On Tuesday, Elsa, Henry's early intervention coordinator, stopped by around 3PM. We had to go over Henry's IFSP (individualized family service plan). Basically, every 6 months, we have to come up with outcomes that we want Henry to reach in the next X number of months and then explain why we want him to achieve those outcomes. The files are going to be audited by the state in a couple weeks, so Elsa wanted to make sure that all of our ducks were in a row. For example, one outcome was that we wanted to see Henry walking by November. This was a goal set up last May. We then had to come up with a reason for why it was important for Henry to learn how to walk. I'm not joking. One might think that the reason for why learning to walk is...obvious. Another goal is for Henry to learn how to feed himself. Again, we had to come up with a reason for why learning to feed one's self is important.
The state actually doesn't have specific goals for children to meet. It is all directed by parents. I find this a weird set up, because most parents don't have a firm grasp of child development, so I'm not exactly sure why the state isn't more proactive in guiding what realistic and important guidelines should be for children who have been identified as having special needs. The paperwork is quite time consuming, which I am fine with because I feel like Jeff and I are good advocates who can strategize how to work the system to get our son's needs met. I also do a heck of a lot of reading on child development. That said, a lot of people aren't informed, so shouldn't the state be helping guide the process? Doesn't it seem to be a bit asinine to require parents to come up with reasons for why learning to walk, talk, or feed are legitimate goals?
Afterward, Jeff took Henry to visit Grandma and Grandpa around 4PM or so. They were having salmon croquettes for dinner, which Henry likes, so Henry was invited to dinner. We like that Henry is getting his fish, which we acknowledge is quite nutritious. I don't eat or know how to cook fish. Jeff doesn't like it. So it is great that Grandma is encouraging Henry to develop a palate for it.
Believe it or not, there was another snake incident. From what I understand, a door was left open or something and a snake got into my parents' living room. Jeff helped my parents search the house for the snake. Spent time lifting furniture. No luck finding the snake, which my parents were pretty sure wasn't a poisonous type. My dad took Henry to the family room. In the early evening, the snake was discovered in the dining room, which is fairly close to the front door. My dad was trying to encourage it out the door with a rake, while preventing Henry from helping him.
When Henry came home last night, he was pretty wound up. He was obviously tired but not willing to relax. It took both of us to settle him down. He flopped back and forth between us on the bed for about an hour before konking out.
Wednesday is one of my teaching days. I really like my graduate seminar this semester. The students are the most hardworking lot of graduate students that I've encountered, which is awesome. But the class meets in the late afternoon, which means that I don't come home until 6:30PM, and it really cuts into my Henry time. Sigh. Henry helped me get ready for work, and he was really upset when I had to leave, which broke my heart. He was wearing his muscle outfit today (looks like a wrestler's uniform). He is so very handsome. He went over to Grandma and Grandpa's in the afternoon. It is more convenient for them to spend time with him at their place because they can switch off. And Henry does like to get out a bit and see new things. He was asleep when he got home. He woke up for a brief spell. He wanted to transfer from his crib to his bed. Jeff and I are taking turns snuggling with him.
My mom mentioned today that Henry's vocabulary is coming along. It is. He is working hard on it. We noticed a bath or two ago that he's beginning to mimic two-syllable sounds. We said the word "purple" in reference to a soap paint, and he repeated the sound. My mom said that he repeated the word "turkey" the other day.
He can say the following words:
Mama
Dada
Boo (as in Bitsy Boo the Cat)
Ball
Bye Bye
He can also say the following words but they aren't as articulate:
Pool (according to Grandma)
Book
Tea
Poo
Dog (comes out as Daw)
Cat (comes out as Ca)
Bottle (I think that he is trying to say "bottle" but it comes out as Ba, which unfortunately is a syllable that he likes to say in general, but it does seem that there is a Ba-Bottle correlation.)
Up (usage is inconsistent; comes out as Uuuh)
Off (usage is inconsistent; occurs when turn lights on and off, which is a pasttime at the grandparents' house)
Sounds:
Roar ("What sound does a lion make?")
Bok Bok Bok ("What sound does a chicken make?"; taught to him by Jeff, Henry makes Bok Bok sounds if you ask him if he wants to eat some chicken)
Hand signals include:
Milk
All done
More
Ceiling fan
*** We haven't been as consistent in teaching him signs as I wish we had done.
Understands the meaning of or can point to:
Roger ("Where's Roger?")
Bitsy ("Where's Bitsy?")
Pet nicely ("Can you pet Roger nicely?")
Tummy ("Where's your tummy?")
Ears ("Where are your ears?")
Head ("Can you pat your head?")
Hugs ("Can you give Roger a hug?")
Clap your hands ("Can you clap your hands?")
Stomp your feet ("Can you stomp your feet?")
In ("Can you put the block in the bucket?")
Poop and toot ("Did you make a toot?")
Blow a kiss ("Can you blow a kiss?")
No (but like a cat, he sometimes conveniently "forgets" what this means when it suits his purpose)
He also understands "Do you need your pants changed?" This is followed by a lot of resistance in getting him to the bedroom to the diaper area.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wild Kingdom
Jeff came home on Friday night. Henry had spent the day at my parents' house. Shirley, his PT, lives in my parents' neighborhood and often sees my dad in the morning when he's walking the dogs. Shirley had her session with Henry at my parents' house. I got a lot done at home, but I miss taking breaks from data analysis and popping into the living to give Henry a hug.
Henry was happy to see Jeff. He was bored, however, of sitting in the car seat for well over an hour. Over a half hour to the airport from my parents' house. Then another half-hour in the car on the ride home from picking up Jeff. But Henry was entertained by Jeff singing every children's song that he could think of. Perhaps Jeff will quit his job and become the new Raffi.
On Saturday morning, we ate at Cafe Paraiso. While Jeff ordered our breakfast, I walked around with Henry. Henry wanted to say hello to two little girls (I'm guessing about five years old). When he went over to the steps to say hi, I was informed by Princess Snot that Henry wasn't allowed on the steps because that was their castle. I was shocked that kids can become so bossy and mean at such an early age. The tone of this little girl's voice was just...well...bitchy. So I told Henry that the girls were being mean and didn't want to say hello. It was a stark contrast to the sweet little girl that Henry had met the weekend before at the same location. That girl was about 7 or 8 years old and came over to Henry and said hello and was genuinely kind.
