Naked Time!

The fall has been even busier than expected -- go figure! I (Matt) am certainly enjoying teaching, but I'm also looking forward to a time when I can reduce my workload to a mere one full time job. Ruth Ann has finally hired for some of the open positions at her organization, so that in theory should help her out. But busy we are nonetheless.

Jonah meanwhile keeps on growing. He's nearing one year (coming up December 14)! And he's certainly not an infant anymore -- it's amazing to look at the difference between now and the early pictures on this blog. But there's one thing about Jonah that's been constant across the months: he loves being naked!

Sure, it's true, who doesn't love being naked. But it's apparently a very special thing for babies. Every time he gets naked, whether for a temporary clothing-change, a short term bath, or a longer-term naked romp in the backyard, his delight and enthusiasm is the same. We, on the other hand, have some mixed feelings. On one hand, there's sharing in Jonah's delight with his natural state. On the other hand...well, it's mostly too disgusting to write about in much detail, but suffice it to say that naked + not potty trained has led to some very unsavory situations. Were that we were our youthful hippy selves from days of yore, unconcerned with niceties like sanitation. But since we are who we are now, we do our best to strike a balance between our needs for basic sanitation with Jonah's need for naked time... and we hope that we all come out ok through the occassional (and, ideally, well timed) extended bits of naked time in the backyard!

Fall 2007

Fall is here, and this freight train called life keeps rolling along. We're both busy at work, in mostly a good way -- I (Matt) am even more busy, having started a second job teaching part time at a law school, but so far the joy of teaching is worth the extra pain and late nights, so I'm dealing as best I can.

Jonah just keeps on growing. One bit of good news: he's now sleeping through the night! After my optimistic blog post in May, his sleeping regressed again, and we had a few more months of night wakings (albeit a little less frequent, at least). However, a few weeks ago we woke to discover that he'd slept all the way 'til morning. We'd like to think the "sleep training", sleep consultant (yup, for real!) and/or innumerable sleep-related books we read finally came together to produce the desired result, but more likely Jonah just made up his mind that now was the time to start sleeping better. In any event, for the last few weeks, he's been reliably sleeping from 7pm to 6am, and whatever the reason, we're counting our blessings.

It's more than just the sleep, though. There's been a real change in Jonah's personality and demeanor these last few months, and I think both Ruth Ann and I would say that he has become a real joy to be around. In fact -- dare we tempt fate? -- we might say he's become an "easy kid"! He's a smiley, happy and remarkably even-tempered. He rarely cries, except for the occasional trouble going to sleep. And he has an insatiable curiosity, and a contagious sense of wonder, about all that the world has to offer. While being a parent has always been a special experience, we certainly feel like we took some lumps early on, and so this new phase has been especially welcome.

And last but not least, as of a few days ago he's got two new teeth! You can see the teeth, and a whole lot more, in our newest picture roll. Enjoy!

Fall 2007

New Adventures

After several weeks of backing himself into corners, under beds, and into other akward spots, we're proud to announce that Jonah has finally mastered the art of crawling forward! Trouble is soon to follow, but for now his crawling is very cute.


Another new adventure for Jonah has been going on bike rides. I (Matt) found a used tow-behind bike trailer and have taken Jonah for several rides. Jonah is remarkably content to sit in the trailer and watch the world go by, and I can now get a workout in on weekends while entertaining Jonah at the same time. So far we've taken the Bart out over (through, really) the hills, then rode out by Orinda and Lafayette. We're not breaking any speed records, but at least I get some bonus perseverance points for towing Jonah up big hills!

Mr. Messy

Jonah has been at this eating thing for a little while. I can't quite remember how long, but at least since six months or so. Yet somehow he still manages to get food all kinds of places that aren't his mouth...
Despite (or maybe because) of that, it's a lot of fun to feed him. Although he isn't feeding himself yet, he does occassionally try to "help". Most of his help consists mostly of opening his mouth like a little bird, which is very cute. But sometimes he "helps" by grabbing the spoon, stabbing himself in the mouth, and decorating his face and hands with food. Then he really gets to be Mr. Messy!

We're Back!

Summer is racing by, and Jonah is growing fast! He's sitting up - and no doubt will soon be crawling everywhere too.


And yes, we've been a little delinquent in updating the blog. We have excuses - not that you want to hear them - including a broken computer that Matt decided to (try to) fix by rebuilding a new machine from scratch. That took a while...let's just say that the undocumented Microsoft Windows installation process (who knew it when they ask for disk 3 they really mean put disk 1 back in again) engendered some delay and much cursing. In any event, the time for excuses is past, and we'll try to be a little better about updating the blog from here on out. In the meantime, enjoy a few pictures from our summer so far.

Summer 2007

Sleep Training

It's the question everyone seems to ask: "So, is he sleeping through the night yet?" For the last two months, our answer has been a resounding "no". (Actually, our real answer has been largely unprintable, but for purposes of this entry, let's just stick with "no".) For a while, we coped surprisingly well. But somewhere along the way, our patience and adrenaline ran out, and we were left irritable and exhausted.

