Days 6 and 7

Oh, a two-week blogging gap! Sorry! If you visit my own blog, you may have read my excuses over there. But now we're carrying on...

We baby-sat Jesse on Friday, July 27 and Monday, July 30, both times with the welcome company and assistance of my parents. They have been baby-sitting him with regularity this summer while Jesse's dad is out of town, so they are very experienced! In fact, Jesse is now old enough that he has developed preferences and expectations, so it's good for me to have an familiar baby-sitter on hand. He has grown particular about how he wants to be fed (warm bottle, please), rocked to sleep, driven in the car (music, please), and so forth. It makes sense, but I can see a real difference from how he was at the start of this summer, when he was relatively un-formed and flexible. I guess my baby nephew is growing up!

Anyway, he and I still get along well. I took him to his first yard sale on Friday right after I picked him up from Erica's house, but there wasn't anything good. Then later that day we had a park playdate with the kids' second cousin Jett, son of my cousin (and Erica's cousin too) Kim. We took a picnic lunch to Scott Park in Watsonville, which had a fun play structure for the big kids. Jesse enjoyed being outside, but he isn't much of one for playgrounds yet. He hasn't been in a swing yet, and I was tempted to let him try it out, but then I thought maybe Erica would like to be there for his inaugural swing!

Cousins and second cousins, L-R: Laurel, Jett, Jesse, and Isaac

Then on Saturday we had a family outing to Gilroy Gardens amusement park, and Erica got to join us! It was a nice experience for me, and probably for Erica as well, because usually when I take Jesse somewhere I have to take care of him! This time she was on the hook.

Erica holds a wide-eyed Jesse on the "bumper boat" ride at Gilroy Gardens

Erica and Jesse on the merry-go-round, with both my kids in the background

Then our next baby-sitting day was on Monday, and it seemed very low-key after the weekend's excursion. Jesse did get to experience his first piano moving, although he didn't seem to appreciate the work that goes into moving a baby grand.

Just two more baby-sitting days left before the end of the summer! We'll be sure to do something fun with Days 8 and 9.

Fireworks

Frequently on my own blog I remark that temperament is everything; it seems that no amount of parenting (whether arguing, pleading, or trickery) can change someone's fundamental personality traits.

This was proven to us yesterday as we set off fireworks ("safe and sane," of course!) at my parents' house. Erica was there with Jesse, as were my two kids, and the three cousins showed different reactions to the fireworks.

Some of my readers might know Gary, Jesse's father, and his enthusiasm for fireworks. For many years he has brought "unsafe and insane" fireworks to our Independence Day celebrations, and although he couldn't be with us last night, he did contribute a brick of my mother's favorite firework, ground flowers.

Erica was eager to show Jesse his first fireworks. When she handed me her phone and asked me to take a short video of Jesse watching them, none of us were sure how the four-month-old would react to the lights, noise, and smoke. We hoped to catch some kind of fleeting positive reaction on his face, but I ended up easily taking four or five videos, because it turned out that Jesse loved the ground flowers. He watched them raptly, and every time one ended he got a huge smile on his face.

Meanwhile my own children were cowering in the house, daring only to watch the fireworks from the safety of a window.

Isaac has a near-phobia of fire, but Laurel was only frightened because of Isaac's extreme anxiety; she doesn't like loud noises, but usually she doesn't mind stuff like fireworks. And after my kids observed from a distance for a while, they both got comfortable with the situation and came out to join in the fun, which is completely typical for Isaac's temperament. They both waved sparklers, watched ground flowers and fountains, and didn't want it to end.

Photo session at the park

I didn't get that much fun playtime with Jesse yesterday, since he was mostly asleep (or ready to fall asleep and complaining about it) while I was holding him, but we did find time to take this series of photos at the park:

Jesse and his aunt smile for the camera

We used the self-portrait feature of my iPhone's camera and he seemed to enjoy looking at himself on the screen.  Maybe his parents use it too?

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It reminded me of how much I enjoyed taking pictures of my kids when they were babies.  There's something about taking photographs that helps me get perspective on a situation, providing a kind of distance and mindfulness that was helpful when I was feeling overwhelmed by early parenthood.  On the other side of the lens I could step back from the intense and sometimes unpleasant feelings children can cause (irritation, worry, and boredom among them!) and simply appreciate my children for what they were: absolutely adorable. 

That feeling of stepping back can be a disadvantage of photography, too; one doesn't want to remain at a distance, or only experience important events from behind the camera.