Jonah's Blog: December 2009

Mile High Club

Let's face it. Despite all good intentions (see 4 Months Old!), I'm just not getting around to blogging as much as I'd like. Playdates and general near-six-month a.d.d. are keeping me super-busy, so once again, my apologies. The good news is that with such delays, there's always plenty to share. Many debuts this month. Among them, and in no particular order: my first foray into solids, my first Thanksgiving, my first trip to Memphis, and my first flight (Delta #2933, operated by Northwest)

To celebrate, I wore my airplane onesie. My mom was all worried about my ears popping, but I just sucked hard on her boob at takeoff and landing and all was fine. Plus, I met a lovely 4-month old named Sam sitting a row behind me. I understand this is just a warm-up before the grand trip to Australia in March, but, if i may say, I did fantastically well.

My mom had promised to buy the folks sitting next to us some airline cocktails if I acted out. Instead, I charmed the pants off of them, they paid me all kinds of compliments, and I, in turn, saved my mom and dad a few bucks. A win all around.

The only oddity was the unprecedented amount of crap in my diaper mid-flight. My dad had to wipe down the entire bathroom cabin. On both legs. Apparently high altitudes/cabin pressure can do a number on the bowels. Other than that, the travel experience under the new Delta/Northwest merger was far better than I expected.

Hooray, Zoo!

For years, even before I was a glint in my mother's eye, with every trip my mom and dad made to Memphis, my Bobelepie would hock the Memphis Zoo. This time, they finally bit, and we all went - my first zoological experience. Favorites included but are not limited to: elephants, pink flamingos (real, not plastic), polar bears, and, most beloved by far, the Great North American Grandpa.

Southern Debut

As you can tell from my enthusiasm, Memphis was clearly the place to be for Thanksgiving. The fall foliage was at its finest and for five days straight the sky was an amazing, deep blue - nothing like those sultry summer months, I'm told. I hung out with my Bobelepie, Grandpa, Auntie Roosie and Uncle Alex in the same house where my mom grew up. And I met a ton of other people who'd heard a lot about me and were just thrilled to meet me. Even Toby Doggy met me with warm reception, though we mostly kept a respectful distance.

Given the somewhat patronizing talk I'd heard about Southerners from various Yankee urbanites, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of discourse. I was prepared to have to slow down my speech patterns, but everyone understood me just fine. All in all, quite a homecoming.