Outings Before RSV Season

We've been going out frequently lately. We're trying to squeeze in as much as we can before the quickly approaching RSV season when we will have to be much more guarded about Henry's exposure to crowds.

Thursday evening we went to Toys 'R Us and got him a little drum type toy and a golf set. I can't say that he's ever been terribly crazy about the make your own music type toys. He loves music, but I think he just wants to listen and not create at this point. The exception seems to be the piano at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is the perfect height for him to reach up and grab the keys or sit on someones lap and bang away. He enjoys the golf set almost as much as I do. He can now say "Putt" and he and I play together a lot.

Grandma and Grandpa usually take Friday off because they spend a lot of time with him on the weekend and he frequently has therapy visits on that day. However, last week they took him in the afternoon because they weren't going to see him on Saturday due to a trip to Phoenix. Kate and I went and saw "W" which wasn't too bad for an Oliver Stone. We had seen "An American Carol" and felt this would balance things out.

On Saturday we did our usual breakfast at the U. One woman and her dog were particularly taken with him. He said hi to a homeless man who thought his hat made him look like he was in the French Foreign Legion.

After breakfast instead of hanging out at the turtle pond we returned to Reid Park, where we had gone the previous weekend. Again he had a great time. He really enjoys the slides. We ended up going for a quick trip to the zoo which is at Reid Park. We could have taken him to the Gay Pride gathering at the park but decided for something more traditional, not that there is anything wrong with that. As usual the fun was in walking around and seeing the people more than the animals. His favorites still seem to be the ducks which is what he calls any bird he sees. He is very good at words that end in uck (duck, truck, stuck) so we really need to watch our language around him.

In the afternoon Grandpa came over, they had returned earlier than we expected from Phoenix. He and Henry spent an hour walking around outside. Henry really likes being outside. That's going to be kind of hard given the prickly and venemous nature of the outdoors here.

I had to work Saturday night so Kate took him back to Toys R Us and got him the things she wanted to get him but that I might say no to. She bought the pony that connects to the tv so when he rides it the pictures on the tv change. She also got a See 'n Say, a train, a soccer ball and a basketball hoop. He hasn't caught on to the pony yet. He's getting the hang of the See 'n Say. He likes to drop the soccer ball on Bitsy the cat, not good. He enjoys the train. The basketball hoop hasn't come out of the box yet.

On Sunday we went out to breakfast again at Tohono Chul park. We hadn't been there for a long time. He made friends with the two ladies at the neighboring table. He also discovered a love of black beans and said the word "bean".

After that we headed to a park in Oro Valley. This was nice because the play areas had big shade cloths over them. There were lots of kids and many play areas and he enjoyed himself. He then spent the rest of the day with his grandparents because I ended up having to work most of the day.





Today we took him to Funtasticks for mini-golf. It was great because there was almost no one there and it was a good place for him to run around and play without too many ways to get hurt. He putted a few times but mostly he wanted to explore. He liked trying to fit his whole foot in the golf hole, walking up/down hills, grabbing the golf balls and moving them, and just a walking around.


















So his new words for the last few days are putt, pic (picture when he wants to look at pictures on the computer or camera), bean (mmm black beans), and talk (when he wants to talk on the telephone).