Reaching Up High

Alicia reported that Henry was a bit tired today. He'd play for a few minutes but then lay on the floor. Jeff and I had decided earlier in the day that we'd try to get him to bed at 8PM. I think that he is growing and simply needs a little more sleep each night than he needed even last month.

When Alicia left, I spent some time with Henry outside. We scattered bird seed (also known as "birdsie" and "booty") in the backyard. I had the big bag on the patio. I got a huge plastic mug. Filled it to the rim. Then, I told Henry that he could choose where he wanted to put it down. He led me to some spots in the desert. I'd hand him the mug. He'd dump it (often a fair amount would land on his feet). Then, he'd proclaim he wanted more. We'd head back to the bag, and the process would start all over again.

Henry climbed our cat tree. He did this last week for the first time. Luckily, our beloved cat tree is very sturdy. When I ordered our cat tree from angelicalcat.com many years ago, Jeff thought that I was out of my mind for spending a goodly bit on cat furniture. But it was worth every penny. We've had it several years, and it is still in excellent shape. It has natural wood featured in its structure, so it isn't as ugly as some cat contraptions. The makers claimed that it would hold up against dogs putting their body weight against it as they tried to chase the cats up the tree. Although our dogs have never tried to put their paws on it, we are so very pleased that it is standing up to Henry, given that he's been trying to climb it.



Henry and I went to Safeway. I reached my goal of getting there before 4:30PM before the after work crowd arrived. It wasn't crowded at all. Henry got to ride in cart with the kids' car in front of it. Can't say that he enjoyed it. He really wanted to run around and was annoyed when I told him that he had to stay in his seat. Parents can be so cruel.

When we got back, we went for a walk with the dogs. Jeff and I made dinner. Henry managed to get a glass bottle from the far counter. Jeff made chicken sausage for himself and Henry. I made collard greens and corn. While Jeff was cutting up a strawberry and warming two falafel on the counter about five feet from the stove, it hit home that Henry is getting tall...dangerously tall. He reached for the stove and tried to get a knife. I got to him before he played with it...thank goodness. A few minutes later, when dinner was just about done, Henry reached up for the plate with the falafel and strawberry on it, got his fingers on it, and sent it crashing to the floor. It was of course ceramic, so Jeff spent the next five minutes vacuuming while I tried to distract Henry in the living room as my collard greens ingredients got charred in the skillet. Sigh.

For some reason, we just didn't see this coming. I noticed today that he looked a little taller than Karina. On Tuesday, I caught Henry trying to scale the counter where we keep our mail. In essence, we should have known better. But we figured that if we pushed our dishes four inches from the edge, he wouldn't be able to get these things. We need to do another round of Henry proofing, that's obvious now.