movin' and shakin'

In the last two days Jack has twice brought himself up to a seated position in his crib, opened up a cupboard door latch, crawled backwards a few paces and crawled forward one "step". The crawling backward is really funny because he looked like he was moonwalking.

The real Jack

Jack is a man of many moods, but this is how I see him most of the time. On this day he was scraping a little rubber hollow dome against the floor, and (I think) experiencing the sound of it.

The other picture is from the park today while we were waiting for Papa to meet us. Jack often turns things around in his hands very thoughtfully, like he's doing a little job.

OK, can I just vent?

I'm a new mom and sometimes I get excited about buying cute or fun clothes for my little boy. So I'll look at websites, catalogs or at a store in the mawl for a little something for Jack.

First of all, over half the store is girl's clothes. Really fun girl's clothes with appliques and prints, cool cuts and rows of decorative buttons. Boys clothes on the other hand, pretty much amount to long-sleeved (or short sleeved) T-shirts and khaki pants of one variety or another. BOR-ING!

 Then the themes: boys clothes are made to look like 1) sports uniforms or 2) military wear. OK, the whole political and gender identity things aside---from a design standpoint it's just hideous.

And the other day I noticed something else---the girls in the ads are generally standing around in front of a mirror or having slumber parties, the boys are outside playing games or doing other sorts of outdoor activities. But saddest of all: the girls hold hands, from the time they're babies through adolescence. The boys never hold hands.

It does not take a rocket scientist nor a social anthropologist to figure out what the messages are here.

The tirade will most certainly continue. 

But thank goodness once again for Angela! (You may recall she is the one who encouraged me to start a blog in the first place) For she has shown me these super cool Japanese sewing patterns where the boys get to wear clothes that are as cool as the girls and I'll be damned if I don't put an applique octopus on Jack's first shirt!

All New! Daycare log!

Jack isn't feeling too well. Apparently he has a virus that he has to work through. Starts off with a cold, moves through diarrhea and vomiting, ends with a rash. He got the rash so we thought he was on the way out of the woods, but he threw up again tonight. Funny thing is though, he seems pretty much unphased. He hasn't slowed down much and projectile vomiting only dazes him for a couple minutes, then he's smiling again. So he won't be going to daycare tomorrow and I hope he hasn't already gotten any of the other kids sick.

We went to a members preview of the Academy of Sciences today (Grandma got us a membership!) Jack seemed more interested in playing with my braid, but did notice the fish swimming in the tanks around him. 

Every day at daycare, they fill out a sheet that tells you how much he ate, when he had his diaper changed, etc. etc. The sheet also includes comments by the primary caregiver that day. So I decided to start adding the comments to the blog, to better round out the picture.

Daycare log 9/22/08:

Jack had fun today with Tim (student teacher). He tryed (sic) crawling a little bit and enjoyed making noises with his hands

Jack continues making efforts to communicate verbally with us.  He has all but abandoned his rasberry-esque beat-boxing and now tries to make a meaningful connection using African Click! language.  With eyes fixed on ours, Jack works his tongue against his upper gums Clicking! patiently in the hopes of finding intelligent life.  I appreciate that Jack's given us the benefit of the doubt; that although we aren't cool enough to speak the language of the street, we may just be interesting enough to be conversant in one of the several remaining Click! dialects.

Also, Jack is often found contemplating his hands as they open and shut before is eyes.  I suspect this is early evidence of Jack realizing his individuality and presence in the world, which should certainly be celebrated.

Jack's life

Here's a picture Jack's teacher took at daycare of Jack and his giggling friend Christopher. I've noticed that Jack is more interested in slightly more complicated toys. And Papa took him for a ride on the swing last weekend which Jack enjoyed immeasurably.

Congestion

Jack didn't go to swimming this week because he has a small cold.

He's trying so hard to crawl or walk or move SOMEHOW. I think it drives him crazy to see the other kids at daycare crawling over to things they want and picking them up.

It's awesome to come into daycare and see three or four kids, younger than one year old, playing together. Jack had a plastic spatula in his hand today. He was babbling on and on about it while he waved it around in the area and banged it on the floor. Three little kids were sitting watching him (and listening to him?) It was hilarious. I kept thinking about that baby band they used to have on The Muppet Show. Just in that babies are really funny.

cooked carrots

Jack's teacher at school told us it would be a good idea to give Jack pieces of food that he could eat himself so we started him out on cooked carrots.

