I’ve found that a sure-fire way to keep my new year’s resolutions is to not make many of them, and make them easy to attain. Didn’t climb Mount Rainier last year? No worries, it wasn’t on my list. But with a toddler in my life, I feel like I need to be constantly improving my quality of life as well as the kid’s. So here’s a list I’m pretty confident I’ll stick to.

1. Lose weight. Ah yes – the trusty perennial – and one that has not, in fact, been easy to keep. It’s been on my resolutions list for almost a couple of decades, but it takes on a sense of urgency now that I have a 2-year-old with more energy and vigor than I’ve ever, ever seen in my life. NJ is just wearing me out. The only down side to slimming down my pot belly is that NJ currently loves to sit on it and get bounced off. Still, a small price to pay for her dad not embarrassing her at the beach. And for me getting to stick around as long as possible – I’d hate to miss seeing her head carved onto Mount Rushmore just because I couldn’t pass up fried foods. I actually started on this resolution a month ago, with a break for the holidays (I’m not making chorizo-jalapeño-cornbread stuffing and then not eating any of it), and so far, so good. I just ate an orange for a mid-afternoon snack, for crying out loud.

Bob Trott

Bob Trott and daughter NJ

1a. Help NJ eat healthier. My work here will be minimal, since my No. 1 resolution shows that I need to get my own nutritional house in order before I can lord it over others. But every time my wife tells NJ to eat one more piece of broccoli before she gets a cookie for dessert, I’ll be right there to say “Not ‘one more piece,’ but ‘some more’ broccoli – she may not stop after one if you don’t say ‘one’!” I’m sure that if you asked my wife, she’d say she’s not at all sick and tired of me doing that.

2. Be more patient. Not the most original resolution, judging by what many parents have to say. TODAY Mom Ashlie Hood-Hisle, whose daughter is older than mine, summed it up well on the TODAY Moms Facebook page: “To be more patient and take one more deep breath before reacting to all the little things thrown at you by a beautiful 4-year-old girl.” Lately, the things thrown at me by my beautiful 2-year-old girl have included tantrums over smushed Play-Doh and missing dolls and bedtimes and vegetables and … you name it. I hope to be the most “serenity now!” guy you’d care to meet in the coming year.

3. Stop rolling my eyes sarcastically when my daughter suddenly ends one of the aforementioned tantrums with a smile and a carefree “I’m not sad anymore, I’m happy now, ha!” NJ flip-flops from screamy to smiley so fast Meryl Streep could take notes. Jaded old me can’t believe for a moment that she’s being sincere, but maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it. From now on I’ll look at it the way Ron Burgundy did when he learned his dog pooped in the fridge and ate an entire wheel of cheese -- with awe and admiration: “I’m not even mad. That’s amazing!” No cynicism in 2012!

4. Weasel out of even more toddler-related chores. Ha, not really. (I bet my wife just executed a Marx Brothers-level spit-take reading that.) I honestly have no plans to weasel out of toddler-related chores. But I always break at least one resolution right off the bat, so I’m putting this one here knowing that it won’t last long. In fact (spoiler alert!), I’ve already broken it. So with this one out of the way, I can focus on the others.

5. Stop letting NJ weasel out of toddler-related chores. My wife and I clean up her toys in the living room. And the basement. And her room. And the kitchen. This needs to stop.

What other new year’s resolutions should I – and the dads you know – be making?

More great TODAY Moms content:

Mommy, why is that lady so fat?
Mom calls cops on her bickering teens
Readers share stories from the Target nurse-in

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms