Totally Teeth...
Jack now has TWO teeth...wow.
This teething process is happening fast now, and with this comes a whole new set of changes as well. Table foods; these being the food that Ken and I eat. As long as it's not heavily spiced, he'll eat whatever we give him, and he's loving it. Crawling; something that eluded Jack until about a week ago. Now we have the commando crawler who scooches his way around at top speeds for a baby his age and size. Attitude; assertion of his own self. Jack knows what he wants, when he wants it and he's going to have it on his own terms or not at all.
The rapid rate at which all of these things are happening are overwhelming. Everything is moving so quickly that we as Jack's parents are finding it hard to keep up in our late 30's. I haven't felt this old since Deanna got her first period a few years ago. We now take Jack to the park so he can swing on the baby swing and play on the slide; we've put him on the grass and had him tocuh trees and leaves and growing things so he can get used to the surroundings. We've brought him back out into the world so that he can familiarize himself with people. It was a long winter and he was pretty well-insulated from the world, but he didn't get sick and he stayed warm and dry.
Naps are now starting to elude us. Jack doesn't want to sleep like he used to, but this in itself is sort of a blessing, as it now means his bedtime is earlier. He'll still take his morning nap, but the afternoon and evening naps are a no-go. Yes, he gets cranky, but he fights these brief nap periods as though he were missing something important. Now we're putting him to bed between 8:30 and 9:00pm, instead of 10:30 like we did in the past. He sleeps all night, and he gets up around 8:30-9:00am, which is really no big deal to me. It just means that we have to go to bed earlier in order to not be so tired during the day.
All in all things are going well for Jack. I'm glad that the summer is coming, and I can't wait to get him out and into the swimming pool. That'll wear him out for sure, and the afternoon nap will once again come back into play. We got lucky; Jack's teething hasn't affected his sleeping at night, and he hasn't gotten sick, (knock on wood) and he hasn't been a jerk. Now if only he'd get a summer job to support his new feeding habits...how cool would that be?
History in the making...
My first husband was Catholic. My second husband was Jewish like myself. My current and final husband is Methodist. When John Paul I passed away in 1978, I was 10 and I remember the election of John Paul II because I remembered thinking how strange it was that we had just seen a papal election for John Paul I. I was a little girl, but still old enough to know what was going on.
I liked John Paul II. I watched glued to the TV when he was shot in 1981 by that Turkish terrorist, causing the bullet-proof "Pope Mobile" to be made, which I thought was cool. I also watched the career of John Paul II with some interest because he was Polish instead of Italian. He was a widely travelled man, he was a nice man, he was a little to conservative for my tastes, but I'm Jewish so what difference does it make to me, right? I was at work when the reports of his death started spilling out, and was home eating dinner when he actually passed away. I watched with morbid interest when he laid in state, and I woke up at 3:45am for his funeral on CNN. I was into the history of it all.
Now the Catholics have chosen John Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany, another conservative who was very familiar with the Vatican and the doctrine of John Paul II. Benedict XVI is his papal name, and he seems like a kind man. I wish him good luck, and hope he makes it through the next five or so years. This is definitely NOT going to be a long papcy by any means as this man is already 78. Hey the Cardinals know what they're doing I guess.
So I guess this means still no marriage for priests, celibacy laws stay the same, no women priests, no condoms in the church to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, but otherwise the Catholics are in for some new stuff. I'll watch with interest as usual, and thank my lucky stars that Jack's not going to Catholic school. (Okay, that was a cheap shot, but I had to take it!)
Grandma's first e-mail...
If you'll remember a few posts back I wrote that my mother was getting a computer. My mom has no call-waiting, it took her years to get cable, and when we moved to Georgia she got a cell phone to make long distance calls so it wouldn't affect her super-small phone bill. She's needed a lot of nudges in the direction of taking these steps, but little by little she's gotten there.
