A Very Full Saturday

Henry and Bits are quite a pair. Henry started off his Saturday morning by playing with Bits behind the curtains. He has light scratches all over his arms. On the one hand, Bits taunts him, waving her tail back and forth near his grasp. We've told Henry to "pet the kitty nicely" but he often yanks her tail. She grabs him. He releases. But then 15 seconds later, the dance begins again. All in all, Bits has been a great cat. She could really do some damage if she wanted to. But we think that she knows that he's just a baby and she loves having him as her playmate.













We spent Saturday morning at the U of A as usual. We ate at Cafe Paraiso. Henry enjoyed eating pancakes, banana, potatoes, and egg yolk. The cook was quite taken with Henry and visited our table a couple of times. After breakfast, we went to the turtle pond. Henry fell asleep before we got there. It was a bit wet on the grass from Thursday's big rain. We managed to find a spot for the sheet. Henry took a nap. It wasn't that hot in the shade. It was a pleasant morning.






When Henry got up from his 1/2 hour nap, he played with his Dad. He loves to climb all over Jeff and steal Jeff's glasses.











Henry spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa. He tried salmon for the first time and tolerated it. I wouldn't say he relished it, but he did eat it, which is good. We want him to get his Omega-3s, and fish are a good source of them. Grammy reported that Henry crawled around the house, went swimming, had a bath, and had a long nap on her.

In the evening, we took Henry to a party at his Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian's house. Henry played with Aunt Erin's Kung Fu Panda action figures. He handled the crowd well. It was quite noisy, but he was very composed. At one point when people were quite loud, he raised his voice to add to the cacophony. It was cute. I think that he thought it was what one was supposed to do at a party. At one point, Brian's toddler niece Alora gave Henry a hug. Henry didn't know what to make of her and clung to Jeff. She then came back and put her hands around his throat, which he (and we) didn't know what to make of the situation either. But her Grandma removed her, so all was well.














He fell asleep in the car. It was well after 9PM when we left. He went straight to bed.

He woke up a little later than usual this morning, probably around 6:15AM or so. Jeff took him for a walk. By the time that they got back, Henry was fast asleep in the baby backpack, where he snoozed for awhile.

I played with Henry while Jeff worked. We had a late breakfast. Henry had yogurt (YoBaby Apple), banana, and hash browns. He ate a good amount. Toward the end of the meal, I asked Henry if he was "all done." I was trying to show him the hand sign for "all done." Someone at work told me that her sister had found that sign and "change" (for diaper change) to be the most useful with her daughter. Henry was studying my hands intently. And when I said "all done" he repeated those words back to me. Jeff and I were both surprised. Henry was also trying to do the "all done" gesture as well.

The Object of Henry's Affection

This week has been a bit trying on the home front. Basically, Henry has decided that the only one who can comfort him is Jeff. The only one who can give him a bottle is Jeff. If Jeff walks across the front hall from the kitchen to the bedrooms or office and Henry sees this, he bursts into tears if Jeff doesn't come to see him. If Henry and Jeff are playing, and Jeff leaves the room to get a bottle, Henry again bursts into tears. It doesn't take more than 5 seconds of Jeff leaving the room for Henry to get upset. If Henry has a wet diaper and I take him into the bedroom to change him, again, tears, tears, hollers, tears, hollers, red face, the works. At first, I think that Jeff was flattered that Henry has made him "the" (not "a") object of his affection, but now it is getting a bit wearing on him. There are some things that Jeff would like to do without it causing a big production (things that require him temporarily leaving the room). And, I...well...feel useless and frustrated. My mom has told me that this is "normal" and that babies tend to identify with the same sex parent; this is why Freud came up with his theories.

Henry has decided to get up somewhere between 5-5:30AM every morning. Doesn't seem to matter when he goes to bed.

To top it off, my milk supply is dwindling. I've been going into school to work, so I'm pumping a little less, I have felt a lot of stress, and with the exception of last night, I haven't gotten much sleep...things that impact the milk supply. My goal has been to try to pump until Henry reached 1 year adjusted, possibly longer because Henry isn't going to qualify for the Synagis shots for this next RSV season. The Synagis shots are expensive, so the insurance companies don't want to pay for them for more than a year. That, of course, means that we have to go back on lock down come November.

