Parenthood: Week 265 - The Carrier

Holding a baby in a baby carrier can be really wonderful. It’s a way that a little one can feel close, and hugged, while freeing up your arms to do other things. For the most part, if you set it up right, it doesn’t really do a number on your back.

A good carrier transforms the wonderful experience of a chest nap into an upright position so you can be more productive. For some kids, in some situations, the only way that they can go to sleep is when they are in a carrier. Is not just a tool for out and about. Carriers are great in the home as well. For both of my boys, walking around the living room with them strapped on has gotten us through some rough nights.  (Our carrier of choice is the Ergobaby).

Now that we have two kids, the carrier has a new dimension of usefulness. When I’m by myself, I only have two hands. Ollie is pretty good at holding onto the stroller while we walk, and this works out just fine when we are going for a walk with Buffy. Going to the grocery store is another issue.

So yes, Ollie is on the big size for sitting in the grocery cart, but it works, and he doesn’t seem to mind. As long as he jumps as I lift him up, and I don’t have to deadlift him it’s not too hard to get him into the cart. This leaves me with Ethan. Some people stick the entire carseat into the grocery cart, but this leaves very little space for actual groceries.  So I went with the carrier last Saturday at Costco.

“I got this,” I thought to myself strapping Ethan to myself in the Costco parking lot. He squirmed as I dropped him into the carrier. As I tightened the straps he settled down. I got Ollie out of the car, and held his hand as we walked through the parking lot. After I lifted Ollie up into the shopping cart, I felt Ethan relax and the weight of his body snuggle into my chest.

As we walked around the store, Ethan would look up at me, and I’d nod my head down and kiss him and he would giggle.

Ollie asked me how many items were on our shopping list. I told him that there were eight. When we got to eight, and I was still putting things into my shopping, he asked, “why are we getting more things than what’s on our shopping list?” “Because, we are in Costco, and that’s what happens in Costco,” I responded.

As we were checking out, I noticed that Ethan was feeling warmer against my chest. I looked down and noticed that he had fallen asleep  I figured that his internal heater had turned on as he sleep, and it was fine.  Warmth when you are holding a baby close to you can sometimes be confused with wetness, so I reached into the carrier between Ethan and me and he seemed dry.

I somehow Tetris’ed all of the stuff I got at Costco into the car, and got the kids strapped in without waking up Ethan. As I walked around the side of the car, I noticed a spot, only the size of the top of pencil eraser, the unmistakable hue of baby poo. At this point, Ethan had woken up and was whimpering.

It wasn’t that bad of a blow-out. Besides a spot on my shirt and his pants, Ethan was fine. His onesie managed to be clean. It was a lot to clean and in the awkward changing table that was the passenger seat of the car I managed to get it done.

And how did the carrier do in this situations.  Well. . . you know another great thing about the carrier?
It’s machine-washable.

Year 8: Week 33 - Moving Past the Silence

After the 1st and 2nd grade violin group finished playing their songs, I stood up to announce the next group to perform. Right before I started speaking, I heard the silence of anticipation, but something didn’t feel right in the audience. There were too many students who looked disinterested, too many student slouching, and an overall feeling of restlessness.

I looked up at the 8th graders in the balcony and thought of them being asked to watch a groups of little kids at the end of their 8th grade year. I realized in that moment that maybe they needed a reminder of why we were here. Then I looked at the first graders right in front of me, in their seats squirreling around, and thought that they could also use a reminder of what it meant to be an audience member.

Before we continue, I’d like to talk about why we are here. What is the purpose of you sitting here in the audience? There’s three main reasons for you to be here. First off, to enjoy the music that is performed today. The students up here are performing a great variety of music, and there’s a lot to enjoy on a musical level.

The second reason you are sitting in the audience is to help create community. When you sit in the audience and give of your energy, your time, and your attention, you are telling the people on stage that what they matter. And 8th graders, look you are doing reflections on the most meaningful times you’ve had at this school. If you think about, many of these moments you are writing about, are meaningful because there were people you shared these experiences with supporting you.  Right now, you have power to create something special for the students sharing their musical work who are on stage right now.

The third reason you are in the audience is because you have the opportunity to exercise a very important part of skill needed for conversations. Listening to music, and working to understand the emotions, the stories and the meaning of what you hear strengthens your ability to interpret people’s words more effectively. The ability to do this is as important in a conversation as formulating thoughts and emotions into words that you speak. The ability to talk, and listen to understand others, are the central tools we utilize to being active in our democracy and positively contribute to our country as a citizens.

