Olivia has been asking me all week to take her for a jog or power walk, she really wants to get in shape to run in the Thanksgiving Day road race. I decided today would be a good day to start, Saturday, nice weather, not a lot of plans, etc...Well, as soon as the other kids found out we were going they begged for what seemed like hours to join us. Normally it would be great, but my plan was to drop my mom's car off at her house for her (it has been here since I drove her to the airport earlier this week) and walk/jog home which is probably just under 3 miles. I have been trying really hard lately to get in better shape so I was looking forward to the exercise.



Olivia then asked a friend to join us so my plan was to drive with the kids, Olivia, Hannah, Bella and Alex, to park mom's car, then have my husband follow us there so he could drive whoever changed their minds home. I thought for sure Alex would get to the end of mom's street and say his knees were hurting and jump in the truck with Dad to go home. Actually, I was secretly hoping for this so I could kill two birds with one stone - get my exercise in and give Olivia the exercise she wanted. Well, surprisingly all the kids started out strong and kept going. Doc (my husband) followed behind us in the truck in case Alex dropped out. Long story short, Alex did get in the truck a few times, but wouldn't let Doc drive home - he would rest for a couple of minutes then hop back out and want to walk/jog with us again. Now I was starting to get irritated. I wasn't getting much exercise having to keep a slow pace with him and the girls were getting farther and farther ahead of me on a fairly busy street. I started telling Alex he needed to get in the truck and meet us at home, that it wasn't safe for me to not be close to the girls, he was going to slow, etc., and he looked at me and said,"I'm doing my best mom." Ouch - that made me feel like a great mom.

Alex began losing steam but was showing no sign of getting back in the truck so Doc and I forced him to, feeling it was best for everyone. He was crying so hard that I couldn't do it - I told him to join us again and told Doc to just drive home, I would deal with it. Alex gets out of the truck, wipes his eyes, grabs my hand and says,"Thanks mom, thanks for giving me another chance. I promise I won't complain." Double ouch - felt like the worst mom ever. Yes I was aggravated that I couldn't have some girl time with Liv and Bella that they desperately need, and yes I was mad that my exercise time flopped, but I wasn't mad at Alex. How could I be? He wants so badly to fit in and be a part of everyday life with us and sometimes he seems like such a typical kid to me that I forget he does have limitations. But he tried so hard, and you know what? He didn't complain the rest of the way, not once. I was proud of him.