Persuasion

I served on a federal jury this past week. When it came time for deliberations, I was the only juror who thought the defendant should not be convicted. I spent two days locked in a tiny room arguing my case to the other eleven jurors. I never persuaded them to change their minds, but I held my ground. The judge called us a hung jury and declared a mistrial. The defendant wasn't convicted.

You'd think then, that I could stand my ground and not give Jett graham crackers for breakfast, but you'd be wrong. Jett is the most persuasive person I know.

Saving it for Later

Wheels

I can not tell you how many magazines I've read sitting in the stairwell of our condo building while Jett plays with the wheels on the strollers. I don't know why we even bother going outside.

Don't Forget to Brush!

He Can Play Air Guitar Too

Have a rockin' Thanksgiving!

Winter Wear

What's the best thing about cold weather? Bundling your baby up cute and snuggly, and holding back the laughs when he can't bend over because his belly is covered up in too many layers.

It's a European Carry-All

And yes, he may be rushing out the door to go shopping.

Crocs are Not Winter Shoes

Jett likes to put on our shoes and walk around the house. This is a demanding activity. One of us has to hold his hands while he walks so he doesn't trip. Usually his feet slip right out of the shoes, which completely frustrates him. So to solve this problem I bought him a pair of crocs in the next size up. He can slip his feet in and out by himself, and they don't come off when he walks. Plus, since they are too big, I think they capture some of the novelty of walking around in my shoes, but require no effort from me. I keep them in his toy box, so he knows they are toys, not real shoes.



But he still wants to wear them outside. This kid is constantly outsmarting me.

Shampoo

He said he didn't want to take a bath, but we knew he'd come around. He even had fun getting his hair washed.

Before shampooing.

During shampooing.

All done!
Compare this picture to last month's picture and look at how nice and plump my baby is.
Yum!

Seventeen Months

Happy Birthday, Jett! Yesterday you turned seventeen months old. Seventeen months!

Our main goal this month has been to bring back your baby fat. You gained three pounds last month - nice job. We've gotten pretty good at adding more calories to your diet without actually asking you to eat more food. For example, we stir ranch dressing in to your peas, dip your chicken nuggets in honey, spread strawberry cream cheese on your graham crackers, and add carnation instant breakfast to your milk. We also treat you to the occasional bowl of ice cream which somehow still comes in second to rice krispies.

Of course, after all that sugary food we have to brush your teeth. You are really starting to embrace the concept, thank goodness. Maybe it's because you brush your teeth while Daddy shaves and that's pretty entertaining. Maybe it's because it finally occurred to me to buy you two toothbrushes - one for us to start brushing your teeth with, and one for you to hold at the same time. Either way, it's going fairly well. You only try to escape from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, a few times a week. That's not so bad.

Mostly, Jett, you are on the move. You are like a spinning top that never stops, bouncing from the couch to the floor to the fridge to the chair. It's hard to get you to sit in my lap and read books anymore. Instead you play with your cars, driving them over the couch, on the trash can, and up the walls. Or you bounce your balls, chasing after them yourself and then throwing them again. Or you want me to spin anything that will spin on our wood floor. Very fitting!

rare moment of standing still

You should know though, that we are making an effort to encourage you to play with more than just cars, balls, and things that spin. I've been getting your stuffed animals and dolls out lately, trying to introduce you to your nurturing side. I also bought you a toy stroller. You love Ellie's so much, I figured for $7 you could have your own. You love it, and I loved watching your smile as you figured out what it was. The downside is that more often than not, you want us to push you in it. That is not the idea. It is the opposite of the idea.

Of course, we'd do almost anything to see your smile. Thank goodness it pops up so often.

Happy Birthday, sweet baby. We love you.

Sunday Conversation

Halloween

Since trick-or-treating in our neighborhood ends practically at the time I get home from work, I called our nanny when I got off the bus and asked her to start putting Jett in his Halloween costume, so we could scoot out the door and start trick-or-treating right away. When I walked in the house Jett was all dressed up and the cutest little bear I ever saw.

We left right away and when we got outside I put him down on the sidewalk, thinking that he would walk with me to the houses that were handing out candy. But he didn't get it. He didn't mind being outside in his bear costume, he just didn't know that he was supposed to walk anywhere.

A sweet neighbor, who was sitting on her front porch with a bowl of candy came out of her gate and handed Jett a small Nestle Crunch. Jett took it, but with a serious, silent face. Eventually he reached out to take the whole bowl, but was too shy to put up much of a fight.

Charlie arrived a few minutes later, and we put Jett in the stroller, since we wouldn't get anywhere if we left him to his own devices. We strolled him through the neighborhood, stopping at homes and stores and picking up a few pieces of chocolate along the way. Jett never cracked a smile or made a peep. I know he was having a good time though, because he kept every piece of candy clutched to his little bear chest during our entire 30 minute walk.

Here he is, eating his Crunch bar in his serious way. (No, we didn't let him eat the Snickers).


Later that evening we went to his cousin Ellie's house and they played together in their costumes.


That was fun, but for Jett the best part of the night was the walk home, when Charlie lifted him up to touch the branches of the trees.


And then off to bed in his Halloween pajamas.

Cincinnati

Ah, vacation. Four days of family, fun, and animal crackers for breakfast in the hotel room. Ten people, ten hours in the car, four states, four uncles, two grandparents, two babies, one children's museum, one aquarium, and one $20 sandwich from room service.





Did I mention the beautiful weather? The parks? The usual Johnson fun? The wonderful, exhausting Johnson fun?

