tfl: The Flatiron Life

The sound of frustration is echoing throughout our home these days. A very loud, but very cute, baby version of frustration.

When your car just won’t start, what do you do? Yell at the car and hit something?
When an application just won’t do what it is supposed to do, what do you do? Yell at the computer and hit something?
When your TV stops working, what do you do? Yell at the TV and hit something?

Yelling and banging seem to be universal. As adults the things we respond to in this way are few and often the things we understand the least. For Jonah, the boundary of things he does not understand is right in front of his face. Literally.

He can easily spend an hour firmly gripping his pacifier, staring intently at it, and just yelling. Not crying, just a frustrated “GET IN MY MOUTH!” We will put the pacifier in and he will suck joyfully away. Then he pulls it out. When he tries to put it back in he usually puts it in the wrong way. The frustration begins and it is loud.

I think it is a aggravated because his front bottom teeth have poked through and when he puts the hard part of the pacifier in it hurts a little.

He is learning though. I have seen him put it in correctly a few times.

You want pictures of Jonah on the blog? Is your feed reader glowing cob webs waiting for something to appear here. Fearn’t! I was going to upload new stuff, including recent visits with Grandmas, but I cannot find the camera and Jonah might be sleeping on it. The will come soon.

For now know that he is about the same as the last time you saw him, except he is 3 feet taller, speaks fluent English, German, French, and Hoosier, and has a mustache.

We have set the date for Jonah to be “incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth though water and the Spirit” (a.k.a. baptized). It will be 27 April at the 11am CT service of our church, the FUMC of Chicago at the Chicago Temple. There is easy parking 2 blocks away for only $5.

If you would like to be there to see Jonah begin to be a “true disciple who walks in the way that leads to life,” then we would love to have you there as part of the “community of love and forgiveness” that will help him “grow in [his] service to others.”

My sister’s birthday is this week. I am very happy to have ventured through life with her and am so happy we are still close.

Her birthday always makes me think about my earliest memories. I do not remember life without Dana, except a short moment with my dad on the way to see her for the first time. Dad and I are in our crew cab Ford pickup, driving to the hospital. I remember the street lights being on in Danville and asking dad why they would be on during the day. (That might be too advanced of a topic for a 3 years, so I will concede this might not be an authentic memory.)

I cherish this memory, but it has change into something new this year. It usually seems to me as the appropriate first memory I have, the beginning what would be my whole family for 23 years. However, it is now making me sad and scared.

This is the first time I am seeing it though my dad’s eyes.

I think of this as the happiest days of my dad’s life, maybe this one is the absolute happiest. He is happily married and is welcoming his second child into the world, a little girl to round out his family. He has a good job and is making plans to expand his house. He is well respected at church and in the community. Things are great.

This is how I have always seen this memory; But this year I crossed the divide. I am no longer the little boy in the passenger seat. I am much closer the the man driving that little boy. I am now thinking about how much he loves the little boy. How this is his little man. The thing he loves more than anything in the whole world. Why he awakes, works, and is. The very embodiment of his love. And I am imagining him looking at me and suddenly realizing his special relationship to his man-cub is over. He has to do and be all this for two.

Our intentions are to have a little brother or sister for Jonah one day. Possibly when he is almost 3. Right now, I just don’t know how I can love another person as much and the way I love Jonah. I don’t see how I will be able to be a good parent to both of them. I fear favoring one and neglecting the other.

When I calm and talk to Jos, I know it can be done. Clearly there are healthy families where all the children are loved. Our mom loves us both and is a great parent. Dad’s parenting skills might be questionable at times, but I know he loves us both very much. I am sure I will be able to do it. Jos says, “we will just have to make more love.” I know she is right. So, I need to wipe away the tears, stop mourning its death, and cherish the special relationship I have with my little man before it is over.

Jonah had his 2 month checkup this week, here is his update.

Age: 11 wks
Weight: 11 lb 6 oz
Height: 23 1/4 in
Head Circumference: 40 3/4 cm (I hope that is cm and not in.)

