Julie's Boggle

We’ve always known that babies are continually changing and in fits and starts, sometimes letting you rest on your laurels and sometimes requiring whole new management techniques. It is apparent to us that we’re just entering one of the latter types of changes. If you look really closely at the middle of his bottom gum, you can just see the translucent tops of Jon’s first two teeth.

Let us pause for a minute to admire them and feel gooey about our little boy growing up.

And now on to the practicalities, like where did we put that baby toothbrush? And do we have any baby toothpaste? And at just what point are you supposed to start brushing? And does this mean breast feeding is going to take on a Russian Roulette quality?

Never mind, we’ll figure it out. It’s the stern cries of “just you wait!” from the parents of toddlers that really have us rattled.

Today Jonathan is 37 weeks and 4 days old. Not a particularly significant milestone to anyone except us I suppose. But we know that Jonathan’s (thoretical) gestation period was 37 weeks and 4 days!

So as of today, he has been out here in the world for as long as he was inside me.

In that time he’s turned into an an amazing little chap who we love to bits.

He’s always had a very happy, easy-going disposition; these days reflected more and more in big happy grins, and an infectious laugh which can be triggered by the simplest of things. (Just having Tom in the room is often enough!)

And he’s a real flirt when the camera comes out.

The last big milestone we saw was sitting. Since then, young Jon has been refining his balance during many happy hours of sitting and playing with a variety of toys.

He’s got amazing flexibility in those little legs and has been witnessed getting into a lying-on-his-front position purely by leaning forwards far enough from sitting up!

These days, once on his front, he shows a surprising lack of ability to roll over onto his back. (This used to be one of his most rapid-fire party tricks!)

Instead there is much frustrated wiggling back and forth which usually culminates in him collapsing, panting, in tears of exhaustion, and a sympathetic parent flipping him over onto his back.

The sweet baby burblings, of which we hear a lot, sometimes also work themselves into long strings of bah-bah-bah’s and, more recently, dah-dah-dah’s. Very encouraging for Mom and Dad!

Day by day, Jon’s figuring out more and more about his hand co-ordination. Tom spotted him clapping a few days back, which was ever so cute.

He’s also become astonishingly adept at using his hands to parry unwelcome parental advances on his face. Something that makes
once-simple tasks (administering eyedrops, blowing his nose, cleaning his face) require a whole new level of skill (or an extra hand)!

On the feeding front, our little fellow tends to take just about anything.

He’s mastered finger foods but not what they call the “pincer grip” (thumb and forefinger grasping of things). This tends to leave him with a soggy fistful of whatever it was he was eating, which he’ll happily suck at through his clenched fingers if he wants it badly enough.

And, er, he’s not a tidy eater per se…
Jonathan has great affection for a variety of toys which share his bed.

He’s still a brilliant sleeper who is generally thrilled to go to bed and play with his toys. Chattering and laughing away in complete darkness for ages some nights…

And lastly, I do love the way he prefers to recline with his ankles crossed. So wonderfully, unaffectedly nonchalant.

Our gorgeous, charming, amusing little guy… It’s been such a pleasure getting to know you.

Last Wednesday was our tenth and final lesson in the WaterBabies “Beginners” series. And as a rare treat, Tom had taken a day off work and was along to watch, provide an extra pair of hands, and get some footage for us. (And to take Mommy for lunch afterwards! )

As far as the lessons go, Jon has certainly seemed to enjoy it more and more as the term progressed. He’s had many more underwater swims and has never cried afterwards. (Although we have seen some coughing and spluttering following the incautious technique of going under water with his mouth open!)

In the photo above, Jon is demonstrating his aptitude for floating on his back while I join the sing-along and do the actions for “Twinkle-twinkle little star”.

Jon loves the “falling in” simulations, and has also amused the teacher no end by spending a large portion of several lessons with his mouth slightly open, in a little smile, and his tongue out. During the bits where I drag him forward in the water, as in the photo below, this does tend to give him the appearance of an excited puppy!

(The photo above was extracted from a video so the quality is not brilliant.)

Tom did have our camera in its underwater housing and just as the lesson ended, we had two attempts at getting an underwater picture of Jon…

As you can imagine, this was not the easiest thing to pull off from a crouching position on the side of the pool, and what you see on the left was the only picture we got! Ah well.

With our trip to SA overlapping the start of the next term, we’re going to be moving to the Intermediate class that starts only after we get back, and half a term behind the current one. This also gives the new, and slightly unfortunate, starting time of 09h00! (Currently we’re in the 12h00 class.)

