There was a children's song that Carol King sang when I was a kid called "Eating Chicken Soup with Rice" by Maruice Sendak.  I loved that soug.  So I have it downloaded to a bunch of kids music that I play around the house for the girls during the day.  It makes me a bit nostalgic.  So today the song played and I watched the girls shimmy around the basement to the song, and it got me to thinking.  How much exercise do kids get when they play?  Just by playing, not sports or organized classes or anything like that, just by bopping aroumd the house. 

Well we do a lot of dancing around the house, (Ok, we can call it dancing, but what I do is more of artistic license on the word 'dance')  Also, I have to say, peekaboo with toddlers, can get pretty intense, they run around peeking from EVERYWHERE.  So there is some more.  Also, my kids tend to RUN every where they go.  I have no idea how this is as fun as they make it out to be, but apparently running, especially indoors is like the greatest thing in the world, and the only way to get from point A to point B.  I cannot imagine getting up right now from my chair, and running upstairs to let my son know it is time for bed.  (Oh wait, after the attitude today, maybe I will.) 

There is also the marching, the skipping, the jumping, all JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT.  My daughter started jumping up and down at the top of ths little slide we have in the basment and said, "I LOVE JUMPING!!!"  So the question is, when do we lose that sense of play?  That sense that everything is fun, even the mundane.  Because I gotta say, sometimes what they think is the best game ever, is excruciatingly boring to me.  Like the game, Oops.  You drop something, and say "Oops.."  I am done after like, once.  They would play this for hours!  So when does this sense of play go away?  And more importantly, how can we get it back?  Because honestly, I would be much more motivated to exercise if I was having as much fun as the kids are having playing "march to the music," or "jump holding on to the couch."  

 So in honor of regaining that sense of play, I made Chicken Soup with Rice for dinner.  I have yet to start jumping holding onto the couch.