Training | Life and Photos by Andy

So, this weekend I am in Bar Harbor Maine. I will be partaking in the Mount Desert Island Marathon. I have never been much of a runner, (I’ve never really seen the point of running for hours) however, if you give me a basketball I can play for hours.
My mother originally signed up a three person relay team to run the event. Unfortunately, my mother contracted Lyme’s disease and was unable to train or run her portion of the marathon. I received a phone call at the end of August, she asked me if I would consider replacing her. I didn’t really commit until until the beginning of September. Since then I have been jogging/walking 7-9 miles about 2 to 3 times a week. It has been the most I have EVER run in my LIFE. I have to say that I have enjoyed the solitude of the treadmill in the late evening and early morning. So, when the run is over. I just my continue this trend I have started.

When I was a kid, my parents instituted a family whistle. I was very useful in stores and other situations. To this day, if we are looking for one of our family members, we can whistle this little tune and the other family member will whistle back and we will find each other with the sound.

I use a Cesar Millan parenting technique similar to this. It keeps me from screaming my children’s names in public places. It’s a little tisking sound that is used to get their attention. What’s nice about having doggy trained the girls this way is that I can quickly get their attention without embarrassing them. They also know my eye signals and have been told enough what behavior is expected that they usually know what I’m asking them right away.

Tisk tisk! (Crazy eyeballs) …and Abby looks at me from the front of the church and puts her dress down.

Tisk tisk. (squinty eyeballs) Cate looks at me from the end of the grocery aisle and comes closer to mommy so she doesn’t get lost.

Tisk tisk (Come hither eyeballs) Both girls come over to mommy to answer a question or get a snack or have their shoes tied.

Yep… I’m the kid whisperer… most of the time.