Jeyanth Joshua Goringe

Rainman

Some photos of Jeyanth in the rain, wearing the raincoat that Daddy brought home from the USA. Sadly, rain is a bit of a novelty in Sydney...

A war of attrition

This pattern has been repeated so often that I'm starting to believe there is a system.

When a new food type is placed on Jeyanth's plate for the first time, it is studiously avoided, including spitting it out if it accidentally gets in the mouth, and picking it off carefully with fingers if it happens to stick to an approved food item when the approved food item was picked up.

Then, if you persevere with putting it on the plate, (carrots were third time I think, but peas made it for dozens of rounds), eventually, they will be allowed a cautious entry into the mouth, and then almost instantly, they become food-fad of the week. After that, you stand a decent chance of it being eaten, within the randomness-range of any particular meal.

He's just caved in on peas, as of yesterday, after what feels like months of trying. Its slightly unnerving that this feels like a great triumph!

Of course, he used to eat everything when he was a baby, and he just got mushy pastes. I'm only counting voluntary eating, after he's started feeding himself, and deciding exactly what on his plate went in his mouth, in what sequence.

Australia Day at the Zoo

We spent most of the day at Taronga Zoo today. An absolutely fabulous day, as far as Jeyanth was concerned. More photos here.

Jeyanth now has an all time high for modes of transport in a day - doing car, train, ferry and cable-car on the trip. For non-Sydneysiders, Taronga is accross the harbour from the city, and built on a steep hillside, so the popular way to get there is across the water by ferry and then up the hill by cable.

And despite completely missing his midday nap, Jeyanth not only remained cheerful, but actually seemed to enjoy all the sights. His vocabulary has been seriously challenged today, as previously all animals were 'birdie', bow-wow', 'teddy' or 'turtle'. ('turtle' of course not being quite as useful as the other 3).

The seal show was the big hit of the day, with Jeyanth crowing with delight and clapping every antic. The big grandfather chimp also seemed to make a big impression; otherwise, he seemed more excited by birds than by animals on the whole. Four full-size adult tigers showing off 2m from the viewing window didn't seem to impress as much as the nosy emu.

But what struck me most was that Jeyanth seemed to enjoy being with the family just as much as doing all the stuff. Obviously, as the only child in the party, he was a little bit pandered-to, but he absolutely loved spending the day with so many people around. So many offers to lift him up, give him shoulder rides, push his chair, play finger games - ahh it was great. At the end of the day, when we were just about to drive off home - Jeyanth pointed out of the car at where everyone was still milling around on the Amarasingham's lawn, and wailed as if he wanted to stay where the party was still on! Sadly, it was 5pm, and tea and bed beckoned.

So a big thank-you to Mohini paati & Mano paata; Luckshmi paati & Nimal paata, Helen mami and Noel mama for taking us along, carrying all our stuff (12kg of toddler + what feels like 12kg of gear) and giving us such a good time. If Daddy had been here, it would have been perfect.

Honey, I shaved the kid

No more sweaty hats, no more after-bath towel-battles!
Click here for more photos.

Single Parenting

I now have a healthy respect - no, make that awe, for those folks out there who manage child-rearing without a partner. And I'm only trying it for a measely 3 weeks with loads of supportive family around.

The hardest thing about Chris not being home is the 'always on' sole responsibility. We don't lead an exciting life, but in Chris' absence we've had a dog run away during a thunderstorm, Jeyanth come down with puffy-swollen eyelids* and an erratic home security system. Not the Cuban missile crisis, I know - but still easier with two heads than one.

My big learning this fortnight has been "housework-with-toddler-help". The last time Jeyanth and I spent large chunks of time on our own was when he was less than 6 months old -so I was a little bit out of practice when I started this 3 week stint without Chris. The first few days I gave into the 'its impossible to get anything done with him around' conclusion; but having found myself doing house-jobs till 10.30 at night, after having put him to bed, I resolved to try some alternatives.

I still can't do much cooking when Jeyanth is around, the invisibility of the kitchen counter is far too frustrating a problem at the moment. However, Jeyanth will help with watering the garden (mostly by watering the footpath), will weed the paved driveway with me, will move toys out of the way when I'm hoovering, will carry things out to the wheeley-bin (you have to lift him up so he can throw the garbage in), will sometimes help put away his toys and on very good days, will throw clean washing into the basket.

Not rocket science I know, but I've discovered what every child-bound parent must have discovered at some point - that the solution to the 'how am going to entertain him' problem, and the 'when am I going to do all these chores' problem may in fact be simultaneously solvable - on very good days.

I know it sounds strange, but though I've been looking forward to starting part time work next month, I've been nervous about 'knowing what to do with him' for two whole days. I think I'm a bit more confident now that we will manage OK - though I'm sticking to my resolve to fill up quite a bit of those days with structured activity such as swimming etc.

Sook

Yesterday, when Jeyanth was choosing a book for bedtime, he dropped one (a hardback) on his toes. It must have stung, coz he burst into tears and came running over for a cuddle. So, I took him on my lap, gave him a big hug, and, offered him the standard remedy - the magic 'kiss-better'. Now, I didn't know which foot he had dropped the book on, so I picked one at random and gave it a big kiss.

In all seriousness, his eyes swimming with tears and the lower lip puckered in a pout, Jeyanth lifted up his other foot, and solemnly offered it up for a kiss.

You live for these moments.

Missing Daddy

Yesterday, Jeyanth stood in the hallway, halfway between the bottom of the stairs and the closed door of the study, two places where parents are wont to disappear occassionally, and called "Dada, Dada" several times.

