History of the J Man

In the last few days, Jonah has learned how to nod his head “Yes.”  He’s always known how to shake his head “No,” but now he does a very exaggerated nod, usually lifting his head up and then swinging his head down dramatically.  Sometimes he’ll do it a couple times in a row if he really is trying to be emphatic.

He’s also starting to sign “Water” to us by putting his hand in front of his mouth, which he has done with Kate (our nanny) but not really with us. Now he seems to be doing it, which is great! Within the last couple days, we’ve also begun to try and teach him the sign for “Help,” which is tapping his open palms against his chest.

Jonah is saying “Mama” a lot more frequently and consistently and is starting to blow kisses.  He is also obsessive about kissing everyone.  If you tell him, “Jonah, give me a kiss,” he will lean in and give you a wet one.  He doesn’t really kiss in the traditional sense in that he doesn’t pucker; instead, he slobbers on you. 

Much to our surprise, he’s also picking up some of the Spanish I’m trying to teach him.  He’ll kiss you if you ask him, “Jonah, deme un beso (Give me a kiss).”  He will touch his ears when you ask, “¿Dondé están las orejas? (Where are your ears?)” which is pretty cool.  I’m trying to teach him the words for “Nose” and “Mouth,” but we’re still working on those.

He is definitely getting a lot nowadays, and even though he doesn’t speak using correct grammar or even correct pronunciation, you can tell he is comprehending a lot about the world around him.  He’s even starting to copy your actions just by watching you.

We went to the pool last weekend and he really enjoyed it.  We went there with my parents who were hoping to take some photos, but unfortunately, they were told that the pool does not allow cell phones or cameras because of ”predators,” which is a somewhat sad commentary on our society, I suppose.  However, it didn’t look very good when the lifeguard told my Dad that no cameras were allowed because of predators and he turned around and went home.

Well, we’re back from Arcadia, Michigan. If your wondering where that is, check out the map on the left. It’s about a six hour drive. If you’re wondering how Jonah did, on the way up, we couldn’t be prouder. Only one stop for lunch (at McDonald’s, which won’t be happening again any time soon).

Overall, it was a great trip, though the weather was not the best. The beginning of the week was nice–Mark (Julie’s dad), Tim (Julie’s brother-in-law) and I went golfing. I marked that trip as a success in that I came back with the same number of golf balls with which I left and even nailed a couple of long putts. Also in my genius, I neglected to wear sunscreen and bug spray, so I was a bit sore for the remainder of the trip.

The cottage where we stayed was very spacious and slept everyone comfortably. The first night, Jonah had a hard time falling asleep, but as the week went on, things got better.

After wondering weather Jonah would take to the beach, it didn’t take long for everyone to find out that he loved the sand. The money we spent on his beach toys was a great investment. One of his favorite activities was to use his shovel to fling sand everywhere. as you can see from the photo below. Unfortunately, he developed a bit of diaper rash, so he got the chance to run around naked while also playing in the sand. If you’re wondering, he had a blast.

Tuesday we went to visit my family who was staying up north in Glen Arbor, about 45 minutes away. They stayed in a condo on a ski resort that had a pool, tennis courts and a great workout facility. None of which they were able to use. Doh! Still, while the accommodations were modest in terms of size, they were quite modern compared to where we stayed.

On Wednesday, it was time for my family to come down to visit us. My Dad, Mark and Tim decided to climb “Baldy,” basically a large sand dune located near the Watervale resort, which is where Julie’s family has gone to stay in past years. The kids (my sisters and I and our significant others) spent the day at the “Big Beach,” a stretch of beach on Lake Michigan. There’s another beach near the resort called the “Little Beach,” which is on Lower Lake Herring, a smaller lake just to the east of Lake Michigan.

That night, we all ate at the barbeque at Watervale that had to be moved inside because of rain. Normally, the BBQ is outside and having it indoors definitely took off a bit of the luster, but we made do. The damage for me included:

• 1 hot dog
• 1 bratwurst
• 1 hamburger
• 4 ribs
• 7 chicken pieces
• green beans
• 1 ear of corn
• 1 ice cream bar
• 3 deviled eggs
• salad

Not bad. I’ve done better and now that I have 2008’s list, I can shoot for something more next year.

The highlight for Thursday was definitely going to The Shed (a local bar) to see Tim play his ukelele. He played three songs, including “Over the Rainbow,” a Flaming Lips song and one other one.

The rest of the week, we pretty much relaxed, played a few board games, spent some more time at the beach and ate greasy food. I went for a swim on the Friday before we left in Lake Michigan which was especially relaxing. The water was really warm this year.

Hopefully next year, when Jonah won’t need his morning nap anymore, it will free us to do more things like go berry picking or a glider ride. I know Grandpa Koslen is quite anxious to take him fishing.

