Feeding Bertha

I've decided that feeding Jonah is something like a carnival game.  Have you ever played the Big Bertha game at Chuck E Cheese where you throw plastic balls into a giant puppet mouth?  Like that.  Here are the rules:

1. You only have 2 minutes until the game ends.
2. Try to get as much food into the little mouth as you can.
3. The mouth will open and close at random.  The intervals of openness decrease as time is running out.
4. A penalty will be assessed if the mouth was open to babble, fuss or was otherwise not expecting input.
5. For an added challenge, small hands will swipe at the spoon to divert the food away.
6. The game may break down and end at any moment, in which case you lose all the food.
7. When you finish, instead of dispensing prize tickets, the mouth spits some of the food back on you.

In the end, you realize you would have gotten the same result from throwing pies at a clown's face...

Maneuvering

Jonah has reached a certain mastery of his gross motor skills, which allow him to sit unassisted for several minutes (though still with a pillow or person ready to catch him when he topples over), roll over (and back!) at will without fussing for help, and pivoting 360deg on his tummy so he can face in any direction.  Put all these movements together and he's still pretty stationary, but I am sometimes surprised to see that he's somehow maneuvered a couple feet in one direction through some very complex combination of rolls and turns!

Baby Shower for "Bundle"

Jonah's future friend, currently of ambiguous gender and known as "Bundle", came to visit this weekend for his/her baby shower!  This meant that Mommy's friends Caitlin (Bundle's mommy) and Jacqueline were also visiting.  :-)  

Jonah had a wonderful time playing with Jacqueline, who is a natural with babies.  Mommy was thrilled to have an extra pair of hands to read stories, play games, give baths and otherwise entertain Jonah!

Jacqueline nicknamed Jonah Little Pollywog because of his affinity for water.  She is a linguistic anthropologist, and had an interesting perspective on our cultural interaction with babies and the English-sounding babble they produce.

During the afternoon we pulled out the Sandra Boynton CD "Philadelphia Chickens" to try it out.  While Mommy and Jacqueline were dancing and singing along, Daddy came and snuck Jonah upstairs to play in the peace and quiet.  LOL!

Bundle's shower was wonderful in that Mommy got the chance to be at the same time an adult, socializing with other grown-ups, and a kid, enjoying time with old friends (without the immediate responsibilities of Mommihood).  Jonah hung out with Daddy doing boy things, I am sure.

Handedness

They say that babies are born with predetermined dominant handedness, but may demonstrate both preferences many times before it is clear which will stick.  With that preface, we have noticed that Jonah has been favoring his left hand for most things lately.  The left hand is first to feel his feely bug book, help with the spoon or reach for a toy.  (The right hand still flips pages and rubs the wavy bug on the right side of the book, but there is some directional efficiency to that.)  Whether or not he becomes a lefty remains to be seen!

Mama!

Jonah reached a giant milestone this morning: saying "Mama" but not meaning it.  ;-)  At least, that's how it is described in the book Baby 411.  He made the right sounds, but had no intention of saying a word, even if it was appropriately used to beckon Mommy to feed him breakfast.

Easter Tuesday

Easter Saturday

We took an easy morning of naps to let Jonah recover from his shots before heading up to visit his grandparents and cousins. Cailin has been talking about HER cousin (and best friend) Jonah for so long now, I don't think she knew what to do! She must have built him up in her head to some idealized version of what a baby cousin should be. Then he came to visit and she stayed far, far away!

At one point, I tried to sit next to Cailin and slide her over on the couch so she would be between me and Jonah. It was like pushing two like charges together. She somehow mustered enough 3-yr old strength to keep a gap. It took most of the day before they touched and posed for cute pictures together.

"Good" Friday

Jonah had his 6mo. check-up this morning! I spent almost the entire week stressing over whether we should try to get an appointment earlier to check that his cold hasn't turned into another ear infection, or worse, gotten into his lungs. He's had a pretty tough week, but has been showing daily improvement, so I resisted. I'm trying so hard not to be a crazy parent!

Jonah now weighs in at 17lbs 5oz, at 27in long and 17.5in head circumference. The doctor reported everything is great! No infections and he is hitting all his milestones. In fact, he was quite impressed by Jonah's sitting, which only half of his 6mo babies can do! On the other hand, Mommy failed the questionnaire. The nurse asked whether he could "pull up to sitting". No, he can't get himself up to a sitting position. But that's not what they meant. They wanted to know if he "helps" sit up if I pull him by the hands. I'd never tried!

His immunizations went as expected. Smiles turned into screams as a look of betrayal came across his face. Fortunately, they ended promptly after I picked him up! Poor guy seemed to react poorly to the shots this time. He was okay through lunch with Grandpa, but grew more and more cranky throughout the day. By the time his cousins arrived at Grandmama and Pop-Pop's house, he was crying and running a fever so we had to head home.

Sick... again.

Poor Jonah got sick again!  This is by far the thing I enjoy least about school.  Not only is it terrible to watch Jonah suffering, but Mommy and Daddy inevitably get sick, too.

Last week, all the kids at school were coughing.  On Friday, I found Jonah in a sea of dried mucus flakes in his crib in the morning.  On Saturday, he became the star producer in Daddy's lucrative (and imaginary) mucus-export business - out of every orifice: his eyes, nose and mouth.  On Sunday morning, his eyes were sealed shut with dried goo.  He didn't so much like that Mommy was constantly attacking his face with a washcloth to remove excess secretions, and would play defense, batting his hands to protect his face or offence, stealing the washcloth from Mommy.

Jonah also ran a bit of fever Friday and Saturday nights.  I never understood how my mother knew when we had a fever just by touch, but lo, an behold!  It was rather obvious by his flushed cheeks and warm forehead that Jonah was more than 98.6deg.  This lead to an amusing bout of "new-parentness" in which Dr. Daddy tried to administer acetaminophen.  We were well stocked, thanks to Jonah's prepared and thoughtful Aunt Pamela, who gave us a pharmacy of baby remedies.  However, that left Daddy with a few too many choices of measuring implements (do you use a dropper, cup, or one of the three differently-sized syringes?) and vague directions "for dosage under 2yrs, ask a doctor."  Naturally, in this time of crisis, Mommy couldn't be expected to remember what the pediatrician instructed two months ago!  Fortunately Daddy is a doctor and was able to get a conservatively small dose in.  It wasn't until the second night and a little research that Mommy figured out how to get the suspension out and dosed properly.

As Jonah's cold ran its course, Daddy and Mommy each took a turn in their own way.  Daddy with a head cold lasting several days, and Mommy with a fever that came and went in a night.  Poor Jonah had both.

iBaby

Jonah has taken great interest in the iPad.  After all, Mommy and Daddy spend a lot of time touching the tablets!  I turned on the Google Maps app so that Jonah could touch the screen and see what happened.  He cruised from our home to a wider view, up to Canada (Hi, Aunt Ashley!) and down to South Africa (Hi, Cousin Mandy!).  Amazing.  While it's tough to say he had the zooming and navigation mastered, he certainly had the sense that he could manipulate the screen with his fingers.  And in case you are thinking that he hit these two spots only because we toured the entire Earth, the only other places he stopped were New Brunswick and Greenland.