Better? Easier? Different?

It wasn’t that  long ago that this was most of my runs…

Jasper is 4 1/2 now, and I think we’ve finally hit the point where it a lot easier to do just about everything. Not that all the other ages didn’t have their merits…they did, but there were a lot of challenges. Birth to age one is just a blur of sleeping in 2 hour stretches, and little did I know this would continue for a LONG time. Actually, predictable sleep , finally at age 4, is what has made things much better. Its totally changed my running. We said good bye to the running stroller at 4, and I was ready to strike out on my own again. Over the last few months I’ve started meeting other people to run much more regularly. We’ve started using the gym childcare and all the classes I’ve wanted to do for the last couple years are now a possibility. I’ve been able to run errands with Jasp without massive tantrum protests. I credit a lot of the changes to going to OT, and some of it I think was just aging out of toddler behaviors.

We do a lot more stuff than we did a couple summers ago…..I’m never really at a loss for activities and we get a lot more variety. The big challenge that has started at 4 is scheduling. We’ve got a lot more activities and I feel like we have days we never slow down. But I’ll take it.

Another really nice thing about age 4 1/2 is I’ve added a lot of my stuff back into my life. I’ve been really fortunate that I’ve never really had to give up running, even when Jasper was a baby. But I put other stuff on hold. My evenings are much more predictable now than even a year ago. I’m reading real books again! Some nights I’m really tired because we are always on the go, but I now have a pretty good idea of what time I get to have a little downtime, and I don’t worry about going to bed only to get woken up a couple hours later.

Travel is waaaay better too. No more pull ups, diapers, bottles and all the baby supplies. We have to pack all Jasper’s special foods still, but at least that’s it. I look back and wonder why we ever took vacation when he was little. It was so hard! Our last trip he did great, other than a hunger strike, but I guess living off milk and crackers for a few days won’t kill him.

So very cautiously, I say things have gotten easier. We’re crazy busy, but I get enough sleep most nights, I can schedule my runs when I want to do them ( not at 4am with a stroller, and a child who woke up at 3:00), and we get to do a lot of fun things together. Like today….gym, Trader Joe’s and swimming. It’s going to be a good day….