We continued the assembly, and the students on stage performed really well. The audience was receptive, and seemed to work harder to understand and support what they saw on stage.

The student body at my school has always impressed me with their ability to be quiet during assemblies, and I think we can push them to go beyond simply being respectful to truly actively participating as audience members. I’m not talking about clapping along (which is sometimes appropriate). I’m speaking to actively listening to, engaging with and thinking about with what is being presented.

There’s more potential to learn, and grow, we just need to push students beyond the silence, into a realm of true learning and growth.

Parenthood: Week 264 - The Funeral

As Ollie raced down the aisle of the funeral home towards his grandma, my mind was racing was well.

My mother-in-law, Ollie’s grandma was giving a eulogy for her father who passed away last week. I had Ollie in a back room that trying to keep him entertained. He had made it through a good chunk of the funeral service, but he had become bored and restless. It was well passed his bedtime, it was the end of a busy week, and he didn’t fully understand what was going on and why we were in this building.

As my mother-in-law started talking, I asked Ollie if he wanted to hear his grandma talk, and he said yes. As we walked in the room, I felt Ollie’s hand leave mine, and before I knew it, he was running down the aisle towards his grandma, giggling. Should I chase him, or call after him? As I tried to decide whether or not run, I looked up at my mother-in-law and she spread her arms out to Ollie and smiled at him. If she was okay with this, I figured it was fine.

She held him as she continued her eulogy. Sometimes Ollie interrupted, but most of the time he was fine. Towards the end of the speech, she put him down and he pulled on his arm wanting to play. At that point, my wife Diana took him from his grandma and sat in the side aisle where she was waiting.

I worried I made the wrong call, not chasing after Ollie but my mother-in-law afterwards said it was fine and that Ollie made giving the eulogy easier.

At some point in the funeral someone said that Ollie shouldn’t be too happy. While I agreed that Ollie was not picking the vibe of the event and him being overly goofy would not be appropriate, I didn’t mind that Ollie was in a good mood. We all react to death in different ways and we shouldn’t feel ashamed about these reactions. Ollie was there, and happy to see his relatives, and wanting to eat a cookie off the snack tray. That’s where he was, and he was reacting to what he understood about the event, and it was his genuine feelings.

In that moment when he saw his grandma talking, he wasn’t overwhelmed with grief, he was happy to see his grandma and wanted a hug. In that moment he gave his grandma, what she needed, a reminder that there is a little one who loves her. As her grandfather once joyfully picked her up as a child, she did the same for Ollie.

Taking my two sons to the funeral was not easy, but when we took Ollie to a family wedding when he was a baby, sometimes the effort is worth it. Amongst the sadness, there was Ethan, giggling, and cooing as people made sounds and smiled as they said hello and played with him. Should we all be would be sadder at funerals? I’m not sure, but if the point of funerals are to honor the ones who have passed and reflect on family, it is very powerful to be reminded through the bright eyes of a little one the most important legacy of those who have passed.

The next day we had a little at our house with Diana’s immediate family and her grandmother. It had been a devastating week for Diana’s grandfather watching her partner pass away. It’s so hard to know what to say or do around people when they are feeling such tremendous loss. I did everything people say to do, listen, often sympathy, make them coffee, and just doing whatever I could to make her feel welcome and comfortable in my home.

After we ate lunch, Diana put Ethan in her grandmother’s arms. As they giggled at each other, and played, I felt so proud that my little Ethan could bring her so much joy in such a hard time. It was a reminder that grief is not an ending, it doesn’t shut out joy. It may overcome happiness for a while, but grief itself can be overcome. Sometimes all it takes in for that moment of happiness to shine through is the silly smile, of a floppy little baby.

We’ve had two funerals in the past month. Diana’s paternal grandmother, and this past weekend, her maternal grandfather. It’s a lot. Processing death is like healing a broken bone. It made not hurt while it heals, but it taxes your whole body during the healing process. I haven’t thought about these deaths all of the past month, but the fact that part of me is dealing with it, makes everything in life harder.

I’m so grateful for my two sons. They did make going to the funeral harder to handle in many ways, but what they brought to the event, and to grandma emotionally and spiritually was more than worth it.

