On the move

One of the most notable changes in Jonas in the last month was his overwhelming desire to m-o-v-e. By the end of August we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with him in order to keep him discovering and entertained. Sitting in the Bumbo seat was "so childish". No dice there anymore. Sitting on the floor and playing wasn't an option since Jonas couldn't sit independently at that point. The Exer-saucer was a good option, and he could play there for up to a half hour. While I'd seize the opportunity to wash up another round of bottles, he'd be in the living room making a good deal of racket, squealing in delight and jumping so violently that all that little gadgets would shake, as did our bookshelves. What a profound difference from June when he was just introduced to the Exer-saucer and played so quietly. Aside from the stroller rides, Exer-saucer and "tummy time", we were struggling to come up with something that would make Jonas happy. If only we had a little hamster wheel or something.

As luck would have it, our Labor Day trip to central New York ended up providing us with much more than a station wagon full of groceries and yummy treats (courtesy of Joe's mom); we were introduced to a wonderful gadget that would offer up a little sanity: the walker. (Cue the suspenseful music) dun, dun dunnnnn... "Walkers?," you're probably saying, "weren't those banned in the 90's?" Well, that's what we thought. They were supposed to be so dangerous. And to be fair, I have heard that children fell down stairs in them and got into a whole mess of other accidents. I think they have made some modifications to them so that they aren't so tipsy near stairs. But we don't have any stairs to fall down and the only floor with ideal conditions for scooting about in the walker is the kitchen floor. All the rest have rugs.

Our dear friends have a walker for their daughter Clare, Jonas' surrogate cousin.

Here are Joe, Jonas, Clare and Clare's dad, Tim. Clare seems to be saying, "Hey, Jonas. you should check out my 'car'. I can drive it pretty fast. Let's see what you can do."




When Clare's mother suggested that we let Jonas take a spin in the walker, we decided to give it a go. This was a life-changer for Jonas. For the first time ever, he was upright--a major selling point these days--and he could MOVE a significant distance--on his own! He took to the walker like a fish in water. He motored about their dining and living rooms and had an amazing time.








That was enough for us. We *had* to get one of these. We would have bought one on the way home but our car was so jam-packed with a 80+ pound dog, her bed, a carseat, bags for Jonas, bags for Liz/Joe and a dozen bags (no exaggeration) of toys, gifts, groceries and other novelties. So, Jonas had to wait until the next day.

Since then, the kitchen has never been the same. Now Jonas has the ability to slide up to a cabinet door and pull it open, at least until it bumps into the walker. He takes pleasure in knocking everything off the kitchen's two-shelved cart. He relentlessly pursues Ginger. Her food dishes provide him endless fascination. And it's no longer a good idea to enter the kitchen without steel toed boots.

On the flip side I can now wash an entire load of bottles, or prepare most of dinner or clean out the refrigerator. And best of all Jonas is in seventh heaven.

A verbal description just doesn't do justice to the scene created by Jonas in the walker in the kitchen. So stay tuned. I hope to post some video of him soon.

Thanks for reading and have a good one!