My Walking Buddy

As most of you probably know, walking is one of the best cardio exercises for pregnant women (aside from water exercises) because it keeps you in shape with low impact movements, encourages the baby to move down, and builds your stamina.  In fact, it's also great practice for childbirth since walking during labor can actually shorten your labor time, and who doesn't want that!??!!  I've also found that walking, especially during my third trimester, brings on lots of Braxton Hicks contractions - even painful ones - which has helped me begin thinking through {and practicing} how I will cope with actual labor.  Although one never knows how labor will go or how coping will be until labor sets in, I do think that walking may be involved in my upcoming labor - maybe even walking with the jogging stroller (the handle on it is the perfect height!)!

pointing

Anyway, as you may recall, I have been trying to get in 4-5 good walks per week during the past few months, and having a good walking buddy has really helped me meet that goal most weeks!  I'm so thankful that Enoch enjoys hopping in the stroller and going for rides!!!  I usually give him a toy or two to hold while I walk, but once we start going, he's too busy looking and pointing to play with the toy.  In the past few weeks, his pointing has increased so that now he points to {and grunts at} almost every one of the following that he sees:

• garage doors (these are his favorite, and he doesn't miss many!)
• flags (we usually pass 4-6 per walk and he points to just about each one, especially on windy days when they blow)
• animals (from dogs and cats to squirrels and birds, he points to most animals that catch his eye - and he loves for me to tell him what each animal does or says)
• mailboxes (he points to these only sometimes)
• basketball goals (there are only a few on our route, but he doesn't usually miss them)

What I find most comical about all of Little Man's pointing is that if I guess wrong (maybe I guess "mailbox" but really he's pointing to the garage door behind the mailbox), he continues pointing & grunting until I say the correct word.  :-D  

deep in thought about OUR garage door!