My 13 month old son and 8 year old daughter clamor for attention. The baby, Toño, is 25 pounds and Nanichi, my heart in Taino, weighs 45 pounds. She is all lean muscle from dancing ballet, hip hop and African dance 5 days a week.

Warm ups
I bend my knees, gently grip him under his arms, kiss him on the forehead and press him up to the sky. He squeals with laughter. Keep eye contact, pause at shoulder height, kiss him on the forehead again and touch his feet to the ground. That’s one repetition. Try ten reps or until it stops being fun for the baby.
You will probably wear out before he does!

Shoulder Presses
I lift Nanichi up and she starts to giggle immediately. Try as many reps as you can. Once I start to slow down she can give me a boost with a little ballet leap to start me off.

Presses work the deltoids, and also get some help from the trapezius and the triceps. Baby presses also engage the core muscles to balance the load and the upper pectorals when you pause and hold.

Fun time together gets you in shape and gives them the time, attention and affection they crave. Toño’s trying to touch the keyboard and I stopped him and now he’s crying. Ironically blogging about giving my kids quality time is keeping me from him.

I gotta go! See ya’.