Baby Safety

While this isn't the blog post I'm sure you all have been on pins and needles waiting for, I wanted to show off our mad skillz at baby proofing the house - which includes a little bit of parent proofing as well.

We installed this great gate at the top of our stairs that has a handle on it to easily lock and unlock, with a nice loud "click." However since we go up and down this set of stairs a lot, we decided we wanted to take it one step further and incorporate some visualization into parent-proofing the baby gate. This is what we have!

We put red tape across the top in a line, and then wrote 'SAFE' with the letters on different parts of the handle. This way I can easily look at the handle and see that the line is straight AND it says "SAFE" to me - confirming that it is safe to let the baby roam! The line also continues on the back so you can see it there as well.

Now below is what it looks like when the gate is open! One, the bright yellow catches your eye to let you know something is amiss. And in case you can't figure it out, it says what is amiss: the gate is "OPEN." In retrospect I think I should have written "DANGER" here instead, but this does clearly convey what the situation is.

And also, since we both enjoy order*, having both a line that is broken and a word that is broken invokes all our OCD tendencies to straighten the line and form the word - thereby closing the gate!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this new system. I love being able to scan the room and visually see and read that my baby is safe. At least when it comes to getting through this gate!

So I'm curious - any interesting tricks you've had to baby-proofing your house?

*We "enjoy" order, however implementing it is very hard - our house is usually in a state of chaos. But when we have order, we enjoy it :)

The dreams of the young - music for my baby

When I was younger, about late teens, I was very involved with studies and music. Quitespecifically classical   music. I read about, studied it, played it. Part of this research included learning about the benefits of exposing children to classical music early - apparently it is supposed to increase brain development. And as someone who listened to classical music a lot, I liked this.

"When I'm a parent," I would think snobbily, "I will expose my child to classical music in utero! I'll play it all day! They will fall asleep to it!" And so were my well-laid plans. 

And as with most well-laid plans, this one has gone astray. Because, what I didn't realize then, is how exhausting parenting is, and how anything remotely relaxing - such as classical music - may not be in the best interest of the safety of the child. Although it could invoke a great nap for me!

So what do my son and I listen to? On my tired days - which is most days - we rock out to modern Bollywood music.  There is nothing about Bollywood music that says "stay still and take a nap." Everything about the music says "Dance and dance! Move! Life is rhythm and we got to keep moving!"

And so I bop around the room and he is exposed to multi-cultural music (or so I tell myself). And I love this multi-culturalish family we have going here.

And I laugh at the well-laid plans of my youth. Somethings are just way more fun!

It only took 2.5 years, but we finally did it!

Today is a momentous day in the Jerdan household.

After 2.5 years of brainstorming, researching, and nigh-near-nagging (on Sara's part of course), we have finally discovered:

A way to work out together!!!

We both our wholeheartedly commited to being and remaining healthy, however we had these road blocks firming in place:


- Our very different leg lengths. Completely rules out jogging together without a great deal of frustrating on either person's side.

- Our exercising preference. We both have the excersize we like to do. I like Jazzercise, he absolutely wouldn't. He likes socceer, I would look like an idiot trying to play. This is definitely part of our preferences, and isn't going to change any time soon. (link goes to "The 8 Colors of Fitness, which I recommend to all the MBTI geeks out there)

- Our available facilities. We both like to swim, however there is never a pool nearby, and now with the baby we can't do that at the same time.

- Our baby. We were hoping to start biking together soon, however it isn't recommended you bike with a baby, even on a trailer, until at least a year old. Bummer. Also, we only have one bike so it would take a lot of new purchasing of things to get this habit going, so it looked like there were a lot of things that would make this very hard.


However in a moment of inspiration, I (Sara) remembered the roller blades I had bought on sale on a whim last year. Then I thought I could actually keep up with Jon while he jogs at a normal pace! Now that the weather is nicer, we thought we'd try it with our son in a regular stroller.

And it worked! Jon was able to keep up a good pace while I tried not to careen into anything too fast. It took me a little while to get used to roller blading. I used to roller blade a lot, however as I was putting on the blades I realized that this was at least 15 years ago now and my body is well, quite different :) We had a few close calls with me going down hills, however I hope after watching a few YouTube videos on how to rollerblade I'll get this all resolved. Over all it was very enjoyable - especially when I had enough momentum to basically just stand next to Jon while he jogged :)

Now all we need to do is make sure we get a good jogging stroller (right now it is quite bumpy for T) and maybe one day he'll actually enjoy the right. Now right he is very underwhelmed by it all, but hopefully he'll at least enjoy the speed?

So, I'm very excited. A good way to start out this near year.

PS - what's a prime?

I apologize for my lack of discernment in the last post about what qualifies as general knowledge and what I know because I spent years studying mathematics.

So what are primes you ask (no, you're not the only one who was wondering)?

