The sweetest thing in the world is a peacefully sleeping child. I love sneaking into my son's room and looking at that adorable face and whatever silly pose he has slept in, then I turn off the lamp since he never does. One of the things I've found that helps him sleep so well is running him until he crashes, so I put as much effort as I can into finding new and creative ways to wear him out.
Two and a half years ago my son began gymnastics classes. It was a mommy and me class when we started, but he has consistently stuck with the activity and he is now in a class that I am not at all involved with. He has learned to bounce on the trampoline, do an assortment of stretches, walk on a beam, do forward rolls, and is currently perfecting cartwheels and an unassisted backroll on an incline. He has learned to follow instructions from a coach and to adapt to correction and feedback. He is sweaty and tired by the end of each class and it makes me beyond happy to see him challenge himself with each new task.
This past spring he began his journey to baseball with his first teeball team. We have played teeball in the yard for years, but this was his first time with a group of kids. He usually played short stop and through the season he progressed amazingly in his ability to stop the ball and get it to the pitcher. He tried catcher once, but didn’t like all the gear. He learned how to be coached by men and how to be a part of a team. I look forward to many years of baseball in our future.
This summer also saw his first swim lessons. He loves the water and we want him to do so safely. He is a ways away from being able to hit the pool or beach without a floaty, but he is taking steps in the right direction. He was one of the few kids who was willing to submerge his face in the water right away, he loves blowing bubbles.
Possibly my favorite activity is races though. He ran his first mile at two and a half. He was the slowest to finish, but he did the whole mile on his own two feet, and carrying a Batman figure at that. Since then he has done a number of kids races for assorted charities, he has run in red, white, and blue for a Veterans’ Day race and supported CASA by running with a superhero cape on. Next weekend we will get all costumed up and do a .5 K Creepy Crawl to support our local education foundation. If you are in South Texas and want a fun energy burn, you should check out the details here.
Whether we are participating in organized activities, or just running like crazy in the yard or at a playground, motion definitely works better than anything else for helping both of us get a good sleep. What fun ways do you run your kids?