I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in way too long and I brought my toddler (almost 2 years old) along with me. There's a daycare center that will watch little ones from 4-8 pm so I thought I'd give it a try. LO normally stays home with his grandmother during the day so he's not used to daycare. I was sort of dreading dropping him off because I was afraid he'd cry.

Upon seeing all the kids and toys, he wriggled out of my arms and ran straight for the action, banging his hands against the barrier enthusiastically to get in and have fun.

Much to my relief, I signed him in, went to the gym and... it was BLISSFUL! I could listen to my music, watch HGTV, and exercise all without a small person clinging to my legs and demanding my absolute undivided attention! Ended up doing 50 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of stretching.

Even better, LO had a great time and ended up wearing himself out so bedtime was much easier! All around, a major win in my household. My motivation to hit the gym has increased 10-fold.

@@needtorecover - good job mom...and you will be a better mom for it.

Yay! Good for you! I have two LO's a new 3-year-old and a soon to be (Feb 2nd) 2 year old. I'm waiting on my surgery date, but help with my LO's is what I've been most worried about. People keep telling me I'll need help with them and all this for two weeks. I don't really have family who would be willing to help out like that. I hope I'll be ok after the first week. I plan to send them to their dad a few days, hopefully that is plenty of time.

I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in way too long and I brought my toddler (almost 2 years old) along with me. There's a daycare center that will watch little ones from 4-8 pm so I thought I'd give it a try. LO normally stays home with his grandmother during the day so he's not used to daycare. I was sort of dreading dropping him off because I was afraid he'd cry.

Upon seeing all the kids and toys, he wriggled out of my arms and ran straight for the action, banging his hands against the barrier enthusiastically to get in and have fun.

Much to my relief, I signed him in, went to the gym and... it was BLISSFUL! I could listen to my music, watch HGTV, and exercise all without a small person clinging to my legs and demanding my absolute undivided attention! Ended up doing 50 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of stretching.

Even better, LO had a great time and ended up wearing himself out so bedtime was much easier! All around, a major win in my household. My motivation to hit the gym has increased 10-fold.

I used to do the same thing when I was a SAHM. That was my ME time. Good for you. I hope it's still going well, being that I'm almost a month late to this thread.