Home Highlights

Despite everything that's going on in the world right now, things are still going well at home. Some is the same—playing superheros and submarine—and some new—playing dinosaur school (yes, dinosaur school, not dinosaurs and school) and some new board games. We also do some construction around the house periodically.

I've been trying to get the kids outside as much as possible. The four-year-old practiced balancing on his glider bike for most of April. It was cool seeing him go from not balancing at all to gliding on the pegs of his bike for significant stretches. The little one has been pretty content in the stroller while her brother rides his bike.

Speaking of the littlest one, she gets more and more active every day. She loves sucking on her hands, her toes and now thumbs and has started to grab things more and more. She can now roll herself across the room and has managed to get under the couch or the love seat several times.

A few weeks ago, the four-year-old and I were outside, and he was riding on his glider bike. He was balancing so easily, I asked him if he wanted to try a pedal bike. He did, and within a day he was riding it for long stretches. I was pretty proud of him for learning how to ride a pedal bike so quickly at four years of age.

Running has been going very well. I continue to do Foundation Training, not only for my back pain, but also for running injury prevention. Foundation Training provides several different routines specifically for runners.

In some upcoming posts, I'll share a bit more about my running along with some books, audiobooks, and podcasts that have helped keep me busy during this time of social distancing.

That's all for now. Stay safe out there.

COVID-19 log

This week I thought about being done with my COVID-19 journal. This will be my third one, and after five weeks, honestly not a lot has changed. I've been home with the four-year-old and three-month-old, and our days have fallen into a rhythm.

The oldest is still really into playing superheros. We take turns being the hero or the villain, and one of his favorite things to do is say, "Now you have to call your friends," so that a new superhero enters the fray.

Submarine continues to be a mainstay in our game playing. My son loves to "connect" all the submarines (the Rock 'n Play, the chair I'm in, and the futon he's on).

A bright spot this past week has been my return to running after a five week hiatus. I ran four times this week, utilizing a five minute walk/five minute run strategy. My ankle didn't hurt at all during my runs, including a sixty minute run/walk. That was yesterday, and today I can roll my ankle in a way that used to cause pain, and it doesn't hurt at all.

We had a nice Easter weekend. We did an outside Easter egg hunt on Saturday and took some pictures outside while the weather was nice. This morning we watched church on TV and had some cinnamon rolls afterward. We also did an indoor Easter egg hunt as the weather was cold and snowing.

On Zoom, we video chatted with both our families, then in the evening we had a nice Easter dinner.

This might be the last COVID-19 log I do for a while unless some new material emerges. I'm planning on more of the same, but maybe I'll get creative and think of something different to do.

COVID-19 Log

Another week with the two children is in the books. It's now been four weeks since I've been at home with the kiddos while Laura is at work.

The days have fallen into a general routine. In the mornings the four-year-old is usually up for about an hour before the two-month old wakes up. We watch one Marvel Superhero Adventure on YouTube for about three minutes, have breakfast, and play superheros until the little one wakes up. After four weeks, it seems the story lines in superheros have repeated themselves quite a bit—there's only so many crimes Green Goblin, Venom, and various other villains can commit. The little one doesn't seem to mind though, and for him the game doesn't appear to be getting old.

Once the baby wakes, we usually play submarine in her room. We also play hide-and-seek in the submarine which consists of me closing my eyes and the four-year-old hiding someplace in the room. He only hides in about five different spots the room, so again, the game is a little monotonous. Our submarine seems to travel to New York just about every time. I assume we take the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico then head north, but he hasn't told me the exact route.

After the baby eats, we usually have a snack then play something with her. We've been big into looking at Art for Baby while the baby does tummy time.

Art for Baby

We continue to do Cosmic Kids Yoga in the mornings, then after lunch the four-year-old has quiet rest time. Usually he plays in his room, but occasionally he'll take a nap. The sweet spot is when he's in quiet rest time while the baby takes a nap. In that case, I usually squeeze in a Foundation Training workout.

It appears things got a little out of control during quiet rest time (:

When Laura comes home from work, I sometimes go on a walk or a bike ride. My ankle seems to be feeling better. I was going to take six weeks off of running after my ankle didn't feel 100% after a month off, but I decided that five weeks was long enough, so I celebrated by doing a five minute walk/five minute run for half an hour.

Early spring has been different than I planned. Both our parents were going to come and help out with the kiddos, but due to the pandemic they did not. I was going to work a bit, but since the schools have been closed anyway it didn't really matter.

It's likely that I'll be home with the kiddos for the rest of the school year and maybe summer too. The only thing I really miss is regular adult interaction. The days go by quickly, and I'm guessing this time will go quickly as well.

COVID-19 Log

It's been three weeks now that I've been home with our ten-week-old and our four-year-old while Laura has been providing childcare for children with parents in the critical sectors. Shelter-in-place started this past Friday night, but before that things were pretty similar. Schools and many businesses were closed.

While inconvenient, the restrictions put in place will mitigate the rapidity with which COVID-19 spreads. This will help prevent ICU capacities to be reached as soon and will potentially save many lives.

I've been enjoying my extra time at home more than I thought I would. I was a little nervous about taking care of two kiddos all day by myself. I know some parents have three, four, or more children, but watching two kids when at times one was difficult, had me a little stressed.

