IrishOboe

This weekend was the best weekend yet with little Joseph.  We got to be together as a family the whole weekend and we got lots done and had lots of fun!

We no longer sleep in on Sunday morning for obvious reasons.  Joseph is always ready for some entertainment much earlier than we would like, but it has the added benefit of leaving us with lots of time together before church.  This time we went up the hill behind our apartment and watched the Basel flight club launch and fly gliders.
We didn’t have time for a ride, though . . .

In the picture below you can see our apartment and the pool I swim in.  They almost fly over our place!

(Click for a larger image)

Here is where I get to brag about Joseph’s language ability at just shy of two months.  While feeding him before leaving for church I noticed he had to go.  I was feeling lazy and thought maybe I was imagining things (it’s still not so easy for me to tell) but after a minute I realized he really needed to go and he was going to soon.  I rushed him to the changing table saying “Wait, wait, little guy.  Don’t go yet.  Wait a minute” as I pulled off his diaper.  I sat him over the bowl and said “Okay, let ‘er rip!” and right on cue he let out a loud poop.  Stephan is my witness.  We had a good laugh and totally lost track of time and that made us late for church . . . but I think we were forgiven even though Stephan was leading the service that day.

Just in case you doubt that Joseph didn’t fully understand “let ‘er rip” I’ll offer you further proof of his precocious language ability.  After the communion wine was passed around the server asked “Has anyone been missed?” and again, right on cue Joseph let out a little whimper, which of course was a sermon on what Jesus meant by “Let the little children come to me.”  The more remarkable aspect of Joseph’s ability was that he was fast asleep at the time.

After church there was a picnic at the house of a family and it had a pool.  With seven or so days of bathtub swimming behind us, I was excited to see how Joseph would do in a real pool that wasn’t quite as public and chlorinated as a public pool.  On average, he did about as I thought he would, but averages are deceiving.  First of all, never take a tired baby, slather sunscreen on him, put him in a swim diaper he’s never seen before, take him outside with a crowd full of lustily conversing people and a pool full of rambunctious teenagers and test the water temperature by dipping in the baby’s feet.  He will scream uncontrollably and refuse to nurse and cause your hormones to go bonkers (at least if you are a mother) as you try to rescue your baby from the terrible shock you yourself exposed him to.  In the end, Stephan calmed Mommy down, and Mommy finally calmed Joseph down in a quite back room.  It’s so easy to forget that babies don’t understand all the noise around them, and what’s background to us is very disturbing to them.  It took time for me to realize he was tired and overwhelmed because I was worried about factors like a reaction to the new sun screen.  That reaction to the water was ‘way off the charts for how I thought he might react to the water.

Happily, after a three hour nap and all the witnesses to the first fiasco (i.e. guests) had left, we got another chance to brave the cool waters.  Daddy got in the water and I passed Joseph to him.  Daddy cuddled him and slowly put his feet, then legs, then bottom into the water.  He was never really unhappy, but he clearly needed time to get used to the colder water (24 degrees Celsius).  He rested his head and arms on my shoulder (like he does on my knee in the bath) and when we was relaxed letting his lower body float then I gave him a tour of the pool, which seemed to please and excite him – that’s something new!  From then on I was very impressed with him and he far exceeded my expectations - hence the funny average.  We did everything we do in the bath, including float on his back.  I had though the cold water on his head would be too much, but he seemed to enjoy it, though not as much as in the warm bath water.  We even poured some water over his head (getting him used to going under) and he did great with it!  We didn’t stay in too long as he was starting to get cold, but we did have fun taking turns pulling him through the water and giving him the experience of a greater body of water.

We came home to bunch of phone calls from people we love, so it was a lovely day!

In the other news, I think last night he rolled from his back to his side.  However, I’m not sure if you can trust a groggy mother’s memory.  I though I put him on his back, dumped his poo in the toilet and came back to see him on his side, but maybe I put him down on his side . . .

There are more pictures up, but not yet of the swim.  Our hostess was good enough to take a few for us and will send them our way.