I beamed with excitement the moment that the ultrasound technician broke the news to my wife and I that we were having a boy.

Healthy and happy were first priorities, but this news just made me smile. I knew from the beginning that boys transitioned into toddlerhood as steaming balls of energy nearly impossible to contain. I had seen others’ children in action enough to understand this.

All that said, I figured that the phrase “bouncing off the walls” took on a figurative meaning. I figured wrong.

Jamie is 22 months old and he almost always resides in some state of motion when he is not sleeping. One of his favorite things to do is run from one wall in our front room to another, while yelling as loud as he can. Except when he arrives at his destination, he doesn’t stop. His momentum carries him into a hard surface with a thud, and his voice shakes. He bounces off the walls.

The contact doesn’t phase him. He doesn’t stop. He isn’t hurt. He simply turns around and does it again, continuing on his quest to burn energy. It really is tiring to watch, but there is no alternative for him while the subzero frigid winter temperatures rage outside.

We recently took a family vacation to South Carolina, and Jamie behaved extremely well on the hour-and-a-half flight. By the time we were driving to the rental house after we landed, he became a little stir crazy.

So when we settled in, we drove Jamie down to the beach, where there were no walls to confine him. And he ran, and ran and ran. He yelled, he stretched his arms out, and he ran some more. And dad ran with him. It was a refreshing break from winter to watch him run like that right next to the ocean.

With young toddlers, there is no logic or reason as to when to turn this mode off. Our southern vacation was to attend a family member’s wedding. When we entered the Catholic church, Jamie made a break for the canister of holy water in the corner yelling “Wa-Wa!!!” the whole way. I credit some early morning runs that I have made in an attempt to stay in shape for the ability to stop him before he figured out how to start drinking. Life with a toddler is nothing if not interesting.

There is no off switch for Jamie’s energy. You cannot tell him to slow down because you are tired. But it is contagious.  I hope he is able to channel it into various aspects of his life when he is older.