I am curious about human nature. Is the need to exclude and be mean an inherent characteristic of some people, or is it something they learned from their parents? I have suspected for a long time that Henry is a sweet child at his core. He certainly receives tons of love, which I'm sure influences who he is becoming, but there are times when he says or does loving things that I can't explain as an outcome of social learning. I was quite peeved at the little girls for being such snots. I know that they are still little themselves, but nobody talks down to my son. Henry, of course, didn't care, because he was busy and simply ignored Princess Snot's demand to get off her steps. Then, Jeff took Henry around the courtyard, and Henry did a lot of walking around.
After breakfast, we went to the turtle pond. There were less turtles than usual. We couldn't find Jeff's favorite turtle. We are hoping that they are OK and that the campus frat boys haven't done something asinine. Henry managed to tromp through some muddy grassy without falling in it. I was impressed. He likes walking around the grass. I suspect that he'll be running sometime soon. He is doing excellently on his squatting skills. He has a lot of control...except when he gets really tired. We returned home. Jeff and Henry took a long snooze while I went shopping.
In the evening, we gave Henry a bath. Before running the water, we broke out the color soaps that I bought at the suggestion of Cuyler. She said that before children learn to write with the pen, it helps for them to be able to understand the idea of color and movement at the large level. Then, the fine motor skills slowly become refined to smaller areas, such as with pen and paper. He had a good time. He let me kiss him on the lips after seeing me give Jeff a kiss. Then he let Dada kiss him too. He has also been doing really well with blowing kisses. He's learned Mmmmmphaaah! from Alicia and the "If You Are Happy and You Know It" song. One of the verses is "If you are happy and you know it, blow a kiss." I noticed him blowing kisses a couple weeks ago. The kiss blowing is becoming more refined.
On Sunday morning, we went to the zoo. We forgot Henry's shoes, which meant that we held him most of the time. There were a few grass spots where Jeff let Henry run around. Henry and I bought a biscuit and lettuce leaf to feed a giraffe, one of Henry's favorites. They are really amazing and gentle creatures. They have become one of my favorites as well. In the afternoon, Henry visited my parents. I stayed home and went through receipts. I've mentioned before that our file system became in disarray when Henry was born unexpectedly. And yes, over a year later, our house is still in disarray. For those of you who know me well, you'd probably describe me as a bit of a neat freak about order on my desk. I immensely dislike horizontal stacks. And yet, my home office especially is well...utter chaos. I've even been late on paying a couple bills. Not because we don't have the money, but because things got loss in the abyss. So, I spent Sunday afternoon going through stacks of ignored mail. Then we went to my parents' house for dinner. Henry was quite upset to be leaving Grandma. He didn't want to be parted from her. It was quite touching. He was ready for bed when we got back home. Then I stayed up until 5AM continuing to try to organize. Still got a ways to go, but we are headed in the right direction.
On Monday, we had quite an adventure. The day part was the same as usual. In the evening, Henry had round 1 of dinner while I was at work. He went for a walk with Dada and the dogs. I came home. We had a sit down meal. Jeff had made him chicken with garlic and carrots. The carrots were very tender, and Henry loved them. He was mad, though, that we didn't automatically share our chips and bean dip. So we did let him have tiny pieces b/c he was quite insistent. Then, I took Henry to the living room. Henry and I were reading a book on the couch. In the background, I heard a noise that kind of sounded like running water or something of that nature. I looked over to Bitsy who was batting at something in the corner of our ceiling to floor windows. It was a rattle snake, and a very pissed off one at that. Its rattle was shaking. That was the noise. Its body was poised defensively. I yelled for Jeff. Jeff came out. He shoed Bitsy away. Henry crawled over to Jeff and put his hands out on the window and the snake struck the window quickly and firmly. Jeff pulled Henry back from the window. We told him that the snake was mean, but Henry wasn't distracted. So I took him and distracted him, and then decided it was best to call the fire department.
The fire department handles snake removal. Rattle snakes are a protected species. They aren't moved terribly far from where they are found. We certainly don't want to waste government services, but this snake was (a) clearly invading our turf...we want them to stay 20 feet away from the house (alas, they don't seem to have agreed to this understanding), and (b) obviously willing to strike. It took the fire department about 20 minutes to arrive. The snake shook its rattle defensively the entire time. In all my life as an Arizonan, I have never encountered such a peeved creature. It did make me fear for Henry's safety. Four gents from the fire department arrived. They opened the sliding glass door, used their snake tongs, grabbed him around the neck and put him in a box. They were obviously pros at doing this. I was a bit nervous that they didn't close the door before grabbing him. I could envision a peeved rattle snake having fun in our living room. Once in the box, they closed it up, and traipsed back through the living room with the snake in the box and left. They did this all in about 3 minutes. An impressive operation. Jeff's hoping that the snake ate our resident pack rat before he was removed. The pack rat lives under our jacuzzi and has removed the wiring so that it no longer works.
We gave Henry another bath last night. Played again with the soap paints. I think that he's getting the idea more and more about how to move the color around. He had fun splashing us. And he was soaping his own head with the wash cloth. Then, we headed to bed. I was exhausted having stayed up the night before.
Henry got up this morning around 7AM. I had to take Princess to the vets for an endoscopy. She's been bleeding. The procedure went well, but she has some issues that need attention as she is a senior kitty cat. Henry has an appointment with Elsa at 3PM. Then, we'll head over to Grandpa's later in the afternoon so that he can spend some time with his grandparents, while we pick up Miss Princess.
Henry was happy to see Jeff. He was bored, however, of sitting in the car seat for well over an hour. Over a half hour to the airport from my parents' house. Then another half-hour in the car on the ride home from picking up Jeff. But Henry was entertained by Jeff singing every children's song that he could think of. Perhaps Jeff will quit his job and become the new Raffi.
