Daley Ponderings

A friend of ours was complaining about spam, and Heather agreed, and said she had been getting tons of spam lately. I questioned her on that, since I am in charge of the filters that filter our spam, and I think they do a pretty good job: maybe 15-20 spams got through in the last two years.
She said, well, I got one yesterday, and one today.

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I just discovered another nifty feature of the Google search engine. You can paste in UPS and USPS tracking numbers, and will automatically provide you a link to the appropriate site, so you can track your package.

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I went to vote this morning on the way to Women's Bible Study. The most interesting part was that Jonathan somehow got ahold of the "Independent" label from the voting machine and was chewing on it when we got back outside. I thought I had kept him from touching it! I gave it back to one of the ladies there, but it wasn't really useable any more. I hope we didn't mess anything up.

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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.

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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.

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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!"

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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.

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We happened into the kitchen when the heat was on - and found a balloon floating in the air above the register! Jonathan thought it was quite interesting, and so did I! Here is a video.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!"

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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.

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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!

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Our paperwhites from last year are starting to show little green tips!

Our hot pepper plants are starting to flower again. I wonder if there will be any fruit, since the plants are now indoors for the winter.

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