Henry's Happy New Year Developments

We had a low key New Year's Day. Henry got up around 7AM, I think. He had a bottle, and then he went back to sleep in our bed. I propped him up on my pillow, and we snuggled for another couple hours. It had been a late night, so we were all very tired. Napping with Henry was a fantastic way to start off the New Year. Around 10AM, we went for a long walk around the neighborhood on the Owl Ridge trail, which took us through a wash; the walk was about 3 miles. We played in the afternoon. He weighed 14 lbs 11.5 ozs. Henry discovered his head and felt it quite a bit. In the evening, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and to finish watching a continuing episode of Law & Order that we had started the night before. Henry's voice was doing better, but he was still coughing quite a bit, so we decided to have him sleep with us and kept his head propped up on the pillow. Jeff had to hold Marley back from flopping on Henry. Everything worked out well.

Yesterday (1/2), Grandma and Grandpa both came over at different times during the day. Henry was pretty active. He discovered his right ear at one point and kept grabbing it. He weighed 14 lbs 12.5 ozs. He slept in his crib during the night.

Today (1/3), Grandpa came around 10:45AM to spend an hour and a half with Henry, while I was on an NAES conference call. He said that Henry had worn him out. They had played in the bouncy seat, played in the bassinet, played on the floor, and spent some time in the swing. After Grandpa left, Jeff and I took Henry out for a mid-day stroll during the lunch hour. Henry weighed 14 lbs 12 ozs today. Grandma came in the afternoon to spend a couple hours with Henry. He was pretty active, but I think that he took a couple naps here and there on her watch. Henry was incredibly loud today. He rediscovered his squeal. I guess he really missed his voice. His squeal has reached new decibel levels.

We went on another walk in the evening. We stopped by Nick and Janice's house to deliver our belated holiday and thank you cards. We usually see them a lot around the neighborhood, but we hadn't seen them in weeks. *** NOTE: If you gave Henry a present or sent us flowers/food when Henry and I were in the hospital, please let us know if you didn't receive a thank you card from us. See our post entitled "Oops!" from October 28. Only one thank you card was returned to us by the Post Office for our failure to have the appropriate postage; we missed out on the 2 cent increase when we were in the NICU and sent out the thank yous with 39 cent stamps. We very much want everyone to know how much we appreciate their generosity. So again, please let us know if you haven't received a thank you card. We really hope that the cards arrived at their destinations. Feel free to email me if yours didn't arrive. I'm about 8 months behind on my social emails. So to facilitate a quick response from me, I suggest putting something like "KATE, YOU INGRATE" in the subject line to get my attention. I am hoping to get my email sorted in the next couple weeks. We are slowly putting some order back into our household, but it has been a very slow process. ***

The huge news of the evening is that Henry grabbed his toes tonight! He's been reaching toward his feet for awhile. He first realized that he had feet the weekend before Thanksgiving when Aunt Carolyn was holding him. He's tried to reach toward them several times. And he's touched them when he's sitting and leans forward. But tonight, he was on his mat, and he kicked up his legs and grabbed his toes. He did it several times. He also is rolling over and not having to work hard at it.

I forgot to mention on my previous post that he made another developmental step on New Year's Eve when he started opening his hand out fully when he does tummy time and presses his palm to the mat. Before, he'd keep his fingers curled as he pressed upward with his arms.

DEVELOPMENTAL RECAP:
12/31: Learns to spread out fingers as he presses his hand on the mat to push upward during tummy time
1/1: Discovers his head
1/2: Discovers his ear
1/3: Grabs his toes

Tomorrow, we have an appointment with the massage therapist and Tara. Tara is going to come, while the massage appointment is happening. Also, I received a call from Cuyler Romeo, his OT, today. She'll be starting back up with him on Friday, January 11th. Cuyler is the one who works wonders on feeding issues, so we are very much looking forward to her insight.