More Peas, Please!

Henry had a good Friday. He had a few naps during the day. In the afternoon, Grammy came over, and he had a visit from Tara and Cuyler. Tara came a little early and worked with him before Cuyler got there. Then, Cuyler worked with him. I unfortunately did not make it home until the end of Cuyler's visit, because I had an 8AM meeting and then tons of papers to review for my large lecture, which meant that I didn't get on the road until 3:15PM. From what I gathered, Cuyler wanted to see how well Henry would transition out of the sit to a pre-crawl position. She said that he was transitioning very well, and she thought that his hamstrings were a little more relaxed, which is good. We've been trying to stretch out his hamstrings, like she had told us to do on her previous visit. Cuyler mentioned that the pediatric wing is so overcrowded at Tucson Medical Center (TMC) where she works that they are having to transport children to hospitals out of state to take care of the overload. The flu is running through the hospital, so kids who are there for other reasons have ended up with the flu, extending their stays by a week or two. Yikes!










This morning, Henry woke up at 6AM and had a bottle. He seemed alert after his bottle. While Jeff took the dogs for a walk, I decided to put Henry in our bed. Cuyler had mentioned that she thought it would be good if we put Henry on different surfaces, so that he could use his arms muscles against different levels of challenge. Instead of doing tummy time, Henry and I ended up taking a 2.5 hour nap. It was really nice. I have been working a lot of hours this week (often after Henry goes to bed), and I really needed the extra sleep. And it was great having Henry to snuggle with.

I went to school to get some work done in the late morning. I came back in the afternoon. Jeff had been giving Henry a workout. When Henry is on his back, he likes to thrust up his pelvis and scoot backward. Cuyler wants to make sure that we don't let this become a habit. When kids learn that they can scoot backward when on their backs, they become resistant to learning how to crawl. So, whenever Henry looks like he is doing this, we try to encourage him to play with his feet or we pick him up and get him out of the position altogether.

We decided to give Henry a new type of food today...peas! Before giving him the peas, I said to Jeff, "Should we try them before giving them to Henry?" It wasn't really a question. Jeff's response, "No. We don't need to eat them." So I rephrased. "Here, you are trying these peas before giving them to Henry." I thrust a spoonful at Jeff. He thought that they were gross. I tried them and thought that they were fine. Tasted just like one would expect from pureed peas.

Here's Henry waiting with eager anticipation for his afternoon meal. He was so hungry that he started eating his bib.










This is Henry after his first bite of peas. The flavor obviously wasn't what he expected. "What the heck did Mommy just put in my mouth?"










After a few bites, Henry decided that peas are A-OK! He polished off an entire jar!










"Henry really likes his peas," I said. Jeff responded, "Well, this is a kid who drinks Neocate. After that, peas don't seem that bad." True enough.

Jeff took Henry over to my parents' house late this afternoon so that I could continue to get work done. He's still over there now, watching the Wildcats vs. Washington St. game. My sister Carolyn is at that game now in Pullman, WA. We wonder who she is cheering for. Henry was decked out in his UofA wear. Hopefully, that will bring the Wildcats some good luck!

A couple weeks ago, Jamie, Henry's personal fashion designer, sent me some parenting tips. Here's a selection of them...