On Saturday morning, we ate at Cafe Paraiso. While Jeff ordered our breakfast, I walked around with Henry. Henry wanted to say hello to two little girls (I'm guessing about five years old). When he went over to the steps to say hi, I was informed by Princess Snot that Henry wasn't allowed on the steps because that was their castle. I was shocked that kids can become so bossy and mean at such an early age. The tone of this little girl's voice was just...well...bitchy. So I told Henry that the girls were being mean and didn't want to say hello. It was a stark contrast to the sweet little girl that Henry had met the weekend before at the same location. That girl was about 7 or 8 years old and came over to Henry and said hello and was genuinely kind.
I am curious about human nature. Is the need to exclude and be mean an inherent characteristic of some people, or is it something they learned from their parents? I have suspected for a long time that Henry is a sweet child at his core. He certainly receives tons of love, which I'm sure influences who he is becoming, but there are times when he says or does loving things that I can't explain as an outcome of social learning. I was quite peeved at the little girls for being such snots. I know that they are still little themselves, but nobody talks down to my son. Henry, of course, didn't care, because he was busy and simply ignored Princess Snot's demand to get off her steps. Then, Jeff took Henry around the courtyard, and Henry did a lot of walking around.
After breakfast, we went to the turtle pond. There were less turtles than usual. We couldn't find Jeff's favorite turtle. We are hoping that they are OK and that the campus frat boys haven't done something asinine. Henry managed to tromp through some muddy grassy without falling in it. I was impressed. He likes walking around the grass. I suspect that he'll be running sometime soon. He is doing excellently on his squatting skills. He has a lot of control...except when he gets really tired. We returned home. Jeff and Henry took a long snooze while I went shopping.
In the evening, we gave Henry a bath. Before running the water, we broke out the color soaps that I bought at the suggestion of Cuyler. She said that before children learn to write with the pen, it helps for them to be able to understand the idea of color and movement at the large level. Then, the fine motor skills slowly become refined to smaller areas, such as with pen and paper. He had a good time. He let me kiss him on the lips after seeing me give Jeff a kiss. Then he let Dada kiss him too. He has also been doing really well with blowing kisses. He's learned Mmmmmphaaah! from Alicia and the "If You Are Happy and You Know It" song. One of the verses is "If you are happy and you know it, blow a kiss." I noticed him blowing kisses a couple weeks ago. The kiss blowing is becoming more refined.On Sunday morning, we went to the zoo. We forgot Henry's shoes, which meant that we held him most of the time. There were a few grass spots where Jeff let Henry run around. Henry and I bought a biscuit and lettuce leaf to feed a giraffe, one of Henry's favorites. They are really amazing and gentle creatures. They have become one of my favorites as well. In the afternoon, Henry visited my parents. I stayed home and went through receipts. I've mentioned before that our file system became in disarray when Henry was born unexpectedly. And yes, over a year later, our house is still in disarray. For those of you who know me well, you'd probably describe me as a bit of a neat freak about order on my desk. I immensely dislike horizontal stacks. And yet, my home office especially is well...utter chaos. I've even been late on paying a couple bills. Not because we don't have the money, but because things got loss in the abyss. So, I spent Sunday afternoon going through stacks of ignored mail. Then we went to my parents' house for dinner. Henry was quite upset to be leaving Grandma. He didn't want to be parted from her. It was quite touching. He was ready for bed when we got back home. Then I stayed up until 5AM continuing to try to organize. Still got a ways to go, but we are headed in the right direction.
On Monday, we had quite an adventure. The day part was the same as usual. In the evening, Henry had round 1 of dinner while I was at work. He went for a walk with Dada and the dogs. I came home. We had a sit down meal. Jeff had made him chicken with garlic and carrots. The carrots were very tender, and Henry loved them. He was mad, though, that we didn't automatically share our chips and bean dip. So we did let him have tiny pieces b/c he was quite insistent. Then, I took Henry to the living room. Henry and I were reading a book on the couch. In the background, I heard a noise that kind of sounded like running water or something of that nature. I looked over to Bitsy who was batting at something in the corner of our ceiling to floor windows. It was a rattle snake, and a very pissed off one at that. Its rattle was shaking. That was the noise. Its body was poised defensively. I yelled for Jeff. Jeff came out. He shoed Bitsy away. Henry crawled over to Jeff and put his hands out on the window and the snake struck the window quickly and firmly. Jeff pulled Henry back from the window. We told him that the snake was mean, but Henry wasn't distracted. So I took him and distracted him, and then decided it was best to call the fire department.
The fire department handles snake removal. Rattle snakes are a protected species. They aren't moved terribly far from where they are found. We certainly don't want to waste government services, but this snake was (a) clearly invading our turf...we want them to stay 20 feet away from the house (alas, they don't seem to have agreed to this understanding), and (b) obviously willing to strike. It took the fire department about 20 minutes to arrive. The snake shook its rattle defensively the entire time. In all my life as an Arizonan, I have never encountered such a peeved creature. It did make me fear for Henry's safety. Four gents from the fire department arrived. They opened the sliding glass door, used their snake tongs, grabbed him around the neck and put him in a box. They were obviously pros at doing this. I was a bit nervous that they didn't close the door before grabbing him. I could envision a peeved rattle snake having fun in our living room. Once in the box, they closed it up, and traipsed back through the living room with the snake in the box and left. They did this all in about 3 minutes. An impressive operation. Jeff's hoping that the snake ate our resident pack rat before he was removed. The pack rat lives under our jacuzzi and has removed the wiring so that it no longer works.
We gave Henry another bath last night. Played again with the soap paints. I think that he's getting the idea more and more about how to move the color around. He had fun splashing us. And he was soaping his own head with the wash cloth. Then, we headed to bed. I was exhausted having stayed up the night before.
Henry got up this morning around 7AM. I had to take Princess to the vets for an endoscopy. She's been bleeding. The procedure went well, but she has some issues that need attention as she is a senior kitty cat. Henry has an appointment with Elsa at 3PM. Then, we'll head over to Grandpa's later in the afternoon so that he can spend some time with his grandparents, while we pick up Miss Princess.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
“Wow, that kid in the mirror is cute,” thought our little Narcissis
On Monday, we took Henry over to Cuyler’s new office for an OT evaluation. Selah is unfortunately still very sick and therefore won’t be continuing therapy with us. Henry liked the office. It had been awhile since we’d seen Cuyler, and she marveled at how big Henry is getting. We sat down at a little kids table. She pulled out various objects for Henry to play with. Each object was designed to test some aspect of fine motor/cognitive skills.
