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A few weeks ago, Katie and Jackie went to Watkinsville, Georgia, to visit Nana and PopPop. Watkinsville, where Katie went to high school, is just outside of Athens. I could try to tie in Jackie’s first visit to her maternal grandparents and the fond music memories I have from the courtin’ phase of my relationship with my wife (Guided by Voices at the 40 Watt stands out for me), but that would be a disservice to Nana. I know she wants to see the video, so I’ll get right to the meat of the matter.
Note: Jackie-in-action highlights can be found at the 1:47 and 2:32 marks.
Halloween weekend was a lot of fun for us. Nana arrived fairly late last Friday night from Georgia. Saturday, the family across the street invited us to their son’s birthday party. The spread of food was bountiful — our neighbors are Montagnards, part of an ethnic group from Vietnam,
and they prepared a feast for their friends and family. We were lucky to be invited, and even though we arrived only a couple of hours after we ate lunch, I couldn’t turn down the pho-like bowl of soup they prepared for me. While Jackie played with two other babies on the floor of their living room, Katie and I sampled items from the buffet in the kitchen.
One of the older men there explained that Montagnard/Degar people supported U.S. forces in the Vietnam war, and that outside of Vietnam, Raleigh has one of the largest Montagnard communities in the world. I don’t know much else about their culture, but they definitely have food figured out — rich meat flavors, aromatic ingredients added ad hoc to suit personal taste (cilantro, basil, lime), and plenty of heat from raw or semi-cooked peppers. Our sinuses cleared, we crossed the street to get ready for some sugar-free trick-or-treating.
Quick background: Just after Katie and I moved into our current house last summer, I discovered that a friendly neighbor down the street was actually my second cousin once removed. He informed me that another mutual cousin lives on our street, between our house and his. So, I have a second cousin once removed and a third cousin (neither of whom had I met before) who live within one city block of me on the same street.
Early Halloween evening we met up with the Blairs (my third cousin, her husband, and their son, who is about the same age as Jackie), and hauled the little ones (a monkey and a spider) down to Fallon Park for the neighborhood Halloween Parade & Potluck. We got there just in time to see some interesting costumes, and even a few families that showed costume solidarity — dad, mom, and kids had coordinated outfits. And, some of these kids looked like they were in middle school. I’m pretty sure I was enough of a brat as a teenager that I would have sneered/jeered at anyone who suggested that my family dress up with a unified Halloween theme.
We left the park and headed back to our street, where we stopped by neighbors’ houses to show off the babies and turn down candy offers. Of course, Katie and I weren’t counting on 75 degrees and sun when we ordered Jackie’s monkey suit, so she seemed relieved when we finished our tour up and down our street.
Sarah and Eric Reilly celebrated their union in Asheville a couple of weeks ago, and the weekend was a blast. I won’t go into detail about hanging with the scores of Burnses, Jeffcoatses, and Katie and Sarah’s family friends who came from all over the country to western North Carolina. My parents and Rich and Mindy were there too. Even Robah made the trip (I’m truly sorry you missed it Bax). Suffice it to say that Ben and Janet threw a spectacular reception and hosted everyone who traveled for the event at some point during the weekend.
I do want to highlight the all-too-brief time we spent with Jason, Jen, and Marin Marks two weeks ago today. Here’s a video of Marin attempting to play catch with Jackie in the Marks’ backyard. We’re not pressing charges, mainly because Marin has a promising future in competitive Kong throwing. As for Jackie, she has a hard head like her old man, and she didn’t bat an eye.
Oh, and Robah later avenged the assault on Jackie by wiping his slobbery beard on the back of Marin’s head.
There are many musical associations lurking in our heads. In my experience, a connection between a certain song and a stimulus happens often, and some even happen and repeat on a regular basis. For example, “Summertime Rolls” by Jane’s Addiction is triggered every year during the month of August, and I think I’ve experienced this — the song evoked by the late summer heat, set to repeat in my head — since I was 14 or 15 years old.
I thought about personalizing and re-hashing the lyrics for this post, but that seemed a little too contrived (although the line “there is so much space…I cut me a piece” is a perfect fit for beachgoing). I also didn’t use the song as a soundtrack to the beach footage below, but for me, it’s playing in my head when I see my daughter barefoot, fingernails of mother’s pearl playing in sand, gumming cantaloupe, and dancing with her Uncle Rich.
Since our last update, Jackie has mastered bouncing and parent-assisted swimming. She’s also cut one bona fide tooth and another is about to erupt from her lower gum line. If she inherits her father’s dental genetic traits, one of these teeth will probably need a root canal in a month or so. Here’s a list of the other foods she’s added to her core diet of breast milk:
- Sweet potatoes (old trusty — if you could only eat one food, you couldn’t choose much more wisely)
- Bananas (her new favorite — also rhymes with “Nana”)
- Apples
- Green beans (not the first thing she would order off a menu)
- Peas (see Green beans)
- Peaches (second favorite, behind bananas)
- Carrots
- Corn + zucchini (one of the few foods her mother and I don’t steam and puree ourselves)
- Salt & vinegar pork rinds (only when we feel like spoiling her)
Jackie isn’t quite ready to crawl, so here’s a video medley of her burning calories the only two ways she knows how — by bouncing and swimming:
Over the past couple of weeks, Katie has convinced me that Jackie is ready for a little variety in her diet. The nursing and bottles of breast milk are still going very well (from this spectator’s perspective), but Jackie seems to want a little more to eat than her five feedings a day can provide. On top of that, she is mesmerized when she watches Katie and me eat or drink.