When I think about those I’ve lost in my life and I think about my sons, it doesn’t seem so bad. All of those people I’ve lost in my family, are right there in my boys. The proof of the meaning in their lives, all that they gave, all that they worked for, is seen in the bright eyes of my sons, and felt warmth I feel as I hold their hands.

Year 8: Week 32 - The Final Run

Here we are the final run of the school year. The chunk of time between spring break and summer break. As a teacher there seems to be clear priorities. It’s a time of culmination in which concepts and ideas come together and synthesized through final projects. Sometimes these projects are research papers, presentations, and in my case concerts.

As we plan backwards from the last day of school, making sure that we carefully utilize the short amount of the time until the end of the year, it’s easy to forget that our students, aren’t always in the same headspace.

I come to the end of the school year, knowing that even though I have a group of new students next year, I am coming back to the same grade, and with familiar curriculum. As I think about my ninth year at this school, I feel comfortable knowing that most situations and challenges in the following school year, I have already dealt with, or can deal with feeling the support of my colleagues and my administration. While there is a lot of planning I need to do for next year, it’s work that I’ve done before in a space that is known.

My 8th graders are in a very different place. Next year they are going into high school. This is one the biggest transitions in teenage years. There are many unknowns, and fears that affect some of the 8th graders in the spring, others in the summer, but it hits them all eventually. It’s a lot to process. While I’m trying to get them focused and directed for their culminating performance, the students are worrying about the future, and a myriad of other issues that are intertwined and very difficult to pull apart (e.g. puberty, friendships, relationships with parents, identity development).

Sometimes this processing work, all of the feelings and challenges are expressed through clear questions, and expressions of emotions. Most of the time, it’s in ways that are less productive, like expression of apathy, changes in behavior, and sometimes, simply making bad choices.

As a teachers, while I’m committed to holding the line and never dropp the standard of how we work as a learning community until the very last second of the school year, there also needs to be ways that the students have space to express what they need to, and be who they need to be even if it’s counterproductive to the goals of a lesson.

My current plan to take care of my 8th graders is to create stability, accountability, and predictability for my 8th graders. I’m hoping that in the space of the band room, they can escape other worries and focus on the art of making music. This helped me through my teenage years, and maybe it can do the same for them.

My role at this school has me teaching 3rd grade, 5th grade, 6th grade and 8th grade. So this is the last year I get to teach these students. It’s almost incomprehensible how much these students have grown and changed since I first taught them in third grade. It’s really bittersweet letting them go, but it’s exciting.  I get one more shot to bring them together musically, and help them bring meaning and beauty through music into their own lives.

I’m going to miss them.  To deal with these feelings, I need to remind myself more than anything else to enjoy the time I have left with them, and hopefully in a small way this will help my 8th graders through this difficult time in their lives.

Flying Fish

Parenthood: Week 263 - Horns At the Wall

I had given Ollie fair warning.

He knew that his nighttime routine was beginning soon. Ollie had already started cleaning up his toys, but was stalling as he fiddled with some of his Transformers.

“Ollie, I’m going to count to ten, you need to clean up, or you are not going to watch your tooth-brushing video.”

As part of this nighttime routine, after brushing teeth, I regularly show I’m a short YouTube.com video. This highlight was a way I could often get him moving through his nighttime routine. As I started starting counting, instead of cleaning up, Ollie focused on not wanting to stop playing, and the idea of losing his video time. He expressed this by screaming, louder and louder as I calmly got to 10.

Screaming and sobbing, Ollie resisted going up the stairs, so I picked him up as he went “boneless,” and carried him if the stairs. I sat him down on the floor, and sat across from him and watched him scream.

I studied Ollie’s face and the tone of his screams. As he continued, I started noticing that he would wind down, take a breath and start up again with earnest. The rising and falling of the dynamics and energy in his screams made it clear to me that this was no longer an impulsive response, but rather a concerted effort. Like the horns blaring at the walls of Jericho, Ollie was trying to break down the wall that was keeping him from his video, which he created himself.

As Ollie ran out of steam, I asked Ollie if he wanted to skip his bath, which he sometimes sees as a bonus, and he said yes. He got changed into his pajamas, as got his teeth brushed, and washed his face. During this process, he was clearly sad, and managed to keep it together. Then when we finished brushing his teeth, which is usually followed by the video, he started crying again.

