A Golf Pro in the Making

On Wednesday, we left Henry alone with Alicia, his nanny, for the first time. I believe that it was the first time that we've ever left him alone with anyone outside of me, Jeff, and/or my parents, with his NICU stay being the exception. I mean, Alicia is often alone in a room with Henry while Jeff and I work in our offices, but family is always in the same house. I was giving a lecture as a part of a Distinguished Lecture series on campus that is conducted by my college, the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, the College of Science, and the College of Fine Arts. It went well. There was an attendance of 100 people, and the reason why we left Henry without one of us nearby is because Jeff and my parents came to the talk. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with Alicia, but I'm still very protective of my baby. So leaving him alone for three hours was a big deal.

I had to teach in the afternoon. In my absence, Jeff got out a putting green that we bought him a couple months ago. It is a fake grass carpet with holes in it. We got it about a month before Henry started walking. At that time, we went to a golf shop to get Jeff a pair of golf clubs, and I came across a set of children's golf clubs. I wanted to get them for Henry but Jeff said that he wouldn't need them until he was three. I raised an eye brow. Jeff said, "He should be walking before we get them." Yes, Jeff the Golfer put the kabash on me (non-golfer) getting Henry golf clubs. Fast forward to last night. Jeff was putting in the living room. Henry took Jeff's putter and hit the golf balls. Jeff was in agreement at that point that Henry should have plastic golf balls and a plastic putter so that he doesn't take out the window or TV.

When I got home, Henry did a putting demonstration for me. And when we were in the kitchen, I asked him if he could turn around and he did. I don't recall anyone teaching him how to "turn around." It is amazing how he has picked up words and phrases. Alas, he turned around some much that it made him dizzy, fall down, and bump his head a little bit on the cabinet. Jeff asked him today (Thursday) if he could turn around (just to make sure it wasn't a fluke last night), and yes, indeed, he knew exactly what Jeff meant.

At breakfast this morning, Henry had two meatballs that Alicia had made. I picked up some lunch for me and Jeff at Sauce. Got a very thin cheese pizza. I decided to give Henry a little bit. It had cheese from cow's milk on it, but I decided to give Henry some, because we want to introduce him to little bits of cow's milk products here and there. That means cheeses before straight cow's milk. Incidentally, he has tried cow's milk on at least two occasions when he has helped himself to Karina's bottle. It could be the case that he is over his infant allergy to milk, or it could be the case that he has a milk intolerance, not an allergy, which essential means that he has a lower threshold for digesting cow's milk products. As long as we stay under that threshold, he should be OK. He really liked the pizza.

Jeff took him for a long bike ride in the afternoon. Then, we went to Toys R Us to look for some golf clubs. So many choices. I want to get Henry this bouncy horse that wirelessly connects to the TV. If baby bounces up and down, the TV screen will change the scenery and such. But that brings up the whole TV issue. Is it OK to expose a toddler to the TV when the TV screen does interact with the child's movements? That's one of the big criticisms of TV when kids are first learning how to process things. Baby makes face at woman on TV screen, but the woman doesn't make a face back. That's confusing. But does that same logic apply to video games that use body movements as the focus? On a related note, I want to get a Wii, because we saw some really neat exercise games that you can get for it. Jeff is hesitant. I guess it is pretty apparent who is fiscal conservative of the family, at least as far as our personal budget goes. Ironic as I'm the one who pays the bills.

Henry had great fun saying "Hi" to people and walking around the store with a Diego chair that was about as big as he is. He had fun playing with a train set on a short table until he dropped a train on the floor, bent over to pick it up, and bumped his head on the table. Luckily, he recovered quickly. He sat in a children's sized Cadillac SUV. He looked good in it, but I think that Jeff preferred the FJ Cruiser. They are incredibly neat battery powered cars that go up to 2.5 mph. We looked around for pedal cars, thinking that maybe kids should get in the habit of moving their bodies, but it didn't seem like they had those in stock. Do they make pedal cars anymore?

Afterward, we went to the mall, where Henry played in the children's area. He had fun sliding down the equipment. We then had crepes for dinner. Henry had a few bites. He got very sleepy at the end of the meal and made it clear that he was ready to go home. He fell asleep in the car. He was so tired when we got home that he stayed asleep through his diaper change (which is so much easier than when he is awake). He woke up after 30 minutes calling out for Dada. He is snuggled in bed with his Dada right now.

I was trying to keep track of all the words that Henry can say. No point trying to figure out how many he knows, because it is way too many to count. Words added since my last listing of words he can say would be things like: duck, Hi, bath, keys, turkey, trucks, hot, car, teeth, OK, uh-huh (it is sort of a word, if meant as yes)

This is Proud Mama, signing off.