Surviving Toddlerhood: the Ultimate Endurance Sport

Okay, so, I am going to lay it out straight for you. Toddlerhood...let's just say it makes sleepless nights with a newborn seem like amateur hour. Nobody can prepare you for what it is like to have a 2 year old with an attitude. Nobody.

I used to be that person who would walk through malls and smile a bit smugly at the mom trying to contain her two year old's temper tantrum. I would shake my head and think, Obviously this is a discipline issue. I mean, who can't control someone that small. Thank God my child will not be like that because I will just teach them NOT to be. Oh, to be so naive again.

Now it is me who is squatting in the middle of Chick-fil-A trying to scoop up her kicking, screaming toddler while simultaneously holding onto my purse, his backpack, both coats, and the assortment of toy trains he has decided to bring on any given outing. And, of course, trying to do it all with a smile that says to the staring public, Don't worry folks, it's all under control here!

I have decided that raising a toddler is comparable to running an ultra marathon. Not that I have actually run an ultra (yet!) BUT from what I hear and read about them, the two situations have many similarities. For example, the length. Toddlerhood is definitely an endurance race, not a sprint. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I look around and think how hard it is and how much more is still waiting for me. It's like completing 50 miles of a hundred mile race and thinking, Damn, I still have to do 50 more! You have to take it one mile at a time or your head will explode. That is how my life is right now - one day at a time or my head will explode.

The other similarity I have found is that you have to have a support crew. Few people can run an ultra endurance event alone. The same goes for my two year old. I need my crew - my husband, family, and the fellow Moms who offer up a bottle of wine at the end of a long day!

And finally, it is the grueling physicality of it all that is most similar to running long distances. I never, and I mean almost never, sit down for more than five seconds at a time. During the day I am a milk getting-train playing- carrying up and down the stairs- picking up the messy playroom -machine! At the end of the day I am utterly exhausted.

But, just like running an ultra, there is a weird sort of satisfaction about experiencing the race. And a feeling of joy that you are doing it. I may not get a finisher's medal at the end of the day, but I get tiny arms wrapped around my neck, and a "I love you Mama!" That's a pretty good prize if I do say so myself, and that is what I am going to try and focus on right now.