Toddler Crossfit

I recently got back into a running routine after having our second daughter. It isn't easy to find the time. Leave the house at 5:30AM before everyone is awake to get in a 3-4 mile run three times a week. My brother came over for dinner one night and I was telling him that I was getting back into running. "You need to join a gym and do crossfit" he tells me. Clearly my brother does not have young children at home. "Crossfit? I have a two year old! I am already doing crossfit!" I answered. You might think I am joking but I am here to tell that chasing a toddler all day is definitely a form of crossfit.

Crossfit routines incorporate high-intensity interval training, weightlifting, plyometrics, calisthenics, and other exercises. These are just a few elements of crossfit that are accomplished daily by parents everywhere.

• High-intensity interval training is alternating periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. You can do this exercise by chasing a toddler running down the hallway with half a roll of toilet paper streaming behind them. When they see mama coming behind them they will start running faster as they hang a left into the living room. You then book it at high speed to prevent that toilet paper from being wrapped around the coffee table. When you finally get the toilet paper from your toddler you will begin picking up all the ripped pieces up and catching your breath. Before you finish you will look up to see the toddler throwing handfuls of dirt out of your favorite houseplant and you are up and running again.

• Weightlifting is where an athlete attempts a maximum-weight single lift of a barbell loaded with weight plates. This exercise is best executed with multiple children in a parking lot setting. Strap infant baby to chest and when your toddler refuses to hold your hand and wants to run into oncoming traffic you will quickly snatch them up and lift them over a shoulder in a clean and jerk motion to avoid hitting the infant.

• Plyometrics involves having muscles exert maximum force in as short a time as possible, with the goal of increasing both speed and power. This can be dubbed the super mom exercise. Toddler climbs on top of a bar stool to grab a bunch of grapes off the counter as their foot slips and your toddler starts to struggle for balance you spring into super mode lunging forward to grab your toddler's arm at the last second. This can be expected to occur 3-4 times daily leaving you with well toned calf muscles.

• Calisthenics are a form of exercise consisting of a variety of exercises, often rhythmical movements. They are intended to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking. What better place for calisthenics then the playground? Toddlers generally obsess on one or two pieces of playground equipment, usually the slide or the swings. Which will require you to help your toddler up to the top of the slide climbing those steps over and over and over... The swings only requires you to push but your toddler will want up and down out of the swings many time causing you to twist and bend many times. The real workout happens when you tell them its time to go home. This will trigger screams and running. This will give you more weightlifting and plyometrics to get them into the car.

Lyra on the swing

The next time someone suggests an exercise routine you just gotta try you can suggest the toddler crossfit. Tell them you will even lend them a toddler for the day. Guaranteed to give you a workout you never knew existed. It even comes with a brain workout as the toddler will ask half a millions questions you never thought were worth asking throughout the day. For those in need of a more strenuous workout throw in an infant and/or puppy. I hear twin toddlers will double the workout as well. 

Help a Mama Out

My second daughter is now seven months old and I finally am feeling like my old self again. It has taken me a few months to write this blog because it is a difficult thing to write about. Hell asking for help is a difficult thing for me to do in general. I mean we all want to be super mom, right? When I had our first daughter everyone was coming by and asking how they could help out and were always visiting. It was stressful to try and look presentable all the time but it really did help me feel not cut off from the world. With the second one everyone assumed I knew the ropes so there was no need to check in. This assumption could not have been further from the truth. All our parents took off right after she was born and that was that. Here is where I admit I have never needed more help in my life and got so little.

Second children are twice as hard when they arrive because suddenly there are two children to care for. Not only are you completely energy drained and taking care of a newborn and in my case there was also an energy bound needy toddler. My husband took the first two months off of work to help out which was great. It really did help and I really was doing great. When he went back to work things were still pretty good for awhile and then at about four months it became obvious I had developed postpartum thyroidtis.

I felt like I was on a roller coaster with whiplash. I started gaining back some of the weight I had lost. I was tired and cold all the time. I had trouble functioning with simple tasks and memory. To make matters worse my hair was coming out by the handfuls. My milk supply dropped so the baby was eating twice as often and getting frustrated. My husband would come home and I would be rocking two crying children while I too was crying too from complete exhaustion. At one point I got sick and I knew I needed help and my family lives up on the Olympic Peninsula so that was out. I begged my husband to take one day off to help me until the fever and body aches went away. After taking two months off already he could not afford to take off anymore. He was reluctant to ask his folks in fear of them thinking we couldn't handle our own children. My mother suggested I hire someone to help with the cleaning. Great in theory until you factor in the the size of the hospital bills we were paying off. I finally got my husband to ask his mother to help and she could only help one day a week once in awhile during the toddler's nap time or sometimes after my husband got home from work. Not ideal but it was better than nothing.

Finally at about six months my energy came back my hair started growing back! I felt like I was back in the world of the living. It was probably two of the longest darkest months of my life. The first six months with any newborn whether it is your first or fifth is always the hardest. My advice to friends and family who are close to those with newborns is to check in frequently during those first six months. Take the toddler out and let mom get a nap! Things may appear fine and dandy on the outside but chances are there is a lot going on just below the surface. A female body just made a whole new human! It takes some time to truly recover from something like that. I write about this because even though I felt completely alone at the time, I know that I was not alone. There are mothers out there having similar experiences.  

Lyra (24m) and Etta (3m)