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| September/October |
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| September 26, 2002 Yesterday Josh slept all day. Oh, sure, we played Climb Mount Mommy and did our daily crunches and bench presses, but he slept a lot. I also think he may have grown a quarter inch since his last visit to the doctor ten days ago, so maybe there's a connection. Lately I've been taking him to the park to try out the baby swing. Some days, he squeals and laughs, and then other days, it's like trying to feed him rice cereal. (More on that tomorrow.) September 27, 2002 So at his last check up, the doctor said to go ahead and start him on solids, even though all of the information I can find from the American Academy of Pediatrics says to wait until he's six months old. I was going to hold off, but then I saw him making little chewing motions while watching me eat a bagel, and I thought, Hey, let's try this thing. We've got nothing better to do. He actually does quite well. Not for the first time since he was born, I found myself being grateful for my little sister Laura and all the experience I got from having her around. From the first spoonful, I was right there with the rubber spoon at the lip, waiting to scrape it all back up as he spit it all over his chin. I always re-fed the food that he spit out and I caught almost all of that, and I know I put the spoon in the bowl several times, so I think he actually ate some. September 28, 2002 Yesterday Joshua went to his first football game. The big Champaign showdown, doncha know, in which the two Champaign highschools go head to head. This was a pretty big deal for the whole community, including us. We have two friends who play on the Centennial team, but they're good friends with the Central QB. He was talking trash and quoted doing so in the local paper. Major rivalry here. So what does all this have to do with Joshua, you ask? Not much, except he was so sweet trying to fall asleep with all that cheering. Nodding off, nodding off, nodding off....FIELD GOAL! Eyes wide open, looking around at all the people. Eyes closing, closing... closing... INTERCEPTION! You get the idea. We were really roughing it, too, since sleep-deprived Mommy left the diaper bag on the floor of the garage and wasn't about to brave the traffic to go back for it. Jim donated his jacket to the cause though, so I held Joshua (actually, Jim had him until half-time, when I insisted on my turn) in his little front pack and wrapped Jim's jacket around him, and when he finally fell asleep, nothing could wake him. October 1, 2002 Over the weekend, Jim tried his hand at feeding Joshua some rice cereal, and, after observing them together, I believe I've discovered the secret to getting Joshua to eat enthusiastically: utter lack of table manners. When I was trying to feed the boy, as I mentioned a few days ago, I would keep the spoon poised at Josh's lower lip to catch the stuff that got pushed back out. Jim preferred a more free-form approach, allowing the cereal to accumulate anywhere--bib, chin, stomach, it didn't matter to Jim. Somehow, this worked. Jim started with a big ol' bowl of cereal, which was empty in about fifteen minutes. I was so impressed that I picked up the video camera and got some nice extreme close up footage of the spoon going into Josh's mouth as all the cereal smushes out. The best thing about this cereal-as-food-source thing is that I can now leave Joshua for more than two hours. Josh went through a two-week period a while back during which he would get hungry an hour before normal, and I'd be out and about and Jim would be stuck with the screaming baby. Now I can go off on a bender without worrying about the starving baby at home. October 2, 2002 On Sunday, I got to hold a newborn baby for the first time since Josh was born. Josh is such a behemoth that we were eyeing the new baby, going, "Oh, she's so much smaller than Josh was--look how tiny." After church I went up to the mom, who just moved here from New York, so I thought maybe I could get her to take some of my extra bottles and a copy of Goodnight Moon (we have several). She's a second time mom with a sister in town, so no dice, but she let me hold her little one. So tiny. I asked how much she weighed and she said 8 lbs. 6 oz.--a mere 7 oz. less than our own Joshy boy. How could he ever have been that small? Yesterday, I put him down on the floor, and he did a couple of his baby push-ups, looking up to be sure I was watching, and then, easy as breathing he just flipped himself right on his back. I was delighted and amazed--usually he needs a false start or two. He'll be pulling in a paycheck before we know it. October 3, 2002 Well yesterday Josh was a big hit at the supermarket. Women kept stopping to compliment him on how cute he is. It's funny. I'm almost at a point where I just take it for granted: "Yeah, yeah, isn't he cute. Now will you leave us alone already so I can find the shampoo I want?" For several weeks now, people have been complimenting his "haircut," which would amuse Jim and me because, depite the fake photo caption above, we've been pretty much letting his hair do its own thing. It