Heading into Father’s Day Weekend, the CrossFit Renew instagram dropped the above photo. It caused me to pause and reflect on my first 20 months of fatherhood and think about how things are going to change in 5 months when the amount of chaos in our life doubles. I’m grateful to be a part of a gym whose culture supports the whole person including our families.
If you’re one who frequents our Saturday community workouts, you’ve probably had a chance to meet Leo. He’s been a relative fixture of those mornings over the last ~15 months. Most weekends where Piper or I make it to community WOD, Leo is alongside in his stroller. As he’s approaching 2 years old, I know this Saturday ritual is getting more strained. His desire for… independence… is taking off like a rocket ship and is inversely proportional to his capacity for extended time sitting in his stroller. He’ll be too young for CrossFit Kids (3 years old) for a little while still and is perhaps getting too old for those Saturday mornings where we got to workout with him smiling back at us.
As this phase with Leo ends, I want to document for myself (and y’all) what worked for us about bringing our infant to the gym so we can try this all again in 2026 with our next kid.
Thank you to everyone who’s said hello to him, indulged his love for fist bumps, worked out to his crying, and let him be the center of attention during stretching. We’re beyond fortunate for the influence the CrossFit Renew community is having on his development. Excited to do this again with the next one, and to meet your growing families at the next Saturday workout.