The tests are, of course, imperfect measures of ability, but they give therapists a sense of whether or not there is something to be concerned about. Henry was asked to do some things that Jeff and I have never shown or offered him, but it certainly gave us some ideas of things that we should be doing in the future. The first part of the test dealt with grasping objects. His grasping skills are quite good on both sides, especially when it comes to cheerios. The second part of the test was visual-cognitive skills. He tested at the 14 month level on grasping, and the 12 month level on visual-cognitive skills (which includes problem solving). When she averaged everything together, he was in the 50th percentile for his fine motor skills.
Jeff and I didn’t feel like the test items really captured what Henry can do on the problem solving front. A lot people who have been around him have commented on what a good problem solver he is (a description made independently from both of his PTs w/o prompting). The test was pretty short. One of the questions was whether he could take his socks off by himself. Alas, we had to say that we’d never seen him do so because he rarely wears socks (it is summer after all and we live in the desert), so he got a zero on that item. In any event, Cuyler thinks that Henry is doing well and doesn’t need weekly OT therapy at this time. She wants us to buy him toys that are well beyond his adjusted age in order to challenge him. His adjusted age is 13.25 months. So we should probably be looking at toys that are for 15 months old or older. We are suspending weekly OT sessions and will be coming back for monitoring in 3 months.
Henry was so cute tottering around the playroom, while Cuyler scored his results and talked to us about activities that we could do with him. He had a lot of fun on a large mat in front of a large mirror. He kept admiring himself in the mirror. He crawled on the mat, went up to the mirror, and kissed the handsome devil in the mirror several times. He’d then crawl backward, but became enticed once again by the cutie pie in the mirror and went back to the mirror to kiss his image. The kid has good taste. The child in the mirror was indeed the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen.
Cuyler’s office was about 5 minutes from my parents’ house. We dropped Henry off, had some lunch, and then Jeff dropped me off at school as I had class. Jeff went shopping, picked Henry up, and then swung by school to get me. Henry said hello to our friend Dana in the parking lot. Henry was tired and went to bed relatively early.
On Tuesday, Jeff woke up early to get ready for his business trip to Philly. Henry played with Alicia and Karina in the morning. I had to awaken Henry early from his nap, so that I could take Jeff to the airport. Then, Henry and I went out to lunch with my friend Carolyn and her 6 month old daughter Adelyn. Henry was very smiley with people in the restaurant. He kept trying to take my fork and knife. Henry doesn’t like to be told that he can’t have something. When lunch arrived, I cut up some chicken tender for him. He grabbed a very large piece that I was surprised fit in his mouth, instead of reaching for the small pieces. I watched him closely. After a couple minutes, I said to him, “Henry, that was an awfully big piece. If you want to spit it out, that’s OK. Go ahead and spit…” Before I finished the sentence, a large amount of spray emanated from his mouth onto my face. The bulk of the chicken remained in his mouth. Carolyn busted up laughing. I had no idea that he really knew what spit meant. I, of course, was thinking “spit out” not “spit spray your mommy in the face.”
As I wiped chicken spray from my face, I said, “Honey, that was very fine spitting, but maybe you could…” Again, spray shot out from his mouth. NOTE TO SELF: Avoid using the word “spit.”
Henry was pretty good throughout the lunch. But he is a handful. It was fun to see Carolyn and Adelyn. Henry started taking apart the sugar basket on the table toward the end of the meal, which was our time to say Adios. Henry said goodbye to the waitress and one of her co-workers. He says “bye” with a bit of a Southern drawl.
He went over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in the afternoon. I had planned to spend the afternoon with him but my computer bugged out and removed the formatting form some important Excel files, which I had to straighten out.
When Henry got home, he was a live wire. I could tell that he was sleepy but he was fighting it all the way. And he wanted Dada. He finally got to sleep around 11PM.
On Wednesday, I began my attempts to get Henry out of bed. He was a bear in hibernation. He didn’t want to get up. It took me about 20 minutes are so to get him out of bed and dressed.
Grandpa picked up Henry at 7:30AM. Alicia and Karina went over to my parents’ house to meet up with Henry. Henry talked to Jeff on the phone in the afternoon. In the evening, Grandpa reported that Henry threw up his dinner. He’s been throwing up a meal or two each week. We haven’t figured out the trigger. When I arrived, Henry was alert as usual. He ate some banana bread. When we got home, he was still hungry, so he had a cereal bar and some Lil Crunchies. He took a bath. Then, we settled in for the night. It took awhile for him to settle down, but not as long as the night before. And again, he wanted his Dada.
This morning, Henry woke up around 6:15AM. Again, wanting Dada. I explained that Dada was in Philly this week on business. He had a bottle, and we walked the dogs together. My, oh my, my son is heavy. Jeff usually does the Henry carrying on our walks. Henry was pleased to see Grandpa this morning, who picked him up and took him to his place for the day.
Henry threw up his breakfast. Not a great start to the day. Grandma reported that Henry and Karina are playing nicely together. After Alicia and Karina left, Grandma said that Henry was a handful. He was rather moody. Grandma discovered that tooth 7 is coming in on the bottom.
In the evening, Grandma, Grandpa, Henry, and I went to Swenson's. Unfortunately, the toy train was broken, which for Henry is the best part of the restaurant. Henry was indeed a handful. He grabbed everything on the table. Wouldn't sit in his high chair. Didn't want to eat. Sigh. He feel asleep on the way home.
The tests are, of course, imperfect measures of ability, but they give therapists a sense of whether or not there is something to be concerned about. Henry was asked to do some things that Jeff and I have never shown or offered him, but it certainly gave us some ideas of things that we should be doing in the future. The first part of the test dealt with grasping objects. His grasping skills are quite good on both sides, especially when it comes to cheerios. The second part of the test was visual-cognitive skills. He tested at the 14 month level on grasping, and the 12 month level on visual-cognitive skills (which includes problem solving). When she averaged everything together, he was in the 50th percentile for his fine motor skills.
