Twinkle Think... Twinkle Think...

Moana had a party at pre-school today and came home with a helium balloon. She let it go when she came inside and it ended up on the kitchen ceiling. It was cute to watch her drag a chair under the balloon and stand on it to grab it and pull it down. I gave her a high five b/c she was super proud of herself for 'solving the problem'.

Mama! I solved the problem!! Mama mama mama I solved the problem! Mama I solved the problem! Mama mama mama... (she is in the repeat everything 100x stage... that I hear lasts until she's about 13).

A few minutes later (after re-creating and solving the same problem several times) she let go of the balloon in our living room and then let out a very loud SHRIEK when she realized that vaulted ceilings provide a problem that cannot be solved with a chair. There was quite a bit of serious (and rather obnoxious) whining at first. Since we watch Sesame Street pretty much every day, we were able to calm her down by telling her that we need to Twinkle Think... Twinkle Think... (if you have a toddler you probably understand this reference... if not, use your imagination) about how to solve this new problem. That made her smile and eventually with the use of a broom pole daddy helped her solve the problem.

All this problem solving reminded me how much I enjoy solving problems. That I am indeed happiest when I have a problem to solve. Right now I have a couple of problems that, in the big scheme of things, are not very big problems, but they are problems for me nonetheless. One of these problems is that my running is (still) slower than I want it to be... which I know is not a unique problem and it is, indeed, a problem I have had for, well, let's see, since I started trying to run? Maybe it's a problem I'll never truly 'solve', because really, how many people truly think I am really happy with how fast I am running... Um, is there anyone who thinks that?? So this problem of mine is rather universal yet I whine about it sometimes even though I know that is very obnoxious. Anyway, I have spent a good amount of time Twinkle Thinking and hopefully have come up with some potential solutions. Unfortunately, this one won't be solved in a matter of about a minute with a long broom, but I think some diligent smart work over the next several months will point me in the right direction.