What did Dr. Ramadan say about Jonah? Well, he is still the smartest baby ever for his age. She thinks he will be on the earlier side of the development ranges. She sees that Jonah wants to move and wants to talk, but this development step is frustrating him. She encouraged us to do lots of belly time, even though he hates it.

Then the sadness came, when we converted Jonah from a free rider to a member of the herd.

Jonah needed 5 vaccines. He had the oral Rotavirus vaccine; and was stuck with DPaT, HIB, Prevnar, and Polio vaccines. 2 injections per hip, poor guy. He did not like it, so I hope the heard is happy.

After sleeping 4 different bed over the last 11 nights, I am looking forwards to the next several nights in our bed. I am also looking forward to not un- or re-packing the car any time soon.

Jonah has met everyone I can think of, except his Grandpa Tomaw. Most of these people freaked him out a bit. His Grandmas (particularly my mom) and Great Aunt Chris were the clear exceptions; they could calm him down very quickly.

It has been amazing to see how much he has changed in 11 days. I feel like we have brought home a different little boy than the one we took to Indiana. He can now clearly focus on things and tonight was the first time a saw him care if his mobile turned. Also tonight while I watched him and Jos slept, I was able to let him tire himself out with the mobile and pacifier sucking (he just fell asleep). 2 weeks ago I had to spend 15 min swinging him in his car seat before he would sleep.

Several folks have been curious how George has been holding up with the baby. I am pleased to say he is doing well. The first few days he was very quite. This was probably due to him thinking we had abandoned him for three days.

He has been curious about Jonah, but not up in his face. George looks into the play yard and paws at it, but has yet to make an effort to get in. Yesterday, Jonah was kicking at the wall of the yard and George seemed a lot more interested. We are going to make sure to place Jonah a bit more centered from now on.

The last couple of days have been the first times I have picked up old Georgie for a while. When I first held Jonah I thought he was heavy. Now that I am used to him, George is huge. You can really tell that he is twice Jonah in nearly every dimension.

The initial quiet period has run out of George. The last two nights he has been back to his crazy self. He is running races back and forth through the apartment and hiding under the Christmas Tree. Aw, the pitter-patter of little feet.

It is amazing what can be done with only one arm!

This morning, Jos woke me to take for Jonah. I took him so she could sleep. He was not very fussy, just active and not sleeping. In a football hold, Jonah is still small enough to be controlled and I have one hand free.

The first thing I needed to do was pee. Can I do this one handed? Easily!

I was still tired and knew Jos might be back to sleep for a couple hours. I needed coffee. Can I fill the coffee pot, change the filter, and grind beans with one hand? A cinch!

Jonah was a little more agitated, so we walked around, rocking and shushing, for a while. He eventually fell asleep but not so soundly that I wanted to put him down.

I just sat and stared at him for a while. One of his farts snapped me out of it and I decided to read my news feeds. I am glad I know the keyboard shortcuts in Google Reader. If I had to do a lot of mousing I would not have been able to read the 150 items I did with him in my arm. When one arm grew tired I switched.

I also answered some email and am getting pretty good at one hand typing. It might help that I am not a very good typist with two hands.

What else should I try one handed? I think cooking is out. I am not that crazy.

Jonah went to the doctor today for his 1st week checkup. He is 8lb 1oz (8.0625lb, 129oz), 20.5in, and his head is 36.25cm around now. That makes him a pretty middle of the road baby compared to others. Except for his weight for length ratio, that is between the 5th and 10th percentiles. No concerns though. Doctors continue to be amazed with how well Jonah and Joscelynn are doing.

We were keeping detailed records of feeding and diapers, but Dr. Chang did not seem to concerned with counts so we are not any more. Just need to get him up to birth weight by his visit next week. That should not be a problem as he is expected to gain half to a full ounce every day.

Also, you can find more pictures in this set.

Aunt Dana and Uncle Kristoffer were here this weekend. They were great to see and all the food they made was pretty good too. (New house rule: You can hold Jonah if you make us a meal.)

Last night during dinner, someone said something that is a Beastie Boys lyric. That made me think about how Jonah will think about the stuff we like. He is going to think that we (and I mean all of you too) are are so old. Kristoffer said that the Beastie Boys will be to him like The Beatles are to us. Crap! I AM old.