Ultimate Biting Champion

Monday was Daddy's day with the kids. Typically that means making a huge mess out of the house and rough housing. This week we took it easy. Kate purchased a soccer set some time ago and Henry wanted to play with it as we made our way into the house so I figured I'd give it a try. The set had two goals, a ball, and 4 cones to mark the field. The goals were the most fun, if you find smacking things with plastic pipes entertaining, which 2 year olds do. The pipes also made excellent trumpets as Henry discovered. The set also included nets which enabled us to reenact several scenes from Planet of the Apes as the kids constantly became entangled in them.

After dinner we took a walk with the dogs. We ran into our neighbor Yvonne at the end of our driveway. She loves to see the kids. She and Henry held hands much of the way. We also ran into our other neighbor Hal. Things got a bit rowdy with the six dogs playing. Henry did get knocked down by Lily. He was shocked but otherwise unscathed. Hal pulled the wagon part of the way while I carried Miss R. Miss R did walk a good distance, which is rare for her these days. She does seem to try to test the theory that if you go slow enough you might actually be able to make time go backward. A neighbor we hadn't seen since last fall came jogging by and was surprised to see how big Henry was.

It was then bath and bed time before mommy came home from teaching.

Yesterday was Miss R's bio family visit. I stayed home to meet her afterward. When she came home she had some dinner. We read Bambi several times and played in the living room. Overall, we took it easy.

Kate picked up Henry and went out to spend some mommy son time. At daycare they told her that Henry had bitten another child. No one saw what happened but the girl said that he did it. He didn't break the skin but they had to have Kate sign a paper saying they told us he bit someone. Hopefully he won't be kicked out. He did recently bite Miss R. Hopefully it is a short lived phase.

Kate and Henry then went to the mall at Henry's choosing. Kate said he really likes to run with the big kids. He climbed things the way the big kids would, not the way they were meant to be done. He tested his balance by straddling a wall and letting go with his hands. He crawled after a little girl that he seemed taken with. She didn't return his affections and turned around and smacked him. He saw a picture of a man he claimed was Poppy. It was in fact a local developer who sponsored the new children's wing at the hospital and wasn't exactly a ringer for Poppy in the looks department. One parent called after their child Nicole loudly because the child was doing something dangerous. Henry stood up and started yelling "Nicole!" as loud as he could. He's quite the disciplinarian.

Kate and Henry also stopped by the pet store in the mall, went to dinner at Red Robin and visited Toys R Us. The Toys R Us visit resulted in several new Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train toys.

When Kate and Henry returned the kids played with the new train pieces for some time before going to bed rather late. One small thing I noticed is that Henry has developed a very good writing grip. I'm not sure where he picked it up.

Today, Wednesday, Henry had a haircut. His grandparents picked him up at 7:30am so that he could join Grandma at the salon. Poppy joined them to wrangle Henry while Grandma had her hair cut. He brought along a pocket full of pennies to throw into the fountain to keep Henry busy. He was long overdue for a haircut and it looks great.

The kids went to their Grandparents for the evening. On returning home they both received nebulizer treatments for their coughs. Afterward they both seemed to be revved up. They played in the ball pit together, giggling and laughing. Henry is finding it fun to fall backward into the ball pit, even when he hits his head on the edge. It isn't very hard but it would be nice if he could go an hour or two without bonking his head on something.

Tomorrow we go to get the kids the flu shot at the county health department. Fun.