The Wheels on the Bus is a toddler sensation

The Most Perfect Grandson in the World (TMPGW)'s current favorite sing-a-long is The Wheels on the Bus.  He knows all the verses and the motions and has now started to make his own additions, such as the clouds on the bus (but I don't know what the clouds "do" all through the town).  He lines up his duplo blocks, the ones with wheels, in a bus formation and puts his duplo people on before he informs us that this is THE bus.  Everyone who loves him sings The Wheels on the Bus endlessly.

I thought he was the only one with this fascination.
I discovered today at the Y that apparently this snappy tune is a toddler sensation.  Our Y has several TV monitors mounted on the wall for easy viewing from the treadmills.  If you would rather, you can watch from the screen on your treadmill.  They have preselected channels on the wall mounted TV's...CNN, ESPN, FoxNews, HGTV and one or two others that rotate so that walkers can watch The Price is Right.  The final monitor is a closed circuit feed from the Y nursery where the young parents can leave their children while they work out.  I don't pay too much attention to the Nursery Cam...I'm usually trying to guess if the yuppie couple will decide to Love It or List It.  (Today's was especially annoying.)  I happened to glance at the Nursery Cam and just had to give it my full attention when I noticed two toddler girls arranging all of the chairs in a straight line.  Now this took a lot of determination because some other children were actually sitting in the chairs that these junior engineers needed for their project.  But they persevered and finally had everything arranged to their satisfaction.  They then rounded up other toddlers and their toys to sit in the chairs. (These girls are definitely leaders!)  One of the day care workers had been watching them and when they were finally all set, she got up and started singing The Wheels on the Bus.  (I could tell from the motions....the Y TV's are all on mute with close captioning...except for the Nursery Cam.)  This group was singing merrily along and doing all of the motions when another toddler ran up to the day care worker and insisted that she was not doing the wheels motion correctly. Foot stomping and all!  He was right....she was doing more of train motion with her arms circling at her side instead of rolling her hands in front of her.  (Hey....I know my TWOTB!)  He was absolutely irate!  And she was holding her ground, too.  He finally convinced her to see the light and the song continued on.  And on.  And on.  Until finally, like the rest of us adults, the day care worker had her fill of  TWOTB and wandered away to check on the crying infant in the swing.  The toddlers continued on for a while longer and finally, they were finished, too. 
Now why share this with you on my retirement blog?  I thought it was just TMPGW who had a fascination with this song.  How wrong I was!  And how many kindergarten library lessons could have been saved by a rousing version of The Wheels on the Bus?  I don't need that information any more but on the off chance that I manage to find myself trapped with a number of preschoolers and toddlers, you know what we'll be doing.  If you are there, plan on giving up your chair without a fight.

Not a runner

Several friends (some that I did not realize were reading the blog) have asked me how that running/fitness goal is working out for me.  Well........not exactly the way I had planned.  I have given up my Couch to 5K class with the realization that some people are just not born to run.  If I were a gazelle, I would be the chubby, slow one that is doomed to serve as Thanksgiving dinner for the lion family.  Someone has to do it, right?  And I saved the other faster members of my family to run another day. (Positive spin on survival of the fittest!)   So if you happen to ever see me running, I advise you to run in the same direction as I am because there must be something large and carnivorous chasing me....I'll distract it for you.  Just say nice things about me at the memorial service.
I am still working on my fitness...just not running.  I work out at the Y several times a week (alone now that Strength Coach Son has become Engineer Canadian Son) and once a week, I time myself on a 5K on the treadmill.  I am not a coffee drinker unless it is seriously girly coffee and it is pumpkin spice latte and gingerbread latte season.  These hot mugs of deliciousness are loaded with calories so I just cannot let myself enjoy them as often as I would like.  So let's tie that craving to my fitness goals.  If I am able to beat my time in my weekly 5K from the previous week, I treat myself to Seattle's Best on the way home from the Y.  (FYI...the caramel pretzel is not as good as I had hoped...unless you like chunks of soggy pretzels with your coffee.)  I faithfully keep track of my time on the note feature of my phone.
Today was my 5K day.  It's been two weeks since my last timed session and I was fairly certain that I remembered the time to beat.  Picture me walking briskly on the treadmill, silently (I hope silently) singing along with my favorite walking tunes, keeping an eye on the time elapsing.  OH NO....I have slipped behind the goal time (as I remembered  it)...crank up the speed and walk a little faster.  OH NO...my coffee is slipping away....crank up the speed again and find a more peppy tune.  OH NO...this will be the worst time ever...crank up the speed and hold onto the hand rails.....Done.  Hmmm...I'm not sure.  Maybe I did better my time.  I'll look after my cool down.
Finally it is over.  The 5K is completed along with the 5 minute cool down.  I did not collapse but it sure seemed hot in there today.  Check the note feature....OMG...my best time ever.  I dropped almost 2 minutes!!!  And all because I could not remember the time to beat.  (Maybe losing those memory skills is a good thing.)  I can have my girly coffee!!!
 But OH NO...on the downside, I have to beat this new time next week.  I think I'd better enjoy this coffee.  I might be the last one for a long time.