I can't remember what happened on Monday. I think that my mom visited Henry in the afternoon. On Tuesday, Henry had his OT appointment with Selah. I was at work. I had two marathon conference calls Tuesday and Wednesday from 7AM to 1PM. Jeff said that Selah seemed disappointed that Henry isn't interested in following her instructions. She wanted to work on pinching, but Henry had other plans. On Wednesday, Grandpa came in the afternoon. Henry had been asleep about an hour when Grandpa arrived. Jeff said that he didn't wake up for another two hours. We assume the 3 hour nap had something to do with getting up at 5:30AM. Grandpa tried to give him a bottle, but again, Henry would only let Jeff feed him.












Yesterday, Grammy visited again in the afternoon. Henry decided that he wanted to switch up our musical selection. He thinks that the buttons on the stereo are fascinating. We had a huge rain storm, which was much needed for the desert. Grammy and I took Henry out to the screened area in front of the front door that's covered. Henry was interested in the rain, but the thunder startled him. Henry played with a table that Alicia brought over, so that Henry could get some exposure to different toys. It is on loan for a couple days. And, Henry played ball in the foyer.




Jeff and Henry fell asleep on the couch some time after 5:30PM. I decided to take a nap in the bedroom. Jeff dropped Henry off in the bedroom around 7:30PM, so that he could take the dogs for a walk. I did get a little bit of Henry snuggle time, which was nice. Apparently, the trick is that he has to be completely passed out to tolerate mommy time.

Henry cried around 10:30PM or so. Jeff got him a bottle. He had a little bit before going back to sleep. And he was up again early this morning. We went for a walk and had family breakfast, which we rarely do on weekdays. Henry had some hash browns and crust from a Trader Joe's quiche. I suspect the crust had butter in it, so we just let him have a couple of pieces. The yogurt is going well...no side effects so far. But we are still being restrained on the introduction of cow's milk products. I think that we are going to try cottage cheese next and see if that goes down OK. The hash browns were a hit, especially when a dabbed a little bit of ketchup on them.

Henry seems to be doing better with Karina. They are occasionally doing parallel play. This morning, Henry offered her a chewed on block, which was very sweet.

At Long Last, Henry Meets Jamie and Steve

We had a lovely breakfast with Jamie and Steve this morning at Tohono Chul Park tea room. Steve is my colleague from the U, who started at the same time I did. We have shared the ups and downs in our first years of teaching and trying to maintain active research schedules in our quest for tenure. Jamie and Steve have been very supportive over the last year. Jamie is the one who made those precious little hats for Henry that got so much use when we did skin-to-skin with him when he was in the NICU. When Henry got bigger at the beginning of winter, she made him another knit cap that we used on our walks. Although it is hot and Henry is too big for the knit hats, the hats still serve as a reminder of where Henry was and where he is now. Right before Veronica left for Texas, Jeff pulled out the hats to show Veronica just how tiny Henry was.

We ate in the back courtyard. Henry was pretty calm throughout the meal. He was given a kids menu with crayons. Steve said, "I bet those will go into his mouth." About 15 seconds later, Henry tried to put a crayon in his mouth. Guess we aren't quite ready for crayons yet. Henry tried Jeff's French toast. He also had some scone, fresh fruit, and a few black beans. It took him forever to swallow the French toast. It was the everlasting gobstopper of the meal.

Henry was much quieter than when we took him to Blue Willow Wednesday night. At Blue Willow, he chatted at all of the couples around us. Luckily, they thought he was cute. He was making all sorts of long sentences of syllables. Perhaps Karina is inspiring his speech patterns. She is very chatty. Today, the only time that he really got fussy was when Jeff put him down and he started to crawl under my chair. I picked him up because I'm still a bit concerned over germs. Henry was not happy with me and then turned to his Dad for a second opinion.

We walked around the garden. Henry touched the tree trunks, which he likes to do. Henry likes textures. He tried on Jamie's hat. And when Steve said "Baby Power!", Henry put his arms in the air. Very cute.

After breakfast, we took Henry to my parents' house, which is probably about a mile (or less) from the restaurant. He was tired and fell asleep in the car. I got him to his crib, which is in my old room (now considered "Henry's room"). Apparently, he slept for about an hour, which is a nice long morning nap for him. He usually doesn't sleep that long in the mornings (at least not for anyone other than Veronica).

