Mom had a lot to say after baby Claire was born.

"I'm out of shape!"

"I'm tired!"

"I can't fit into my clothes!"

I had something to say, too. "I miss Mom!" Once Mom had the baby, she didn't have time for anything else.

But I had an idea. For Mom's birthday, I gave her a "personal trainer": Me! Molly B.!

I know all about personal trainers from Mom's magazines. They have curvy muscles, flat tummies, and strong arms and legs. They teach people how to run, walk, jump rope, and do exercises. I can do all that stuff!

Now Mom and I work out every morning. While Dad and Claire are still asleep, we wake up our muscles. We reach up to the sky and down to our toes. We make ballet arms and bend over sideways. We squat like chickens laying eggs. Mom laughs when I flap my arms and go "cluck, cluck."

Then Mom "power walks" while I ride my bike beside her. Power walking means going really fast and swinging your arms, like teachers when they're after somebody on the playground.

I make Mom bring a water bottle. "Hydrate, Mom, hydrate!" I remind her. That means drink at least eight glasses of water a day. She says, "I'll float away, Molly!" but she hasn't yet.

During her power walk, Mom and I talk about my classes and friends. And I make her feel good about exercising. "That's great!" I tell her. "You can do it!"

She does the same for me when I play ball or do homework.

Lots of people exercise in the morning. Grover Jones' grandma zooms by on skates. Mr. Johnson chases his dog Sunshine through the park. I guess Sunshine is his personal trainer. Mr. and Mrs. Chu do a slow-motion dance on their lawn. Mom says they're doing T'ai Chi (say it: tie CHEE).

Every afternoon when I get home from school and Claire is napping, Mom and I train some more. We warm up with jumping jacks, or we skip rope. Mom gets her feet tangled, but that's okay.

We also lift weights. My set are small. We lift them over our heads and bring them down to our shoulders. We raise them out to our sides, so we look like the letter T. We pull the weights straight up from our knees to our chins, like we're lifting a bucket of water. We do each one, up and down, until our arms are tired. Then I tell Mom, "Give me one more!"

Next, Mom does sit ups and I do sit downs. I sit down on her feet while she lies on the floor, knees bent, and lifts her head and shoulders. I keep count. Mom helps me with the numbers. We're already up to 100!

Mom says I'm a great personal trainer. It's fun, and we get to spend more time together. She can fit into her favorite clothes again and she has lots of energy. I've got my old Mom back.

Now that Mom and I are in such good shape, I've got my eye on baby Claire. She's crawling now, but I think she could go faster. "Go, Claire, go!" I tell her. "That's great!"