Teeth

On Monday, Grandpa visited in the afternoon. I didn't get a chance to spend much time with Henry because it was a teaching day. I really like my graduate class, but I don't like the limited amounts of Henry time on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

I think it was Monday (give or take a day perhaps) that Henry started saying a string of syllables that we hadn't heard before. His string is dubadubadubdubaduba, said rather softly. We don't know where he's gotten this from. I asked Alicia, and it didn't sound familiar to her.

On Tuesday, Henry went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the afternoon. He went with them to take Indiana to the vets. Indiana had a follow-up appointment. He had the lens in his left eye removed a couple weeks ago, because it was floating (again) and pressure was building up in the eye. As the vet was going over the results with my parents, Henry approached her, tapped her on the knee, and smiled. Grandma said that she melted at Henry's charm. He sat in her lap while she talked about the results with my parents. The good news is that the pressure has been reduced in his eye. The bad news is that he can barely see out of it because a lot of retinal degeneration has occurred, which is not uncommon for his bread (border collie). So Indiana is pretty much blind with some sight left in his right eye. But the dog continues to be a trooper. He's always been an upbeat dog, even the day after he had one of his kidneys removed a couple years ago. And, out of all of our family pets, Indiana is the dog that loves Henry the most. He truly is a Nana.

On Tuesday night, Henry, Grandma, Grandpa, Jeff, and I went to Swenson's. While we waited for a booth, Jeff watched Henry outside the restaurant. A large family with lots of kids surrounded Henry, curious and friendly. Jeff said that the kids were very nice, and Henry handled everything well. Henry ate quite a bit more hamburger than usual at dinner. I ended up taking him outside as we waited for dessert. Henry walked along the shops and was intrigued by a group of fellows taking a karate class. When he returned from our walk, Henry tried some of his Dad's sundae. We didn't feed it to him directly. He took my spoon, stuck in in the sundae, and then licked the little bits that clung to the silverware. He seemed to enjoy it, though he really didn't consume more than a spoonful in volume (if that).

On Wednesday, Grammy picked Henry up. They visited Lucinda at her house. Henry was a little shy, but smiled quite a bit. While tromping around Grammy's backyard, he fell and has a scrape on his forehead as a consequence. He was awake when I came home, which was nice. We ended up giving him a bath, because his feet were really dirty. While I was getting him into the bathtub, I said something about his teeth and he put his finger in his mouth and touched his teeth. I was surprised, because I dont' recall me or anyone else point out teeth, although we've said the word many times, such as when he is teething. I asked Henry, "Where are your teeth?" And he pointed right to them.

On Thursday, Henry gotten bitten by Karina. Apparently, Karina bites when she gets jealous. Great. I was a little irked at that development. Henry's so nice that I just wanted to make sure that he can protect himself. I suggested to Jeff that I teach him how to hit as a matter of defense to which Jeff replied "I've seen you hit. I don't think that you should be the one teaching him." I asked Jeff what he was talking about, to which he reminded me of my brief two year stint in karate. I was decent enough at kata and weapons, but I wasn't a very good fighter. So maybe Aunt Carolyn or Aunt Erin, both who were very good fighters, can teach him how to hit. Aunt Carolyn once had her hand broken in a karate match and continued fighting with it and won.

OK. I know that hitting isn't really the answer. At the same time, I don't want Henry to be pushed around. I heard Alicia calmly telling Karina that we don't bite and how would you like it if someone bit you. But I don't think that there's a lot of rational processing going on in the little gal's head. If she keeps it up, I might have to suggest: (1) pinching her lip the next time she does it, which is what Grandma did to Aunt Carolyn to get her to stop and it worked, (2) walking away from her and leaving her alone so that she knows that there are social consequences for being mean, or (3) biting her back, meaning having Alicia do the biting. I'm on a preemie discussion board where options 2 and 3 have been suggested on the popular topic of biting, both of which seem to have taught kids that biting isn't a good thing. I suspect option 2 would really hit home with Karina, as she is very clingy to her mother, breaks down a lot when her mother steps away. She has separation anxiety big time, so a social sanction that says "If you bite, I don't want to be with you" would really hit home. I'll try to keep my mouth set unless it happens again, as most people don't want to be told how to parent. But I don't want my son to end up a chew toy.

Incidentally, Henry does bite, but it seems to be limited to Dada and Grandma. Henry bit Jeff tonight, and Jeff put him on the ground and stepped back. That technique is certainly the way to go when we are home. But what to do when Henry bites Jeff in a parking lot or some area where we can't step back and say "You are on your own with that behavior!"?

We took Henry and the dogs to Columbus Park in the late afternoon. There's a dog park there. Jeff held Henry because the dog park isn't exactly a location where one wants a toddler to touch the ground. We then went to a grassy area away from the dog pen. It was very green. Henry ran around the grass. I did take Marley off leash for a brief stint, so that she could run around. She won't run around the dog pen, because it is mainly dirt, but she goes crazy on grass and runs in large figure eights.

We gave Henry a bath tonight. We've been giving him one just about every night. I was a little concerned about doing it every night because I've heard a lot of people say that it dries out baby's skin, so every other day is better. Our problem is that Henry does get really, really dirty. And, a warm bath seems to unwind him before bed, which is needed. So we aren't washing his hair every night, but we are giving him the bath. I asked him about his teeth again, just to make sure that he really knew where they were.

He can now point to five body parts, which is a 18-24 month skill. I asked him about his toes but he did not know what I meant and thought I was saying teeth. Maybe I should have said feet. If I say "Henry, can I kiss your feet?" when he is in his car seat, he'll often stick one out for me to kiss. Or if I say, "Henry, can you stomp your feet?", he will. I haven't seen him point to his feet though. Nose also seems to be difficult.

After the bath, he wasn't as sleepy as we thought he'd be. He ended up chasing Bitsy around the living room, which she loves. She got into her Spazzy Cat mode. Ran up her cat tree. Zoomed past Henry, much to his delight. He chased her around with a plastic bag that was filled with odds and ends and tied on the end so that he couldn't actually get into the bag. He'd put it on Bits, and she'd claw it. Those two are certainly best buds.