My mom is of the opinion that I'm going to lose the walking bet. I came to that conclusion about a week ago. Grammy doesn't think that his balance is quite there yet. He has tons of strength and well-developed leg muscles, but I agree that his balance is lacking. I actually think that he can do it but lacks the confidence at this point. Besides, he is awesome at crawling, which hardly increases the incentive for learning to walk sooner than later. He has been pulling himself to a stand almost as long as he has been able to crawl, but clearly if he wants to get from point A to point B, crawling is the quickest way there. That said, when Henry decides that he wants to learn a task, he picks up on skills incredibly fast. So it wouldn't surprise me if he wakes up one morning and just decides to do it. He has been doing a lot of squats lately; he will release with both hands to sit down and control the speed with which he sits. Tonight, he was in a squat position and wasn't touching the cabinet as he began to stand up and then he grabbed a handle for support once he was standing. Long story short, I think I'll lose the bet, but I do think that he'll be walking before he is 12 months adjusted.

After his nap, Grammy said that he tore the house apart. I think that my parents use their weekday work loads to rest up for their Henry weekend visits. Henry got so dirty that Grammy gave him a bath in the afternoon. He got his feet dirty again after that. After Jeff and I came back, we all went for a swim. Then, we had dinner. After dinner, he had a bottle and put his feet on the table (see picture to left). Henry gave all of the signs of sleep (a little moody, and the two fisted eye rub), but he didn't fall asleep on the way home (at least not deeply). He crawled all over the house until just a couple of minutes ago. He is currently with Jeff, dozing off.

It's Only a Flesh Wound, Fourth Tooth

Thursday we took Henry to his Grandparent's to go swimming. The weather has been very hot and the water was warm. He enjoyed swimming around with Grandpa before being put in his floating tube and being pushed around.

On Friday he was visited by Shirley the physical therapist. She thought his feet looked better than the previous week. She has been concerned about "tone" or tightness in his ankles and his tendancy to curl his toes under when he stands. We've been putting shoes on him much more frequently at her recommendation to try to straighten them out.

Her advice for this coming week is to continue using the shoes and massaging his feet and ankles as well as doing "joint compression." Joint compression involves pushing the limbs so that pressure is put on the joints. For instance, locking the knee and pushing on the heel of the foot so that pressure is put on the ankle, knee and hip joint. This is supposed to relax him as well as give him "feedback" (a favorite term among therapists) about his body.

Friday was a somewhat unpleasant day. In the evening he managed to bleed twice in about an hours time. He was climbing in front of our fireplace when he slipped. I caught him but he managed to cut his tongue with his great nasty fangs. I was a bit panicked as blood was dripping out of his mouth and he was screaming. Of course two minutes later he was fine. Then he was climbing in front of the tv and managed to pull a very heavy speaker onto his big toe. More screaming and bleeding. I'm not sure how, but he came out of that pretty well. With the weight of the speaker I thought he surely must have broken his toe. However, seeing him crawl around on it, I think he is fine.

Speaking of great nasty fangs, he now has 4 of them. His fourth has just come through. He used it to bite Grandma on the knee this afternoon.

Today we went to the U and had breakfast and went to hang out at the turtle pond again. Henry seemed to enjoy himself, as usual. He tried pancakes, potatoes, bacon, and several types of fruit. Pancakes were his favorite I believe. He loves watching the birds that swarm around waiting for any piece of food to hit the ground. He also was very interested in a husky dog that was at the next table. The dog shared an interest in him and almost turned the whole table over trying to say hello. Large, strong dogs strapped to cheap plastic patio furniture can be amusing.

We ran into two students that Kate knows while we were there. It was fun to show him off. One of them is actually interested in being his nanny in the fall. If our current nanny doesn't work out then we'll give her a call.

We dropped him off at his Grandparents for a while this afternoon while we went to see a movie and do some grocery shopping. When we came to pick him up he was sleeping on Grandma, his favorite person to sleep on.

On his walk this evening he fell asleep in the backpack. That was the second time he has done that.

Here are some pics from the U.

Nice chompers!

Mom, Dad, I'm borrowing the car.

