Run 'em Hard

So my fabulous, wild, break-the-mold child has an interesting metabolism. It's a lot like a Labrador retriever's. Efficient is the word I'm looking for. We literally refer to his need of excessive physical exertion as such: "running him." This is not to say that we take a collar to him and leave him on the lead line - no, no - we just simply can't get lazy, even for a day.
There are two reasons.

One, he gets waaaay crankier without breaking a good sweat (glow?) at least twice a day. He'll even say in his oh-so-cute toddler voice, "I'm cranky guy." Forgive the impulse to baby talk even on my blog, but jeeez, it's just so freakin' cute!

Two, he gets super picky about food. I mean, it's amazing. One minute I'll offer him crackers with avocado and sumac sprinkles and he won't have it. Take him to the park for even half an hour with the soccer ball, break open the (glass - yes, I'm ocd) tupperware filled with above mentioned treats and he's all over them!

His body needs to get hungry, not just his taste buds. This is not rocket science, I know, but it's a subtle thing that happens, and I get the brunt of it when I plop down my hard work of a dinner or any other meal or snack and he promptly refuses whatever it is, only wanting some lame empty carb or something with honey on it. I get frustrated, he's pissy b/c he's hungry and we end up having some kind of face off. Yes, I have often just compromised and had him eat the soup w/ an uncured organic turkey hotdog cut up in it, but that's cool with me.

I wonder if there are levels of hunger, and this is the superficial one - the empty carb/sweet one. The next one is meat/protein and the next one is the one that craves whatever whole food is available. When I'm on a cleanse and I see a plate with quinoa and parsley pesto w/ cucumber diced throughout like I did at the AMAZING River Cafe and Cheese Shop http://www.rivercafecheeseshop.com/ I could care less about the ridiculous hazelnut chocolate cookies that are an otherworldly combination of an airy, crumbly, nuttiness and succulent chocolate ribboning its earthy sweetness throughout. Um, but to use an overworked addage, I digress. Oh, one more digression, I LOVE places that have al fresco as a choice for seating. That means my son gets to run even harder!

Regression: Watching the pure level on which my son runs, especially in terms of instinct, gives me a good barometer for how out of whack I may have let my household's rhythm get. Getting off beat is inevitable, even on a a daily level for most of us because we are trying to balance way too many elements in our lives. And then my son says to me, "I have a good idea! Let's make playdough cakes for monkey and bear!" Oh, yeah. There's lots of levels of spiritual hunger too, huh? I'm freaking out because I have to get an article in on time for deadline, my little saddle bags are starting to jiggle more than I'm comfortable with, I have to finish two papers for school, my husband needs a massage - but Rohnan is saying let's go out and PLAY! And I am reminded that he is the absolute living symbol that the body and soul are one and the same. If I get through the superficial layers of hunger on either realm, I get to hunger for the real thing, whether that's a leek and chard frittata or a whole half an hour of nothing but play with my son. Amen.