The Experiment

On Saturday, it was very cold. Frost was all over the cacti when we woke up in the morning. Jeff bundled up Henry well for the morning dog walk. Henry even wore a hat...a Yoda hat that Jamie made him. So cute!

In the morning, my mom picked up Henry and dropped off Carolyn, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Joe. Jeff and I went with them to the Kitt Peak National Observatory, which is about an hour's drive SW of Tucson. It resides at 7,000 feet. Very cold but very interesting.









While we were at Kitt Peak, Henry helped Grandpa around the yard at the grandparents' house. Another freezing night was expected, so outdoor plants had to be covered. Grandpa reported that Henry followed commands and picked up rocks upon request.

The big "oops" of the evening was the discovery that we haven't had the gas tank refilled for a couple months. When we arrived home yesterday, I thought I smelled a trace of gas, but Jeff didn't smell anything. Then it hit him. We had been checking every two months, but our last check suggested things were A-OK. That was before we turned on the heat. Current status: No heat and no hot water during the coldest point of the year. We have a few fire logs from last season and a couple space heaters. We'll have to call on Monday to make sure that we get a gas delivery (usually on Tuesdays).

We had a quiet evening at home with the Doodle Bug. Jeff wanted to try an experiment. Henry doesn't eat as well for us as he does Grandpa. Jeff's explanation: the TV is almost always on at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Jeff carted the booster seat out to the living room. Turned on some football. Result: Henry ate a half tub of peas and several hummus crackers for Jeff.

I decided to try the TV experiment this morning. There was no football on yet, so I flipped on "Varsity Blues." Henry, however, wanted the real thing. He was, however, briefly entertained by the Dog Whisperer and ate a whole tub of orange medley with rice cereal, a whole sausage patty, and a whole hash brown patty. There might be something to this whole eat in front of the TV and zone out explanation. But is it a good thing or a bad thing?

We played around the living room in the morning. He did a nice kick with his Elmo ball at one point.









Jeff was wondering last night whether we have over Boyified him with Boy Toys. He has balls of every shape and size (soccer, basketball, football, golf). Jeff wondered if we should be getting him a doll or something. He understands the concept of the baby doll. Dr. Tsai used one during his last and final developmental clinic visit in November. Henry clearly identified "the baby." It has been much easier getting him sports toys than other toys in part because we had been working on motor skills initially. He has Backyardigan "action" figures. Because we don't watch TV (except sports...ugh), we've never seen the show. So I call the figures Pete the Penguin and Sam the Snail. He plays with them in the bath tub. He's gotten the idea of imaginative play for well over a month. Pete and Sam "walk" on the edge of the tub and do high dives off the side. That's sort of doll-like. Now that he is getting older and will be doing more imaginative play, we'll work on getting him less stereotypical boy toys.