Will walk for puffs

Max has had a big week - he started walking!!!

For whatever reason, I was convinced he would be walking by his 1st birthday.  But, that day passed without him even showing an ounce of interest in moving past his aardvark crawl.  I knew he would walk when he was ready, and I didn't give it much thought after that.  Except when I saw that the Royal Baby was already walking, I had to do some quick calculations: he is HOW old??  Great job, George.

Last week, Max took a ministep as he was trying to pick up his basketball.  I got pretty pumped.

Then, when I picked him up from Nana's on Tuesday, she casually said - oh yeah he's been walking all over today.  She is Bosnian and sometimes she says things that don't quite mean what she thinks they do, so I didn't believe her.  But then, off he went!  He walked from one side of the rug to the other!  I couldn't believe it!  I was so happy and so proud, I was tearing up and smothering him with kisses!

Luckily, Mike would be home early that night, so I told him we had a surprise for him.  As he walked into the kitchen, Max was already standing up, and he just walked right over to Mike.  It was so freaking cute - not to mention, impeccable timing!  We got a few videos where Mike would entice Max to walk by offering him puffs.  If you don't know what puffs are, they are Max's best friend.  He would do anything for a puff.  When he sees the puffs come out, he literally squeals with delight.  The first thing he does in the morning is point to the kitchen and signal for more.  More puffs.

I handled this milestone way better than when he started crawling and I was at work.  I was just so happy about this new phase and what a big boy it made him look like.  I went through my usual thought process:  he is his own person.  He is going to experience so many milestones and chances are, you won't be there for a lot of them.  I mean, will I be hiding in the bushes as he picks up his first date?  Probably.  But the point is, he is progressing and he is learning new things and it's all good in the hood.

Ole!

Endorphins are real

Something about the summer weather makes me want to work out.  Naturally, I spend the first month debating how I should satisfy this craving.  Gym?  No...too expensive and what would I do with Max? Crazy BeachBody DVD?  No...I want to be outside.  Then I always end up at the same conclusion: I want to RUN! By run, I mean walk/jog.  Then I debate the logistics.  Morning or evening?  Does Max come?  Where do I go? What do I wear?  Do I wash my hair afterwards?  Will my current yoga pants let me do this activity comfortably or will I be tugging at them the whole time?

Finally, yesterday night - also known as last night - I had it all figured out.  I would look up a beginners running plan and run in the morning before Mike left for work at 6:30.  It's already light out, and chances are, the level of my walk/jog would not leave me too sweaty, so I wouldn't have to deviate from my twice/week hair washing schedule.

I popped out of bed, slipped into my clothes that I had carefully laid out, and was turning on my Lady GaGa Pandora station by 5:57.  In the words of Borat, GREAT SUCCESS!  The morning air was cool and the sun was shining.  My route was a perfect 2 mile square, on main roads where the risk of getting abducted are low.  With my beginners running plan, I was only running for one minute and then walking for two (hey I'm a beginner...don't judge!) but the side cramp I experienced felt like I was running for a million minutes, walking for 10 seconds.

I had some time to ponder things.  How did I find this perfect route?  Do they plan the blocks this way? Why do they turn park sprinklers on in the morning, when people are more likely to be out walking/running/etc?  Why not turn them on in the middle of the night, which would also keep the juvenile delinquents from drinking 40's in the park late at night.

When I got home, I remembered an article I had read where a woman swore by "oiling" her insides by putting coconut oil in her coffee.  I was already done with Step 1 of living healthy, so why not keep it going?!?  I brewed a delicious cup of coffee with a teaspoon of coconut oil in the mug.  Can you believe it, another GREAT SUCCESS!  My morning was off to a fabulous start.

After getting ready, with the help of my friend Maxwell, I made my usual smoothie.  But then, I had a moment of genius.  I had extra smoothie but not a lot of time to spoon it to Maxer, so I put it in a to-go container, put it in his "lunch bag" that goes with him to Nana's and took out the yobaby yogurt I normally send.  Hey now...if I'm already making this smoothie, and I know exactly whats going in it, why not always make a little extra and have that be his "yogurt", instead of buying an additional pack of yogurts for him that probably have too much sugar anyway??  This idea made me really excited.  Streamlining!

On the way to work, I'm thinking about the many homeless people I see on my way to work.  I have a quick daydream about if I ever sat down for a chat with one, I would probably realize he is just a human.  I start thinking....we are all JUST HUMANS.  Anything negative that comes after that is just Satan's work.  Not to be an evangelist, but isn't it true?  We are all just people with a good core, but things happen to give us weird quirks or harden our hearts...but at the base of it all, we are just people with feelings!

At this point, I come to the realization: endorphins are real.  All because I burned about 12 calories this morning, I want to start pow-wowing with the homeless.

Why don't I exercise more?  Because I want to "sleep"?  I spend the last 20 minutes in bed each morning hitting my snooze button and wondering what the weather will be like.  If I just got out of bed and moved my body around for a bit, my day is naturally off to a good start.  I owe that to myself and to my family.  I need increased energy when I get home from work and Max wants to play but I want to pour a vodka drink and lay on the couch.

Who knows how long this inspiration will last, but I want to ride this wave while it's here.  Happy holiday weekend, friends!