This is the first overt act of looking for Chris that I've noticed. I wonder how much the poor little mite has been puzzling over Chris' absence. The only change I've noticed in his behaviour has been a little more difficulty settling to sleep at night (needing at least one 'soothe-session' every night) and an extreme reluctance to let me out of his sight (to the extent that he refused to go for a walk with his Thaatha leaving me at home!).

Anyway, we did have an extra big cuddle session where we talked about how Dada loved Jeyanth and was coming home soon. I hope some of it filtered through.

Summer Photos

Now up.

In other news

This entry is targeted primarily at one of J's parents who's currently on another continent, and is pining for details....

New language use: Clamping elbows tightly to our chest and squealing "No! No! No touchee!" when an adult is trying to pick up and move a child who is doing something interesting but naughty/dangerous.

Adventure of the week: Going swimming again, first time since last summer. Loved it to bits, floated quite comfortably on stomach or back with Amma holding head above water. Submitted to being dunked under with reasonable good humour. Kept saying 'water' in a wondering tone. Was absolutely enamoured of large pink floating ball and howled in protest when had to leave.

New gag: Identify Daddy in photo when requested, and courtesy of Ammamma, will deliver big kiss to photo when suggested.

Bathing Variables

Jeyanth has been showing signs recently of getting a bit bored with bathtime - pretty much just wanting to climb in and out of the bath, which was not conducive to effective washing or parental dryness.

Two successful variations have now been tried - a shower, where Jeyanth stands under the cascading water squealing with delight, waggling head and arms to get the drips to fly in different directions, and bubble-baths. The latter has turned him back into a child who protests loudly at the end of bath-time - the most popular activities in the bath include scooping up bubbles in cups or trying to bury toys under bubbles.

I think I might have to ration the bubbles a bit till I figure out how Mr-Cleopatra-Skin, who's only every used ultra-mild soap-free wash products, is going to cope with the chemical cocktail that is bubble-bath. Maybe, I should make him have a shower after the bath....

Cycling pictures

There are now some photos on Jahan's website of the cycling trip that Jeyanth and Jahan took over the Christmas break. Thanks to Dayan for putting these up.

Bedtime bookworm

Jeyanth has found a new pressure point with his parents - one guaranteed to be irrefusable.

Time it was that Jeyanth would passively suck at his cup of milk while daddy read him a story, and then we would go to bed after teeth, prayers and cuddles.

Recenlty, Jeyanth has insisted on going to the bookcase to choose the book he wants, the cup of milk is neglected, and there is avid involvement in the story, with finger pointing, exclamations of 'oh dear' (mostly whevever the words 'gone' or 'away' crop up), page-turning and lots of animated talk-back. And gone are the days of only one story - getting to the last page is only a cue for slithering off my lap and going and getting another book.

We normally let him have 3 or 4.

And then this week, we had another development. A few minutes after having left him in the cot, we heard him calling out insistantly. In going in to check (for a poo or a teddy lost overboard), instead of asking for a cuddle or to be picked up, which is the usual form of bedtime rebellion, we had a toddler standing in the cot, pointing to the bookcase, calling out "boo(k)! boo(k)!". So I went over and got him one, and much to my bemusement, he took it, plonked himself down, and calmly started flipping through the pages - I was dismissed. There was nothing left for me to do, other than adjust the nightlight slightly, so that he could see a bit better and leave the room.

Most nights now, he falls asleep after just one book in the cot. However, we have had a day last week where he needed his book renewed 4 times before he finally fell asleep.

Passionate adherents though we are of no-nonsense bedtime routines - we're finally snookered - there is absolutely no way that Chris or I have the least capability of refusing our son a book when he asks for one!

Words

I was interested to read Mike's description of Bridget's linguistic development. It seems there must be something difficult about words which end in a consonant - Bridget, like Jeyanth, seems to have a lot of words which end somewhere in the middle.

But as for how the two use language - it could not be more different:

Although a lot of these new words are nouns, it seems fairly clear that it is not the naming of objects which forms the basis of Bridget's language use; rather, it is playing sound-games.

By contrast, Jeyanth's language is based almost exclusively on naming - his vocab is almost exclusively nouns ('up' is the only exception that comes to mind), and he primarily uses words as exclamations when he sees something ('birdy!' 'bor!' (ball)).

In fact, it's only in the past couple of weeks that Jeyanth seems to have realised that he can also use words to request something. One thing in particular he has learned to request is 'boo(k)' - but I'll leave Sureka to talk about that...

Make Believe

The other day when he was out at the supermarket with me, we were queued up at the register, and Jeyanth, perched in the trolley, was bored, as he always is if we aren't actually whizzing around. So I gave him the only thing I had to hand, which was my shopping list, hoping to distract him. He spent the next few minutes eliciting grins of amusement from everyone on the queue by holding the shopping list firmly in both hands in front of him, and pretending to read it out loud with nonsense words.

In the past, using his pouring cups to try to drink the bathwater has always elicited a sharp reproval from a parent. Several times recently, Jeyanth has taken a cup to his mouth, and predictably, a parent lunges for it with cry of "No!", only to find the cup empty, and Jeyanth positively smirking!

And two days ago, there was a piece of carrot that was very definitely being driven around the tray on the high chair to the accompaniment of 'brrmm brrmm' noises.

Jeyanth has also recently been seen trying to get Big Ted to eat a cracker and drink water; and far more fascinatingly, we think we've seen him getting Big Ted and Little Ted to hug each other. We really can't be sure about the latter - he may well have been trying find an easy way to carry them both, or to get them to head-butt each other for all we know.

Mimicry has been a big part of play for a while, but we are now seeing it crop up independant of the original event, and with odd twists. We're wondering if this is the first tiny indication that Jeyanth is now capable of creating context inside his own head for play, rather than just responding to stimulus from outside.