A Splashing Good Time

I had planned on taking Kai running yesterday morning. Although he has been doing more exercises with Mom lately, it has been a long time since he and I were running regularly. So soon after he woke up, I asked him if he would go running with me and he agreed.

But by the time I got home from the gym after my workout, he had changed his mind.

“My stomach hurts,” he said.

I pretty much figured that was just an excuse, but after our experience at the waterpark a few weeks ago, I decided not to push it. Even if he didn’t throw up, I didn’t have the energy for enduring the ordeal that surely would have ensued had I tried to get him to run when his heart wasn’t in it.

So, instead, we joined Mom as she took the dogs out for a walk.

I took the leash for Taro, a puppy Poodle, while my wife walked with Haribo, the tiny Chihuahua. Sometimes Kai likes to hold a leash but on this day he just wanted to walk without holding a dog.

We had had a lot of snow in our area over the past few weeks, but warmer weather this weekend meant that it was starting to melt.

There were many large puddles along our walking trail.

Haribo is a little princess when it comes to getting her tiny paws wet; she halts and waits for my wife to pick her up and carry over puddles of water or mounds of snow.

Taro, on the other hand, is a true little boy, who loves splashing through the water.

The first time Taro ran through a puddle, Kai laughed and then joyously joined in.

I normally scold Kai about going through a puddle when he could easily step around.

But I saw the joy in his face, and spotted an opportunity.

Rather than restraining Taro, I ran with him as he pulled me to the next puddle. Kai eagerly followed. And he was laughing the whole time.

And then it was on to the next puddle.

Running, splashing, laughing.

And when we got too far ahead, we waited for Mom and Haribo to catch up.

I got Kai to do the equivalent of wind sprints, but he didn’t mind at all. We probably ran further and faster than if we had just gone running as I had originally planned.

By the time we got home, both dog and boy were soaking wet from the legs down. But both were very happy.



Later, Kai figured out that he had done exercise.

“Dad, I ran a lot this morning.”

He wanted little Trashie toy that I would have given him had he gone running.

I told him that he doesn’t earn a reward for just having fun. He seemed okay with that.

After all, it was a lot of fun.

For me, too.