Jeff and I didn’t feel like the test items really captured what Henry can do on the problem solving front. A lot people who have been around him have commented on what a good problem solver he is (a description made independently from both of his PTs w/o prompting). The test was pretty short. One of the questions was whether he could take his socks off by himself. Alas, we had to say that we’d never seen him do so because he rarely wears socks (it is summer after all and we live in the desert), so he got a zero on that item. In any event, Cuyler thinks that Henry is doing well and doesn’t need weekly OT therapy at this time. She wants us to buy him toys that are well beyond his adjusted age in order to challenge him. His adjusted age is 13.25 months. So we should probably be looking at toys that are for 15 months old or older. We are suspending weekly OT sessions and will be coming back for monitoring in 3 months.
Henry was so cute tottering around the playroom, while Cuyler scored his results and talked to us about activities that we could do with him. He had a lot of fun on a large mat in front of a large mirror. He kept admiring himself in the mirror. He crawled on the mat, went up to the mirror, and kissed the handsome devil in the mirror several times. He’d then crawl backward, but became enticed once again by the cutie pie in the mirror and went back to the mirror to kiss his image. The kid has good taste. The child in the mirror was indeed the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen.
Cuyler’s office was about 5 minutes from my parents’ house. We dropped Henry off, had some lunch, and then Jeff dropped me off at school as I had class. Jeff went shopping, picked Henry up, and then swung by school to get me. Henry said hello to our friend Dana in the parking lot. Henry was tired and went to bed relatively early.
On Tuesday, Jeff woke up early to get ready for his business trip to Philly. Henry played with Alicia and Karina in the morning. I had to awaken Henry early from his nap, so that I could take Jeff to the airport. Then, Henry and I went out to lunch with my friend Carolyn and her 6 month old daughter Adelyn. Henry was very smiley with people in the restaurant. He kept trying to take my fork and knife. Henry doesn’t like to be told that he can’t have something. When lunch arrived, I cut up some chicken tender for him. He grabbed a very large piece that I was surprised fit in his mouth, instead of reaching for the small pieces. I watched him closely. After a couple minutes, I said to him, “Henry, that was an awfully big piece. If you want to spit it out, that’s OK. Go ahead and spit…” Before I finished the sentence, a large amount of spray emanated from his mouth onto my face. The bulk of the chicken remained in his mouth. Carolyn busted up laughing. I had no idea that he really knew what spit meant. I, of course, was thinking “spit out” not “spit spray your mommy in the face.”
As I wiped chicken spray from my face, I said, “Honey, that was very fine spitting, but maybe you could…” Again, spray shot out from his mouth. NOTE TO SELF: Avoid using the word “spit.”
Henry was pretty good throughout the lunch. But he is a handful. It was fun to see Carolyn and Adelyn. Henry started taking apart the sugar basket on the table toward the end of the meal, which was our time to say Adios. Henry said goodbye to the waitress and one of her co-workers. He says “bye” with a bit of a Southern drawl.
He went over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in the afternoon. I had planned to spend the afternoon with him but my computer bugged out and removed the formatting form some important Excel files, which I had to straighten out.
When Henry got home, he was a live wire. I could tell that he was sleepy but he was fighting it all the way. And he wanted Dada. He finally got to sleep around 11PM.
On Wednesday, I began my attempts to get Henry out of bed. He was a bear in hibernation. He didn’t want to get up. It took me about 20 minutes are so to get him out of bed and dressed.
Grandpa picked up Henry at 7:30AM. Alicia and Karina went over to my parents’ house to meet up with Henry. Henry talked to Jeff on the phone in the afternoon. In the evening, Grandpa reported that Henry threw up his dinner. He’s been throwing up a meal or two each week. We haven’t figured out the trigger. When I arrived, Henry was alert as usual. He ate some banana bread. When we got home, he was still hungry, so he had a cereal bar and some Lil Crunchies. He took a bath. Then, we settled in for the night. It took awhile for him to settle down, but not as long as the night before. And again, he wanted his Dada.
This morning, Henry woke up around 6:15AM. Again, wanting Dada. I explained that Dada was in Philly this week on business. He had a bottle, and we walked the dogs together. My, oh my, my son is heavy. Jeff usually does the Henry carrying on our walks. Henry was pleased to see Grandpa this morning, who picked him up and took him to his place for the day.
Henry threw up his breakfast. Not a great start to the day. Grandma reported that Henry and Karina are playing nicely together. After Alicia and Karina left, Grandma said that Henry was a handful. He was rather moody. Grandma discovered that tooth 7 is coming in on the bottom.
In the evening, Grandma, Grandpa, Henry, and I went to Swenson's. Unfortunately, the toy train was broken, which for Henry is the best part of the restaurant. Henry was indeed a handful. He grabbed everything on the table. Wouldn't sit in his high chair. Didn't want to eat. Sigh. He feel asleep on the way home.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Henry the Extrovert
On Thursday afternoon, Grandma visited.
On Friday morning, Grandma picked up Henry and ran some errands with him. Alicia needed the day off for errands of her own. I had to go to school for a colloquium with one of my first professors in graduate school, Oscar Gandy, who is now living in Tucson. It was an intellectually stimulating talk. I didn't get home until 4PM. Jeff had already left to pick up Henry. Henry didn't sleep much at Grandma's.
On Saturday morning, we went to Ghini's for breakfast. Henry ate a lot of eggs, French toast, bread, and hash browns. Then, we visited the mall and took Henry to play in the children's play area.
