Toddler Cardio & Because I'm Dedicated

And because I don't want to get another day behind. In the past, when I've started slipping on a challenge, I usually give up. I guess my reasoning is that if I have failed a little bit, I might as well fail completely and truly earn that guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Not so this time. Not so.

I am determinedly and doggedly continuing on.

So, in order to truly make this a useful and inspiring post, I am going to teach you the secret to my daily workout routine.
 

original image courtesy of www.cleancuisineandmore.com

Toddler Cardio Workout Routine:

Step 1 - Announce that you are going "bye-bye".

Step 2 - Chase toddler around with two shirts on hangers. Let him pick his favorite, which he then pulls off the hanger. Bend over to pick up the shirt every time he drops it on the floor. Repeat 3 times.

Step 3 - Chase toddler down the stairs. Pick up the shirt again; hold squirming toddler in one arm while using the other to put the shirt on him.

Step 4 - Walk back upstairs. Look through all the drawers for a correctly sized pair of pants. No, not those. Those are too small. You should really put those in a "too small" box but instead you put them back in the drawer. Not those either. Those are too big. Really need to sort those clothes, eh?

Step 5 - Search the top floor of your house looking for your toddler. Walk briskly down the stairs to find your toddler standing on his stool at the kitchen sink, helping you wash dishes. Dig through the dirty laundry for a towel to clean up the soapy water on the floor. Change him from the now sopping wet shirt into the shirt that he didn't pick.

Step 6 - Help your toddler put on his pants. Hold the waist of the pants at both sides and bounce your toddler up and down to get the pants on correctly.

Step 7 - Tell your toddler it is time to go. Watch your toddler run outside to find his tricycle. Chase him around. When he is done and ready to really hide from you, chase him to his outside playhouse with kitchen (because he loves "coo-keen").

Step 8 - Drag him, kicking and screaming, from his cooking adventure, then hold him firmly as he flails about in your arms, vainly trying to escape the horrible fate awaiting him in the car.

Step 9 - Spend 5 minutes fighting to get the car seat straps buckled securely.

Step 10 - Realize you are really too tired to go anywhere right now. Let your toddler back out of the car and back into his playhouse.

Step 11 - Pour yourself a drink -- of water. Enjoy that post-workout buzz.

Bonus cardio: Add in a 13 pound newborn and her carseat carrier. She is hungry, has a dirty diaper, and needs to be dressed before being loaded in the carrier and toted out to the car.

Ta-da! Instant workout!!


(NO Sugar NOvember update: Saturday we had a little birthday party for my stepson. I did not plan ahead and had nothing else to eat or drink available. So I ate a *small* piece of cake, and a 100 calorie chocolate popsicle. And a sip of orange drink. Today I drank a 1/2 sweet 1/2 unsweet tea from Chicken Express. It was actually TOO SWEET but I had already paid for it and pulled away from the drive thru, so I just went with it. As with my #NaBloPoMo challenge, I will not admit total defeat due to these minor infractions! Tomorrow is a new day. A day filled with another blog post but not another helping of added sugar.)