Hip Hop Hooray
The mini-monsterTM is not an aggressive baby. The worst thing he’ll do is sometimes grab your neck and twist (ouch), but it’s always done with a smile.
A few weeks ago, however, when he was in his exersaucer playing, he started grunting and rocking back and forth. This was a sign that he was ready for a Jumperoo. What’s a Jumperoo, you ask? Well, it’s this contraption where you place your under-25-pound child into this sling of sorts and just let them jump. And jump. And jump.
And you, as the loving parent, sit there and laugh, because it’s really ridiculous looking.
So, off to Craigslist (to save some money) we head, and there’s a few for sale. I drive over the far western border of the city (it’s scary there, people; too much aluminum siding) and pick the Jumperoo up.
(Funny aside: in the past, we’ve gotten some hand-me-down toys from friends, toys in which their children either no longer cared about the thing or grew too large for it. Every time, even though the toy had been stashed away in some closet or basement, there is some sort of wailing. “Nooooo! I want it! It’s mine!” And then they try and get into the thing or play with it and realize that it’s a) boring or b) much too small. So they quickly forget about it and wander away. This, however, was different. The young girl whose toy I was absconding with took one look, shrugged her shoulders, and walked away.)
Now like most large plastic objects — and nearly all baby toys are some sort of large plastic object — it’s really unwieldy, takes up way too much space, and looks like it’s going to collapse at any second. So I was a little worried to put Henry in there (he is a big boy).
But in there we put him, and just as soon as he got his legs through the seat holes he… did nothing. He just sat there and stared. No bouncing. No jumping. No wiggling.
Nothing.
We soldiered on and continued to try. After a few days he started to shift from leg to leg. Not a bouncing, really; more of a nervous jostling.
Where was the rambunctious rocking he did in the exersaucer?
It seems it was merely in hibernation, because a few days ago, he suddenly started to bounce. And bounce. And jump. And just be positively ridiculous.
The best part is that when he’s hopping around, he’s concentrating so hard. Sometimes, his beautiful blue eyes start to cross in deep concentration. He’s trying so hard.
And as we place him in his Jumperoo and sit and watch, we loving parents laugh.
