Daley Ponderings | Jonathan

Birthday Fun

Today Jonathan put on a show for me. He had a plastic lei and was dancing around with it, putting it on and off, and generally making a silly time of it. (More)

Posted by joyful on November 18, 2004, 4:57 pm | Read 715 times | Comments (0)
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Is, I think, what Jonathan says for his name. He has said J-J in the mirror before. After shuffling his family bits the last time, the Jonathan bit came up in front, and is easily visible in the file rack. Just now, Jonathan went up to it, pointed at it, and said, "J-J-J" with the syllabic inflections just as we would say "Jonathan."

Posted by joyful on November 16, 2004, 5:11 pm | Read 882 times | Comments (1)
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Family Bits

Jonathan's most recent set of family bits includes the people he knows best - Daddy, Mommy, and Jonathan. The Daddy and Jonathan bits, especially, get a big smile and happy sound when he sees them. When one of those happens to be the last one, he exclaims and points joyously, saying "Daddy!" or the sounds he makes when looking at himself in the mirror. (see next post.)

Posted by joyful on November 16, 2004, 5:07 pm | Read 521 times | Comments (1)
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Down Stairs, Hooray!

Jonathan climbed down the stairs all by himself - beginning with turning himself around at the top, which was the limiting factor in his previous attempts. Very soon, I think, we will take the gates away.

This success was from the third floor to the second, which has the (more easily) removable gate. I think the other gates are hindering him from turning around because of the thresholds.

This ability to climb the stairs himself makes my job much easier - now I can carry stuff in both hands, thus, I can carry more, and have fewer trips to make!

Posted by joyful on November 15, 2004, 11:09 am | Read 549 times | Comments (1)
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Daley Visit

Grammy and Auntie E are in Pittsburgh for the weekend, and an early one year birthday for Jonathan. His accomplishments while they were here: (More)

Posted by jondaley on November 12, 2004, 9:22 pm | Read 591 times | Comments (0)
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"Oops!"

Jonathan has started saying, "Oops!". He learned that at the progressive dinner where one of the college guys was playing with him, shooting a matchbox car back and forth across the room. One time it hit a cord lying on the floor, so it didn't make it to Jonathan, and the guy said, "Oops". Jonathan repeated it a couple times immediately, but now has said it quite frequently over the last couple of days.

It sounds like "upths" where the "u" sounds as in "put" and the lisp is only slight.

Posted by joyful on November 2, 2004, 1:08 pm | Read 560 times | Comments (0)
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Car Seat Buckle

When our car was disabled, we had the carseat in the house, and Jonathan loved playing with the buckles and straps. Recently, he has started trying to fit the buckle pieces together.

Posted by joyful on November 2, 2004, 1:04 pm | Read 502 times | Comments (0)
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Bits of Intelligence

I have been teaching Jonathan using a not-so-intense version of the programs recommended by The Institutes. I'm adding this post here, because I want to give updates as a kind of diary. But I wanted to clarify in public why I am doing it.

If it really does work, what better and easier way to learn things? We have fun - I never force him to do anything. My intention is to give him the opportunity to learn interesting things. My goal is not to create a "super baby." It is to have fun with my baby while teaching him about God's world. Here's a paragraph from an email my mom sent me, which sums it up well:

"He's obviously such a bright boy (almost all babies are, but of course our grandson is even brighter :) ), and I'm sure he's learning SO much -- but here's the wonderful thing: whether or not the process "works" the way the IAHP thinks it does, aren't the two of you having a blast, anyway? I know I am, even long distance. Does it matter whether or not they are right in their theories about the brain? In one sense it does, but in another, not at all. You can develop any theory you want about how gravity works, and argue all day long, but still -- the apple falls!"

Posted by joyful on November 2, 2004, 1:04 pm | Read 1304 times | Comments (0)
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Mid-Night Bath

Thursday night, Jonathan was crying for hours, which is completely unlike him. At about 2am, he threw up all over himself, me, and the bed. We went upstairs for a bath/shower to clean up, while Jon (dear heart!) changed the sheets. After that, Jonathan slept fine. We did have a hard day Friday running on less sleep.

Posted by joyful on November 2, 2004, 1:01 pm | Read 466 times | Comments (0)
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Good Kick!

Jonathan is amazingly adept at kicking a ball. We have fun playing "soccer" together, and he usually kicks the ball straighter than I do! He always uses his right foot, and if the ball is not in the right position, he will use his hands to either position it or push it away.

Posted by joyful on November 2, 2004, 1:01 pm | Read 459 times | Comments (0)
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Chase

Jonathan likes to be chased. Especially fun is for Mommy or Daddy to get on hands and knees - then he (nearly) runs away and giggles all the while.

Posted by joyful on November 2, 2004, 1:00 pm | Read 422 times | Comments (0)
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Signing, finally!

I had just told my friend yesterday that I was getting discouraged about signing because Jonathan was not doing any except for an isolated sign here and there.

Then today, he distinctly signed for "milk" several times! The first time, he was cranky and I asked him what he needed. I said, "do you want milk, or a diaper change?" I neglected to sign either of those. He responded by signing "milk" and eagerly nursed when I gave it to him. Hooray!

Posted by joyful on October 27, 2004, 5:03 pm | Read 533 times | Comments (1)
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Hello

This afternoon, Jonathan walked around the dining room table, and when he got back to where I was, I said, "Hello!" He immediately said, "hebbwo!"

Posted by joyful on October 27, 2004, 5:01 pm | Read 533 times | Comments (0)
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Getting off the Bed

In a recent post, I mentioned that our bed is a little too high for Jonathan to comfortably get off by himself. So today, I took the bed off the frame (and took the legs off the headboard, which was quite the job by myself, I should have waited for Jon to come home, but it's already done.)

Jonathan then practiced several times. He still requires much encouragement, and he gets nervous when he starts to slide. He is then pleasantly surprised when his feet hit the ground before he loses his grip on the covers.

Posted by joyful on October 27, 2004, 4:56 pm | Read 559 times | Comments (0)
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Vacuum Cleaner

On Monday, which is my vacuuming day, I did two floors while Jonathan took a nap. Then for the other two floors, he was awake, but he was content to be out of the backpack - which is a great help to my energy!

As always, I warned him when I was going to turn it on. Usually, he would run away when it came on, and then come back when it looked safe (ie, Mommy had not gotten eaten.) He would alternately follow closely and run away.

But I consider this a great step forward because he is getting heavy!

Posted by joyful on October 27, 2004, 4:52 pm | Read 546 times | Comments (0)
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