That time is going to be a push and no mistake, but it’s a short term and there are other advantages to starting earlier, so I guess we’ll just bite the bullet on the one. Watch this space for more swimming adventures to come!

It’s been a little while since I had a chance to add any entries here… Life has been a bit of a whirlwind operation lately.

On the DIY front, I am pleased to report that the wall I started on in the bathroom is now a rather patchy shade of blue-white all over. (One coat down, three to go?)

It was quite quick once I got started with the roller. Just all the setting up (of toys, playmat etc. for Jon) beforehand, and cleaning the roller afterwards (is it just me or do those things manufacture their own paint during cleaning?!) that was a bit of a drag.

Our new burglar bars should be fitted next week, which will help the front appearance of our flat no end. Glad I never got around to painting the old ones!

And lastly, we have a verbal quote for some pretty, new sash windows — artfully made to look exactly like the ones that are coming out — which we’ll confirm next week. Having them fitted is going to be an interesting exercise logistically. Apparently taking out old Victorian box-sashes makes a LOT of dust. It’s also considered to be a 2-day job and it’s unlikely we’ll be wanting to sleep in our bedroom on the night of day 1…

Poor Jon has been suffering with a nasty gastric-type virus these last few days.

It’s the first proper illness that he’s had, but fortunately it doesn’t seem to get him down (or affect his appetite much!) as long as the supply of “magic juice” (Paracetamol in baby-format) is kept at acceptable levels. Mom and Dad on the other hand, are developing a weariness for the seemingly endless number of dirty nappies and changes of clothes we’re going through!

Witness our bathroom wall and its long-standing, dislikeable shade of blue. Look harder and you’ll see the efforts of the first two weeks of my bathroom wall painting project…

Week 1, session 1: Wall (just that one) gets a thorough cleaning while Jon plays in the hall.

Week 2, session 2: Postponed several times and cut short by Jon being overly fractious instead of playing happily as he usually does. (My arm was getting sore anyway.)

It’s a slow process.

As the helpful Adam pointed out: “Hard colour, that blue… Maybe need 4 coats to hide?” Goodness, I hope not!

“Baby steps”, as they say. Only I didn’t quite anticipate just how “baby” these were going to be…

Initially, Friday morning didn’t have much to distinguish it from any other day. I surfaced just before 05h00, when Jonathan began to make his first little noises as he amused himself in the dark.

From a half-asleep state, I heard Tom pad off to close Jon’s bedroom door and then come back to bed. What I did not hear after that were the faint metallic donging noises that Tom lay awake listening to. Wondering if he was being paranoid, or if they were coming from the burglar bars on our window…

What I definitely did hear a few minutes later, was a VERY loud metallic clang, right outside. While I was still wondering dazedly what had caused that, Tom had already leapt out of bed and was across the room and hauling open the curtains.

I leapt out after him, heart racing, staring out onto the shadowy front flower bed and seeing nothing unusual.

Right until Tom said “Someone’s been jacking the burglar bars!” And sure enough, two of the solid-looking bars on our main window had been forced apart. Not wide enough to fit a person through, but enough to make it obvious that someone had been trying to get in!

The police were called and duly showed up within about 20 minutes. We didn’t have much for them to see but they did take some notes and sent round an officer later in the day to dust for prints.

Aside from the one fact that the catch on our window was visibly open (that might have been me, some weeks ago), the policemen were all generally quite bemused by the attempt. After all, there are a number of basement flats without any burglar bars in the surrounding streets. And why someone thought they’d be able to successfully get through our heavy-duty bars was something that left them scratching their heads.

It was also puzzling that Tom hadn’t seen anyone at all when he dashed over, but we guessed that they must have scarpered silently up the stairs the moment they made that huge noise. Or perhaps they’d given up seconds before and that was a belated response from the protesting bars as they removed the jack.

The aftermath of all that was a slightly longer day for Tom and me :yawn: (Jon didn’t wake up again, despite the discussions with policemen in our hallway, until 07h15), and Tom helpfully electing to work from home. It did feel a little creepy to know that someone was trying to get in while we were sleeping but I tried not to dwell on that, and all the other miscellaneous house creaks and murmurs, as I lay in bed last night.

Longer term, plans are already underfoot to get the damaged bars repaired, and to replace the wobbly old Victorian-style sashes with some more robust double-glazed ones. With locks.

And so life goes on.