BABYCISE

- Shari Sonta, Contributing Writer

Before I had Audrey I couldn’t understand why anyone didn’t exercise.  There’s a zillion things you can do to get your body moving…walk, swim, jump, stretch, climb, or dance around your living room and pretend you are debuting in a Vegas lounge show (am I revealing too much  about one of my favorite pastimes—singing and dancing to an imaginary audience in a sold-out living room).  I never really understand why some people think it’s such a chore.  It’s a no-brainer solution to weight, stress, and energy problems.  But, now I have become one of those people who does not exercise, although the difference is that I really, really want to. Being out of the house 12 hours a day, managing the household, and raising a child zaps away personal time.  It has become very hard to recharge myself, and I now understand how people get fat after having children.  I am on my ass for so many hours a day that I swear it is flattening.  There are some exceptions, and I am grateful for the weekends when the weather is good and I can take Audrey for a walk in the park, or I can get away for an hour and go for a swim. 

Before Audrey, I hiked up many mountains and was a runner.  I participated in races and even  finished a marathon.  And for those of you who are curious, yes, we Philadelphians love to run up and down the Art Museum steps just like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky and Toni Collette in In Her Shoes.  When I was pregnant I attended a weekly prenatal yoga class and swam several times a week.  Swimming was great while pregnant because I envisioned that it was a Mommy and Me activity—while I swam the pool the baby swam in my uterus.  Recently, I looked at myself in the mirror and I wasn’t happy.  I look tired, aged, and my muscle mass was gone.  My back constantly hurts and my legs are always stiff.  I realized that if I couldn’t find time to exercise, I’d have to reinvent how I would exercise.

So, I looked at my day.  Three times a day I am in a private room pumping for about 15 minutes at a time.  I have that vixen-like pumping contraption with holes cut out at the nipples for hands free sessions, so now for those 15 minute segments I stretch, do jumping jacks, work on my breathing…all while pumping.  It really does help.  I also figured out some exercises I can do with a 6 month old!  After all, I haven’t seen her all day and of course I schedule in some playtime.  So, instead of just sitting on my ass cooing at her while she jumperoos, I am her lead free toy.  

First, I only recommend these exercises when your baby is old enough to hold her own head up.  However you still need to have your hand close or behind her head, ready for support so her head so it doesn’t snap back-- little babies have disportionately big heads supported by wee necks.  Seesawing is a great workout for the abs. You will want a yoga mat or rug underneath you, or do these on a bed.  Sit with your legs straight out in front of you, slightly spread apart.  Sit your baby on your upper thighs facing you, with her legs strattling you.  Hold your baby securely while you use your abs to rock back so your baby is above you, but still on your lap.  Then using your abs again to control your movement, rock yourself up and slightly over so your baby is looking up at you, hopefully laughing.  Sing out “seeeeeee-sawwwww” as you to it…if the motion doesn’t amuse your baby then she will probably be laughing at the ridiculous sounds you are making.

Another favorite is airplane.  It’s like doing Pilates with a 19-pound weight.  Audrey loves airplane, as demonstrated in this photo.

There are also sit-ups.   Lay in sit up position and sit your baby on your knees or have her lean up against your legs (while hold her securely, of course).  Do a sit up and squeak out a high pitched “peek-a-boo” sound, or sing out her name, or make up songs. 

We call our living room Curves.  There is a bouncy seat, jumperoo, exercauser, gymini, and swing all housed there.  Audrey does the circuit, starting with the exercauser for about twenty minutes, then is moved to the gymini, and so on until she exhausts every activity and thus completes her workout.  Lately Audrey’s favorite workout is the jumperoo.  She is a little maniac on that.  She leaps so high we call her a “froggie”.  Anyway, sometimes I jump in sync with her which she loves and it gets my heartrate going.

If these sound boring, remember there is always the Lounge Show game.  Crank up your favorite tune (Asleep at the Wheel’s Texas Swing sounds or Springsteen’s Seger Sessions are hits at my children’s shows) and either give your baby a bouncy seat in the front row or include your baby as a guest star.  Audrey loves it when I dance and sing with her in my arms.  Those twenty minutes spent prancing around the living room, me singing and Audrey giggling while dinner is reheating or defrosting or being delivered helps to make up for the long hours we spend apart.

Influenced by the cold weather and my neighbors’ gaudy Christmas décor, the other day I broke out some Tchaichovsky and put on the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.  I envisioning Audrey, at about age six, wearing thick white stockings and a A-shaped winter coat, holding my hand as we go into The Academy of Music to see her first live performance of The Nutcracker, just like how my mother took me as a little girl.  (Of course I did not image what I’d look like because I’d be forty years old, and I cannot possibly envision that).   I waltzed around the room with Audrey in my arms while envisioning a special day in our future, both of us laughing.