**In this post, for simplicity's sake, I use the term "number" to refer to positive integers, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, and the whole gang -- we're not paying attention to those with decimals or negatives or any of those crowds.**

A prime number is a number that can only be divided by itself or 1. So 2 is a prime number. In fact, 2 is the only even prime, since all other even numbers can be divided by 2.
Then 3 is a prime.
4? NO!!! because 4 = 2 x 2
5? check, it's a prime.
6 = 2 x 3 so no!
7 is a prime.
8 = 2 x 2 x 2 (or 2 x 4). NO PRIME FOR YOU!
9 = 3 x 3. No prime here.
10 = 2 x 5. Not a prime.
11 -- It's a prime!!
12 = 2 x 2 x 3 (= 3 x 4 = 2 x 6). Definitely not a prime.
So you get the idea?
The first 15 primes are: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43.
I won't tell you what the largest primes are, because the one they just discovered in the past month has 17,425,170 digits. So yeah, I don't have the time to post it right now.

So there you have it. This hopefully gives you the basic information needed to read through the post below. Let me know if you would like any other mathematical clarification!

How did I not realize this when I was studying math??

Disclaimer: The following may appear to be pointless mathematical ramblings to some. But I think it contains useful tools for people who at some point will help their children learn multiplication and division. Besides math plays a part in so many different parts of the average person's life, how can it be pointless?

Yesterday I was thinking about prime numbers again. Yes, I do in fact do that. I was wondering if I could figure out some new trick or two to spend even less times checking if a number is a prime or not, at least with 2-digit numbers.

First, it helps to know which primes need to be considered. Any integer below 100 that can be divided into two integers has at least one factor smaller than 10. That helps. So all 2-digit non-primes are multiples of at least one of the prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7. It's nice the list is so short.

Of course, all the numbers that end in 0, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 are the multiples of 2 and/or 5. So that leaves us with the numbers ending in 1, 3, 7 and 9. But fortunately there's only two primes to consider: 3 and 7.

And then the multiples of 3 are also easy to pick out because the sum of the digits is a multiple of 3 (so if you're not sure about the sum of those digits, execute the same process with the digits in that sum and so on until you get to a 1-digit number; the original number -- along with any and all in-between sums -- is a multiple of 3 if you end up with 3, 6 or 9). Thus, it's a breeze to take a number like 87 and go: 8 + 7 = 15 Check! It's a multiple of 3 (1 + 5 = 6) so 87 is not prime. Or with 43: 4 + 3 = 7 so it's not a multiple of 3 (and we already know it's not a multiple of 2 or 5 either).

So the only check that might take some thinking (if your multiplication tables are not at the forefront of your mind) is checking if the number in question in a multiple of 7.

Going through multiples of 7 between 10 and 100, but skipping the multiples of 2, 3 & 5, we are left with: 49, 77, 91 (7 x 7, 11 and 13 respectively)

That's it! All other 2-digit numbers that you don't recognize as a multiple of 2, 3 or 5 is a prime number! Isn't that convenient to know?

In fact you can apply the same method of only taking the time to check against 7 for numbers up to 120, since the first non-prime number that has no factors smaller than 10 is 11 x 11 = 121.

If you want to keep going, you only need to spend time checking against 7 and 11 (2-digit numbers: both digits are the same; 3-digit numbers: the middle digit is the sum of the two side digits) for numbers up to 168, since 13 x 13 = 169. And really, how often do you need to find the prime factors of numbers greater than 150?

Yes, this is how I occupy my mind sometimes.

If I went through some point too quickly, please do ask for more elaboration. This is a hobby I consider fun, and I'd be happy to comply. 

Woah - Four Months!

It is hard to believe that our little lad is four months old! Here are some little bits that I am treasuring recently:

*He is getting BUSY! Thanks to a dear family member, he now has a hyped up bouncy saucer that he gets busy in. He is busy jumping, analyzing the music patterns, and supervising his parents.

*He is NOT getting sleepy! We'll have to try "sleep training" him this week as he continues to wake up during the night and I feel sometimes like a crazy person due to lack of sleep. A few days ago I realized that for our family, this will be the most loving thing to do. I need more sleep to be an effective mother, and he needs to learn how to sleep on his own. I am looking forward to this process not at all, however I am looking forward to the results a great deal. If you have talked to me recently, I apologize for all the complaining!

*He flipped over! He does seem to know that he can keep doing this, but it was pretty fun.

*He can blow out a diaper like no ones business. Luckily a loud noise accompanies aforesaid blowouts, so we have a good warning of when it has happened. It reminds me of the flames in the Fire Swamp of princess bride - they always tell you when they are there.

*He loves little blankets. And putting them on his face. This of course causes his mother no panic whatsoever. (read: panic)

*He loves to play and laugh - I feel like a stand up comedian all day. He particularly enjoys grabbing his legs right now when getting his diaper changed. Of course this accompanied by his skill of pooping makes cleaning up one messy endeavor.

And that's it!

Time....