just naturally resolved itself into a sweet little 'do that was very nice except that on top and in back it was a strange mixture of long wisps and big ol' honkin' bald patches. He was beginning to acquire a combover look reminiscent of pre-emmy Rudy Giuliani or that Purdue basketball coach that Letterman was making fun of for awhile. On Wednesday, however, all that changed. Jim held the video camera while I snipped all the long pieces into a much more respectable (and age-appropriate) pseudo buzz cut. It doesn't look any different, but when one of the ladies at the store complimented him, I took total credit. October 4, 2002 Yesterday I mostly spent mopping up the remnants of a particularly nasty problem with the basement sewer drain. Joshua kindly amused himself upstairs away from the cholera and dysentery, for which I was grateful. Last night, after a day of mopping and breaking down of soggy boxes, I went to bed well before Jim. He woke me in the middle of the night, though, rubbing my back and hugging me. He does this from time to time, and so I dozed, enjoying his somnambulatory affections until I heard him laugh a little bit, and then say, "Oh Joshy. Does that tickle? Oh it's the sweet little boy Josh." Hmm. I guess there's no question that Joshua is the boy of Jim's dreams. October 5, 2002 On the way to the local orchard for cider and donuts. Josh is wearing jeans and his blue and white striped hat/sweater/booties ensemble from his Auntie Liz--looking very much like a French dock worker. October 7, 2002 Yesterday Josh completed his rolling over education by rolling onto his back from his tummy. (Previously, he's only gone from tummy to back.) He seems very proud of himself, but thankfully does not seem to have realized that he can now move anywhere he likes by rolling. October 8, 2002 Today Joshua and I played host to the church ladies in the Bible Study I'm a part of. He had a fabulous time since all their children are at least 10 years older than he. He got passed around like crazy and learned some new games and generally distracted us all from thinking about higher-minded things like what makes chocolate so tempting. He can just about sit up on his own now, too. This is a cool thing, but lulls me into a false sense of his abilities. I'll sit behind him, doing my own thing, keeping him from falling backward, when he'll do this slow droop forward and onto one side. Now that he's capable of pulling himself up, I let him do his little impression of a stroke victim. He doesn't like it, though, and often looks up at me after he's righted himself with this expression that looks to me like, "Well, and where were you during all of that?" October 11, 2002 There's no denying it, Joshua is now utterly mobile. Yesterday, I watched as he scootched himself across the livingroom rug to the coffee table, under the coffee table and to the other side, where he just laid, staring up at the brand new view. (We don't generally put him underneath the coffee table, not knowing that he would find it so fascinating.) Impressive, if you ask me. Of course, I think the whole process may have taken, oh, forty-five minutes. Right now, he's sitting up in his playpen, playing with his new favorite toy, a hand-me-down from his cousins Ray and Simon that incessently says "Three, two, one, blastoff." and "Let's fly" when nudged the least little bit. Jim picked it out for Ray. We knew that one day we would be punished for giving our niece and nephews loud and messy toys. I just hope we can have one Playdough-free Christmas. October 12, 2002 Yesterday, Joshua spent most of his time squealing his new high-pitched squeal. For a while, I was interpreting it as boredom or discomfort, but it's now my opinion that he's just doing his little obsessive-compulsive mastery of the new vocal talent thing. For a while it was sticking out his tongue, then it was razzing, and now, high-pitched squeal. Ann Lamott describes it in Operating Instructions as a James Brown squeal, and I couldn't imagine what she meant--til now. A more fun thing about Josh is the cute little look he gets when he's noticing something for the first time. He just raises his little eyebrows, and looks very interested for a moment, and you can almost hear him thinking, "Disco." Disco, as in Discovery--Jim says Uma Therman said it when she found John Travolta's um..heroin?.. in Pulp Fiction, but I first noticed it on this Saturday morning cartoon about saftey patrol. October 16, 2002 I don't know if you could sense the universe collapsing from where you were, but this morning Joshua had his first painful accident. I was changing his diaper, when, suddenly, screaming. I looked down, and saw his finger pinched in the changing table's cabinet door. I thought it was just the tip of his finger until Jim came in and cried out. I looked again and saw the enormous (OK, quarter-inch) dent along both sides of his finger. I was sure I'd crushed his little index finger to smithereens, and that he'd never be able to give the OK sign (or other, sometimes more useful, gestures). I was thinking emergency room, but Jim's cooler head prevailed. I put Josh on ice while Jim talked to the pediatrician's nurse, who told