On Wednesday, Jonah and I had a playdate with another mom-baby duo. We went to a lovely public pool, surrounded by redwoods. Really two pools, a big lap pool only a few feet deep, and a smaller, round pool only about six inches deep. Perfect for sitting and splashing.
Today, said mom-friend called to let me know that she has come down with the chicken pox. Turns out she’d never had them, and her husband recently had shingles, which can give chicken pox to anyone who contacts the lesions — provided that person hasn’t had the pox before. Not that many people know this, so I thought I’d give the deets.
It’s all a matter of hours. Apparently, she was contagious 24 hours before the blisters appeared. As far as she knows, she had a fever on Thursday, blisters today, so Wednesday could have been early enough that she wasn’t blowing viruses (viri?).
Now, we wait. 10-21 days incubation period. On the upside, supposedly the infection isn’t as bad when babies get it, and conversely much worse to get it in adulthood. My friend will certainly be suffering.
In other life-is-unmanageable news: The housecleaner we used to have, who used all organic green super-eco cleaning products, was diagnosed with cancer, which sucks.
But we still need a clean house, so I tried a new, supposedly green, service. They did their uber-dooper deep clean today. I left the boy home with the babysitter in the afternoon, went to S.F. for a work meeting. Came home to a boy covered in rash. Contact dermatitis from crawling shirtless (in this heat wave we’re having) on the freshly-cleaned hardwood floor. Yeah. Fun times.
In sleep news, the wheels are sort of coming off the bus. We’ve had two nights this week where he cried repeatedly — each time we’d rock him to sleep or almost sleep and as soon as he hit the mattress… A process that takes anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. And we’ve had nights where he wakes up 1-2 hours after falling asleep and has to be held and rocked back down again. We are not doing CIO for the time being. We figure he already knows how to sleep through the night, which was the key skill we wanted him to have, and even with all this cry-protesting, he’s still also having 10 hour nights (amen), so we’re muddling along, and trying to believe that we aren’t encouraging new bad sleep habits to form in the process.
Tonight I went out for dinner/drinks with a subset of the moms group moms. Was pretty fun, and funny how we had to keep challenging ourselves NOT to talk about our babies — but of course we did and it wasn’t so fun when everyone was talking about all the milestones their babies are hitting, that Jonah hasn’t (communication and walking/standing stuff). There is one thing he has over the rest of them, though: The boy can hold and eat stone fruit all by himself. I’m sure there’s a Nobel category for this?
It’s possible the others can’t match his love of books. Oh, they may turn pages, sure. But do they demand to be read to? Not that it does anyone any good to compare.
Today I held him in my lap and held Freight Train in front of him, and he turned the pages and made little sounds. I’m sure he was mimicking the noises our reading to him makes.
The nanny played a game with him where she tented several of his board books around the edges of the rug in his room. She reports that he belly-scooched from book to book, flipping through each one for a period of time before seeking out the next.
This is good, she said, since he’s probably not going to be a track star.
Yeah, well. I do worry a little. We’ll just wait and see on that, too.
In other milestones news, I maintain that he has said his first word this week. Appropriately, in context, several times.
The word is: “Whoa.”
Said to the things that impress him. He’s mellow that way.
And he expresses definite opinions about WHICH books. He is relating to those books. You’re probably right about making the noises for the train book. If I were you I’d keep a log of this stuff, it’s important. He is indeed communicating. Also, whoa probably is what you think it is… The scooching around to get at books is another significant behavior. He is engaged with his world and willing to make physical effort to go after what matters to him. These are all crucial traits.
Keep the faith, baby!
Re: the pox – ugh. Well I survived it. Did you have it in childhood? They started vaccinating after my generation. I hope he DOESN’T get it natch… Fingers crossed.
Motherhood! It’s a marathon that goes on for decades. Love you, all three of you….
Leila Abu-Saba’s last blog post..Middle Eastern Moods in Oakland: Ramadan Karim
Fortunately Scott had the pox as a little kid (age 5, he thinks) and I had them at 13. If Jonah were over a year, they’d give him the vaccine, but he’s too young at the moment. So we wait.
Thanks for the encouragement. He’s so bright and lovely and fun. Will keep noting his emerging behaviors.
Three kids at Flann’s daycare have had the pox this week! And I haven’t ever had it, as far as I know. I need to go get the shot this week, but between Flanny’s third ear infection, his croup, and the “sweat test” for his cough on Monday, I wonder if I’ll find the time.
I love it that Jonah’s first word is Whoa. Such a little dude.
Laura H.’s last blog post..Nine months out
I am so sorry and I hope that he doesn’t get them. Sounds like he really loves books. You might try some wooden puzzles for him in the next few months my sons loved those too.
Good Luck!!
Laura: Go get vaccinated!!! Oy.
Heather: Good suggestion on the puzzles. Thanks!
Ahhh, I hope he doesn’t get the pox!
And I really love Freight Train: both my boys were captivated by it. i think because it’s simple. : )
Christine’s last blog post..That thing you do in your 40s
Whoa! That is so cool.
The love of books will take him farther than just about anything else!
mayberry’s last blog post..Sleep is for suckers!
Hi I thought I would pass on the best baby advice I ever received. If you have a baby that wakes when you put them down then try this – Put a heating pad on Medium on the baby’s bed and under the covers. Right before you put baby down whip out the heating pad. I worked like a charm with both my kids. Going from my warm arms into an equally warm bed did the trick.
Good Luck!
I almost stopped reading in complete jealousy at the “heat wave” part, but buttoned up my cardigan and perservered. Brrr.
Milestones schmilestones. My kid stands and crawls like crazy, but has ZERO interest in books or reading. Will not flip pages. Sometimes puts a book into her mouth and sucks? That’s it. Jonas is clearly a genius. Especially with that fruit trick. Nobel or Pulitzer in that kid’s future for sure.
eva’s last blog post..One Great Road Trip! And One Self-Indulgent Tangent!
Oh – I hope he doesn’t get the pox! How miserable, your poor friend.
Sending healthy vibes…
becky
I don’t look forward to the first illnesses. Ugh.
Mine is getting opinionated, too. He lets me know when he doesn’t like a particular food by pushing my hands away.
becky (priss)’s last blog post..Making adjustments