Room to run

I’m not a girl who requires a lot of exercise.  Not that I shouldn’t get it, because of course we all need exercise – but my mood is not dependent on it.  I can spend the entire day on the couch with a book and be perfectly content.  As a contrast, if Marc goes more than a couple of days without a really intense, punishing workout – the kind that I would personally never partake in, he gets really crabby and/or morose.   I think it’s just a physical thing, a reliance on the endorphins of exercise, you either need it or you don’t.  I need coffee, not a lot of sweating and serious muscle pain.

Sam is so much like his father on so many levels.  And one that I frequently forget is that he requires a lot more physical activity than I do.  It’s more than Jessie needs.  Jess, like me, is perfectly content to lounge around.  But I’ve noticed, especially lately, when it’s hot and sticky outside and we’ve spent most of the day inside with air conditioning, building forts, playing board games and reading – that around four thirty or five, Sam loses his little mind.  He gets wretched, bugging his sisters like you wouldn’t believe, and seemingly going out of his way to get into trouble.  After one particularly bad afternoon, resulting in a screaming temper tantrum and an endless time out (six minutes at a time, and at the end of the first two, he immediately landed himself back on the chair) – I made the connection.  This kid needs to get outside and run.

So yesterday, I packed them all up.  Popped Julianna into the carriage she rarely uses and even coaxed Jessie into coming along – and we went out.   It’s about a mile, around the block.  I live halfway up a huge hill, so our walk went down one side, and then back up the hill, down the other side, and then back up and half way down.   We chatted with neighbors, admired different houses and noticed flowers.  It was delightful.  Sam ran almost the entire way.  And we all had a much nicer night last night.  I was a hot, sweaty mess by the end of it – but it was definitely worth it.  He was so much calmer, so much more relaxed.

He’s like a big ole Labrador puppy – he needs room to run.