This morning I received my first e-mail from my mother, thanking me for some pictures of Jack. I sent them as a test, and she let me know that she got them. We e-mail my in-laws pictures of Jack ALL the time so that Oma can see her boy as often as possible, and not miss him growing up since she's in North Carolina. Jack is Lydia and Walter's only grandchild, and he's my mother and father's ninth, so we feel it's really important to keep Lydia in the loop where Jack's concerned, not that my parents don't deserve the same respect. They all love Jack, but Lydia is absolutely crazy about him; she's waited a lifetime for a grandchild and now that he's here she doesn't want to miss a thing!
So my mother has made the jump into the new millenium, which is a great thing. I look forward to LOTS of e-mails in the future! Too bad you can't send hugs and kisses through cyber-space, well not real ones.
Looks like Dad, Acts like Mom...
One thing I've discovered about my son is that he has an attitude. We've all seen the pictures of how cute he is and how much he looks like Daddy, but he definitely has some of my more "colorful qualities" when it comes to his attitude. Ken is a very mellow, laid-back man. He takes things in stride and doesn't get upset over the little things, but when he does get angry you need to get out of his way and fast! I am the more out-going one. I'm a little louder and much more straight-forward, not that Ken's not straight-forward, but I tend to be a little bit too direct at times. When I have something to say believe me you'll hear it. When I get angry I vent it out and then it's gone and I move on to the next thing.
Jackson is sort of like me. I've seen certain aspects of my personality in him. He's feisty, and when he wants something it's NOW, not five minutes from now. How do you teach a nine-month old patience? Jack get's a bit riled-up and when he's in a mood you need to acknowledge it. We had a rough day with him yesterday because he's cutting a new tooth and we couldn't walk away from him for a second without him freaking out! Usually I can get things done as long as I've seen to it that he's occupied, but this teething is leaving everyone a little worn-out. To me it's upsetting because there's nothing I can do to satisfy him when he's cranky. I need to be all over him or he has a caniption fit. I'm glad that Ken was home yesterday so we could get housework and laundry done. It took all day to do the simplest chores, and of course Lord Fussimuss wasn't making things any easier on us; we had to do things in shifts so that someone was always with him. By the time Ken left to go to work for a graveyard file purge at the COMP, I was exhausted and still had to give Jack his bath and put him to bed. After thirty minutes in the tub playing and a baby massage and a bottle, Jack went right to sleep and actually had a restful sleep.
Now here's the funny; my mother-in-law is under the impression that Ken and I are on the outs because Jack's been so aggressive lately. Ken and I are so completely getting along, in fact we're hanging on to each other for dear life at times when it comes to Baby Attitude. There is hardly contention in my marriage, even if money is tight and we have very little time to spend together. I think we've both learned from previous marriages that being financially strapped is hardly a reason to cut your mate's throat. You either get through it or you don't, and we don't place blame anywhere except on the economy. Yes we wish we made more money, who doesn't, but we're not fighting, we're getting along really well, and we're both trying to work extra hours. Jack has nothing to react to as far as how his father and I are getting along; he's just being testy and himself as usual. Now maybe she'll calm down a little and trust in us that all is well and stop worrying.
April Showers bring May Flowers...or so they say!
What gorgeous spring weather we're having! I've decided to take my two men on a picnic to Stone Mountain this weekend, complete with the checkered tablecloth, fried chicken, potato salad, iced tea...the works! Jack is really digging the outdoors, so I figured why not get him out more.
Spring time in Georgia is terrific. We have the Cherry Blossoms, the Dogwoods, the Kudzu; it's a hayfever sufferer's worst nightmare with all the pollen. It's alot more than back in Los Angeles, but it's beautiful as far as the colors, the cool air, the friendliness of the people during this weather. I'm really enjoying Southern Springtime.