52 puff pick up

Give It To Me

On Sunday, Henry was up and about early...as in up at 3:20AM early. He had gone to bed at 7PM and was refreshed well before his parents. I believe I hadn't gone to bed until 1:15AM...my bad. Considering that he had gone to bed so early and missed solids for dinner, we gave him an early breakfast and then went for a long walk (the Peregrine loop). I gave Henry round two of breakfast, some Yo-baby, while Jeff went and hit some golf balls at the driving range. Yo-baby is yogurt. It is cow's milk based. We gave him just a little, because we wanted to see if he could handle it. No problems detected, but we still plan to keep his dairy intake to trace amounts.

We were going to go to the zoo. We swung by my parents' house to pick up the stroller. By the time we got there, it was hot, hot, hot. We realized that we wouldn't last 30 minutes outside. So, we went to a nearby cafe with Grammy and Grandpa. We then came back home, rather than leaving Henry to spend the day with his Grandparents. It was Father's Day after all, and Jeff wanted to spend some time with his boy. They spent part of the afternoon watching golf (U.S. Open) and taking a nap.

We went to my parents' house in the evening. Carolyn, Erin, Chris' daughter Jennifer, and I fixed dinner...a Mexican feast. I fixed Spanish rice from scratch, which ended up not being a disaster. For those of you unfamiliar with my culinary abilities, that was quite a feat for me. I have no cooking skills whatsoever and lack drive/patience in the kitchen. Now that we have Henry, both Jeff and I realize that we are going to have to learn some new tricks in the kitchen. Currently, our recipe repertoire consists of about five meals (including grilled cheese sandwiches and burritos).

I was at school all day Monday. Alicia came over on Monday morning without Karina, who spent the day with her dad. Grandma came over in the early afternoon to take care of Henry. Henry was busy guy in the evening. We gave him a much needed bath. He certainly loves bath time.

This morning (Tuesday), Alicia came over with Karina. Henry was OK at first. I said goodbye to him as I left, and he burst into tears. That was hard. In the future, perhaps I shouldn't say goodbye and should just slip out. Jeff reported that there were a lot of tears throughout the day. Jeff has been working in my office area, because I have a door. We may switch office areas. The advantage of Jeff's current area is that the desk is large and shape is nice for working on projects. Although my desk is small, it is possible to close the door to shut things out. Eventually, we'll convert our RV garage to an office area, but that's a long-term goal.

I didn't get home until 6:20PM. Meetings again. Jeff reported that Selah came at 2PM. She worked fine motor skills with Henry. Selah has been working with Henry on putting things "in" since she began visiting him. Today, they spent some time on his pinching skills, which went well.

We ate dinner when I got home. I had picked up dinner at Lovin' Spoonfuls. I brought Henry some dolmas. We gave him a few small pieces of french fries. I also gave him some small pieces of my adzuki burger (made of adzuki beans). Then, we went for a walk.

When we got back, I went to my office to send off some emails. I heard Jeff calling my name. Henry had revealed a new skill. Sharing objects back and forth! He had handed Jeff a small ball. I think that Jeff is particularly excited about this skill because it is related to "in." Perhaps we can get the "in" mastered so that it will be taken off the OT agenda. In any event, Henry shared the ball back and forth with Jeff several times. And then he did it with me a couple times. Video footage of the event is below.




That's about it for today. He continues to say Dada a lot in reference to Jeff. And he was following Bitsy around at one point and saying Boo.

Baby Power

The morning started off a little rough. Henry was racing through the kitchen in his bear crawl but stumbled over his arms and did a face plant on the tile. His nose got bonked pretty hard, but he was a trooper.

We spent the morning down at the UofA. We had breakfast at Cafe Paraiso. Henry had a few bites of potato, french toast, ham, and fresh fruit (melon, blue berries, strawberries). When all was said and done, he tried a lot of things, but the quantity was pretty small. He wasn't very interested in eating. He was interested in watching a young boy (about 2 years old) walk around the court yard.

After breakfast, we hung out on the grass near the turtle pond. Fed some birds some Gerber puffs.


















Henry's favorite hobby is stealing our glasses. Case in point...













What is daddy doing taking a nap? Doesn't he know that parents are only allowed to "sleep when the baby sleeps"?



















Here are pictures of Henry giving the sign for "Baby Power." If you say that phrase, he'll respond by shooting his arms up in the air. Grandma and Grandpa taught him that sign.













At one point, Henry slapped my hands when I stuck them out. I was surprised that he knew how to give me some skin. I later learned that Carolyn had been working with him on giving high 5s and low 5s.