I quietly explained to him that I would be happy to read him his bedtime stories, however, I was not going to unless he took some deep breaths and calmed down. I told that I would be in the other room and he could come get me when he was ready.

Ollie squeezed his eyes closed, concentrating, and started taking deep breaths. Then he walked over to me, and told me that he was ready for his story. I asked him to pick out two books (we usually do one), and he picked out Mr. Grumpy, and Pokey Little Puppy.

I laid down in bed with, and he cuddled close to me and I read. I was surprised how this little one, who had been so angry only a couple minutes ago was now laughing at the funny voices I was making as I read the books to him.

After we were done with the two books, I asked Ollie how he felt about not being able to watch his video. He said that he was sad. I told him that it was okay to be sad and that he could be happy about the being the possibility of watching a video tomorrow. He smiled at the thought. I told him that he needed to listen to me and that I’m trying to help him. I don’t think he fully understood this, but he listened. I held him close and told him that I loved him, and he softy responded, “I love you, too daddy.”

We cuddled for another minute, and said goodnight.

4/13/18

I’m sitting here on a Friday night, the last night of my spring break with my youngest son Ethan asleep in my lap. He is transitioning into needing a more structured sleep schedule and going through a sleep process. In retrospect, I should have put him in his crib while he was on the way to sleep, so he can practice falling asleep in his crib. Instead, I let him fall asleep in my arms and, gently let him settle in my lap. A missed opportunity? Yes. Am I going to sweat it right now? No. I’m simply going to enjoy his warmth in his lap, and the almost impossible to detect, but truly incredible feeling of his heart beat as his chest pushes up against my abdomen.

I hear the dishwasher going through its wash cycle, a reminder that chores are done enough for the night. I look over as a basket full of clean clothing feeling satisfied that this afternoon while I watched both of my boys…somehow.

As I look over toward the living room through the legs of the dining room table and chairs, I can see Buffy’s shape in the darkness. Even though I am too far away to hear her breath, I can feel her presence.

I see her little snout covered in dirt and can hear myself chastising her for trying to roll her newly groomed body into patch of dirt. She always leads with her nose and then flops her back onto the ground and joyously kicks her legs out as she rolls. Sometimes she does this when she smells something wonderful in her mind. Other times it’s a sign that she is shedding. I’m not sure what it was today but as her nose dipped into the dirt, and her body began to roll, I yelled at her, and she abruptly stopped. The with royal dignity and grace she trotted over me as if she had done nothing wrong, with dark earth hanging off of her whiskers.

My annoyance with my puppy has long sense passed. Freshly groomed dog means extra cuddles, which means tonight I will cuddle with her as I fall asleep in bed tonight. She will sit near me when I bring her up to the bed. As I get her positioned underneath my arm she will cooperate at first, however once she is settled she will stay there, and relax in my arms. Buffy will only leave later when Diana picks her up and then puts her in her bed in Ethan’s room.

Ethan’s arm just flopped off of his chest and now is hanging off of my lap. I see his fingers, delicate and soft. The skin is perfect and little fingernails seem almost impossibly small. It’s these hands, these wonderful fingers which are the biggest different I’ve noticed between Ethan and Ollie today.

What I brought my face close to Ethan’s face earlier today, he reached out to grab something. I’m not sure if he was going for my lips or my nose. I felt his cold and wet fingers, having just come out of his own mouth, and his little finger nails. He giggled and smiled as he gazed up at me.

Then there’s Ollie’s hands moving carefully with increasing accuracy as I taught him how to play paddy cake. At times, his hands were relaxed and at other times they were tense as they flowed through the pattern. I could see Ollie concentrate on my hands and what was once flailing became a steady pattern.

Diana came downstairs a little while ago, to chat before working out. She touched my hand gently, and told me that she was glad that she married me. Holding Diana’s hand has always been special. I wouldn’t describe holding her hand as electricity, but rather touching something that has inner warmth. Her hands feel like the way that your arms need to be when you hold a baby, strong but gentle, caring and loving.

Nap Time

Parenthood: Week 262 - Vichyssoise

There’s always stuff to do around the house. The end of chores isn’t really a point when everything is done, it’s a point, when things are good enough. It’s a point when food is put away, dirty things are cleaned, and most things are put in their place. It takes a lot of teamwork between me and my wife to keep the house together.