I'm hoping the weather will keep up so that we can get Jack out more. Parks, the Zoo, stroller days in the neighborhood, and then the pool! I see many days of water fun for Jack in the coming summer months. I'm only sorry that Emily moved to Baltimore and took Gracie with her. It would have been a terrific summer for the two babies. As it is, we're putting Jack together with Ken's friend Shonge's kids. They range in age from three years to five months, and the youngest, Ben get's all of Jack's baby clothes once he's grown out of them. I'm just happy to have someone to give them to!
Today Jack and I are going to walk down to the local deli for lunch. It's about a quarter of a mile, and I'm interested to see how Jack does with a dill pickle! This should be fun.
Surfer baby catching some tummy time!
Updates...
It's been gorgeous here in Georgia. Spring has sprung, and boy is there a ton of pollen everywhere leaving this fine yellow film all over everything! Nice...
Jack's doing wonderful. His tooth is getting bigger and bigger, he's crawling all over the place, or rather he's schooching all over the place, sleeping well, eating well. In short he's terrific. Ken's working like a madman, and I'm up to five days a week with a double shift on Fridays. Gotta love trying to get ahead. We're getting along well, no fighting, no fussing. We could use a little extra sleep, but otherwise the only thing suffering is our sex life, or rather lack of one. We'll get through.
The Dogwood festival was this past weekend, but we didin't go. We've got Dogwoods right here near us. Jack's had some outdoor time to explore nature. It's been good for him and for us too. Fresh air always is.
Nothing else is really happening. It's the same stuff, just a different day, but as long as nothing's been happening on the negative, then that's a good thing. We keep on keeping on, and are thankful for good weather...it could be worse. We could be destitute during a rainstorm, right????
Pope-Crazy...
I am a nice Jewish girl by most standards. I celebrate the important holidays, I don't trash the Hebrew faith, and I respect those who live a more strict religious life than I, no matter what their religion may be.
I was ten or so when John Paul II was elected to the papacy. I remember it only because Pope Paul (I think) had recently passed away, and he had been Pope for a very short duration, and John Paul was the first non-Italian elected, so it was sort of controversial. Anyways, I remember reading about the ordination, etc...and I watched with interest how this nice Polish Pope made good in the world. He was a good man, did the right thing by God's standards, worked through assasination attempts, Parkinson's disease, and finally gave in and was "called home" on his own terms in his own bed, surrounded by people who loved and cared for him, which is the way I think we all should go.
Now here's the weird part. It has been stated that he wished to be buried in the ground, and yet they're putting him in a grotto occupied by Pope John XXIII, which I guess is an honor, but is it really what he wanted? And further more, what's with the mass viewing of this man's body? How can he not be embalmed, what on earth has he been "prepared" with, that he hasn't started decomposing in the Italian heat? Is the Vatican set to freezing temperatures to keep him fresh? Why isn' he entombed in glass with climate control the way Eva Peron was when she died? I'm perplexed by this. I watched on television for a few minutes but wound up getting grossed-out by this. I've seen dead people before; they look cold and lifeless and waxen, but after about four or five days of this, Pope John Paul is starting to look a little ripe in my opinion. This poor guy just needs to be buried already.
I plan on waking up at 4:am for the funeral. Yes, I too am a lookie-loo, but when you have CNN and Fox News and all the networks covering this event, why not wake up for it? I'm sure they'll show it all day long, like they did Princess Diana's funeral, which I also woke up early for, but I'm interested in seeing the whole process of this great man's final tribute. I just think the final showing is a little creepy, but that's just me. In the Jewish faith, we don't do public viewings, and we prefer to bury our deceased as quickly as possible and sit our shivah. I'll be sure to have a bagel and schmere with my coffee as I watch the funeral tomorrow morning...just my little Jewish touch. I'll even light a mourning candle. I liked the Pope, even if I didn't believe in some of his doctrine.
Talk about a Pope-crazy, people dying month...Man am I tired!
She bought a Dell...
