Three Steps

Friday night at 5:30PM, Henry took a "nap" that lasted 12.5 hours. Jeff and I took turns watching him, as he wanted to sleep in his bed (the king sized bed a couple feet away from his crib). We had planned to have a family dinner with pizza made with goat cheese, but the plan did not reach fruition. I walked the dogs. Got the pizza. But Henry was still sacked out.

He got up around 6AM on Saturday. While tickling Henry, I discovered that he has his fifth tooth coming through! We went to breakfast at Cafe Paraiso near school. We arrived before the cyclists got there and had the choice of outside tables. It was a great breakfast in a lovely setting. I then went to my office to work on a book chapter, while Jeff took Henry to the zoo. Henry took a nap in his stroller, so Jeff decided to push him around the park for some variety. When Henry woke up, they returned to the zoo for a little while. They picked me at school, and we came home for a short spell. I retreated to my home office, while Jeff took Henry to visit Grandma and Grandpa in the mid-afternoon. Then, Jeff came home.

While at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Henry ate, ate, and ate some more. I'm not surprised that he had a big appetite. He hadn't had dinner the night before, and he didn't hold down his lunch on Friday afternoon. In short, he had some making up to do (despite a pretty big breakfast).

The big Henry event of the day was that Henry took three steps while Grandpa was watching him. He is going to be running around soon! After I completed the book chapter, Jeff and I went to dinner. Then, back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. While we were all watching him, Henry practiced standing up on his own in the middle of the room several times. He expected big cheers after each attempt.


In other news, Jeff decided to break the news to me that Schroeder, my "soul dog," passed away early Monday morning. The family decided that it was best to break the news to me after I completed my book chapter, which was on a deadline. I don't want to hijack this blog for a lot of non-Henry news, but I did want to pay Schroeder a small tribute. My family got Schroeder from the pound back in 1997. He looked a lot like Benji. He was a quirky fellow, known in his younger years for climbing up the orange tree in the backyard to chase birds and then getting stuck. He was always happy to see people come through the door of my parents' house and welcome them. He had a favorite chair in the family room. He would get annoyed when people would steal his chair. As soon as anyone vacated his chair (e.g., to get a drink), he would jump in it right away to claim ownership. Schroeder was a trooper, having put up with chronic pains from arthritis and valley fever. He could be a very picky eater. He, most unfortunately, was less discriminant about food when he caught it himself in the backyard. When visiting my parents, I would often sit with Schroeder in my lap. He liked it when I held him like a baby and rubbed his chest. He would make contented groaning sounds, which everyone (except me) found a bit annoying (lots of eyes rolling our direction). He was an all-around vocally expressive dog. I can't say that he was a big fan of Henry exactly, but he knew that if Henry was barreling down the hallway, it was best to get out of the way. In recent weeks, Schroeder vacated his chair on several occasions for Henry when Henry was trying to climb in it. That was quite a concession on Schroeder's part. I don't recall him doing that for anyone else. Schroeder was a beloved member of the family, and he will be missed greatly.