Perhaps the best thing about the fun is that Jett is still wiped out from it. Last night he slept 12 hours and today he still took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Tonight he was so tired he asked us to put him to bed a half hour early. (At least that's what I think the whining and crying meant).

So we did. We tried to bathe him first, but he would have none of it. So we ignored the ice cream that was stuck to his stomach, changed his diaper, put him in pajamas, carried him over to his crib, and laid him down. He arranged his blanket under his head, looked up at us with his serious little face, and waved bye-bye.

Did he just tell us to leave his room so he could go to sleep?

Woo-hoo! What a weekend!

Farmer's Market

We make it to the farmer's market nearly every Sunday. Jett takes his job very seriously.

The Artist

The artistic process can be so frustrating.

Across the Street

Last weekend, like many weekends, Charlie took Jett for a walk in the stroller. At first I enjoyed the peace and quiet of having the house to myself. Then an hour and a half went by and I started wondering where my house mates had gone. I glanced out the window to see if I could catch a glimpse of them walking by, and there they were, across the street, having a chat in the school yard.

Reading Books

The other day I picked up Jett from his nanny-share. The other mom and our nanny were there and when I walked in they both told me, apologetically, that Jett was sitting in the corner looking at books. They wanted me to know that they didn't tell him to sit in the corner. I guess I forgot to tell them how much Jett loves books. Loves them. Loves looking at the same ones over and over and over again. One of his favorites is Zoology by Joelle Jolivet. It's almost as tall as he is, and it's very sophisticated. Of course, so is Jett.

(thanks, Katie and Sam!)

Where's Jett?

There he is!

Sick Day

This morning our nanny called in sick, so I stayed home with Jett. (Yep, I beat Charlie in the rock-paper-scissors contest. He always chooses rock. Fool).

You can imagine how disappointed I was to have to stay home today. We didn't have any fun at all.

Sixteen Months

Happy Birthday, Jett! This past Friday you turned 16 months old.

At sixteen months Jett is an expert at pointing, grunting, and whining to get what he wants. If you are trying to figure out what he wants and you guess wrong, he will shake his head no and screw up his face into a look of disdain that can only mean you've insulted him, yet again, with your stupidity. What this tells me is that I have to start looking up more signs. For instance, if we learned a sign for "Rice Krispies", and "Nilla Wafer" and "graham cracker" and "not that apple mama the other one duh" mealtimes would be a lot easier.

Napping has been a challenge these last few weeks. In other words, he's barely napped. He's exhausted when I get home from work and will happily nap in my arms then, if I will let him. Sometimes I do, which is probably part of the problem. It's a constant question of how much he needs to sleep that day, versus how much we need to teach him that 5:30pm is not the time for a nap.

Jett is expressing himself all over the place these days, and except for the crying and whining and throwing his head back and hitting me in the face while I carry him, it's really sweet. He's a charmer when it comes to doling out the kisses, and if he's in the right mood he'll give you a kiss shortly after meeting you for the first time. When he doesn't feel like kissing, he might still lean his forehead towards your lips so you can kiss him. He's usually willing to negotiate. He's also started to lay his head on my shoulder if I ask him to, and he could snuggle with me on the couch for minutes at a time (which is longer than it sounds like). He plays with my hair and rests his cheek against mine. I love it.

The most significant event for all of us this month is saying good-bye to seeing Grammy every day. And when I say "seeing Grammy every day" I mean depending on her every minute of those days. Thirteen months ago she promised us 12 months of loving, free, childcare for Jett. These thirteen months may have been the best thirteen months of Jett's life - and that still leaves room for hundreds of terrific months ahead. I know that for the last thirteen months, Jett has laughed every day, thanks to Grammy. And that is a fabulous feeling for a mom - to know that your baby is lovingly cared for, and happy, when you are not there. Soon Grammy will be working for someone who will actually pay her at the end of the day - pay her in something other than smiles and dirty diapers I mean. We were really lucky to have her help and love and company for so long. Thanks, Grammy!

This brings us to Jett's next adventure, which he started two weeks ago: the nanny-share. There are a few different ways to share a nanny. What it means to us is that one nanny watches two kids at the same time. One kid is Jett, and the other is a little boy, about Jett's age, who lives about a mile from us. This little boy has been with his nanny since he was three months old. The other family who was in the nanny-share relationship is moving, so the little boy's family was looking for a new family to share their nanny with, and with the help of a Chicago parenting website, we found each other. The boys are at our house two days a week and the other family's house two days a week (and I still don't work on Fridays). It's working out pretty well so far. Jett was fantastic the first week. Every evening he was his regular happy self, and he was even starting to take a nap for his new nanny. And then...

he got his first ear infection. Which of course we ignored for the first few days because we thought his fever and rash was a result of his latest vaccine. It was our nanny, actually, who encouraged us to bring him in to the doctor to have his ears looked at. Poor kiddo. It's been a rough few days, but hopefully we've turned a corner this weekend.

To sum it up, I'd say month sixteen has been a learning experience. As in, we've learned (kind of) how to identify an ear infection. We've learned that it is futile to guess what Jett wants to eat, you might as well open the refrigerator door and let him pick it out himself. And we've learned that if Jett wants to walk around the house carrying a bowl of dry cereal, Cheerios are a lot neater that Rice Krispies. Rice Krispies crumbs stick on everything.

after the farmers' market

trying on half of his Halloween costume

Happy Birthday, Handsome. We love you.