Her interest and growing hunger prompted us to try giving her rice cereal mixed with milk. The verdict is still out, but I’m pretty sure she won’t list rice cereal as her favorite food in the official Carolina Women’s Soccer media guide 18 years from now.
Here’s some video evidence that what goes down sometimes comes up (director’s note: the point of highest drama occurs at the very end).
I’ve added some pictures we took while Katie’s grandmother, mother, and sister were in Raleigh.
Katie’s grandmother, mother, and sister visited us in April, and I think the baby was held and adored continuously, every hour of every day, until they left Raleigh. This kind of doting is not uncommon when Nana Burns is on premises, but to see the four generations of Burns/Jeffcoats women oohing and aahing in unison was something to behold.
At one point, Katie, Mawmaw, Holly and Janet had a conversation that lasted several minutes, but they never once made eye contact with each other. Each woman’s gaze converged at the same focal point — their eyes were fixated on Jackie the entire time they were talking.
Holly and Mawmaw drove all the way from Louisiana to spend time with us. Judging by her interaction with Jackie, it’s obvious that Holly will make a great mother herself one of these days. As for Mawmaw, we knew she would be able to make the long trip from Simsboro, but we didn’t expect her to be so spry when climbing up and down the 18 steps in our staircase.
She didn’t come out and say it (or anything else for that matter), but I know that Jackie loved meeting her great grandmother and her aunt. Thanks for making the trip!
Katie’s father also drove to Raleigh, and we enjoyed our time with him. He earned a gold star and a steak dinner for removing ivy from the sides of our house on the day after his birthday. Thanks Ben!
A lot has happened in the last few weeks — a wonderful weekend with Nana, a trip to Boone, Katie’s birthday, new music (albums from Neko Case & DOOM, select tracks from new Junior Boys and Dan Deacon), and hectic work days/nights — but nothing has been a bigger deal in little Jackie’s world than spending her first weeks with Ms. Rose.
When Katie and I go to work every day, Jackie goes to stay with Ms. Rose. I don’t know what Jackie does while she’s there, but I know she always smiles at Ms. Rose when I drop her off, and she’s always exhausted when Katie picks her up. Perhaps the two other children under Ms. Rose’s care, who are both around 13 months old, are putting innocent pressure on the little one to keep up. Regardless, we get the sense that Ms. Rose is a very positive influence…so far, so good.
Here’s some assorted video that covers the following topics:
- Mom’s last day at home before returning to work
- A taste test gone wrong
- Straight rollin’ — to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right
- The first of many, many Daddy-Daughter Days
I never knew that a big human could love a little human so daggone much.
The little one is doing very well at the three-month mark. She weighs about 14-and-a-half pounds now and we can fill a large box with the baby clothes she’s already outgrown. She has begun to roll over on her play mat, where she enjoys grabbing anything she can wrap those long fingers around. She continues to coo, squeal, and mimic her parents’ words. Oh, and she and I had a delightful Saturday-morning dance party yesterday.
I often wonder how it feels to be a baby. Even though she is often smiley and seemingly happy, I get the sense that all this growing is fairly painful. All the movement and cause-and-effect knowledge we take for granted as adults must be difficult learning experiences for an infant. On the other hand, I bet Jackie gets a lot of joy and satisfaction from the discoveries she makes as she gains control of her body.
We’ve had a wonderful weekend (basketball and otherwise) that included a visit from Steve Saville (more on that later). The Jones family here realizes that we have to cherish today, tomorrow and the rest of next week because things are about to change.
One week from tomorrow, Katie will return to work and Jackie will start spending her days under the care of Ms. Rose. This reality is beginning to set in for Katie, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for her to drive away from that baby when the time comes. Ms. Rose is very well-qualified, and her references (we spoke to seven), gave her child care services rave reviews. Leaving Jackie will be hard…I just hope Katie can find comfort in leaving our daughter in such good hands.
Here’s some video Katie took last week.
This post is really going to disappoint the grandparents, but sometimes a man has to give some credit to the lowest-on-the-totem-pole members of his family. The dogs have earned the recognition — especially Robah.
One drizzly day last week, the three of us were strolling down White Oak Road when a lab-like dog that was about Robah’s size sprinted toward us. I had my ear buds in and my rain jacket hood on, so I didn’t realize the dog was approaching so quickly until he was ten feet from us. Robah, who always walks on my right side (Baxter always holds down our left flank), was ready and waiting. I looked to my right just in time to see Robah lunge, teeth showing and spine hair raised, and attack the dog that seemed to be attacking us. The aggressive assailant pooch was instantly reduced to a defeated, whimpering stray.
Moments after Robah came down on his head and snapped at his neck, the stray dog ran back from whence he came. Before we continued down the street, I looked at Baxter. He seemed just as surprised as me that sweet, easy-going Robah had earned a badge of honor in such intimidating fashion.
About a week ago, I recorded and edited a frisbee session. I know the grandparents (except possibly my Dad) will find this dull, but worry not — I’ll get back to baby footage soon.
Notes:
1. The video looks much better if you press play and then click the HQ button in the YouTube control bar. This action displays the high quality version.
2. The soundtrack consists of songs by The Field and Guided by Voices.
I think I spent the dog food money 