When I first had three-feet-of-fun, well after my staples were taken out and I healed from surgery, it was easy to squeeze in home workouts while he took his naps during the day. I’d put him down for a nap and then do a workout video, run on the treadmill, or do stretching. Now that he’s older he doesn’t take naps anymore, so trying to get a workout in during the day with three-feet-of-fun underfoot provides an interesting challenge.

If I put in an exercise video, he either wants to do it with me (which is cute but he gets in the way and trips me up) or because the television is on he wants to watch one of his movies (which means he’s constantly trying to pull on me to get my attention). If I run on the treadmill, he wants to run on it with me which doesn’t achieve the workout results I want or he wants to put things on the belt and watch them fly off — which is less than pleasant when you step on a toy car and wrench your ankle. And you can forget about stretching. As soon as Mommy gets on the floor that means tackle time, and I end up getting mauled. While defending myself from attack is a form of exercise it doesn’t quite do what a workout does.

The easy solution would be to go to a gym and toss three-feet’s buns in daycare while I sweat, but that isn’t an option for cost reasons. The only solutions I came up with for my problem are during spring and summer, I pop him in the stroller, and we go for a brisk walk and during winter I get up insanely early, so I can get my workout in before he wakes up in the morning.