Jump!

We had a quiet Saturday morning. Because I didn't work on Friday during the day, I ended up staying up until 5AM finishing a manuscript that got off to the editors. I slept in until 9AM. Henry didn't eat much, but he was in good spirits. He chased Bitsy around the house with the comics. I can't remember when it was (maybe Friday evening or Saturday morning) but Jeff had taken Henry for a walk. Henry read the newspaper (which of course he can identify and say) as Jeff pulled him in the wagon.

Henry took a nap around 11AM. We got him up around 12:20PM because we had a birthday party to attend. My friend Carolyn's daughter, Adelyn, had turned 1 year old. Carolyn lives on our side of town. There were five other children there ranging from 9 months to 3.5 years old at the party. It was a nice mix. Henry enjoyed watching the other children. The children were pretty much at the age where they all played side-by-side but weren't really playing together per se. Henry loved their lab Cassi. She was a big hit. Henry also enjoyed cake and ice cream. He only had a few bites, but we could see the sugar effects right away. He got hyper and then rather tired.

After the party, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They missed their boy. Jeff and I sneaked off to see "He's Just Not That Into You." It was funny but had a lot more drama than we anticipated. We enjoyed it though. We went to Trader Joe's and then picked up Henry. Henry didn't eat much, but he ate better for the grandparents than he does for us. When we arrived, he was reading books with Grammy. He sat in my lap and read The Nose Book by Dr. Seuss. When we were done, he said "Go home." So go home we did.

He fell asleep in the car on the way home, but of course woke up as soon as we tried to get him to bed. He was obviously tired but stubborn. He then tried to play us by saying he wanted in the "crib." We'd put him in the crib, but then he wanted "bed." We'd put him in bed, and then he wanted "crib." As we put him in the crib, he'd say "bed." We put him in the crib anyway and told him it was bedtime. He got very upset and angry. And he then had the vomit tantrum. Not fun. Really, really not fun. Puked on the crib sheet. So I lifted him out of the crib while Jeff went go get the paper towels. I put him on our bed. He proceeded to be upset and vomit all over me, himself, the carpet, and the sheets. Lovely. So I ended up giving him a bath while Jeff changed both the crib and bed sheets. Afterward, I tried getting Henry to bed but he wanted to watch pics. I wouldn't let him. I don't want him to think that he can get whatever he wants by vomiting. He was mad but Jeff somehow managed to get Henry to sleep in the crib. He slept there until 3AM at which point he made his way back to the bed.

We had a nice day today. We went to Joel's Bistro for pancakes. Henry usually plays once we get there, but today he sat at the table, looked at the waitress, and demanded "pancakes." Nice to see that his appetite had returned a bit. He ate a lot of french bread while waiting for the pancakes. Jeff read a new Thomas the Tank Engine book to him while we waited for the food to arrive. Henry had fun putting the bread basket on his head when it was empty.


After breakfast, we found hills to walk up and down. We found several neat trees and benches to climb. We made our way to the turtle pond. And the headed home. Henry fell asleep. As I took him to the bedroom when we got home, I laid down with him on top of me. He was sleeping soundly...snoring in fact. I was afraid to put him directly on the bed and have him wake up. I laid there awake with him snoring on me for about 2 hours and then tried to artfully get him onto the bed. That worked in part. He was on the bed but he was using my arm as a hand weight (see previous entry about Henry's sensory issues with his hands and sleep). So I laid there another hour. But at least in this position, I nodded off to sleep as well. Some time after 3PM, Henry popped his head up and said "Grammy!" several times.

Unfortunately, Grammy wasn't feeling well today. She thought it best not to see Henry today, but Poppy visited us b/c he and Grammy are busy on Monday. He couldn't go for more than two days w/o seeing his grandson.

Poppy and Henry played outside for awhile. After Poppy left, Jeff made dinner. While in the kitchen, Henry managed to perform his first real jump. He has jumped holding onto stuff before (e.g., the bars of the crib at the grandparents' house) and has jumped off the stairs. Lately, he has been sliding off the couch or museum bench w/o turning his body and lowering himself ; he just goes for it forward and lands on his feet. Well, tonight he actually got some genuine lift off. We clapped, and he clapped. I'm not sure if he really understood how what he was doing tonight was different.

We watched a Sponge Bob episode during dinner. That made Henry happy. His face lights up when he gets to see Sponge Bob. I truly don't get the appeal but that's OK. It suspect that Sponge Bob is kind of like Teletubbies. There's just no point trying to "get" them. Tonight's episode was about "imagination." Henry came close to saying the word. We had planned to let Henry play until 8:30PM given his long nap, but at 8PM he was ready for his "bath." Afterward, he mentioned wanting Harry Potter but really wanted Thomas the Tank Engine. I ended up putting Disney's Robin Hood in the DVD player. We watched the Oodalalie song and Robin Hood and Little John robbing Prince John. That was it. Henry wanted more, but I said that Robin Hood had to go to bed. So that's where Henry and Jeff went.

I forgot to mention on earlier posts that Henry is beginning to climb steps by alternating his feet with one foot per step (rather than step and bring feet together). When the home inspector came on Tuesday, Jeff pulled out the step latter to test the alarms. Henry demonstrated his climb skills by climbing the latter with alternating feet. Then on Thursday, when he came to school with me, he climbed the steps alternating feet on some of the parts. Way to go, Henry! Big stuff.

Verbally, he is learning new words. He is putting more thoughts in sentence form. He is responding with "OK" if I make a suggestion that meets his approval. If I ask him if he likes something, he'll nod or say "Uh-huh" if he likes it. He has been doing some long babbles with distinct syllables (kind of sounds like sentences), but we aren't quite sure what he means. We are confident that he knows what he means. And I really wish that we could figure out what "mogurt" means. I suspect that he thinks we are slow on the uptake.

If I give him a forced choice offering and he doesn't like the choices, he won't respond. "Do you want to read 'The Haunted House' or 'The Magic Grinder'?" No response if he really wants pics. "Do you want to go to the crib or the bed?" No response and he'll head right to the bedroom door and open it if he wants to play. He is able to see beyond the choices offered.

He doesn't lie. If I say, "We don't choke in this family, do we?" He'll say "no!" and shake his head (something that we've been doing since he was first drinking water). If I say, "We don't touch cactus in this family, do we?" He'll say "no!" But if there is something that he really wants to do, he won't respond. For example, if I say, "We don't climb on tables in this family, do we?," he'll go silent. At least he isn't lying, I suppose.

That's all from the Wild Kingdom. Incidentally, Jeff saw a rattlesnake in the road last night, so creepy critter season is upon us.