Halloween!

It only seemed appropriate that Screamfest continued today for Halloween.  Jonah and Mommy dressed up like a screaming spider (Jonah in the front carrier and providing the additional limbs and soundtrack) which seemed to be scary enough to keep most of the neighborhood kids away!  

Screamfest 10-30

Daddy is on a two-week hiatus between jobs, so Mommy went into work today (still officially on maternity leave for the next two weeks, but logging some hours to reduce workload on my return) while Daddy stayed home with Jonah.  Thus was the circumstance of Screamfest 10-30.  Daddy, a bit leery, had been foretelling the event for days... and it went just as predicted.   Poor Jonah must have been so confused that Mommy was suddenly MIA!  It sounds like it was quite traumatic for them both.  :*( 

Hurricane Sandy

Today we were hit by the very fringe of Hurricane Sandy, a "hybrid" superstorm centered over Atlantic City.  Winds picked up to 100mph and knocked down a giant pine in the neighbor's yard (into ours)!  Fortunately, no buildings or people were hit.  Jonah stayed home and practiced sitting up on Daddy's lap and turning his head from one side to the other... and back... and forth.  For one with so little control of his own faculties, I'm sure there is some great independence in having control over which way he is looking!  Today was one of the first days Jonah and Mommy had a little conversation, with Jonah contributing a few "ahh" and "gaa" sounds.  Mommy and Daddy also received a few genuine happy baby smiles... that is to say not produced by mere contentment from a meal or processing gas.  They melt my heart!

Tracking

Friends Dave and Kate came over the meet Jonah and add to his scientific instruction.  Dave and Daddy did an experiment to see how well Jonah would track a flashlight beam on the ceiling!  He would follow the light a full 180 degrees around the room!  Next time: object permanence.

Visiting

Jonah visited with Grandpa and gave him a lesson in diaper changing.  They had a full audience of interested puppies watching!  Mommy was nervous... Grandpa's four Shelties were curious, but pretty good at keeping their distance.

We also stopped by to meet Great-Grandma Lil, Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim.  Great-Grandma was so happy to hold a baby!  She even leaned down to give him kisses.  So sweet!

Jonah Ba-Ba- Boo

Aunt Pamela has been telling us stories of what an impression Jonah made on his cousin, Cailin.  Cailin was reading the story of Curious George Goes to the Hospital, and she smartly proclaimed, "I went to the hospital to visit my cousin Jonah!"  (For an hour, while being distracted by birthday gifts, several weeks ago!)  She's also recently discovered that she can name her dolls and animals things other than Baby or Doggie.  Now they are all named Jonah, Jonah Ba-ba Boo, or some other suffix!  Such an impression he made!  Cailin seems particularly infatuated with the possessive of Jonah being HER cousin.

Maestro or Fight Club?

Jonah thinks he is a master of his hands... but he could use a little practice!  He is getting better at purposely moving his arms, usually with tight little fists, to suck his hand, free himself from a swaddle or bat at things.   He rubs his eyes, pushes against my breast while eating (or when finished) and points a finger (well, waves it around aimlessly) when excited.  Still, his little fists sometimes seem to punch him in the face fight club style (who's punching me?) or make other unexpected motions that startle him.  

Celebrity Status

Jonah and Mommy went to visit Mommy's office this afternoon.  Jonah was greeted with great fanfare - Don (my boss) took his carrier right out of my hands and walked him around saying, "Christina, Drew and I are proud to introduce Jonah!"  He was the perfect little angel while the entire staff drank in his cuteness during almost an hour of baby viewing.  We were slightly less successful at our second stop to see Mommy's friends at the ACE mentor program.  Hunger hit and poor Jonah was completely confused by Mommy feeding him with a bottle!  Mommy was having a tough time too... I might have anticipated that a high school women's room would not have baby changing station and the faucets would only spit luke-warm water in 5 second increments with motion activation (tough for bottle warming!)  We finally made our escape, but hit rush hour traffic on the way home.  Jonah had no patience for the traffic, it kept us from moving in a nice soothing pace!

Market Day

Jonah loves the supermarket!  The ceiling is full of lights to stare at.  A nice shopper even stopped and commented that perhaps he will be an electrician - wasn't she thrilled to learn that Daddy is an electrical engineer!  (As if either has anything to do with the ceiling fixtures in the supermarket!  Perhaps a physicist?)  We did have a little bit of a breakdown midway through, but everyone was so nice "isn't that cute!" rather than staring like Mommy was a bad parent.  Phew!

We are learning as we go... the nice "reserved for customer with infant" parking next to the HC spaces is rather useless because I still had to schlep the carrier across the parking lot to the door to find a carriage.  Then we returned to an awkward situation of either leaving Jonah by himself in the car to load the bags and return the cart (a few spaces suddenly seems so far away!) or leave him in the cart while unloading (hoping Jonah and the cart don't roll away!) then lug him back from the cart return.  Better to be next to the carriage return with a slacker employee having left us a cart!

Mommy!

Jonah is so calm all day, but the evenings are still tough on him.  Poor Daddy!  He spends all day at work while Mommy and Jonah enjoy snuggle time, meals, walks, etc.  (My very favorite place in the whole world is laying on the recliner with my snuggle-bug napping on my chest!)  Then Daddy comes home looking for some quality Jonah time just as Jonah becomes tired and irritable. Tonight, the only thing that would keep him calm was to come into the kitchen where Mommy was making dinner.  It sounds like Daddy needs some more quality bonding time...