Here is a picture of Jeff and Henry playing airplane...








Henry wore his sandals today. Shirley visited yesterday and thought that Henry needed to spend some more time in his shoes to help stretch out his toes, which sometimes curl under. Henry did an excellent job with his sandals. Henry practiced his walk with Jeff...




Henry visited his Grandparents in the afternoon. They took him swimming. Jeff picked him up. He had fallen sound asleep in the car. He woke up for a bottle, but then her crashed shortly thereafter.

New Nanny

Today was the first day for Henry's new nanny Alicia. She brought her 11 month old daughter along. Overall it wasn't a smashing success but we figured it would take some time for adjustment. Henry was very anxious and unhappy to have the other child around. There were times when it seemed he was getting over it and he followed her around and even grabbed her at one point. Most of the time he tried to keep his distance and frequently cried.

He seems to be ok with Alicia, which is good. I think he and Karina will get along in time. She doesn't pay Henry much attention, she is very outgoing and spent most of the time exploring and playing on her own.

Needless to say it was a complete bust as far as my work goes. I had hoped Henry would relax after an hour or so, but his anxiety continued for the entire day. I didn't want to spend all day with them, I figured my lingering around might make things worse as he was clinging to me much of the morning. He tried to nap at one point in the morning but Karina woke him and he was crying off and on much of the rest of the morning.

I still think there is a good chance this will work out. I already feel very comfortable with Alicia. If Henry can overcome his fear then I think it will be very good for him. I will have to move my office from the area off the kitchen to a room with a door to try to get some quiet. It is probably something I should have done already for a couple reasons. First, I'm too close to the kitchen and tend to snack as a form of procrastination (hello extra 15 lbs, can I buy you some fat pants?). Secondly, Henry knows where I am and comes and finds me several times a day which is fun but can cause decreased productivity. Lastly, it's not the most professional thing to have a baby screaming in the background when you are on a conference call. I believe Kate even managed to get into one of my video conferences one day.

This evening Henry and I went for another bike ride. This time he stayed awake. He had a lot of energy and stayed up a bit later than normal. He also drank a lot of milk today. I think he finished at just over 1100 ml's which is close to a record, if it isn't the record. He didn't have that many solids today which is probably the reason for the increase.

Meat, Roast Beef, and Chicken...Oh My!

This week, Henry has been spending the day at his grandparents' house. Aunt Carolyn came over on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday to help out with the Henry Watch. My mom reported that Henry has had a wonderful time playing with Aunt Carolyn. I believe that one of the days Carolyn got to change a messy diaper. I was wondering how all of that was going to play out because neither of my sisters has had much experience taking care of babies. But as my mom has pointed out, Carolyn has taken care of sick animals for years, and this past year, she has worked with cows and horses (and their back end issues) in her veterinary school courses. So changing baby diapers is hardly enough of a challenge to get even an eyebrow raise out of her. Needless to say, Aunt Carolyn has been handling Henry like a pro.

Henry's diet continues to expand exponentially. He had meat sauce on Monday during his lunch. I think that he has some sweet potato too. On Tuesday, I picked Henry up in the early afternoon because we had an appointment with Selah at 2PM. During her visit, I was eating Peanut Satay Noodles (Trader Joe's). Henry got very agitated until I gave him some of it. He liked it. He rejected his lunch of spinach and potatoes on Wednesday in favor of some pieces of roast beef from my mom's sandwich. And, tonight, he had some pieces of chicken from Jeff's chimichanga. How I wish I could give him some tofu to try as well!!! But with his food sensitivities, we are planning to wait a little longer before experimenting with soy. A couple weeks ago, Cuyler suggested that I introduce dairy and soy into my diet (which he would get bits of via the breast milk) before we try the foods on him directly. I have had a little bit of cheese here and there this week. Jeff had nachos for lunch today, and I had a single chip with cheese on it.

In any event, it seems to us that Henry has gotten over his oral aversions. A lot of preemies, especially micropreemies, tend to have oral aversions. There are many reasons for that, including the fact that the vent tubes are uncomfortable, so there is an association between the mouth and discomfort early in life. Henry was only on the vent for 12 days (and the after his eye procedure and hernia surgery, but those were of short duration). In micropreemie world, that's not terribly long (not short exactly, but not bad). So perhaps that's why his oral senses have progressed well.

