Working on Walking and Her First Encounter with Santa Claus

My blogging goals have been falling somewhat short lately in that I’m not capturing the happenings of our daily life as much as I used to. Instead, I have a Word document filled with several pages of blog post ideas I keep thinking I’ll write. You see, I’ve been trying too hard to write some deep, insightful post on things like “Why Dads Should Encourage Breastfeeding” or something related to being an at-home parent instead of just writing about our life.

I still type my ideas on the Word doc as they pop into my head, but until the time arises, I’ll stick to what I intended to do when creating this blog. Sharing the story of my at-home dad life with a beautiful working mom/wife, Kelley (a.k.a Going Mom) and our precious daughter, Avery. In addition, I’ll frequently write reviews on parent-related products and healthy food as well as my thoughts on the fitness and nutrition world.

I feel I have a lot to share when it comes to food and exercise, and hope anyone reading is able to benefit from what I have to say. Please, if you ever have any questions or thoughts of your own, feel free to share and I’ll respond as best as possible.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets talk walking. No, Avery’s not a full-blown walking yet, but she sure is close! First, I commend her for never giving up as you might’ve seen on Instagram….

But just a couple days later and she has shown improvement….

It’s been a lot of up and down (literally) since then, and although she still doesn’t have walking mastered (does anyone?), she’s getting better each day. Sometimes she gets really confident and even tries to bust out a few dance moves.

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She also thinks she owns the place now and has been doing some rearranging of the furniture.

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I guess having a stool beside the oven and refrigerator could prove useful. Maybe she’s just lashing out at my decision not to put a shirt on her. Sorry, Avery.

This past weekend was fun seeing her take a few steps, fall, and get up to try again without thinking twice, and I’m glad Going Mom and I got to experience it together. Another thing we got to experience together was Avery’s first visit to see Santa Claus, and we even received a pleasant surprise from our growing girl.

She freakin smiled! Of all the facial expressions we were prepared to see once we handed her over to the strange guy with a giant white beard and a red suit, smiling was not one of them! All it took was the photographer, one of Santa’s not-so-little elves, to ring a bell and wham, she smiles!

We were shocked! It made standing in line for over an hour in the cold as we passed our squirmy, increasingly heavy, daughter back and forth all worthwhile. It even rained on us a little. But, $20 for one 5×7 photo of our smiling baby on a stranger’s lap made our day complete. Sounds weird, huh, that something like that would make parents happy?

No matter, we’re told next year is when she’ll probably cry once she understand more of what’s going on. Looking forward to it! Sense my sarcasm.

How long once your little one starting taking steps until they got it mostly down and began terrorizing the house and any pets you have (or had)?

Any good visits to Santa stories you’d like to share?

Going Strong: Turn Playtime Into An Intense HIIT Workout

I’ve been feeling guilty lately. Avery’s activity level has increased tremendously from roly poly days of yore. Okay, it really wasn’t that long ago, but a guy can exaggerate, right?

Hi, I'm cute but can't do much else right now!
Hi, I’m cute but can’t do much else right now!

All parents say it, and we’ll probably continue to say it forever; time flies! I skipped the “when you’re having fun” part because, lets face it, it’s not always fun. 🙂

Anyway, my guilt is spurred from ability to play more and allow me to be active with her but I still take time to do my workouts in the garage as she plays in her jumper.

Umm, you done yet?
Umm, you done yet?

As long as I don’t push my luck, she remains patient and happily “talks”, screams, and jumps around, but these days are numbered. Soon, the jumper will no longer work and I need to setup an area for her to walk/crawl around. Keyword, WALK! You reading this, Avery?

Not one to just skip exercise for the day, I decided to get creative and combine playtime with a  full body HIIT workout routine. I really wanted to stay indoors when I made this since the weather sucked that day, and it turned out to be pretty fun but intense. Functional fitness just took on a new meaning!

For this, the only equipment you need is a box and a baby.

Playtime HIIT Workout Routine

3 Rounds of 30 Seconds On, 30 Seconds Off

Thrusters with baby

Mountain climbers

Crunches (or other form of core work)

Push-ups

Running in place

Push your kid in a box (Substitute Bear crawls if no box)

Burpees

Lift baby overhead from side to side (in the shape of a half-moon)

Alternating forward lunges while holding baby

Karate kicks

Avery enjoyed the random movements and did the whole time until the end of the 3rd round. I think she was getting frustrated with me setting her back down, so be warned.

Either way, I think you should definitely give it a try as it will get your blood flowing while you “play” with your kid. It’s a win-win!

I can’t stress enough how important our role as parents is when it comes to teaching by example. Please for the health of your kids as well as your own, show them how being active can be fun and rewarding!

Being the nice guy that I am, I put together a quick video to demonstrate the moves. Since my stack of boxes on the kitchen island wasn’t high enough, I cut my head off of the entire thing. Since I have no desire to do a re-shoot, I’m leaving it as is. #keepingitunique

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HopIOAkS4I]

I hope you give the routine a try and share your experience with me in the comments. If you have any questions, please go right ahead and ask away. If you’re in a time crunch, only do 1 or 2 rounds of this. Moving some is better than none!

This post is part of the #FitFamilyFriday Link up where you can find other excellent posts by healthy parents sharing health-inspired information. Click on over and check it out and share if you care!

 

Papa_Tont