Ruth Ann, perhaps thinking that this would all be of interest to anthropologists of the distant future, took detailed notes of our day to day experiences of waking and sleep. Here's a taste, this from Monday, April 2: 8pm to bed; 10pm wake up crying, nurse back to sleep; 2am wake up crying, try to nurse back to sleep, cry some more, pace floors playing CD of hairdryer noise at maximum volume until 4am, finally go back to sleep; 6:30am, wake bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to begin day!

Apparently there are some babies who magically fall into a regular, sane sleep routine on their own. But Jonah clearly wasn't in that category, and so our options seemed limited. Between sorting through the information available from the internet, the profusion of books on "sleep training" for babies, and the limitless advice of well-meaning friends, colleagues, and pretty much anyone with two lips and working jaw muscles, we concluded that it all boils down to one of three options: co-sleep, cry it out, or walk around like a zombie.

After trying the walk around like a zombie option for a few weeks too many, Ruth Ann's resistance finally waned and we switched to cry it out. We had some differences of opinion on how to implement this method and so, I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit, after a few false starts we ended up hiring a "sleep consultant" (who knew there was such a thing?!), who more or less instructed us to put Jonah down awake at bedtime, each nap and each night waking, let him cry for up to 45 minutes.

This was not fun. When you listen to your own baby cry, the minutes truly seem like hours. But the funny thing was that although we were agonizing over the crying, Jonah didn't seem to mind a bit. He'd sleep longer than he ever had before - night wakings went away in a couple days and he now sleeps 9-12 hours in a stretch! - and best of all he'd wake up full of smiles. Everyone seemed to notice his change in mood and new sense of contentment. And that for us was the proof in the pudding: happy baby, happy parents!

Kill the Bear!

OK, let me explain: So back when Ruth Ann was pregnant, my thoughtful assistant Michelle gets us this cute little miniature blue teddy bear - a Gund, very nice and all. The bear has a relatively uneventful life, until one day our babysitter Lucia hangs the bear up in Jonah's swinging chair. This is well and good, as Jonah can now look at the bear, except that Lucia has hung the bear by its neck, which makes it look a bit like we're in the old west and the bear ended up on the wrong side of the law. Thing is, Jonah really likes looking at the hanging bear. And now that he's getting control over his hands, he constantly tries to grab the bear and - what else these days? - stick it in mouth. So far, the bear seems to be holding up all right, but some days it takes quite a thrashing! Pictures and video attached - enjoy!

Aloha from Hawaii!

We're recently back from Kauai, Hawaii, where we spent a week getting some well-needed rest. We didn't get out for quite as many adventures as we hoped, but we did spent lots of time enjoying the beautiful view from the condo where we stayed and catching up on our sleep. Jonah was a great traveller - he barely cried at all on the plane. And we learned that if he can be "convinced" to close his eyes and take two or three naps during the day (and believe us, lots of convincing as needed, as Jonah finds the world a very interesting place and is very reluctant to stop looking around at it long enough to fall asleep) then he turns into quite the smiley, happy baby boy.

A few pictures from our trip are linked to above. Matt, in collaboration with our neighbor Mark (the products editor for Wired magazine), finally convinced Ruth Ann to spring for a new camera, and we're all quite happy with the results. If you're curious, it's a Nikon D40, which is their new, low-end (but still not cheap!) digital SLR. It looks like a "real" camera and makes a satisfying real-camera "click" each time you press the shutter button, but also has a bunch of fully-automated shooting modes for when you don't have the time or interest in fussing with all the controls. If you buy one, let me know so I can collect my free toaster... and in the meantime, enjoy the new pictures!

Mama writes!

Mama is at last adding to the blog! Between the sleep deprivation and other demands of an infant I have been too exhausted to write. But Jonah is now watching his mobile (which I lovingly refer to as kiddie k(c)rack) and I have a few moments.

Things Jonah has done recently (he is now 16 weeks old but these ideas were joted down a few weeks ago).

Apparently at week 12 there is a huge developmental leap and Jonah seems to be in the thick of it (along with the requisite fussiness!).

Recognized himself in the mirror and smiled at himself and mommy. This happened at a shoe store in our local mall – see it pays to go shopping.

Smiled at and patted his teddy bear.

Petted Ella and laughed.

Laid on the grass in our backyard and looked around.

Shook and held a rattle.

Recognized the pattern on a lampshade and pillow.

Wrote his graduate thesis (just kidding, wanted to know if you were still reading!)

We were able to turn his frown upside down!

Drolling a lot and keeping his hand and other things in his mouth constantly.

Rolled a little (not yet on his back).

Learned how to shriek!

Hugs!

I'm Getting Bigger!

And wearing Matt and Ruth Ann out! Sorry we haven't been posting to the blog lately. March came and went like a whirlwind. Jonah has been growing a lot, and is starting to hold his head up on his own (see the picture!). However, to his parents dismay, he's not yet sleeping on his own, at least not very well. But hopefully that will come in time. We'll try to be a little more regular in posting to the blog, but for now, stop complaining and enjoy these pictures for the last month:

Month Three

Month Two - And More Pictures

Hard to believe, but we're already past the two month mark! There were fussy days and sleepless nights, and we definitely spent some time on the lower parts of that parent satisfaction curve that Matt described. But the end of month two has bought a reduction in fussyness, more sleeping at night, and best of all lots of smiles.

