How do I keep up with an energetic three year old all day, without collapsing into a heap before the end of the day ?  After all, I’m an old man of 47, with only a small percentage of the energy that Mr. C displays on a daily basis.

Coffee, lots, and lots, and lots of coffee.

Before Mr. C, or BC, I would drink one cup of coffee a day.  That being at breakfast, and that would be it for coffee for the day.  I would take my time, drinking it with breakfast, sometimes taking up to half an hour or so to finish eating breakfast and drinking the coffee.  I’m not a bright and cheerful person in the morning, it takes some time for me to become coherent.   J and I would sometimes go to Starbucks, or any number of local coffee shops, usually on the weekends.  Though with me not working, we’ve been trying to cut back on expenses, so coffee out, even though it’s not really that expensive, is out of the budget.  That was about it for coffee, I wasn’t that big a coffee drinker.  If I had any past about noon, I’d be up all night.

Since becoming a stay at home dad, I’ve altered my coffee drinking habit to at least three, sometimes four cups a day.  One large cup of black coffee in the morning.  Usually gulped down very quickly, so I can have more time to chase after Mr. C.  Sometimes I’ll make an espresso if I’m feeling especially out of it.  Dark roast Illy brand coffee for the espresso.  Otherwise it’s a variety of Trader Joe’s coffees, also usually dark roast, the stronger the better.

Then I’ll have a cup with lunch.  For lunch, I’ll dilute it with milk and sugar.  I’ll sometimes have another at about 4:00 pm, usually right after he wakes from his nap.  I’ve been trying to dilute this later cup even more, so that it’s really mostly milk at this point.

There are days though when Mr. C does not take a nap.  On those days, I might have to resort to some additional doses of caffeine throughout the day.

Despite all this caffeine, I usually have no trouble getting to sleep.  Yes, there are a few days when I’m still awake at 2:00 am due to all this caffeine.  But  most of the time, by the time Ms. J comes home, I’m wiped out.   Some days, I’m asleep before he is.

This system has worked out just fine so far. Just as long as we don’t run out of coffee.  We’ve come close, but luckily, it has not happened yet.  If we did ever run out of coffee, I guess I’d have to break down and finally go to Starbucks and order a coffee there.  I’m sure our budget could take the $4 hit at least once.

Before Mr. C, when I was working, I was stressed out, over worked, over weight, and cranky.

Now I’m much more active, I’ve lost close to 40 pounds, much happier.  I’m still stressed, but it’s about other things besides work, like wether or not we’ll ever have any money for Mr. C to go to college.

It’s much easier to keep up with Mr. C now that I’ve lost all that weight. And at least I’m awake when he is.   If I could only stop being so jittery all the time.