Monday morning I woke up and found Mario staring at me.  His little face was 6 inches away from me at the most.  His tender eyes looked straight into mine.  What a doll baby, I thought.  I laid with him for a few minutes just staring back at him enjoying the silence and stillness of the early morning next to my son.  And then he spoke: “can I go on a run with you, mom?”

I crawled my tired self out of bed contemplating whether I would say yes or not.  I enjoy my solitude on my morning runs while I listen to NPR and think through my day.  But Mario sat up and clasped his hands together and begged and begged.  “Please, mom, I will be good. Please let me go.”  I got dressed and scooped him up and we went downstairs together.  I made him a graham cracker with peanut butter and gave him the iPad and we were off.  A good four mile run with a stop at Giant Eagle for a donut (yeah, my healthy addiction to exercise is tamed by my un-healthy addiction to sugar).   When we got home, Maria was microwaving some macaroni to eat for lunch.  The girl slams out her lunch everyday with no help from me or Jon.  She is good. 

The next morning, I woke up to two little people laying on either side of me.  Maria was towards my back side and she poked me with her finger.  “Can I go on a run with you today, mom?”  Of course, being Ms. Fair, I didn’t feel like I could say no since I had taken Mario the day before.  Mario piped up after hearing Ri and begged to come, too.  I agreed that they could both come with me, and we were off for Round Two.  Of course, strollering Mario is a rather easy task.  Forty pounds feels like a feather to me after carrying my muscle girl for all of those years (she was forty pounds at age 2 and a half!).   But put Maria and Mario in the stroller and it gets to be a workout.  I am essentially pushing 110 pounds of human weight.  The BOB site warns against going over 100 pounds in the double stroller but we have gotten away with it for a while.  That stroller was the best purchase I have made since having these two babes.  It has taken us everywhere and has to have over 1000 miles logged on it easily. 

We did four miles and also made a stop at Giant Eagle for donuts.  We played the animal guessing game together and talked about what our favorite foods were to eat (imagine, donuts!).  When we got home, I tried to help the kids out of the BOB but they shooed me away because I was “so sweaty.”  I told them they would be just as sweaty after they strollered their kids around.  Maria responded: “I will drive.”  Then she changed her mind and decided she would bike because it is not as bad for the environment and you don’t sweat as much.  Always thinking. 

Last night, I told them both that I had to go on a run today by myself.  They both agreed that they would not beg to come with me.  When I woke up this morning and began to descend the stairs, I heard Mario cry “Mom?”  I walked up the stairs to his room.  He looked at me in distress and cried “I just can’t stand the thought of not going on a run with you, mom! I can’t stand it!”  I walked him into Maria’s room because her light was on.  She was lying in bed and I laid Mario next to her.  She loved that.  I kissed them both and told them I would be back in an hour.  They laid there without any complaining.  Little darlings.  When I returned home, Maria was pouring syrup on a waffle she made for Mario and Mario was playing on my iPad.  I asked Ri how the morning went, and she told me that her and Mario sat on the front steps and watched the sun rise.  Huh?! 

I looked at her awkwardly and she looked back at me and said “What?  Mario wanted to see the sun rise!”  I love these crazy kids so much (so much that I will still stroll them around at ages 7 and 4!).

The many uses of the BOB:

Chillin’ out!

Mario taking control!