Being a new mom (he is about 3.5 months old now!) I've come to experience all times of the night. And here is what I think of them all - especially between 12 am and 5 am:

12 am: This time still feels like a normal, average time to be awake. I still feel like the studious, learning self that I had been before we had kids, which has normally kept me up till this hour anyway. I feel in sync with humanity and relatively optimistic about the night to come. I dream of a full night's sleep and a productive and industrious day tomorrow where I will clean the home and get dinner ready at an appropriate hour.

1 am: Ah, the night wanes on. Not to be discouraged, I still feel like there is enough night left to get to sleep, providing the young one goes to sleep as well. I feel supported by those who I know are still up at this hour: the computer programer, the college students, the other mothers who are assuredly awake with their children. With a fair amount of confidence I hope for a night of decent sleep ahead, while smelling the coffee I'll surely need in the morning.

2 am: It is most definitely night. It takes a little longer to wake up this time as I confusedly stumble to my young one's side to get him the food he has decided he needs at this unusual hour for eating. Regardless, I take solace in those I assume to be up at 2 am even still: friends locked in intense conversation who have lost track of the time, government contractors working on last minute proposals, and, of course, the other mothers who I know are up at this hour. I feel like it is the hipster hour - just late enough to be cool and cognizant, yet not to late to be crazy tired. While my hope for a night sleep is still buoyed by my desperate need for it to be so, what is left of my intellect starts deciding what flavor of coffee it will be and scheduling times for naps during the day.

3 am: At this point I am too tired to figure out if it is late or early - it just is and I am awake. Consoled by the fact that I am meeting my child's needs, I think of those who may still be awake at this hour: people at bars who lack the wherewithall to go home, college students who aren't quite smart enough to realize that they need to sleep no matter how much fun they are having, and the mothers who are also (or still) up with their children. We are becoming a sorry lot. The crazy tired begins to set it, and I dream now of Irish coffee. Now begins the bargaining with myself about how food doesn't need to be made during the day in favor of napping whenever my child sees fit.

4 am: This, I have determined, is the loneliest of all hours. It is so lonely, in fact, that it has been discussed at the TED conference, the meeting of some of the greatest minds in our society. I know the only people awake at this time are the insomniacs and the young mothers who are accompanying me throughout this journey, and together we raise a rally crying of "WHY?!" followed by the whimpering of those who are too tired to know how tired they are. We mothers mindlessly browse facebook, only to see the same statuses left 4 hours ago, sometimes leaving a echoing cry for anyone else who is awake through our status updates. We try to stay on the right side of the line between slumber and consciousness while praying deep prayers for our children and their sleep (may it come soon Lord!) Gone are the desires for coffee and only the cry for sleep remains, regardless of how little time left we have for it. I know for sure now that my home tomorrow will be messy and dinner may only be a dream as I rock my precious baby to sleep.

5 am: I try to convince myself that it is still night, and there is still time for sleep. Yet I know soon the sun will be peeking over the horizon, and there are many hard workers who wake up at this time every day. I hesitantly think of all those who are up now: the commuter waking up early so he can beat the traffic and be home in time to be with his children, the doctors who so diligently attend to our care, and all the other mothers out there. While this crowd is definitely improving in intellect, the one fact remains: these people will most likely be awake for the rest of the day, as shall I if the child decides to identify with them as well. I hope for the best as my child slumbers away and crawl off to bed in a futile attempt to wring out whatever hours of sleep are left in this night.


The Rest of the Time: As rough as any night may be, there is no greater privilege than to be up with my child. I can think of no greater joy at these hours than to be spending it with the human life God has entrusted briefly to my care, and to be spending this time with conversation with Him and my baby. Yet even so, I would enjoy it more during the day!

Scrambling

(new goal: blog more)

For about month and a half we have been "scrambling" - what I now affectionally term using the meals from a meal planning service called "Six o'clock Scramble." I signed up for the service after several meals where I realized my entire cooking repertoire could be boiled down to the following:

Chicken Salad
Pasta
Fried Rice
Things held together by eggs (omlettes, frittattas, etc)

Facing several more months of maternity leave and a life time of eating what I have been cooking, I signed up in desperation for this meal planning service through a Groupon and the recommendation of a few facebook friends.

Let me tell you:

We. Love. It.

Every week I get a list of meals to make, with the customized grocery list. I can edit the meals based upon a database of other good meals. I can change meals out, or add other ones. Then I just have to buy exactly what the list says, and then for the rest of the week when I think "What's for dinner, and what do I have to cook it with?" I just look at my list of recipes and make whatever is on there, knowing I have whatever it takes to make it.

We're eating healthier and more creatively. I've learned to love bean and tuna salad and how to cook shrimp. I've glazed chicken and crock potted stews. It is yummy and I highly recommend it to anyone else who has felt they have gotten into a cooking rut. I probably have a promotion code lying around somewhere as well if you're interested!

And other than that, we are all doing healthy and happy :)