Our Walks.

With the advent of warmer weather, we are spending a lot more time outside. The words a lot maybe an understatement; we are spending every available minute outside. The kids love the fresh air. I love the fresh air. And the fresh air has done wonders for all of us. Simon is coming alive more than ever. Being with the kids virtually every minute of every day it is sometime hard to see them making small steps in their physical and cognitive development. But in these last couple of weeks, boy has Simon changed! Physically, he is desperately trying to walk. He is up to four steps now. I think he has put a little extra effort into walking because he’s tired of sitting on the sidelines while Taylor plays on the various slides and jungle-jims at the park. The look he gives me when he’s sat down and buckled into the wagon seat goes right to my heart. Oh, I want him to be up and about! Cognitively, he is awake. It’s not that he slept through the last ten months but to see him fascinated to take in all of the sights and sounds around him is enlightening and encouraging to the soul. His spirit, more than ever, is shining through!

I try to rotate where we go and what we do every couple of weeks to keep the kids from becoming bored with our outside routines. These last two weeks I’ve stopped taking the kids for walks around the block. It’s not that I’m sick of our walks. I love them and the kids like them, too. Actually, I think I like the walks more than the kids do. Walking not only allows me an hour or more of exercise, it allows me to listen to my iPod. For my birthday last year Adrianne bought me a nano. But unlike most iPod users, my nano is filled with my favorite podcasts and audio books. For emergencies, I might have half a gig of music on the device, but I doubt it’s that much. My favorite podcasts are from NPR. In five minutes’ time, I can listen to more newsworthy stories than two hours’ worth of national televised news from ABC or CBS. Free time is the one thing I just don’t have; being able to stay on top of the latest news a few minutes a day is a substantial benefit. The reason I’ve stopped taking the kids for walks is because they’ve started to fall asleep minutes after we leave our driveway. While this may sound like a good thing, it isn’t. Having them fall asleep in the morning not only adjusts their regular nap schedule, it makes them cranky the rest of the day because they’ve substituted a full two-hour nap for a 45-minute catnap.

By the end of this week I’ll begin taking the kids for a walk again. I’m not sure, however, if I’ll take them first thing in the morning or waiting until after their naps so that they will not have the opportunity to fall asleep. The mornings work best for me: the temperatures are cooler, I prefer to exercise in the morning, and I can get my daily dose of the news at relatively the same time as everyone else. Then again, the afternoon would probably work best for the kids– so long as it doesn’t get too hot this summer. Not only will they already be rested, there will be little chance of them falling asleep, and right after the walk we can either run around the yard, or cool off under a tree in the backyard in the swing set or jump in the river for a quick dip. (Yes, I know it is still spring.)

Whatever I decide to do with the kids, I know we’ll be outside and having fun doing it.