Isaac is not what you would call the most mobile of babies. He has expressed a marked reluctance to move on his own, although he loves to be propped up to bounce, or look out the window, or sit and play. But now it appears that is all changing. Watch as little man just begins to make the first steps towards crawling, by working the inchworm.
Isaac has gotten pretty good at pulling a blankey over his head and waiting until you fire off the “Where’s Isaac?”. Then he whips it off and giggles as you hollar “Peekaboo!”. This isn’t his crispest effort, but it shows off his skills.
Mr. J. has yet to master the intricacies of coordinate movement. Meaning he doesn’t crawl, or walk, or scoot, or pull himself up, or roll over. About all he can do is sit and reach over and touch his toes. So we’ve been working with him to stand up and move around more. This wicker footstool makes a good walker for the lazy sod.
Grandma Marie sent us one of those red and blue globes with the shape holes all around, and the matching yellow blocks on the inside. Everyone I have talked to used to have one of these when they were a kid; ’tis awesome they are still around. Mr. J. likes it when I make all the blocks explode in his face, and expresses his appreciation by opening his mouth up wide.
Here’s a sweet infogram that shows a simplified version of how America’s interstate system is put together. I love stuff like this.
Massive snow and endless colds sums up our winter season. I’m on my fifth cold now, plus I had a tasty episode of a 24-hour stomach bug back in December that was quite memorable. All those illnesses made it difficult for us to keep up with life management, and I didn’t have any energy to spare for blogging. But we are on the mend, life is being managed, and I am back in the saddle. Plus my computer was broken for the last two weeks, but it’s doing much better, thanks.
The big life change for me was back in Oct. I decided that I was ready for a new job. I spent November getting my resume and portfolio together and set up some job search feeds. In December I interviewed with three companies and got offers from two of them. I accepted a position with a company called athenahealth, doing my standard software design thing. I’ve been there two months and am starting to get my head around stuff, which is a relief.
But enough about me; Isaac is doing well. Hitting his developmental milestones nicely. And working on some personality. He’s a happy little dude, and my purpose in life now is to make him giggle. We’ve been dealing with some skin problems with him, and so it’s off to the dermatologist soon, but nothing really to worry about. Blossom continues to excel at Mama-ing, and we’re all looking forward to getting out from under this winter so we can start having some new adventures.
Here’s Mr. J. working with his latest favorite toy.
Last week Isaac developed conjunctivitis and to keep Mama on her toes he also contracted a nasty respiratory infection called Bronchiolitis. To allay his misery from these ailments, I am tasked with medicating (a.k.a. torturing) my child. How to treat the yellow gooey matter oozing from behind his red eyes? Take a small metal tube of antibacterial ointment and simply squeeze the long metal applicator into the lower lids of the eyes. What the instructions don’t tell you is that the baby will thrash his head violently from side to side and cry hysterically making this task nearly impossible. And how do we treat bronchial inflammation that makes a child cough so incessantly that he vomits and is breathless? A nebulizer that uses Albuterol. Once again the instructions are a how-to for an adult … attach piece A to piece B… place mask over nose and mouth… There is no disclaimer that a baby will cry uncontrollably for the duration of the treatment and you therefore won’t be able to tell the difference in breathing post treatment. Or, that he will struggle with you to pull off the mask or hose attachments and thrash about as if you are suffocating him. Were these medications actually tested on infants (I admit to not having read the 1 point font)? And if so, why aren’t there instructions for infant use? Why aren’t common medical devices and procedures specifically made or developed for infant use? This can’t be an untapped area, can it? I’m not just feeling blue now but for some reason I’m also feeling blood red.
About a month ago Isaac began leaning forward when in a reclined position in his car seat or bouncer. He wasn’t reaching for anything per se but was simply trying to sit up. Propping pillows behind him for support, he eventually ends up slumped to one side or sliding all the way down until he is supine. Now when he sits supported in the Boppy or in my lap, he reaches out for objects of interest but hasn’t figured out that the effect of reaching too far means that his body gets stuck between his legs as he can’t easily do the reverse. Recently Isaac has been sitting unassisted (with Mama, Daddy, or pillows close by) for short periods of time.
Around the same time Isaac was exploring how to make his spine work, he was also discovering his tongue. Occasionally he likes to take his tongue on a spin outside his own mouth. In the pictures below I’m not sure if he’s discovered his lips or if he’s airing out his tongue:
Seems like Isaac has finally gotten over most of his illness. We had one cold after another there for a while, which was really screwing up his eating and sleeping. But now he seems to be back to sleeping through the night. And we’ve really ramped up on the solid foods. So far Mr. J. likes carrots, tolerates peas, and is indifferent to bananas. Here we are working the peas:
This weekend was pretty tasty weather, but Blossom and I are both still feeling a little punky so we just hung about the house. We got out for a few errands, and played with Isaac whenever he was awake. I spent some time showing him some moves.
Now that was a mellow vacation. Not much happening at all. We were all felled by colds, and motivation was low to actually leave the house. So we spent the holidays making pizza, watching movies, and lying down a lot. I did manage to shoot a couple of movies with Mr. J.