Henry seems to like meat and chicken. When I was pregnant, my friend Brenda asked me whether or not we'd feed Henry meat. Our plan was to give him meat and chicken in his diet. And if, when he's older, he decides that he doesn't want to eat it, that's fine too. We'll eventually educate him about factory farms and how to select such products sensibly and ethically if he wants to continue eating them as he gets older. For now, I'm pleased that he is eating meat, considering that we can't feed him tofu or cow's milk at this point. We are tempted to try a little bit of yogurt on him sometime in the near future. It isn't a priority by any stretch, but we are curious about whether or not it would be problematic for him. Some people say that in the process of making yogurt, something changes chemically, such that some people who can't handle cow's milk are able to handle yogurt made from cow's milk. We suspect that Henry, technically speaking, has a food "sensitivity" as opposed to an all out allergy. But considering that we are feeding him so many different new foods, we'll probably wait a little bit on the yogurt and give it to him when we don't have so many other things going on. That's a food that we'd have to monitor very closely.

There is a bit of irony in Henry's enjoyment of meat, considering my personal feelings on vegetarianism. Jeff thinks that it isn't so much the taste that he loves as the feedback that he gets from the texture of meat. For example, with mashed fruits, there isn't a whole lot of feedback that one gets from the texture against the gums. But with the Gerber puffs, there is a whole lot of feedback that says "Hey, I'm a piece of food in your mouth." Consequently, Henry just loves, loves, loves those puffs. In any event, whether it is taste or texture when it comes to meat and chicken, he seems to like it, and we want him to get the iron and protein, so meat and chicken it is.

On Tuesday, we had an excellent appointment with Selah. Long story short, Selah taught Henry to drink from a straw. He learned it in 2 minutes. I had been unsuccessful in trying the straw with him a month or two ago. She used some of her OT techniques. He picked it up right away. He seems to like it too.

On Tuesday night, Jeff tried Henry out in his new bicycle seat. In anticipation of Father's Day, Jeff decided to buy himself a series of presents. One was a bicycle seat for Henry. The other was a backpack seat for Henry. The Baby Bjorn was killing Jeff's back, because Henry is getting heavy (19 lbs 5.5 ozs as of Wednesday morning).

Henry wasn't keen on his helmet. But we put it on him anyway. He enjoyed the bike ride. He liked looking at the ground as Jeff peddled. We ran into several of our neighbors. Hal and Swani always enjoy seeing Henry. They had just come back from Santa Fe and brought him a small horse stuffed animal, which is cute.



On our way back from the walk, Jeff turned to me and said, "Why is Henry bobbling his head against my arms?" He stopped the bike to get a close look at what Henry was up to. Turned out, in all of the excitement, Henry completely passed out. Awake one minute. Completely zonked the next. I ended up carrying him home. The bike seat requires the child to sit up and use his muscles for balance. Henry is definitely getting to be quite a big boy; he's heavy.

Yesterday afternoon, Jeff and I went over to my parents' house together. We decided to take Henry swimming while we were there. We had a good time. I think that Henry thought the water was a little too cold. He was mildly interested in the water, but I don't think that either of us would make the claim that he loved it by any stretch. The day of hard play at Grandma and Grandpa's and our swimming session exhausted him. He feel asleep in the car and went straight to bed until about 4:30AM this morning.

Incidentally, Henry's 10 month due date day was yesterday. He is officially 10 months old adjusted.

Today. He played hard at Grandma's. He played when he came home. He ate Jeff's chicken chimi filling. We went for a walk. Henry waved to Evonne. He crawled all over the living room. This week, he figured out how to climb onto the ledge in front of the fire place and television. He showed me this new skill twice this evening. It is a skill that I'd wish he was not so enthusiastic about. We are trying to keep him away from the big screen TV. He had a big bottle and is fast asleep (so is Jeff).

Tomorrow, our new nanny starts with her daughter in tow. We hope that works out. Keep your fingers-crossed for us!

Middle East Feast, Swimming Pool, Clapping

Last Friday Henry stayed home rather than going to his grandparents for the day. Grandpa came over in the morning and I took the day off. He had a visit from a temporary coordinator for the Department of Developmental Disabilities. His usual coordinator, Tara, is out because she has cancer in her tongue. It seems it is a very treatable form of cancer, and she is expected back in a few weeks.