We aren't quite getting the pictures we'd like out of our current camera (maybe we need to spring for that expensive model Kevin Penn is pushing...), but we did get a few from this month that are worth sharing. Enjoy!

Month Two

Pidyon HaBen Video Added

We never did get that many good still photos from the Pidyon HaBen, but we do have some video footage and Matt managed to put some pieces together into a "music video". Link below will take you to our Google photo gallery. Video is first item in the album.

You Know You're Tired When...

...you try to put your son's hat on your own head.


(Yes, this picture was posed. But as witnessed by the whole LeaderSpring group, Ruth Ann really did try to put Jonah's hat on.)

Welcome to the World, Jonah Baer

On Sunday, January 14, we gathered with family and friends to hold a baby naming ceremony and celebrate the Jewish tradition of Pidyon HaBen. Rabbi Jan Goldstein, a longtime friend of the Binder family, helped us put together a beautiful ceremony and presided over the occassion. Ruth Ann's mother Farla and Matt's father Doug spoke about the respective families into which Jonah has been born. Our friend Lauren sang a lullabye. Our goddaughter Louisa brought a picture of an elf (and her brother Benno drew Jonah a dragon for strong magic protection). Friends offered blessing and good wishes. Jonah Baer Rossiter, Tzvi Dov in Hebrew, was welcomed to this world.

Times like this also bring a carry an element of sadness for the passing of Ruth Ann's father Hershey. Even though he wasn't with us physically, Hershey's gentle and loving presence was there throughout. We began the ceremony under his tallit, held over us as a huppah (a wedding canopy) by our family. And as the ceremony ended, Jan heard Hershey's voice telling him to take the Torah out of the ark and bring it to Jonah. Jan brought the Torah to where the three of us sat, and Jonah reached out his hand. We cried. Tears of joy for our child, blessed with wonderful family and friends. Tears of sadness for the grandfather Jonah will never meet in person. Tears of joy for the knowledge that Hershey will be there throughout Jonah's life, in spirit, in memory and in the Jewish traditions that Hershey loved so well.

Ten Pounds of Trouble

Some days look like this, except we're not smiling as much...
We still love our little one, of course. And he's certainly very cute. He tracks things with his eyes quite well now, and occassionally blesses us with something resembling a smile. But he's also become a lot more fussy the last couple days, or so it seems. Perhaps it's the age: we're told that at around 5 weeks infants go through a big (and disorienting) developmental leap than can lead to fussiness (...then again, can't everything?). Perhaps it's just the accumulated effect of the last five weeks, which Ruth Ann sometimes describes as "one long day".

Matt's opinion: When Jonah was born, our pediatrician's office gave us a booklet (sort of like an owner's manual, although not quite so useful) that contains, among other things, a graph of the "parent satisfaction curve", a U-shaped curve that bottoms out sometime around six weeks. (Still not picturing it? Ok, try this technical explanation: time is on the x-axis and satisfaction is on the y-axis and there's a parabola with it's nadir sometime around the six week mark on the x-axis.). Sometime during the two hour crying fit that interupted our dinner last night, I hoped we'd hit the bottom. All that gloomy stuff said, the good news about hitting the bottom is from there on it, we're on the upslope!

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the first month of Jonah's life.

Month One

8 Pounds, 8 Ounces, and Thriving

Well, we weighed Jonah a few days ago and he was 7 lbs., 14 oz. We weighted him again today, figuring maybe we'd be at that magic number of 8 lbs. (magic to us anyway, 'cause it's a nice round number and seems like a healthy weight); and lo and behold he's zipped right past that marker and is already up to 8 lbs., 8 oz.!

And yes, as you've observed, we're a little obsessed with Jonah's weight. We had good reason at the start: Jonah's relatively low birth weight (5 lbs., 9 oz.) seemed to cause a modest amount of anxiety among our various medical care-givers, and so like any good new parents we picked up on that anxiety and started worrying ourselves. Hence the scale at our house and the regular weigh-ins that Jonah has to suffer through. At this point, however, we have to admit that there's no longer much cause for anxiety. New babies are "supposed to" gain 1/2 lb. a week, so Jonah is well ahead of schedule and at 8.5 lbs. is up to what seems like a comfortable, healthy weight. We probably won't be able to resist plunking him on the scale a couple more times (sorry kid), but hopefully those weighings will be less about our anxiety and more about enjoying the fact that our son is thriving.

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Baby Calming 101

We're getting good at figuring out how to quiet the kid, although we admit some of our methods look pretty ridiculous.

Jonah's First Bath

And some video from Jonah's first bath. We've tried to edit the video down to a somewhat tolerable length. There is really cute footage from after the bath that is included in the full (longer) video and also posted as a separate shorter video file.

Jonah's First Bath!

Photos from First Days

Here are a few photos from the first couple days after we came home from the hospital.

First Days

More From the First Days

Baby Jonah Arrives

Jonah was born at 11:59am on December 14, 2006. Here are a few photos from the birth and right after.

Baby Jonah Arrives!