Sean suggested and I agreed that Jack should have them in a bowl and even though he would probably make a mess out of it, it was good to show him that food is served in a bowl.

The first time I tried this Jack spent the entire time holding his bowl with one hand and eating carrots with the other.

Jack loves touching running water

About Jack

Jack giggles when I clean his ears.

He quiets down instantly when I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

He laughs uproariously when I sing "I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor" and grab his knees.

Whenever he picks up something he turns it over and over in his hands, generally he seems to be looking for the best part to chew on.

He is more likely to eat his baby food happily if someone else is eating at the same time. 

He's more likely to begin eating his cereal in the morning if I sing the opening line to "Folsom Prison Blues" and bring the spoon in from an angle like the train is "coming 'round the bend"

This morning he sat up on his own in bed, (he was lying on a pillow)

He likes to rub foreheads with himself in the mirror.

He loves to watch running or spraying water

Seven months two weeks

In the last few days Jack has started grabbing for EVERYTHING and also revving his engine to either walk or crawl, we don't know which. But it's like trying to contain a monkey in a gyroscope.

Growing up

So we were only back for two days when Jack started daycare at San Francisco State University. He'll be going three days per week. Wednesday I dropped him off and had to leave him crying while Nahid, his amazing teacher, tried to get him down for his nap.

I cried like a baby.

Apparently Jack had a rough morning, he wouldn't eat and wouldn't sleep. I had planned to stop in on my lunch break, but Nahid called and asked me to come in around 11:00. I hung out for a while and apparently had a fun time playing with toys in the afternoon.

Sean dropped Jack off on Friday morning and I cried like a baby but Jack had a good time in spite of not getting enough sleep.

The flight home

OK, so let me just say once again, that at least on this trip, Midwest Airlines was awesome, and it's not just because they give you warm chocolate chip cookies, although I love that part. Everyone was incredibly helpful and made it so easy for me. From Kansas City to San Francisco, a stewardess moved me so that Jack and I had an entire row to ourselves, explaining that she has a three year old and understands you need to have an entire row. They helped me carry Jack's carseat onto the plan, let me board first...and on and on. It was amazing. Jack had a good time on the flight home, especially playing with his seatbelt and we were both thrilled to see Papa waiting for us when we got into SFO.

Recapping the Visit part 4

I drove the stretch from Elizabeth's house to Delia's alone with Jack (about 3 hours). After an initial freak out in the first twenty minutes, Jack slept the entire way! He woke up as we pulled into Delia and Mark's driveway. Jack seemed very relaxed at Delia and Mark's, taking long daytime naps and seemed quite comfortable with their new little baby, Enzo. Delia had an old blue rotary phone that Jack was crazy for. He'd turn the receiver over and over in his hands, chew on the cord, trial to dial the numbers. Every morning Mark would come out and say, "Jack! are you on the phone again?!" and Jack would smile

Delia and I took the boys down to the river to go swimming one day, and it was too low for us to do much swimming, but Jack had a ball sitting on the river's edge and digging in the sand. I think he ate about 6 tons of sand, and was covered in it by the end of the day. I felt like it made up for all the sitting in the carseat that I'd been making him do and still had left to do. My mom came down and helped me drive back to Wisconsin. About 2000 miles total. 

Recapping the Visit part 3

My friend Elizabeth flew up with her little boy, Ivan and we set out on a road trip. When I told my neice Jenny this over the phone she whispered softly, "you're crazy..." but all in all it went well. We drove for three days, usually only about 6 to 8 hours each day, except the second day when we took time to visit the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville and go swimming at the hotel pool in Lexington as well as join my newly wedded friend Alice for dinner. I think watching Ivan affected Jack, it was on this part of the trip that I really noticed him acting differently, a little older. On our trip to the grocery store before we left Jack had his first ride sitting up in a shopping cart and seemed delighted. The hardest part in the car was getting one boy to be quiet while the other one was sleeping. We also learned an important lesson about changing diapers EVERY TIME YOU STOP, whether you think they need it or not. Hanging out at Elizabeth's place once we got there was great---very relaxing and her neighbors are some of the nicest people on earth.