Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Kvetching Jogger


One of the things that they do in LO's physical education class is run laps. At the end of the year anyone who qualifies gets to participate in what they call the "Panther Mile". For LO this means that she needs to run a mile in 10 minutes or less. LO has never qualified for the Panther Mile. But it's not because she can't run a mile in 10 minutes or less. It's because she is usually walking the track with her girlfriends. Instead of her feet running, her mouth is running...a million miles a minute.

It has never seemed to bother her that she and her girlfriends haven't qualified for the Panther Mile or that they are always the last to finish "running" the mile. But the other night when we were taking a evening stroll, she indicated that she wished she could run the Panther Mile. PHD told her that it would be easy and that he would help her do it. So this morning, training for the Panther Mile began.

(I was at work so this event is as told by PHD.)

The plan was to run one block and then walk one block for the mile. They started by running three blocks. Always the drama queen, LO started to pant like a dog that had been running on a hot summer day (complete with the sound effects and the tongue hanging out).

Then the kvetching began. PHD said she gave every excuse in the book. Some of the highlights were:

I'm sweating down my neck.

My arms hurt.

My eyes hurt.

My tongue hurts.

My tuchis is schvitzing. (I loved this one the most. How funny is a Chinese kid complaining in Yiddish?)

She called me and told me, "Mama, I'm a kvetcher!" Then she told me that the best part of jogging is stopping. Now I can't wait to go jogging with her. Although I fear it will be more about laughing hysterically than actually jogging.

11 comments:

RaggedyMom said...

That tuchis comment is too cute!! This kid is going to be in a movie one day!

Ann has been known to tell me that she needs to stay home from school because "My temperature is hurting. Very, very badly."

The Babka Nosher said...

I love it! I complain the same way when I run!

Juggling Frogs said...

Such a cute story! Today she's proud to be a kvetcher, tomorrow she'll be proud to be a panther.

May she go from strenth to strength - from a panter to a Panther!

Annie said...

For the record, I went for a run yesterday and it was pretty punishing. I definitely feel for LO. If I had a running buddy I would have complained too!

Jack Steiner said...

That is pretty funny.

Another meshugannah mommy said...

Well, she did better than I would have done!

LittleBirdies said...

Sounds like fun--can I join?

Kol Ra'ash Gadol said...

OK Just because of the tuchis comment I have to share: My DS (3) has recently started describing anything large as "big ass." As in "that's a big ass truck."
And just for the record he didn't learn that from me. THanks DH! My son is turning out to be the kid that teaches all the others how to cuss!

Anonymous said...

Each day and in more ways she's getting to be quite the Orieyenta! Always a bit of fun too. Hope she's convinced to keep up after it, or find a sport that suits her a bit better. Cheers & Good Luck! 'VJ"

orieyenta said...

RM - I love the temperature thing - I am sure it is super sweet to see those words coming out of sweet Little Ann!

BN - me too!

JF - We can only hope :)

Annie - maybe you and LO can run together.

Jack - As she gets older it seems like these moments don't happen as often but when they do they are just as good as they always have been!

AMM - I am ashamed to admit that she did better than I did as well!

LB - Anytime...we can form a big "Kvetching Joggers" group!

KRG - Bet that will go over well at shul ;)

VJ - Isn't that the truth? She's now managed to actually jog the entire mile - it wasn't under 10 minutes and it wasn't without the kvetching, but it's a start!

Unknown said...

I do a fusion of Hebrew and Yiddish - my tachat is schvitzing - when the air goes off at work. All the repair guys know what it means by now :)