In Tara's absence, Elsa will be working with him. Elsa is from Guatemala and has a degree in psychology. She has a very thick accent. She adored Henry. She thought he was very cute and especially liked his eyes and long eyelashes. She picked up on his fascination with books. We talked for about 40 minutes. She was getting a background on Henry and trying to understand what his needs are and what Tara was doing for him. Since there are no major current issues, the meeting was pretty quick.

On Saturday Henry and I went down to the U to meet Kate for a lunch break. She is teaching a condensed summer course and Saturday was their final exam. We went to a Middle Eastern restaurant named Sinbad's. Henry had a great time sampling the cuisine. He had hummus, babaganoush (sp?), dolmas, and lentil soup. He liked everything, especially the dolmas. Dolmas are grape leaves, stuffed with a rice type substance. I don't like them at all. It was all we could do to keep Henry from biting off massive chunks. I guess he didn't get my taste buds. When I was growing up I was very picky. I liked tomato soup, grilled cheese, hot dogs, and mac and cheese and that was about it. I don't think I'd ever heard of dolmas until after college.

We then spent some more time by the turtle pond. I brought a blanket, and Kate and I laid down, and Henry had fun crawling over us. It was rather hot so we didn't spend too much time there, but it was nice in the shade on the grass.

In the afternoon we dropped him by his grandparents for a while. His aunt Erin stopped by, and he had fun trying to grab her nose and eat the crucifix she was wearing.

At some point in the day, I think it was the morning, he clapped for the first time. He has made the some motions before but this time there as a definite clapping sound. He recognizes the word clap and will do it most times that you say it.

Today, Sunday, he spent the morning at home. He had a good breakfast that included pieces of banana, bagel, and hash browns. He really has made a lot of progress in eating foods with texture.

In the afternoon we headed to the grandparents house. We inflated his little floating inner tube and took him in the pool. He didn't seem to know what to make of the fact that his feet were not touching the ground. He wasn't exactly enthralled with the experience so after a little while he got out.

He was able to see his Great Aunt Gloria who is in town from DC for a few days. She brought him a very cute outfit that has a shirt that says "Someone at the CIA loves me" and has matching camo shorts. Gloria has worked at the CIA for 29 years.

He also saw Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Chris who just returned from a long road trip driving back from Pullman, Washington via a circuitous route that took them through Montana and Yellowstone.

We had to install a new car seat because his old one is too short. This one may spell the end for our Honda Element. It is rear facing and the doors to the element are clamshell and open the opposite of most other cars. This makes it very difficult to access the rear facing child seat.

Fruit Leather and Teething Attacks

Henry slept in this morning. We had to open the curtains to finally wake him up around 7:15 so he could be changed and have something to eat before heading to the grandparents for the day.

While at his grandparents he visited with Margaret's friend Michelle and was very social. He has been very talkative the last couple days, which is exciting. It seems that words are right around the corner.

I picked him up in the afternoon and he fell asleep in the car in a matter of seconds. I think he works himself pretty hard at the grandparents house and doesn't sleep much so he zonks out once the engine turns over.

We've been experimenting with new foods frequently now. Grandma tried a Popsicle today but he wasn't enthusiastic. Yesterday he turned down spaghetti with tomato sauce. Tonight I tried apple cinnamon oatmeal which he ate begrudgingly. I gave him a piece of fruit leather which he had fun playing with and sucked on a bit. He's enjoying pieces of dried apple and still loves his Gerber puffs.

He did a funny thing while crawling today at his grandparents house. He was motoring down the hallway when suddenly his arm got stuck under him and his butt went up in the air almost sending him heels over head. He looked like a bike rider who had a stick stuck in the spokes of his front tire. I tried not to laugh too much as he was somewhat upset by the ordeal.

We are all finding that we are now not just walking burp clothes, wearing badges of honor on our shoulders, down our backs, on our pants, etc. We are now also walking teething toys. For some time he has enjoyed gnawing on our shoulders. Now he is starting to sink his teeth in and it can really hurt. I was disturbed the other day when he decided to pinch an inch with a pointy little nip on my not unsubstantial mid section. Painful and embarrassing.

He is sleeping now. Kate is working. I'm debating between the two, sleep and work. I guess I'll procrastinate by putting some pictures on the last couple posts.