I've noticed an alarming trend of parents on cell phones paying absolutely no attention to their children. It is really sad. One of our friends, Jenny, mentioned on her blog the other day that when taking her daughter to the playground, she and her husband ran into some kids who were quite desperate for attention. I guess that heightened my awareness to a little boy (about 5 or 6 years old) who was following Jeff, Henry, and me around. He desperately wanted to show Jeff and me how he could climb the various objects in the play area. His father (or caretaker) was in the play area (which is a large area) but was talking on his cell phone the entire time that we were there. I don't think he glanced at his son more than once while we were there. Someone could have easily walked off with this boy, and he wouldn't have noticed until much later. I tried to give this child some encouragement ("Oh what a good climber you are" etc.) when he said "Look at me, look at me," while simultaneously giving Henry my attention too. Henry had Jeff with him too of course. I left the play area discouraged at the world. There are a lot of parents (or caregivers) who ignore their kids and gab on their cell phones at the playground. Do the parents not realize that kids will internalize their neglect as the cell phone being more important to the parent than the child? Quality parent-child time doesn't mean spending time on your cell phone ignoring your kid. This particular case got to me because I could see how desperately that this kid needed adult reinforcement. In addition, cell phones are incredibly annoying. I dislike cell phones going off in movies or going off in my class (followed by the student shrugging "oops"). And I hate it when people shout into their cell phones in public places. If there is such a thing as appropriate cell phone etiquette, most people don't follow it.
Henry came home and had a nap with his Dada. It wasn't a long one. He then spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa, while Dada played some golf and I stayed home cleaning cat stains from the carpets with our Spot Bot.
On Sunday morning, we took Henry to Joel's at the UofA. He had pancakes, eggs, and potatoes. He walked around the large courtyard and managed to fall in the mud. Jeff wasn't happy about that, but Henry didn't seem to mind. He smiled at the patrons of Joel's. He received lots of smiles in return. I strongly suspect that Henry is going to be quite the extrovert. He won't rush into strangers arms or anything like that. And he can sometimes be shy when approached by others. I believe the true mark of an extrovert vs. introvert can be found by asking the question: "Do you primarily feel rejuvenated by being around others, or do you primarily feel rejuvenated by having alone time?" Jeff and I are definitely introverts. Henry, however, seems to get refueled by being around other people.
We then sat near the turtle pond for awhile. Henry decided to walk around the grass, wearing his new Wall-E Crocs that we bought at the mall yesterday. They are very cute. We came home. Henry and I took a 2.5 hour nap. That was good for me because I didn't sleep well the night before. Then, Henry had a late lunch. Crawled around the kitchen floor while Jeff finished making my mom's birthday cake. He made everything from scratch, even the delicious butter rum frosting. We gave Henry a shower. Upon getting dressed by his Dada, he called out my name, hoping that I would stop Jeff from putting clothes on him. Whenever one of us does something that he doesn't like (e.g., changing his diaper, not letting him eat paper, or go into our offices), he calls out for the other parent. We had dinner with my parents, Erin, Brian, and Uncle Jim at Carrabas. It wasn't exactly a relaxing dinner for me and Jeff. Henry didn't want to eat and didn't want to stay in the high chair. So we rotated taking him outside, where he got mad when Jeff and I (on our respective shifts) wouldn't let him walk into the parking lot.
This week is going to be an interesting one. Henry has an OT appointment tomorrow with Cuyler at her new location. On Tuesday, Jeff is headed to Philly for the week, so I'll be on my own. I'm expecting it to be a somewhat chaotic week with me taking care of Henry, two dogs, and three cats (all of whom aren't exactly low maintenance creatures). That's all for now. Will load pictures and video later.
On Friday morning, Grandma picked up Henry and ran some errands with him. Alicia needed the day off for errands of her own. I had to go to school for a colloquium with one of my first professors in graduate school, Oscar Gandy, who is now living in Tucson. It was an intellectually stimulating talk. I didn't get home until 4PM. Jeff had already left to pick up Henry. Henry didn't sleep much at Grandma's.
On Saturday morning, we went to Ghini's for breakfast. Henry ate a lot of eggs, French toast, bread, and hash browns. Then, we visited the mall and took Henry to play in the children's play area.
I've noticed an alarming trend of parents on cell phones paying absolutely no attention to their children. It is really sad. One of our friends, Jenny, mentioned on her blog the other day that when taking her daughter to the playground, she and her husband ran into some kids who were quite desperate for attention. I guess that heightened my awareness to a little boy (about 5 or 6 years old) who was following Jeff, Henry, and me around. He desperately wanted to show Jeff and me how he could climb the various objects in the play area. His father (or caretaker) was in the play area (which is a large area) but was talking on his cell phone the entire time that we were there. I don't think he glanced at his son more than once while we were there. Someone could have easily walked off with this boy, and he wouldn't have noticed until much later. I tried to give this child some encouragement ("Oh what a good climber you are" etc.) when he said "Look at me, look at me," while simultaneously giving Henry my attention too. Henry had Jeff with him too of course. I left the play area discouraged at the world. There are a lot of parents (or caregivers) who ignore their kids and gab on their cell phones at the playground. Do the parents not realize that kids will internalize their neglect as the cell phone being more important to the parent than the child? Quality parent-child time doesn't mean spending time on your cell phone ignoring your kid. This particular case got to me because I could see how desperately that this kid needed adult reinforcement. In addition, cell phones are incredibly annoying. I dislike cell phones going off in movies or going off in my class (followed by the student shrugging "oops"). And I hate it when people shout into their cell phones in public places. If there is such a thing as appropriate cell phone etiquette, most people don't follow it.
Henry came home and had a nap with his Dada. It wasn't a long one. He then spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa, while Dada played some golf and I stayed home cleaning cat stains from the carpets with our Spot Bot.
On Sunday morning, we took Henry to Joel's at the UofA. He had pancakes, eggs, and potatoes. He walked around the large courtyard and managed to fall in the mud. Jeff wasn't happy about that, but Henry didn't seem to mind. He smiled at the patrons of Joel's. He received lots of smiles in return. I strongly suspect that Henry is going to be quite the extrovert. He won't rush into strangers arms or anything like that. And he can sometimes be shy when approached by others. I believe the true mark of an extrovert vs. introvert can be found by asking the question: "Do you primarily feel rejuvenated by being around others, or do you primarily feel rejuvenated by having alone time?" Jeff and I are definitely introverts. Henry, however, seems to get refueled by being around other people.
