We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 - 2:26 P.M.
Swimming!
We have spent several evenings this week at the pool with Jack.
Cautious boy that he is, Jack wasn't so sure about swimming at first. He pronounced the water "too cold" and wanted to "cuddle". By the end of the first session, though, he was down and walking around the ledge of the "baby pool" exploring the resistance of the water against his legs.
A couple of days later, we took him again, and this time he headed straight for the baby pool, and walked around the ledge for a while.
Then he noticed Dad in the big pool and he marched right over to join him. He was kind of startled by how deep the water was as he went down the steps, but we coped by having him stand on my knees as I walked around the pool with my knees bent.
Rod and I actually make a good team for these new experiences. Rod tends to push Jack's tolerance for novelty pretty hard because he gets bored with the tiny steps Jack prefers. But I would tend to increment so little that Jack wouldn't learn how capable he is. It's not that we believe in Jack differently, it's just a temperamental thing, but it works out well for Jack.
So, I walk around with Jack trying tiny new steps, and as Jack gets more comfortable, he reaches for Dad -- who shows him cool, daring new things to try. Then, when he's at his limit, he reaches for Mamma, who tempers the cool new discovery and is happy to repeat it almost indefinitely. And back and forth we go.
Shoes
A friend asked me recently why Jack is still in soft soled shoes, now that he's walking and running.
Back when we were young -- and as far back as when our grandparents were young, at least, the common wisdom was that babies need good solid shoes with serious ankle support to develop strong, healthy feet and legs, to learn to walk correctly, and to avoid foot problems later in life.
Jack's older brothers wore Buster Browns from the time they could stand up! There wasn't a more solid shoe around.
But more recent research suggests that the longer a child wears extremely flexible shoes that provide the muscles of the foot with ample opportunity to move freely, the stronger and healthier those muscles become and the less foot trouble the child develops over time.
It makes sense, of course. We have been learning over the years that "use it or lose it" seems to be the way the human body works.
Over time women who wore corsets found that the "support" made their back muscles so weak that the corsets became a necessity. Girdles weaken the stomach muscles so that once a girl starts wearing them regularly, she finds they need them.
That this also applies to feet and leg muscles is just common sense...once you think about it. And it feels good, too. If I could find cool shoes like his in my size, I'd be wearing them! I love to go barefoot! So, Jack is in very soft soled shoes and boots until we can't find them in his size anymore.
A Notes from Dad
What I'm Missing
"Picture Jack on all fours, on a chair, leaning forward toward Grace (our younger cat, who turned a year old about the time Jack was born) who is on the bookcase.
"They bat at each other, as Jack meows.
"I slipped out to get coffee and came back to that spectacle!"
My son is a goof ball!
More on our trip
I mentioned last week that we were just back from a camping trip to New York. I didnt have a lot of time to blog, so I didn't get a chance to mention a few of Jack's cuter remarks...but having a talking budgie has certaily been fun. More than ever we can hear how his mind works!
The family reunion was in the Adirondack Park -- the Adirondacks being the northernmost extension of the Appalachian trail. The mountains there are low and gentle, by global standards, but by Michigan standards, they're amazing! (And by any standard at all, they're gorgeous!)
As the sun came up that first morning, and Jack could see off into the distance, he became aware of what he was seeing, there came an excited little voice piping from the back seat
"MammaDad! Mountains! There's mountains here!"
It was his first experience of land that wasn't flat -- SE Michigan barely has hills. But Jack knows about mountains from his BabyWow software and from several of his books. I was amused that he was able to make the connection immediately.
The first time Jack would remember camping,(July 4th weekend) we camped with his beloved Miss Celeste. So, on the first morning in camp in New York, when Jack woke up in the tent his first thought was for Miss Celeste. We heard him stir -- and the first words from his mouth, as we heard him scramble out of bed and toward the door were an urgent "Miss Celeste, Miss Celeste!"
He was disappointed to find that there was only Mamma and Dad, but he recovered quickly when the subject of breakfast came up.
Jack startled his Aunt Sandy while we were at the reunion. She took him up to the buffet, and Jack walked past the hot dogs and hambugers, past the cookies and cakes, and made a bee-line for the fresh fruit and vegetables! He wanted strawberries, blueberries, and carrots, and broccoli! That's my boy! I wouldn't care to predict it for every time -- Jack loves cake! But I was tickled. That's my boy!
You know, three weeks without my guys is going to be a very, very long time. As fast as Jack develops, it's going to be a whole difefrent boy I meet at the airport on the 26th of September.
