Gentle Henry

On Saturday, we got the kids up at 7:30AM so that we could take them to Grammy and Poppy's b/c we had our CPR re-certification class at A Place To Call Home. The class went well, and it was definitely a good idea to have to do everything again. We also enjoyed being in class with a couple of our old classmates. We made a good impression on one of our classmate's foster kids whom we went out to lunch with last week. He's five and apparently told his foster mom that he hoped that he'd see us again, which was very sweet.

At Grammy and Poppy's house, Henry and Miss R had a good time. They spent some time in the backyard "helping" Poppy. And they also went to the store. Unfortunately, Miss R fell asleep before lunch time. When Grammy tried to settle Henry down for a nap, he managed to wake up Miss R early but then fall asleep himself. Basically, their nap cycle was off and they didn't nap two hours.

The kids watched Beauty and the Beast. Miss R claimed that she was "scared" but seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Jeff picked them up. When they got home, Henry announced that he wanted to go outside and spread out bird seed. I took the kids to the bird feeder and gave them some seed to dump inside it. Then, we went out to the front of the house to throw birdseed. Jeff gave them cups with a little bird seed each. Henry's approach was to dump everything out at once. Miss R's approach was to pinch two seeds at a time.

We went on a dog walk and ran into several neighbors. We ran into Swanee first. Or rather, Henry ran to Swanee first. He was so cute. He ran up her driveway and gave her a big hug. She carried him up the road to meet up with Hal who is Swanee's husband, Yvonne, and Marie, Charlie, and their daughter Kim. Kim had her two-month old Tenzin in a stroller. It was the first time that we'd met him, so that was exciting.

Henry adores babies. He hasn't really had much exposure to them directly. Mostly, he gets to look at the babies at school from behind glass. So he was thrilled to meet Tenzin and get to touch him. Jeff mentioned how amazed he was at how gentle Henry was with Tenzin. I was too. Henry isn't known for his light touch, but he instinctively seemed to know that babies needed light touches.















Miss R was in a quiet, shy mood. She did peak at Tenzin, but I think the lack of nap was catching up to her.

Jeff made tortilla pizzas for dinner. They were really good. Henry ate half of a tortilla plus sliced apples for dinner. He demanded chocolate milk, which we gave him. He outright rejected tapioca pudding. Miss R, however, was willing to eat his portion.

The kids goofed around after dinner. They had fun walking on the treadmill, especially Miss R. We snuggled and wrestled. The kids were giggly. Henry's understanding of language continues to impress. Henry said to Jeff, "Want to see a trick?" Jeff said, "Sure." Henry, who was standing in back of Jeff, put a hand in each of Jeff's back pockets and hung from them, letting his legs swing around. It was pretty funny. It is amazing to see Henry use broad constructs, such as "tricks." After brushing teeth, we read "The Three Little Javelinas" and "The Grouchy Lady Bug." I had to be firm about the kids getting to bed. They of course wanted to stay up longer, but after much complaining, they finally fell asleep.