Thankfully, it's gone well. The ten-week-old has been a pretty easy baby. I go through the trifecta—is her diaper dry? Has she eaten? Is she tired—and if all those bases are covered, we're usually good.

The four-year-old has also been pretty mellow. We made a pictorial schedule for his day, so he does things like art and writing, blocks, kid yoga, and playing with his sister and me.

Cosmic Kids Yoga

I'm still on a sabbatical from running. Unfortunately, after a long walk yesterday, my ankle was a little sore. I'm now considering taking a full six weeks off from running instead of a month. It's looking like there won't be spring races anyway, so I might as well heal up as much as possible. Besides, the other day I got in a bike ride, and with the weather continuing to get nicer, I should be able to get in more rides in the near future.

While this COVID-19 pandemic has been disruptive and tragic for many, there have definitely been bright spots for me. I've been spending lots of time with my kids, and my relationship with my four-year-old has definitely grown as I've been playing "superheroes" and "submarine" for a couple hours every day.

Since I'm not running, I'm going for walks,which means I don't have to worry about timing my eating—I can go from dinner right to walking.

Artwork in Central Park as seen from a walk

So, as we continue in this time of social distancing, I'll continue to count my blessing rather than mourn the loss of life before the pandemic, enjoying the extra time with the family and looking forward, but not longing for, the time when this is over.

Two Kilometers and COVID-19

It's a surreal feeling—waiting, worrying—as I've been home with a four-year-old and two-month-old for over two weeks now. Three days previous I spent with influenza and felt better just in time to stay home with the kiddos while Laura is at her preschool providing childcare to children of medical professionals and first responders.

With all that's going on—the fear of catching COVID-19, the fear of a loved one catching COVID-19, the loss of income, and the stir craziness of it all—it's enough to raise stress levels to a dangerously high level.

There are many ways to deal with this stress. Some healthy and some unhealthy. I sometimes fall into the trap of worrying and ruminating, which doesn't help at all. I try to bring to mind the words of Jesus, "Who of you by worrying can add a single day to your life?"

So instead I try to focus on things I can control that are healthy coping skills. I've been cleaning more thoroughly than normal, using the skills I learned in a DBT therapy group, trying to stay in the moment playing with my kids, keeping a gratitude journal, and exercising.

As you may already know, I've been out of commission from running. Instead I've been doing Foundation Training and going for walks. I'm excited to try running again in April, but I've been enjoying walks more than I thought I would.

Right now in France, outdoor exercising is a little more difficult. According to Canadian Running Magazine, "exercise can only be done within a 2K radius of a person’s home. Cycling has been completely banned."

I don't understand these regulations. They seem a little extreme, especially considering contact with others could easily be avoided while running or biking. It seems to me that banning group runs or rides would be more logical. Interestingly, as per the Canadian Running Magazine, some people have made the best of it. One runner ran around the seven meter balcony of his apartment for 42.2 km (a marathon) in six hours and forty-eight minutes.

Eight more days of my self-imposed break from running. Who knows what things will look like then, but I'm guessing I'll still be working on trying to use healthy ways to cope with this craziness. 

Goal Adjustments

In my last post (from over two weeks ago), I wrote about defining success. One of my goals this year was to average thirty miles per week. Unfortunately, a foot/ankle injury has been bothering me since the Twin Cities Marathon last October, and it just doesn't seem to want to get better.

It's a pesky little injury that usually stops hurting a week or so after not running. It doesn't hurt at all during short runs, but after a short run, it hurts again. On a longer run, it'll start hurting five or six miles in.

I tried to run through the injury as it doesn't hurt that bad or really affect my stride, but after about a month or running two to four days a week, it's just not getting any better. So, I decided that averaging thirty miles per week of running needs to go. The 1,560 miles for the year wouldn't be totally out of reach. I'd have to average just under forty miles a week for the last nine months of the year, but I've also been dealing with some serious back pain. I've started a program called "Foundation Training" and am hoping it provides some relief.

Doing the Foundation Training program and fitting in running will be a huge time management challenge, so for now I'm just planning on running when I have time and focus on the Foundation Training.

It's frustrating because last year I also took March off for a different injury. Still, this month I'm planning on doing more cross training than last year and working really hard on rehabilitating my foot/ankle.

Here's hoping it works.

Defining Success

A while back I read a Twitter post that said, “What is your definition of SUCCESS?” It got me thinking.

There are a myriad of ways I would define success. Some are subjective such as being a loving father and husband or staying emotionally balanced.  Others are more objective like achieving items on my to-do list, running a certain amount of miles, or running a certain time in a race.

Staying balanced means I'm free from bipolar symptoms or that I have a handle on them. It's hard to quantify, but it's one of those things I'll know if I see it. I've been fortunate enough that I'm pretty self-aware of my bipolar symptoms, so I can tell when I'm feeling balanced and when I'm not.

Fortunately, in the past few years, my symptoms of bipolar have been much better. Taking a dialectic behavioral therapy class where I learned skills to manage my illness and seeing a a therapist who helps me decide on which skills to use and how to use them has been very helpful. Of course, medication is also key, and I see a good doctor who helps make adjustments when needed.

As for the to do list, most of it has become mental. With a new baby in the house, I'll definitely keep the list manageable and not get down on myself when I don't get as much done as I think I should.

How about you? What's your definition of success?