him that it's really hard to break rubbery baby bones. When he hung up and allowed as how I maybe hadn't maimed our child for life, I burst into a flood of relieved, self-recriminatory tears, and it was Joshua, staring at my bawling self with comical puzzlement, who shut down my waterworks. Would you believe, the boy himself was laughing inside of fifteen minutes? October 17, 2002 Not much to report today. The finger is nearly as good as new--hardly noticeable. Today we went to the garden center for some mums and I wheeled Josh around in a radio flyer wagon. His car seat fit so nicely, and he was all bundled up in his "Teddy Toes" blanket from his Aunt Caroll, looking very cute, his little head sticking out of this mass of yellow fleece. Of course, he was the topic of everyone's conversation. It's amazing to me how many people think that understanding babies is their special talent. I think back on all the times I said to a mother, "Oh, he's tired." or "He sounds mad," and I just want to shrivel up and melt away, taking my past mistakes with me. Strangers come up to me and tell me to give him something to play with or take something away or put him to bed, and I really have to fight to keep from saying, "Oh, thank you so much for your advice. I just don't know how I kept him alive for five whole months without you." October 18, 2002 Today, as Josh was playing "Explore Mommy's Face with Hands and Mouth," (one of his favorite games)I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine: when he grabbed my nose, I grabbed his nose, saying "That's Mommy's nose, that's your nose." When he stouck his hand in my mouth, I put mine in his, saying "Thss Mummft moof, thass yur..."--Wait a minute what's that? Let me see that mouth! "Joshua, you're getting your first tooth!" Yep, the tiniest little corner of his bottom left front tooth is poking out of his gum. Such a darling little beginning, we'll see how I feel about it after a couple of chomps. For now, though, I take back all those unstated thoughts I had about how whiney he was being yesterday. If only I had known. October 22, 2002 Joshua is asleep right now. He had a big day yesterday; we were out and about almost all day. He's been making it clear that the process of growing teeth is not one that he finds fulfilling. It's making for rather long days. October 23, 2002 This morning Jim and I took out a tape measure, and measured Joshua at 2'3". I always get an inch higher than his nurse, but either way, he's turning into a long boy. Lately, I've been bringing him into the kitchen with me when I do dishes. His really digs it when I sing to him, but he's also come to appreciate kitchen toys. We've got some number magnets that I put on the refrigerator for him to slide around. (He's totally his father's child when it comes to numbers; any time I count anything, I have his full attention.) Remarkably, he isn't interested in the musical possibilities of a wooden spoon and pan. He does like the plastic measuring spoons, though. Yesterday, when Josh was playing his favorite afternoon pastime, Eat Mommy's Face, I discovered my new favorite thing about him: his breath smells ever-so-slightly like buttered popcorn. October 28, 2002 This weekend while Daddy was off in Las Vegas playing The Game, Joshua and I went to SOFA Chicago, an exhibition of sculpture, art, and fine craft that I've been wanting to see since we moved here. Funny how nervous people get when you have a baby in a stroller among $20,000 glass sculptures. He did get some nice compliments, particularly from one charming older couple. The slender, silver-haired wife asked how I managed to keep him so quiet, they hed seen us a few times as we walked through the show, and were impressed. Of course, I was ultra-sensitive to every little squalk, and told them as much, thanking them for helping me to feel a little less self-conscious. "Oh, no, don't feel self-conscious. Besides, look at all this wonderful art and culture you're exposing him to."I felt a bit like Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby: clearly not of their class, but encouraged and accepted to a certain extent, because I had good values. Or something like that. October 31, 2002 Joshua did a lot visiting yesterday. First, he visited with our friend Robin while I went to the dentist to have two cavities filled, and then he went with babysitter Sarah's mom, Kathy, to see Sarah perform in her volleyball game while Jim and I went to dinner for our anniversary. He was a wonderful boy with both people, except that he slept most of the time. To me, this is a great tragedy--here he is with people who are dying to hold him and play with him, and all he does is sleep. Then, when I pick him up, he's ready for lots of interaction, but I've still got the dishes to do. I know that I will miss this time together once he's a real boy, but I can't help relishing his long naps. Oh, more big news: when we went to the store for trick-or-treat candy, Joshua sat in the front of the cart for the very first time. He did very well, though I think we'll stick with the infant seats on our long shopping trips until he stops listing. 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