For those of you who have known me a long time, you'll remember that I'm extremely close to my mother, Sharon. My mother was the only reason I stayed in LA as long as I did, and it was a sad moment when I did finally leave. We both bawled like babies at a five am feeding frenzy.
I have the requisite phone bill that shows my devotion to my mother (and Ken's mother too for that matter!) and have been trying to talk my narrow-minded mom into investing in a computer for years now. Always I have been met with resistance and excuses, "I'm too old to learn computers, I don't have the patience for a computer, I don't have the money for a computer, blah blah blah..." It's always been one thing after another. Back in the late 90's when I had moved back home after the death of my late husband Gary, I came with of course a computer. I remember installing a computer casino game on it just to get her to learn to play it, and so that she could learn the simple task of turning on the system and getting it booted up. I had a thousand post-it notes all over the thing, and she still had a million questions, and she'd get frustrated, so she forgot all about the computer unless I was home, then it was " can you do a google search for me for Marshmallow Fluff?" I tried to get her to learn, but alas her resistance won out and I stopped bothering her about it. When we moved to Georgia and had Jack she would pester me to send pictures through her friend's e-mail account, or to my cousin Sammy's computer (Sammy rents my old bedroom now at home), which is now jacked-up and infected with all of these viruses, etc...but I'd do it. It's not the same as sitting down at your own system, logging on and checking your e-mail and finding a picture of your youngest grandchild and oldest child...something get's lost in the translation if it's on someone else's system.
I called Shocky yesterday to inform her about Jack's tooth coming in, and she in tale informs me that she has "bought a computer, a Dell." I have nothing against Dell, they put out a decent product, they have decent customer support, they're a decent priced system so I know she didn't get ripped off. So Shocky is now joining the world of cyberdom. I'm thrilled that she's finally done this, but now it's going to be a bombard of questions, but probably not. Her partner is pretty savvy when it comes to these things, so my mom should have plenty of help, or else Ken will get plenty of phone calls. Now Grandma Shocky can check her e-mail and see pictures of Jack whenever she wants, and this is a good thing. Hey, it only took her until 1998 to get cable. Now if we could just talk her into call waiting...
The Whole Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth!
Hallelujah! I discovered that Jack's first tooth has broken through two days sort of my predicted date! Finally!!! Of course this is a big deal, and all of the appropriate phone calls have been made to the Grandmothers, who are as thrilled as I am, but no one could be as happy as Jack himself, and it shows.
The past three or four days have been a little difficult for him, and we know he's been in pain, but now he seems to know that this tooth has come in, and he feels all the more better. God this is so cool! I know that you all may think that I'm nuts going on about teething, but this is just awesome! Think of all of the cool foods we can feed him now, and think of all of the fingers he's going to bite over the course of the next few weeks as the teeth just start busting out all over!
We're excited for Jack, and mercifully we're happy he seems to be weathering these changes well. I hope they're good strong teeth...one's that will get knocked out in fist fights or playing sports, like most boys go through...let's hope braces won't be a reality, but I'll cross that bridge once he has four or more teeth.
Thank you God for getting Jack to this point. Now if we could just slow him down on the crawling, I'd really appreciate it...my back can't take much more!
Time for Teeth...
Jack is in a tizzy. He chews on washclothes like crazy, throws mini-fits when things aren't being done quickly enough for him, and as I put a finger into his mouth to check his gums this morning, there they were; these two little bumps ready to bust through.
Baby Oragel is a gift from the BabyGods. I slathered Jack's bottom gum with it, and now of course he's numb all over, but he's happier then he was an hour ago, and now's he's down for a nap. Teething is a real pain, no pun intended.
I thought that it would be easier, but it's just as hard as ever. I have no memory of getting in my baby teeth, and I remember Deanna's teething barely because she had a mouthful of teeth by eight months, but every child is different, and I'm glad to see that Jack's time is coming finally. He's been gumming food to death, so this should make it a bit easier on him I would think.
So now begins a new chapter for little Jackson Dillon...little man with teeth....finally.
