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| November/December 2002 |
| To view other entries, click on the month below: Sept/Oct 2002 Winter 2003 |
| November 4, 2002 This morning, after my run, I came in and checked on Joshua. He was doing his by-now-standard routine of lying on his belly and popping his head up above the crib bumpers to see what was going on. He spied me, so I went in to say hi. He's got a mirror strapped to the crib, so I peeked into it and caught his eye in the mirror. I could see him, even though I couldn't see myself. (I'm assuming it was the same way for the boy.) I said hi to him through the mirror, and then when he turned to look at me I'd say hi face to face. Well, this was very interesting to Josh. He was delighted by the whole thing. He'd catch my eye one place, and then look back to the other place, and I'd say hi, and then he'd laugh and look back again. We went on like this for some time; Joshua was really captivated. I think it may have been an important day in the continuing puzzle of the mirror. |
| November 8, 2002 Yesterday Joshua came with me on my run. Usually, this is a value neutral proposition for both of us. For me, pushing the stroller (which must weigh 40 pounds with Josh aboard) adds some nice resistance training to my workout, but generally cuts my endurance by half at least. For Josh, the change of scene is nice, but since he's usually asleep by five minutes into the ride, he doesn't much care where he is, and his nap tends to be shorter than if he were home in bed. (For all you saftey trivia enthusiasts, babies usually can't go running with their moms until they can sit up on their own because their fancy running strollers don't recline. Josh's does, so he's been jogging and hiking since July.) All that changed yesterday, though, because yesterday Josh stayed awake through the whole ride, and he had a great time, too. He sat up and looked around, craning his neck back to laugh and smile at me when I gave commentary on the surroundings. By the time we finished the loop at the park, it was just dusk, (my excuse for not going another lap) and he stared, enthralled, at the headlights of cars passing by on the adjacent road. When I moved him from stroller to carseat, I got the distinct impression that he wasn't quite ready to leave. |
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| November 11, 2002 Today, Joshua will visit Dr. Tripathy for his 6 month checkup and vaccinations. This is a pretty fun time for the most part, because Josh shows off all the things he can do to Dr. T, and she always responds the same way: "Well, he's doing everything we pay him for." The other good news is that he gets fewer shots this time around. Right now, it's about 11:30 and the men of the house are sleeping. A nice psychic rest for me as well. Joshua has been just wonderful these past couple of days, showing a lot of forbearance with his two sick parents. He tried some carrots for breakfast, and they seemed to grow on him throughout the meal. When he was done, he kept tilting his head to one side and smiling at me, like a parakeet. I don't know what that's about, unless it's his way of saying, "Come on, Mom. Don't you think it's time for the real food now?" November 13, 2002 The doctor says Josh is in fine shape and was impressed by how well he could sit on his own. By the time we left the doctor's office, he was even smiling and laughing at the nurse who had given him his shots just moments ago. Last night I was amazed as Joshua wolfed down one and a half jars of baby food: peas and squash. He just plowed through them. It's hard to believe that he's got such mastery over a skill he only started practicing a month or two ago. (Gives me hope that someday he'll be able to drink from a cup without choking.) |
| November 18, 2002 I'm really impressed with Joshua's eating ability lately. This morning I gave him a piece of banana and he grabbed it and squished it and sucked piece of it into his mouth with very little help from me. At moments like that, he seems so self-sufficient. He's also been with Sarah, babysitter extrordinaire at dinner time on a couple of occasions, and he'll actually eat when she feeds him. It's simultaneously humbling and relieving to know that he can exist without me now. |
| November 19, 2002 Lately my favorite time with Josh is his last feeding of the night. He usually has dinner at 6 or so, then a bath and some naked time (he loves naked time), then to bed with a little prayer ("Goodnight God, we love you.") and a couple of songs. In the interest of not having to wake up in the middle of the night, I generally wake him around 9 or 10 to do what the Baby Whisperer calls "sleep feeding." He lays there in my arms, drinking away, half asleep, looking beautiful. Jim is generally sitting next to me on the couch, and no matter what's gone on during the day, or even five minutes before, life for those ten or twenty minutes is utterly, unreservedly, miraculously good. |
| November 20, 2002 Major day of discovery yesterday when Joshua picked up the tall cyllindrical cookie tin that I've been keeping crumpled paper in for him to take out and crunch. It was empty this time, and he just happened to make a couple of ah-ah noises when he had it up to his mouth. He thought the echo was really cool, and now he's conducting all sorts of acoustical experiments. So far he hasn't done his James Brown squeal yet, but lots of breathing and grunting. He's even figured out that he has to be facing into the bottom for the trick to work. It's so fun to watch his baby version of the scientific method. |
| November 22, 2002 Methinks the boy is getting a few more teeth. He's been terribly fussy lately, and he keeps gnawing on the baby spoon at breakfast. Last night we had a friend over for dinner and Josh just cried non-stop for what seemed like forever (about 20 minutes, on and off). We took him out of bed and tried dinner again (he was too tired to eat at his normal dinnertime, but all that crying riled him up). By the time he got to bed, it was practically Jim's and my bedtime. Another piece of evidence for the teething hypothesis: he's taken to giving me hickies. Right now I have the last vestiges of one on my arm, and I looked in the mirror last night to discover he got me on the face, too. Trust me, this is not an issue of duration, but of strength of suction. |
| November 23, 2002 Josh's new pastime is the most amusing yet. He lies on his back holding a diaper in both hands, or a crumpled catalog page in each, and then shakes his arms around over his head and in front of his face. For some reason this delights him. He'll just be lying there when all of a sudden, he grabs one or the other and starts squealing in delight. Of course, this makes me laugh, which makes him laugh all the more. |
| November 26, 2002 Right now, Josh is in school, visiting with Gramma Laughlin and Auntie Laura and the rest of the Acton-Boxborough Extended Day staff. He's made lots of new friends. He's also learned to assume the crawling stance, but so far, no forward progress. Generally, he either scoots back a little bit, or else he'll flip over onto his back. Once he gets the concept of shifting balance to one hand, he'll be well on his way. Tomorrow will be a good day, because, weather permitting, we pick up Daddy from the APS conference. They both miss each other a lot. If the big storm prevents him from getting home tonight or from landing here tomorrow, it will be a sad day indeed. |
| December 5, 2002 In the words of Simon and Garfunkle, Isn't it great to be back home? Josh seems happy enough, though I think he misses the attention he was getting from everyone, including a mom and dad who had no work to keep them busy. Auntie Laura made our Thanksgiving trip a real vacation for us, occassionally feeding Joshua breakfast so I could sleep in, and keeping him generally entertained. Thanksgiving dinner was a feast and Auntie Tracy's house, at which Joshua tried the tiniest bit of cranberry sauce mixed in with his cereal. |