious. And when kids say things like 'You're pretty', or 'I want to be just like you when I grow up', you know that they also say those nice words with sincerity.

So because I enjoy being around kids so much, I sometimes moonlight as a babysitter. In my single days, I would babysit often - sometimes 4 or 5 nights a week - for extra money and just for fun. Nowadays though, with planning a wedding and all of the activities going on surrounding that, I babysit much less, and only for one family, which suits me quite well.

The other night I was babysitting for my two sweet girls that I watch - a 6 year old and a 3 year old. They're adorable girls and love to play dress up, cooking show (I'm the 'host'! It's like Food Network in your kitchen making macaroni and cheese!), 'travel adventure', nail salon (with real nail polish!), board games, school (they're the teachers, I'm the student!), etc. Thursday night, however, I introduced a new game to the mix - 'dance party'.

The girls are planning to attend my wedding with their parents and are very excited about it. They frequently ask me questions about what I'll be wearing, what they should wear, if they'll be dancing, and if they should bring their tiaras. So while we were cleaning up from dinner, I put on some Beatles music and we danced all around the kitchen for a good half hour. The girls loved it - they were climbing all over me and each other, we were swinging each other around, and we even formed a little 'loco-motion' style dancing train around the house. It felt like a wedding.

Right about now, you might be wondering what this has to do with anything, and if I'm going to try to pass off having a dance party with a 6 and 3 year old as a workout for the day. And you are half right. I was sweaty, man! I felt my heart pounding! However, I did manage (this is a true miracle) to arise earlier than usual on Thursday morning and I started my day with 15 minutes of yoga.

That counts, right?