No Brakes

March 26

Sometimes I feel like my little one has No Brakes as the back of her bike says. She is such a ball of energy and emotion. She doesn't nap. She feels everything intensely. She goes and goes and goes.

She thrives when she has time to let her energy free. I'm learning that she needs to get outside in the late afternoon and run and shriek and breath deep breaths of air. I see how much calmer and happier she is as the day winds down when she has been outside.

One of my fears about taking my kids outside every day was that they would never want to go back in. I feared I would be stuck outside with them worrying about how to get dinner cooked. But what I've come to realize is that outside time is part of our family rhythm now. It is part of the flow of our day. And because of the consistency there is less urgency. We play as much or as little as we want. Tomorrow we will be here again.