Julie's Boggle

Christmas is just 4 days away — good grief!

This year we are once again being hosted by the lovely Simon and Nicola, who very kindly offered to have us back again, even knowing that we’d be bringing along our delightful, but potentially noisy, family addition this year!

(And that was before we asked if they would be Jonathan’s godparents. )

Simon and Nicola B live all the way up in York which at 3 – 4 hours drive away will make it our longest car trip with Jonathan to date.

The current plan is to leave on Saturday evening, after the 17h30 feed, and try to get there not too long after the 22h00 feed. (By which time Mom and Dad will definitely be ready for bed too!) The theory is that Jon will spend the entire trip asleep. We’ll let you know how that pans out.

And doesn’t litle Jon look ever so dinky in his quilted Christmas stocking. Nanna was sewing that while we were visiting SA and the first thing both Tom and I thought of was to see how Jon fitted into it! It’ll sure hold a lot of Christmas loot when he gets bigger!

Little Jon is absolutely great at producing wonderful smiles for us. It’s just not that often that we catch them on camera. This one is my current favourite.   (Click to enlarge.)

We do work on getting Jonathan to sit up with support a fair bit these days. Especially when Mom’s bathing him.

Last night, while sitting in the bath, it was quite charming to see him suddenly take an active note of his foot under the water.

The look in his eyes said: “Mmm, want that!”

I got him lying down and waved his foot at him. It was wonderful to watch the concentrated expression that came over his face. Eyes focussed, little lips pursed, as he grabbed the proffered foot with both hands and had a good old go at getting it into his mouth.

If only I’d had a camera handy…

It’s slightly disconcerting to find that 5 months have passed since Jonathan’s arrival (and that Christmas is looming large on the horizon!), but there you are.

Our little guy is certainly looking – and feeling! – a lot bigger. And gradually figuring out how his body (fingers, hands, tongue, etc.) works.

Looking back at the routine I noted down when Jonathan was 6 weeks old, while Jon has changed a whole lot, there’s not a huge amount of difference in the routine yet.

For me, the single most important change is the loss of the early morning (04h00) feed. What a relief. That was already tailing off when I wrote Jon’s 12 week entry but now, thank goodness, it is definitely gone.

That’s not to say that Jonathan is completely quiet before 07h00. We often experience some half-hearted calling out between 6 and 7, and the occasional blip of non-negotiable awakening, but generally Jon settles himself quite quickly and goes on sleeping until we wake him just after 07h00.

The other sleep-related change to the routine is the loss of the afternoon nap. This tended to be hit and miss even at 12 weeks. Fortunately I can rely on a decent morning nap — falling asleep quietly in his cot just after 09h00 is starting to become a regular thing — and a lunchtime nap of at least an hour, but more likely two if he’s in his cot and down around 12h30.

Thinking along the baby “milestones”, we haven’t got a lot to report yet. We have seen (okay well, I have seen, and captured on film) him rolling over from front to back. This was quite exciting and he did it half a dozen times more in quick succession each time I rolled him back, before refusing to repeat it on any number of days since.

Tom’s birthday at the end of August was the first time we actually spotted Jonathan smiling at us, and this is certainly something that is very repeatable. *warm parental glow*. Since then his repertoire has expanded to include a throaty little chuckle when he’s amused that we just love.

We’ve been doing one or two little experiments lately with putting tastes of various “baby-safe” solids onto his tongue.

The other day it was a bit of yoghurt, most of which immediately exited, much diluted with baby drool. And running a spoon over his chin to collect this, was, it turned out, the most amusing thing to have happened to young Jon all day. Chuckle-chuckle-chuckle. Every time. Bless.

With his neck and back being so much stronger now, Jon has also discovered the funny side of being thrown around. Tossing him into the air is a sure way to raise a smile and sometimes even a little chuckle too.

Jon’s fine motor skill are mostly related to twiddling his fingers together. These convenient toys seem to provide endless amusement. They’re also the only things he really wants in his mouth. We’ve seen him make a grab for other toys, finger them a bit, sometimes followed by a clumsy gesture to get whatever it is into his mouth, but it always comes back to the hands…

Ever since a fellow-mum mentioned to me that she’d been to several parent-and-baby screenings at the cinema, I’d been intrigued by the idea and keen to try it out. More so because it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a movie. More than 6 months in fact!

Among the obstacles to this plan was finding a movie that Tom wasn’t fiercely keen on seeing, and at a convenient time and place. It turned out that Odeon were baby-friendly, with specific Newbie screenings, and we have an Odeon in Kensington, just a short bus-ride away.

It’s funny that Odeon’s Newbie page is up now, because it wasn’t when I visited last week. The cinema did advertise the show we went to (Pixar’s Ratatouille ) as a “parent and baby screening”, but one got the impression that it wasn’t something that they were altogether geared up for…

First clue to this was when the woman at the box-office didn’t know which movie was the parent and baby one, and then tried to charge me a full-price ticket for Jonathan. (Before her manager confirmed for us that babies get in for free.)

Second clue was when they drew me aside and said that I couldn’t take the pushchair into the cinema. Tricky. I can see fire-hazard potential if they were cluttering up the stairs, but surely parked discreetly in the open area at the back would be alright? I guess we might have needed to use a bigger theatre – the one we were in was dinky – but would it hurt to make one available given that there didn’t seem to be anyone else about?

And I’m sure that the little office that they stored the pushchair in would not take too many more like that.

Leaving the pushchair meant loading myself down with baby, and all the paraphernalia I usually carry on the pushchair, and then a marathon struggle to get my coat off, thus encumbered, once I got to my seat.

I’d also heard that the lights would not be dimmed completely but this was not the case. Fortunately I didn’t really have any requirements for additional light this time.

And lastly, it turns out that they don’t have a baby-changing table in any of the toilets!

I’d be interested to see if any of this were being changed now that Odeon are so actively advertising their “Newbie” screening. But as they were, I’d give them about a 3 out of 10 for baby-friendliness.

Jonathan was fairly well behaved throughout. Not that it mattered, we were the only ones there! He had a good feed without being too distracted by the noisy soundtrack and then was mesmerised by the moving pictures for quite a while. Round about 90 minutes into the movie, he was getting a little shrill and I figured that it was time for his long lunchtime sleep.

Only gotcha was that Jon needed a nappy change before said sleep, and there had been signs earlier indicating it might be a “third-degree nappy” as one of my friends aptly puts it. Right, better go sort that out quickly…

This was when I discovered that they had no changing table anywhere, leaving the floor in the ladies’ loos as the handiest alternative (in its favour it did look very clean). And on closer inspection, we had more like a fourth-degree nappy to deal with! Young Jon does pick his moments! The only bit that was convenient was having a water supply and bin close at hand. And a fresh set of clothes in the change-bag I was carrying!

Having got through all of that, I picked up my cooing baby and headed back to our theatre… where the credits were rolling up to a jaunty tune. Drat. Guess it’ll leave something to see when I get it out on DVD to watch with Tom.

In response to this sad story, my friend Elizabeth told me that the Notting Hill Electric Scream screenings are far superior. Apparently the seats are leather armchairs! And pushchairs can be parked alongside! We’re going to see The Golden Compass there with our babies on Monday week.

Image courtesy of http://www.myjgd.com

Watching a baby grow is full of those milestone moments. His first smile, discovering his hands, learning to roll over… Sometimes they come sooner, sometimes later, sometimes not at all. But the milestone that every parent awaits with bated breath is his first Vulcan salute.

For Jon this came last night, just as he passed the 5 month mark. I can’t help but shed a tear as I watch my son take his first tottering steps into the world of Sci-Fi fandom.