Jonah got his first haircut last night.  In preparation for our annual trip to Michigan.  His bangs were getting in his eyes so I decided to trim them a bit and get some hair to save in his baby book. 

By haircut I mean we took him into the bathroom at home and Chris held him while I made a few snips.  Of course he cried and squirmed the whole time though so there are no photos posted.   We don’t need a record of this one. 

As I write this Jonah is hitting the buttons on his toy guitar then standing up to dance to the music it makes.  And by dance I mean standing there and swinging his arms (or arm) back and forth, maybe bouncing a bit or clapping his hands too.  Go whiteboy go!

That’s not why I’m writing though.  I’m writing to document that he’s using a few words now.  I think his first word was “doggy.”  None of this mama or dada stuff for Jonah!  He says:

• doggy
• banana
• num-num for food
• mama, but uses it rarely…
• dada, but sometimes we’re not sure if it’s for dad or dog…
• sometimes it sounds like he says out but I’m not sure on that one yet
• if you ask him what a kitty-cat says he says “meow”
• if you ask him what a cow says he’ll moo

He still signs for more/food, milk, “all done” and points a lot.  As in I want more <sign for more> of that <point to object>.  So he’s getting much better at getting his point across.  Oh and he’s shaking his head for no now too, that’s new. 

He can identify some of his body parts now too.  He’s best at his belly, tongue and ears but also knows his nose, hands and toes. 

He’s also starting to get picky about food it seems.  Up until the last few weeks he would literally eat anything and everything you put in front of him.  He’s eaten Indian food, Mediterranean food, Italian food, Asian food, you name it.  Lately though, he’ll put something in his mouth, chew for a bit, then spit it out.  Or rather, let it fall out of his mouth as he sticks his tongue out.  If I weren’t frustrated that all he wants to eat is Cheerios it would be funny. 

So as you’ll recall, we’ve just arrived at the hospital and the ABC is unavailable… 

Julie: When we got to the room and they got my monitor hooked up, we took a few showers to try and get comfortable and relax.  We did a few laps around the ward too, but the contractions weren’t getting any closer or more steady.  My water hadn’t broken.  So I opted to let them break my water to see if that would get things going.  But once they did, that there was meconium in the discharge so then they had to hook me up to the amnio infusion to try to flush the meconium from the womb so the baby wouldn’t ingest it.  Picture sitting on a hose.  So that was going on, the baby monitor was hooked on and I couldn’t really move at all anymore.  At that point they wanted to start a little pitocin so, although I wanted to do this naturally and avoid drugs, nothing was happening and I couldn’t walk around so I agreed.   

That’s when the contractions started and I was so tired at that point that I sort of zoned out between each contraction.  At the rate I was going, I wasn’t going to have any energy to do anything else, much less push.  So at 11 a.m. on Saturday, after about 14 hours of managing the pain myself, I asked for the epidural.  I was hooked up to a million tubes and hoses already and I was drained so I said, “Why not?”  I think I finally got it around noon.  At that point, Chris and I both got to sleep for 3-4 hours and I dilated another 4 cm during that nap.  I think the epidural really helped to relax me and let my body open up.  The baby was positioned a little funny though, so I still had a lot of back pain laying there, even with the epidural.  The anesthesiologist and midwife kept arguing whether giving me more pain meds would help my back or not.  He said it wouldn’t, she said it would.  I think she was right, but it didn’t get rid of it totally.  And I hated lying there so still on my back but, the IV and hose were still in me and I couldn’t move my legs, so I was stuck.

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I want to get this down before I’m 50 years old have no memories left except those of the the Cubs winning the Series back in ‘08.

The Day That Would Become the J Man’s Birthday actually started on The Day Before the Day That Would Become the J Man’s Birthday. I know, because both Julie and I had both come home from a full day’s work that fateful Friday, June 8, 2007. We were sitting around thinking about ordering in, when Julie began to feel some twinges in her general stomach area. This was around 6:30 p.m.

At first, she wondered if it was just indigestion, but it quickly became apparent that the gig was up — the kid was knocking.

For those of you who don’t have kids, you may think that having a baby is similar to what you see in the movies, with people rushing around and a frenzied ambulance ride, but our birth class’s recommendation for when labor pains started was to take a nap. So we tried a few of the methods we had learned in said birth class and things were going OK, but since we had signed up for a doula, we decided to give her a ring. Carrie (the doula) lived (and may still live) in Bolingbrook, Illinois, which you can see is not close. I figured a) it could take a couple of hours for her to arrive and b) I wasn’t sure if I knew precisely what I was doing. Needless to say, we made the call. Continue Reading »