Running With My Girl in Fall and Winter

We are in the home stretch before Christmas now.  Unlike most people making big New Year's Eve night plans, Rick and I booked the sitter for New Year's Eve MORNING so we can get a special treat--a run together!  My kids are off from school, and I am feeling majorly lazy.  Not good when you have a 50K a month away.  Today I SLEPT IN instead of getting up to meet the girls...and we were meeting 30 minutes later than usual!  So right now I am debating whether to run with the double stroller or just do the elliptical machine instead.  I am kicking myself for not getting up and running when I had the chance!

I am also reflecting back on a busy first half of the 2011-2012 school year.  It's hard to believe that my son has made it to every day of his first half year of kindergarten and that I've personally dropped him off and picked him up for each of those days.  And on time too!  It's also hard to believe he's old enough to be in kindergarten.  How I've loved seeing him grow this year. 

I am most thankful for something I wouldn't have expected though.  I am thankful for the Tuesdays and Thursdays with just my daughter and me home from school.  She was born fourteen months after her brother, and we've never had any one-on-one days at home, just us two.  For fourteen whole months, her brother had me to himself! 

These two days each week are a gift, a treasure that I hope to not ever take for granted.  Someday I hope we can look back together and remember the fun we had.  Sure, it's mostly trips to the grocery store, dance class, and stroller runs, but these are moments that I can really get to know her, to see how she reacts without her brother dominating the scene.

She's cute and spunky and just a sweetie when she's by herself with me.

And, I'll admit it here, she's a GREAT running partner too!  We take a run most Tuesdays and Thursdays, right after dropping her brother off at school.  She takes her little puppy doll, her snacks and drink, and whatever accessory the weather calls for (I love her little pink hat!).  On cold days, the Baby Jogger winter boot (bought when her brother was a baby) has paid for itself by giving her a warm, cozy place to snuggle in. 

I look down as I'm running and see this mass of beautiful blonde curls and a big pink bow, and I hear her little voice squeaking up to me, and it's just love.  I treat her with Fun Dips, her ultimate candy, and she spends her time licking that stick and then dipping her finger into the sugar again and again.  I smile as I see her little green finger when she's done.  I see her looking around at the scenery as we run through the neighborhood, and I admire the way her cheeks still have that full baby-look.  I wonder if she will run like me one day (she's already got very strong legs!).  I hope she is proud of me for being a runner.  And, mostly, I am thankful for having my little girl to accompany me on some of the best runs of my life.

 

Fall run

Winter run