A Beautiful Day for Golf

This morning, Henry said "stretch" as he saw Roger stretching as he got up from his slumber. Another word to add to Henry's list.

Henry got Alicia to make pancakes for him this morning. His pancake obsession continues. He has been soaking his diaper thoroughly after his breakfast since Monday. We've been quite fortunate on the diaper front. He really hasn't been a leaky baby all in all. Alicia mentioned that he must be holding it and then releasing. That's actually a good thing, I suppose, in preparation for potty training. I don't know when that will be. We haven't really done anything on the potty training front b/c we've been waiting for Henry to show some sign that he wants to be potty trained. This could prove problematic b/c with Henry's Herculean pain threshold, a mere wet diaper isn't going to motivate him to action. I suspect that motivation will come from a more deliberative, cognitive route rather than a physical one. I suspect that once he realizes other kids use the potty, he'll want to use one as well.

In the afternoon, we decided to go to Funtasticks and play putt putt. We hadn't been there in a long time and the day was beautiful. There were several families there but it wasn't overly crowded by any stretch. Henry noticed the bumper boats and mentioned "swimming." Henry watched the kids on the mini go-cart course and shouted out "Kids!" Henry was fascinated by the carousel and liked the "ponies." Jeff got three golf balls and two clubs (one large and one small). He brought our disinfectant hand spray and cleaned them before letting Henry touch them. We didn't bother trying to keep score on the putt putt course. Henry would run after our balls, pick them up, and put them in the hole by hand. Turns out he knows the word "hole." For whatever reason, Henry preferred the big club, so Jeff and I took our shots with the small one most of the time. He enjoyed jumping off the obstacles on the various holes as they were a perfectly climbing and jumping level (about 6" from the ground). Henry took a pretty good tumble and roll on one of the holes but he didn't cry. I'm quite sure it would have sent any other kid into hysterics. We brushed him off, and he was ready for the next challenge. His favorite holes were the ones where he could send the ball through a hole at the top of a hill and then watch it roll onto another green.

We had to get Henry shoes. Shirley (PT) mentioned at his last visit that she thought shoes with a hard back might help to discourage the toe walking. After putt putt, we went to Stride Rite at the mall. We weren't keen on going to the mall during RSV season, but we knew that was the place to go for his shoes. It was a focused mall visit. The salesperson was surprised to hear that Henry was 19 months. She thought he looked big for a 19 month old and said that his feet wear big for that age. I confess that I was pleased to hear someone say that he was big for his age. That was a first. She measured him at a 7 1/2 shoe size. She recommended getting a 1/2 size up b/c she said that he's going to grow out of the size 7 1/2 within 2 months. They were having a sale (buy one, get the second pair 1/2 off). We ended up getting a size 7 1/2 pair and a size 8 pair. Normally, we would have just gotten the 8. But given that the shoes were being purchased for a therapeutic purpose, I wanted to make sure that they fit well...even if they only last 2 months or less.

We came home. Had dinner, which we picked up on our way out of the food court. Given the germy nature of public areas, we didn't want to sit at the public tables in the food court. Henry somehow new that Jeff had gotten him fries. How he knew is a mystery.

Henry is getting very good at splashing water out of the bath tub. We watched pics for a few minutes after the bath. And then he was off to bed.

Jeff and I have come up with a few word additions to our list. My mom also alerted us to some as well. Henry has been saying "Margaret" in reference to writing on the pad with a pen. My mom always has a pad and pen near her. I suspect that he has heard Poppy say "Margaret" several times while my mom was writing out lists or cross things off lists. Because I'm not confident that "Margaret" is being used in reference to Grammy, it hasn't yet made the list.

239. Yogurt
240. Pen
241. Stretch
242. Hank (apparently, he sometimes calls Poppy "Hank")
243. Tim
244. Clean
245. Broom
246. Remote
247. Help
248. Kids
249. Dive
250. Swimming
251. Hole
252. Glasses
253. Nickelodeon

The last one on the list took us by surprise tonight. Henry took the remote from Jeff who had just turned off the TV (we allowed Henry to watch the last 5 minutes of Sponge Bob). Henry pointed the remote at the TV and said "Nickelodeon." I don't mean to point an accusing finger, but I think that the grandparents have some explaining to do.