"Rough Rider"

On Friday, Jeff spent the afternoon with Henry. I had a colloquium at work and then had my conference call, which I took at school b/c of timing. I picked up Middle Eastern food from Sinbad's for dinner. Henry's taste buds are changing yet again. Now, he's decided that he doesn't like loubia, which are green beans with a kind of smokey flavor. But he was keen on the hummus and pita. He was very tired after dinner. We gave him a bath, looked at a couple pics. He put his head down on my desk, which was a sure sign that it was time for bed. We were all in bed by 9:50PM, which is incredibly unusual for everyone.

On Saturday morning, we went to Joel's Bistro. Henry didn't eat much until we let him use the fork. Suddenly, the pancakes became very interesting. We walked around campus toward my building. There are several rolling hills in the area. I showed Henry how to roll down the hill, which he did a couple times with my help. He didn't quite relax enough to make it easy. We went to my office. I wanted to show Jeff a funky issue with my floors, which were redone over the summer. They must not have used the right kind of shalack b/c there are flakes all over the area, which I discovered when swiffering my office on Friday. I set up the swiffer for Henry to play with. He decided to spot clean my floor and the hallway. It was very cute. Wish I had a camera at the time.

On the way back to the car, Henry was fascinated by a statue in front of the Arizona Historical Society. It was of John Campbell Greenway, a Rough Rider. Henry had fun saying "Rough Rider" again and again for the next 10 minutes.

We headed over to Grandma's house. Grandpa left when we arrived b/c he had a cold. We wouldn't have gone over there at all but had arranged for Shirley (PT) to come to their house in the afternoon for a reschedule. She lives in my parents' neighborhood. Erin had stopped by as well. I explained some concerns to Shirley about Henry's walking. Over the last two weeks, he started toe walking about 70-80% of the time. Prior to that, it was only occasional. Toe walking can be a sign of CP or autism (but Henry has no other signs to suggest those problems). It can also be just a form of exploring. It is generally not considered a huge problem unless they keep it up after age 3. One problem with toe walking is that it can tighten the calf muscles. Long story short, given Henry's history, I wanted to make sure Shirley was aware of what we had witnessed. Interestingly, I've noticed that he doesn't do any toe walking if he is swinging his golf clubs around. Maybe the solution is that he just needs to play more golf. Shirley mentioned that a lot of times, the toe walking is a sensory response. Preemies are of course more prone to sensory integration issues. But in Henry's case, I'm not sure that fits his profile. For one, he had no problems NOT toe walking a month ago. Would a sensory issue suddenly appear like that? And, he will let me touch and rub his feet. She's going to do some more research on it. Jeff also mentioned that Henry seems to be more loose with his arm on his right side and a little more guarded on his left. I've noticed that a little bit too. It is very subtle. You'd have to be around him a lot to notice it. She had Henry do the wheel barrow so that she could observe him using both sides. Didn't see any problems, which is good.

After Shirley's visit, we decided to head home rather than have my mom and Erin watch him. We also decided to forgo our Sunday visit to the grandparents' house until Poppy recovers from his cold. Henry was very tired as he usually takes a nap mid-morning but didn't get to. So he fell asleep in the car. I carried him to bed and took a two-hour afternoon nap with him. We got up. Henry went on a walk with Jeff and the dogs. I played with him when they got back as Jeff made spaghetti. We ate in the dinner room (second night in a row!). We did a little reading after dinner. Then Henry announced that he wanted his bath. That set in motion our usual routine. Bath, pics, bed.

This morning, Jeff and Henry took the dogs for a walk. We had breakfast. Henry and Jeff played in the living room while I read aloud from "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Henry has about 12 books for his Story Reader. He seems to know all of the books by name and can identify what's going on particular pages without prompting. He pointed to the Snack Day book and said its name. Turned a page and patted his tummy. That particular page is about Cookie Monster eating fruit and patting his tummy. Henry is also beginning to sing to songs. He likes the Thomas the Tank Engine song called "It's Great to be an Engine." He knows when to sing "puff, puff" and "all day."

Henry is taking a nap. I plan to take him to the zoo this afternoon.