When I’m home, I want to spend time with my boys, but there’s always things to do. Yes, I want to play with Ollie when I get home from work, but sometimes it’s my responsibility to cook dinner, so I have to tell him to wait before I can give him my attention. Sometimes instead of helping him build something, I’m sitting next to him folding the laundry. While it is important to have time when I’m 100% focused on Ollie and Ethan, there are times that this doesn’t happen. This is modern life with two kids. This is my life.

Ollie is at the age that he can help out with things. He’s a fan of doing the laundry, putting clothes in, transferring them to the dryer, and his favorite: turning on the machines. He’s okay at folding hand towels and kitchen towels, and enjoys sorting socks, but he often loses interest before the load is done. He’s getting better with cleaning up his own toys, and bringing his plate into the kitchen after he’s done eating. While part of me wishes we lived in a reality where taking care of chores wasn’t interwoven into daily life, I think the work provides meaning. When you work on something, like a house, you care more about it, and it means more to you.

Sometime I put things off in the evening like doing dishes so Ollie can get my undivided attention in the evening, and we can share the limited waking hours we have together. Often this is my instinct, but I’ve realized that when I do stuff around the house when Ollie is awake, even if he’s not helping, it benefits him (I’m talking about a benefit beyond having a clean house).

Ollie lives in a house where he sees both parents take care of the house. He sees a dad come back home from work, spend two minutes getting settled and get started on dinners. Ollie knows his mom cooks as well and share in the duties. There’s no one parent who is solely in charge of anything. While I currently take the lead with helping him with his bath, it hasn’t always been this way and Diana is just as comfortable doing bath time as I am.

Are the chores around the house split evenly between me and Diana? No, but we try, and there’s nothing that one of us never does, or doesn’t know how to do.

I’m proud of the fact that Ollie and Ethan live in a house where the “second shift” of housework, isn’t placed solely on the women because her work taking care of the kids or working from home (as Diana currently does) is not as valued as the husband’s job.  I’m proud of the fact that my boys will know a home where both parents understand how the house runs and that gender roles don’t determine the work that we do. And I’m proud of the fact that my boys see us work as a team, more focused on getting stuff done than on who’s job it is to do the work.

One of my goals as a parent is to raise my boys to be feminists. This motivates me to push myself to get off my butt and do stuff around the house. Yes, I like having a house that’s put together, I enjoy supporting my wife, and some things like cooking I genuinely enjoy. However, it’s all for naught if my boys don’t grow to understand through our example how partners can and should share a life together the responsibilities of sharing a home.

This is about more than housework.  This is about how my boys will work with girls in grade school. This is about how my boys develop and nurture friendships with girls. This is about my boys navigate workplace politics, and this is about how they honor, understand and appreciate themselves and their life partners.

This is about changing the world in one small way by taking out the trash without being asked to, folding socks, and cooking vichyssoise.

Year 8: Week 31 – Any Dream Will Do

On Monday, my 3rd graders performed selections from Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with one of our high school choirs. It was a lot of kids one stage, almost one hundred total, and the coordination was tricky, but it worked.

I did this a couple years ago with my 3rd graders and a middle school choir. I did tell the story to the kids, and when students who knew it from Hebrew school mentioned that they knew it in that context, I acknowledge this, but I didn’t explore the religious context of this music.

That was almost four years ago, and I’ve changed, the world has changed. The illusions that once existed of accepting plurality in American culture have been demolished and the I feel an impetus to do teaching and learning that addresses the conflicts in our society. Steering away from issues that are important, but are hard to talk about is no longer an option.

To introduce our performance, I organized three faculty members their experiences with the story of Joseph/Yusef, from their own personal experiences and religions backgrounds. We started with a teacher who identified as Jewish followed by a Christian teacher and then a Spanish teacher who is Muslim. Then I talked about my perspective learning about this story from a secular musical theater experience.

I knew that bringing forth the idea that this story was shared by these three major faith traditions and that is lived in the secular world was an important connection. I didn’t realize until college that Islam shared so many stories in the Jude-Christian tradition. However, framing this presentation took a lot of time and thought. Here’s the thing, I don’t belong to any of major American faith traditions. I don’t fully understand the religiosity of American culture and why there is so much conflict around religion in our society. I was really afraid that somehow I would offend someone.