We then sat near the turtle pond for awhile. Henry decided to walk around the grass, wearing his new Wall-E Crocs that we bought at the mall yesterday. They are very cute. We came home. Henry and I took a 2.5 hour nap. That was good for me because I didn't sleep well the night before. Then, Henry had a late lunch. Crawled around the kitchen floor while Jeff finished making my mom's birthday cake. He made everything from scratch, even the delicious butter rum frosting. We gave Henry a shower. Upon getting dressed by his Dada, he called out my name, hoping that I would stop Jeff from putting clothes on him. Whenever one of us does something that he doesn't like (e.g., changing his diaper, not letting him eat paper, or go into our offices), he calls out for the other parent. We had dinner with my parents, Erin, Brian, and Uncle Jim at Carrabas. It wasn't exactly a relaxing dinner for me and Jeff. Henry didn't want to eat and didn't want to stay in the high chair. So we rotated taking him outside, where he got mad when Jeff and I (on our respective shifts) wouldn't let him walk into the parking lot.
This week is going to be an interesting one. Henry has an OT appointment tomorrow with Cuyler at her new location. On Tuesday, Jeff is headed to Philly for the week, so I'll be on my own. I'm expecting it to be a somewhat chaotic week with me taking care of Henry, two dogs, and three cats (all of whom aren't exactly low maintenance creatures). That's all for now. Will load pictures and video later.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Dog Water Fun and Door Knobs
It has been several days since we last posted. We've been busy.
Saturday: We had breakfast at Cafe Paraiso. Henry enjoyed a large meal. Later in the afternoon, he visited Grandma and Grandpa. Jeff and I used our Henry-free time to clean out our closet (two extra large garbage bags of clothes for Good Will).
Sunday: Henry and I went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had some visitors, Tim Bee who is Senate President in our state and is running for Congress in our congressional district, and his campaign manager Meg. Mr. Bee has six children. It showed. He was really good with Henry, who liked him very much. Henry climbed on the couch next to Mr. Bee and sidled up to him. Later in the afternoon, I returned home for a spell. When Jeff and I returned to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner, we found Grandma staying put in a chair. Apparently, she pulled a muscle in her back while picking up Henry. He is getting quite heavy.
Monday: Grandma wasn't able to come over in the afternoon b/c her back was still out. Yikes. Jeff had Henry all afternoon, while I was at work. I didn't get back until well past 7PM, which made me sad. Henry was clearly very tired. Didn't get to play with him. :(
Tuesday: On Tuesday afternoon, we had an appointment with Dr. Fike, Henry's neurologist. His head circumference was 45.2 cm (measured by the assistant when we first arrived) and then 45.5 cm (later by Dr. Fike). His length was approximately 30.5 inches. The assistant had Henry stand on the scale, which was a first for him. No more baby scales now that Henry can stand up by himself. She weighed him at 22 lbs (clothing and diaper included).
Dr. Fike thought that he looked good. She doesn't think he is very behind for his age. As we mentioned on the blog about 6 months ago, the neurologists go by "actual" not "adjusted" age. So he isn't far off from what a 16.5 month old should look like. His head is tracking the 2nd percentile in size (again, she doesn't correct for his age). We were happy that he was following the appropriate growth trajectory. As Jeff and I have stated on this blog many, many times, we don't understand why doctors don't follow "adjusted" age (except Dr. Tsai, the neonatalogist from the NICU and at the development clinic, and the therapists of course). Oh well. Unless I take time out to get a medical degree and specialize in pediatric neurology, I'm afraid that it is a losing battle.
In any event, the most important thing is that Henry looks good. He is acting appropriately. Dr. Fike reviewed Henry's old head ultrasounds from the NICU. She said that there was only one that suggested that there may have been a small bleed in a cerebellum, but she didn't seem particularly alarmed or concerned about it at present. She said that given Henry's history, she would like him to have a MRI done at some point. She said that because he isn't displaying any signs of problems, we might want to wait, because most parents don't like the idea of putting their children under sedation. I asked if she wanted it for a baseline. She said yes. Preferably one taken before he is 4 or 5. She said that we could talk about it next time (appointment scheduled for next April). I want to know what Henry's brain looks like. The MRI would detect scarring or damage, if there is any. BUT, I'm not keen on the idea of sedation if it isn't necessary. The bottom line is that sedation would require ventilation. When you've seen your child clinging to life for several days on a ventilator, one naturally develops a negative association with certain objects. I am, of course, appreciative of the ventilator, because it saved Henry's life. But the idea of going back to it is...well...horrifying.
Henry toddled around her examination room. Picking up toys. Trying to get to her computer. He was accommodating during the exam, except when she tried to measure his head (second reading). He took the measuring tape from her and then put it around his neck like a necklace. At one point, she noted his feistyness and commented that he might be arriving at the independent "Terrible Twos" phase a little early.
After our trip to the neurologist's office, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I believe Henry went swimming. And he ate really well (like he always does for the grandparents).
Wednesday: Grandpa visited Henry in the afternoon. Henry spent a lot of time walking around. I picked up middle eastern food on the way home from school. I didn't get home until 7:30PM. I was pleased that Henry was wide awake. When I arrived, Princess was occupying Henry's high chair.
Henry feasted on lentil soup, the elbow macaroni from my kosharee, dolmas, hummus, babagounush, pita, and chicken.
He demanded to be let out of his chair when he was done and decided to wash up in the dogs and cats' water bowl.
We then gave him a bath. He likes to splash us with the water. Then, we went to bed somewhat early (9-9:30PM or so).
Thursday: He woke up around 6AM this morning, ready to take on a new day. The big event of the morning was that he figured out how to open the doors with the handles instead of knobs, which means that he can open just about any door in the house (although the ones that lead outside of the house have knobs).
Saturday: We had breakfast at Cafe Paraiso. Henry enjoyed a large meal. Later in the afternoon, he visited Grandma and Grandpa. Jeff and I used our Henry-free time to clean out our closet (two extra large garbage bags of clothes for Good Will).
Sunday: Henry and I went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had some visitors, Tim Bee who is Senate President in our state and is running for Congress in our congressional district, and his campaign manager Meg. Mr. Bee has six children. It showed. He was really good with Henry, who liked him very much. Henry climbed on the couch next to Mr. Bee and sidled up to him. Later in the afternoon, I returned home for a spell. When Jeff and I returned to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner, we found Grandma staying put in a chair. Apparently, she pulled a muscle in her back while picking up Henry. He is getting quite heavy.
