Baby Problem Solving: Evidence of a developing Mind!

Every day it seems like Jonathan is learning and experiencing new things.  More and more we see that his mind is at work, thinking about things, figuring it out, how life and people work.  Although he can't yet talk, he's starting to do some sign language ("eat, more, enough") and often will imitate our vocals sounds -- whispering, coughing, blowing out a candle, smacking his lips. 

Dave says "What are we going to do when he becomes smarter than we are?"  I wish I knew!  I just answer "We have to pray hard that he loves the Lord and wants to obey!"  We pray for God's wisdom how to raise up this little developing mind.

Here he is at Pizza Hut last week.  I had gone with a friend to the big city for a doctor appointment, which means we also get to eat the good food there!  Jonathan was on my lap and I guess he was thirsty.  He reached for my glass and accidently dumped the water all over the table and onto my plate.  No problem for Jonathan, all the better!  He just slurped the water out of the plate and quenched his thirst!

The Pizza Hut slurp -- you should try it!

Here's another example that showed us that he is starting to think -- he's starting to modify his toys.  The green sticks are just about his favorite toy -- they are from a plastic shelving unit that we are not using.  They make excellent drumsticks, trumpets and stirring sticks.  Anyhow, the other night in the bathtub, he made THIS (drumroll please............) !!!

I call this "Molecule by Jonathan"

Pretty cool, huh?  Well, we were impressed. 

Walking like a Pro!.....almost

We never realized there are so many stages of learning to walk, and it's exciting to watch Jonathan hone and develop his skills. We're exploring the outdoors now, which means learning to keep balance on uneven ground and also enjoying the distractions of grass, sticks, leaves and rocks! Hope you enjoy the video!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I just thought it would be nice to share a bit of the Christmas season -- what we've been doing at our house so far!

We started the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is the first Sunday of Advent. We got out our Advent wreath and our Christmas tree. We are so thankful that artificial trees are available here!

We have a lot of stars in our Christmas decor, to remind us of our sweet Bethany, because she had this very special star in her footprint.....

Bethany's special star footprint inspires our Christmas decor

So this is our Advent Wreath, shaped like...... a star! Every evening (okay almost) after dinner, we light the appropriate candles, and recite John 8:12 "Jesus said 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'" Then we sing a Christmas carol together, read Scripture and a little devotional. Jonathan enjoys watching the candles, although we sometimes have to cut the hymns and readings short to be kid friendly.

Jesus said "I am the light of the world." John 8:12

When we were putting up the tree, Jonathan of course wanted to be involved. We decided to go for the tabletop tree as we didn't think it would last very long on the floor!

Jonathan is an excellent helper, but has to be instructed not to eat the lights!

And not to try and wobble the table so much that the tree falls off! He's got some muscles!

We added some decorations. We brought some special ornaments from home ......

Remembering our firstborn

And our second blessing from the Lord!

And the greatest blessing of all -- Baby Jesus! (Yes, my friend, I still have this, and it came around the world with us!)

Our last vacation deserves to be on our Christmas tree forever!

Then we added a few batik ornaments that we bought here locally....

And last, we needed a tree topper. Fortunately my neighbor had a good idea for this!

Aluminum foil + cardboard + toilet paper tube = WOWSA tree topper!

You won't see it in Martha Stewart magazine, but our Christmas tree helps us to celebrate the Christmas Spirit!

Things that are different: Asian problem solving -- what would you do?

I wish I had a picture for this post ....but I just don't.  But perhaps it's for the better!

So today we had a deluge rainfall, right at lunchtime when Jonathan and I go to school to socialize with the students and eat with Dave.  I put Jonathan in the baby backpack and we carefully headed to school under a big umbrella.

What would YOU do if you were driving along on your motorcycle and it started raining REALLY hard?  No poncho available.

Why, you simply stop by the side of the road, take off your outer clothes and stash them under the bike seat.  Then you continue driving in your underwear until you reach your destination, towel off, and put your dry clothes back on!

I saw this today at least twice!  It doesn't work for women, though.

Things that are different: Neighborhood baby clinic

One thing that is special here is that each neighborhood has special ways of taking care of it's own.  It's a government system, but it works very well.  There is a neighborhood man (elected but unpaid) who heads over 15-30 families.  Everyone who moves into the neighborhood or even visits for more than 24 hours is supposed to report to him, just so he knows what is going on.  We also have a neighborhood guard duty, made up of men from the neighborhood, who patrol every night to make sure all is well and safe.  The women and the men in the neighborhood each meet monthly to take care of business.  Each group has it's own bank account, from which members can take out small loans if needed, or get some money for medical care if someone is sick. 

All neighborhoods also have "Posyandu" or neighborhood  baby clinic, every month.   I used to help with the Posyandus when I was single working as a nurse in Kalimantan.   The Posyandu here is quite abbreviated compared to the ones I used to work with.  It goes like this:  On the 15th of every month, at 4:30 pm, all of the mommies in the neighborhood pack up their babies and toddlers (up to age 5) and head over to the house where Posyandu is.   A lady with a bar scale and a sling weighs all of the babies and the weight is recorded.  Baby and mommy are given a snack (a banana or candy or cake or soybean porridge), and then they head home.  Babies that are not gaining weight properly are referred to the nearest government health clinic.  A couple of times a year, mega dose vitamin A is administered to prevent vision problems. 

So Jonathan and I have been attending for several months now.  It's nice to be able to keep track of Jonathan's weight, and to get to know the other mommies in the neighborhood.  At his last weighing he was 9.9 kg (21.8 lbs).  His birth weight was 7.3 lbs (7 lbs 5 oz) so yep, he's tripled his birth weight in a year.

Here's a couple of pictures of Jonathan at Posyandu

A bar scale (like what they use in the market to weigh goods) and a sling are used to weigh every child in the village under the age of 5.  Here Jonathan is taking his turn.

Close up view:  This is fun mom!  (Note: this kid has got a lot of teeth!)

A Visit from Opa and Oma!

How Fun!  Last night we had a visit from Opa and Oma! 

When I was single and working as a nurse at Bethesda Mission Hospital (http://www.borneohospital.com/), I had the priviledge of working with Wendell and Margie Geary, aka Opa and Oma.   I learned so much from them, and even from our visit last night, continued to gain pearls of wisdom from Oma.  For instance, she encouraged me to find time to be in the Word of God daily, even though this is a challenge with a small child. 

I hadn't seen them since 2006, but when I met them again last night, it felt like just yesterday.  I guess traveling around the world twice a year keep them young ...and being committed to serving God without reservation well into their official retirement years. 

Jonathan was in full charm mode -- he had fun playing with Oma....



And with Opa!



    Thank you for visiting us!  We had fun and were enriched too!

A Movie! It's Jonathan's One-Year Old Birthday Party!

The best thing about Jonathan's birthday for.....

Jennifer: Being able to pull out the birthday outfit that I've been saving for him since his baby shower at Grove Elementary! It's so wonderful to USE things for him that I've been saving!

Dave: Watching Jonathan watch his friends open his presents for him!


Jonathan: Carrot cake with chocolate frosting, strawberry and chocolate flavored ice cream! Wrapping paper!