We moved Aidan to a toddler bed this weekend since he's rapidly outgrowing his crib. He took right to his new bed and has had no problem sleeping in it.
There was one downside to this bed however that I didn't think about.
Instead of making noise to alert us when he's awake, he now can crawl out of bed and come running to our room. This point was driven home yesterday when I awoke to go for my 6:30 a.m. run.
Aidan was awake and when he heard me walking around came running into the room yelling "Da da da da da!" In his hand he had a book that he wanted me to read.
This wasn't good.
Marathon Girl had not slept well that night and was in no mood to watch with Aidan. I needed to run and couldn't leave Aidan run around the house by himself.
What else could I do other than take him running with me?
So I put him in the running stroller and started the daily run.
Everything went great until mile three. Aidan sat in the stroller and flipped through the pages of his book. I was running slower than usual but still making a decent pace all things considered.
Then exhaustion overtook me. Instead of pushing a baby, I felt like I was pushing a car. I slowed the pace a bit to regain my breath. The muscles in my arms and legs grew tight.
"I don't know if we're going to make it home," I said to Aidan between gasps.
"Da da da da da!" Aidan said as he looked up at me as if he really meant to say "This is as fast as you can go? What kind of father are you?"
I made it home -- barely. I put Aidan in his highchair, gave him some breakfast, and went to shower and ready myself for another day at work.
Marathon Girl roused herself from bed while I was getting ready and asked me how the run went.
"The last mile was a killer," I said. "I don't think I could push Aidan every day."
"Better get yourself in shape," she said as she squeezed my arm. "Next summer you could be pushing both kids."
Holy crap. She's right.
Maybe it's time to take up something a little less strenuous.