I wrote a couple drafts of an intro, sent it to our principals and other teachers for ideas, and here’s what I ended up using:

Good morning. The Special Chorus, the 3rd grade, and some special guests are excited to present to you selections from the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The story this musical is based on the ancient story of Joseph.  Joseph overcomes the cruelty of his brothers and rises to a position of power, because of his ability to tell the future by interpreting his own dreams, and other people’s dreams.  Initially, Joseph tests his brothers, and he forgives his brothers after he sees that they have changed.

The story of Joseph is a unique story because it is included in the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The musical presents this story in a secular, non-religious setting.  When we explore this story from different perspectives, we may see ourselves in these faith traditions. As we learn more, we begin to better understand other religious traditions around the world.

We include the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as an act of inclusion, to bring together voices of different faiths through a shared story.  It’s important to acknowledge that the themes in this story resonate with religious traditions, and philosophies around the world that are not represented here.     
Three of our teachers are going to share how they have experienced this story in their own religious traditions in chronological order.  Their sharing is representative of their own personal experiences and beliefs, and these experiences are not meant to be generalized across the great diversity within each of their religions.  After they speak, I will share a secular, non-religious viewpoint on this story.

What the teachers shared was thoughtful, personal and powerful. The Jewish teacher provided insights into details of the story and talked about learning from your mistakes. She also touched upon the idea of you can change, and that you can always become a better person. The second teachers talked about teaching this story in Sunday school and how the themes of suffering and forgiveness. The third teacher gave some insights into how the idea of patience can be learned from this story and how it ties into Ramadan.

I've been working on this music for the past month, and after hearing these introductions the music sounded different.  There was a new energy knowing that this music was connected to other religions, and other cultures.  The music felt more inclusive, more immediate and more powerful.

How we think about music is as important as the music itself.  If we think about music in the context of diversity, and inclusion, maybe it can change more than how we think about music.

Parenthood: Week 261 - 4/2/18

Ethan is getting louder. His screams of frustration feel blinding, as I bring hold him close to me and try to calm him down, but also is squeals of joy come easier and fill the house with. Just in the past two weeks Ethan has started grabbing things. At first it was only when I would bring a toy close to him, both hands would clap together and grab something. Now he is beginning to reach out and grabs things on his own.

Ethan isn’t crawling, but he’s great at rolling over. Sometimes he ends up on his tummy and tries to move about. He hasn’t figured out how to get his bottom up and his feet under his body. Instead, he just puts out his feet and arms, floats them above the grab, and planks. I’m glad he’s doing this work, that I’m sure I great for his core, but I do feel sad that he is getting frustration.

Ethan is fascinated by his feet, his hands, and at lights in the ceiling. He has grown to love his Jumperoo.

Diana refers to it as “Baby-Disneyland.” It allows him to work on his leg strength while being entertained from above with some animals hanging down and a variety of activities around, one which plays songs (and thankfully has three volume options).

Our stack of baby clothes that he has grown out of is getting bigger and bigger. It makes me sad sometimes, because it shows me how quickly time has passed, but I also feel proud and happy of how much he has grown, which is evidence of the great work that Diana is doing to help him grow.

Sometimes when Diana is holding Ethan, he will look over at someone with a big smile, and then turn his head and bury his face into Diana’s chest. Then he will turn his head back over, give that person a big smile, and then hide again. His own routine of peek-a-boo, is ridiculously cute.

Ollie is simply amazing me right now. He got these Plus-Plus blocks a couple months ago. In the past two weeks he has figured out to follow directions, and designs that came with these blocks and create all sorts of designs. Ollie’s ability to translate two-dimensional directions into designs has been really remarkable to watch develp.

Now that Ethan is getting into toys, we have a bin of toys for him to play with. Ollie loves these toys. Most of them, he had as baby himself. I’m not quite sure why he is so into these baby toys, but it is pretty cute to see him reliving his baby-hood.

 Though there is some issues with this.

The day after we got the Jumperoo, I came home after school, and heard the music from the Jumperoo playing accompanied by giggles. I turned to look in the direction of the Jumperoo, and saw Ollie bouncing up and day with a hug smile on his face. Ollie is well beyond the age and weight limit of this thing, and I had not idea how he managed to climb into it. After some struggling, I managed to pull him out of that thing. The whole time, I was doing this, Ollie was laughing. Somehow I managed to get through to him that it was not safe for him to be in the Jumperoo.  As much as I don’t want him to get into that thing ever again, I am glad I have the memory of Ollie experiencing the pure joy of being a baby once again.