the new joys of jumping and chatting

File under: oops.

This morning, as Jonah was squirming, fighting, crying while I tried to put him in his jumperoo — just so I wouldn’t have to follow him up the stairs over and over for the next 20 minutes, I had an idea.

With one foot, while wrestling wriggling baby, I kicked a squishy foam mat under the jumper. When his toes hit the flannel-covered organic foam, his eyes lit up (this “mat” formerly the mattress in his co-sleeper).

Duh, jumping on a hardwood floor — not nearly as pleasurable. Those little uncoordinated toes that took the brunt of it for, ohIdon’tknow, months now? Poor little toes. I would watch those curled toes hit wood and think, ballet dancer.

Ummm… no.

(The kid can use this post years down the line to extract payment for orthopedist bills? I’m sorry Ma’am, but your son wouldn’t have these major foot problems if you’d just padded the floor under the jumper from the beginning.)

Speaking of padding about three months too late, we bought these foam tiles over the weekend. Now just need to get them out of trunk of car, assembled on floor, stop wearing shoes in the living room and hope they last until he actually needs to learn the alphabet.

* * *

Speaking of alphabet… His “KA” sound has expanded KUH/KUHK to include “truck”. He clearly uses KA/KUH for truck, cat, and cheese. Also “KIH” for kitty cat. “BA” (BOH, BUH) works for ball, balloon, and boob. BOOMAH is for banging on things, and the bangables themselves. Oh, and “COO” for singing along to the Austrian song, of course.

When he sings to himself, it goes like this: “Leedle leedle leeedle.”

When he chats to himself while tired: “Qwah, qwah, qwah.”

While climbing stairs or playing with a pile of small objects: “Ngah, nwoh, uuh, ung, guh, duh, dah, goowa, guh, owyekuh, gungwoh, kunguh.”

While daddy is out of the room, but wanted/expected “Dah, dah, dah.”

When mommy leaves the room, perhaps to go to the potty, leaving him with someone else for a minute: “mumumumumumumum.”

There’s definitely “Ooooh, Whooah, and Ooooh?” — the latter when things are not-so-accidentally dropped from the high chair to the floor.

And then there’s the ear splitting scream. Good for all occasions.

* * *

I hadn’t really thought about teaching him an appropriate-in-public word for requesting to nurse. I always say something like, “You want some boob?” Only recently, I realized it might become a problem so I’ve been trying to change it to “Boop.”

A mom we hang out with at the local kids cafe brought up the subject yesterday. She’s using “Milkie.”

What’s your word?