Monday: Grandma wasn't able to come over in the afternoon b/c her back was still out. Yikes. Jeff had Henry all afternoon, while I was at work. I didn't get back until well past 7PM, which made me sad. Henry was clearly very tired. Didn't get to play with him. :(
Tuesday: On Tuesday afternoon, we had an appointment with Dr. Fike, Henry's neurologist. His head circumference was 45.2 cm (measured by the assistant when we first arrived) and then 45.5 cm (later by Dr. Fike). His length was approximately 30.5 inches. The assistant had Henry stand on the scale, which was a first for him. No more baby scales now that Henry can stand up by himself. She weighed him at 22 lbs (clothing and diaper included).
Dr. Fike thought that he looked good. She doesn't think he is very behind for his age. As we mentioned on the blog about 6 months ago, the neurologists go by "actual" not "adjusted" age. So he isn't far off from what a 16.5 month old should look like. His head is tracking the 2nd percentile in size (again, she doesn't correct for his age). We were happy that he was following the appropriate growth trajectory. As Jeff and I have stated on this blog many, many times, we don't understand why doctors don't follow "adjusted" age (except Dr. Tsai, the neonatalogist from the NICU and at the development clinic, and the therapists of course). Oh well. Unless I take time out to get a medical degree and specialize in pediatric neurology, I'm afraid that it is a losing battle.
In any event, the most important thing is that Henry looks good. He is acting appropriately. Dr. Fike reviewed Henry's old head ultrasounds from the NICU. She said that there was only one that suggested that there may have been a small bleed in a cerebellum, but she didn't seem particularly alarmed or concerned about it at present. She said that given Henry's history, she would like him to have a MRI done at some point. She said that because he isn't displaying any signs of problems, we might want to wait, because most parents don't like the idea of putting their children under sedation. I asked if she wanted it for a baseline. She said yes. Preferably one taken before he is 4 or 5. She said that we could talk about it next time (appointment scheduled for next April). I want to know what Henry's brain looks like. The MRI would detect scarring or damage, if there is any. BUT, I'm not keen on the idea of sedation if it isn't necessary. The bottom line is that sedation would require ventilation. When you've seen your child clinging to life for several days on a ventilator, one naturally develops a negative association with certain objects. I am, of course, appreciative of the ventilator, because it saved Henry's life. But the idea of going back to it is...well...horrifying.
Henry toddled around her examination room. Picking up toys. Trying to get to her computer. He was accommodating during the exam, except when she tried to measure his head (second reading). He took the measuring tape from her and then put it around his neck like a necklace. At one point, she noted his feistyness and commented that he might be arriving at the independent "Terrible Twos" phase a little early.
After our trip to the neurologist's office, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I believe Henry went swimming. And he ate really well (like he always does for the grandparents).
Wednesday: Grandpa visited Henry in the afternoon. Henry spent a lot of time walking around. I picked up middle eastern food on the way home from school. I didn't get home until 7:30PM. I was pleased that Henry was wide awake. When I arrived, Princess was occupying Henry's high chair.Henry feasted on lentil soup, the elbow macaroni from my kosharee, dolmas, hummus, babagounush, pita, and chicken.
He demanded to be let out of his chair when he was done and decided to wash up in the dogs and cats' water bowl.
We then gave him a bath. He likes to splash us with the water. Then, we went to bed somewhat early (9-9:30PM or so).
Thursday: He woke up around 6AM this morning, ready to take on a new day. The big event of the morning was that he figured out how to open the doors with the handles instead of knobs, which means that he can open just about any door in the house (although the ones that lead outside of the house have knobs).
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Ride'em Cowboy
Roger deserve a medal of honor for patience...or a t-bone. This footage was taken this evening.
Friday, September 5, 2008
"Henry's Amazing"
Henry loves his dog Roger. The video above was taken Wednesday morning. We started off the day with some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Henry enjoys bouncing up and down to it.
On Wednesday afternoon and evening, Jeff had Henry all to himself. I had meetings and class in the afternoon. My office hours are after class, so I wasn't able to leave until well after 6PM. After doing some shopping, I got home kind of late and Henry already tired. Jeff reported that Henry was walking all over the place.
On Thursday afternoon, I took Henry to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa misses seeing Henry during the week. Henry took apart Grammy's office. Went swimming. Ate a lot of turkey, sweet potatoes/corn, but started falling asleep in the middle of eating blueberries. Grammy put him on the floor for a nap, but Henry made it clear that he wanted to take his nap while in her arms. What's a grandmother to do! Jeff and I went out to dinner. Henry was still fast asleep on Grammy when we arrived. He did wake up after awhile. Walked around. And, his new skill...drum roll...was turning around while standing. I was shocked at how coordinated he has become.On Friday, I was in the kitchen and Alicia asked Henry if he wanted more food. He used the correct sign language signal for "more." Didn't realize that he knew it. We haven't been working very diligently on signs.
Henry had his physical therapy appointment with Shirley. I was a little late coming home because I was dealing with computer issues at school with one of the tech support folks. Apparently, Henry went over to where the green exercise ball was and said "ball." He wanted to play with it. She was impressed by the quick development of his walking (after all, this time last week, he wasn't walking). His new skill today was...drum roll...walking around and then picking up objects off the floor and then standing back up. He also figured out that he can toss blocks pretty far. He was flinging them about six feet away from him. He was trying to clear off the ledge in front of the television, where he likes to stand. So, he threw everything off it. We've seen him fling books before, but the blocks went a lot farther through the air. I told Shirley that Henry has been stomping his feet if you say the word "stomp." As I was telling her this, Henry was on the floor reading a book and began moving his foot up and down in a stomping motion. Have I mentioned how smart my son is? At the end of the appointment, Shirley said that "Henry's amazing." Indeed.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Henry Walking
Here's video of Henry walking around my parents' living room Monday night.
Yesterday morning, Henry and Karina were both walking around the living room. I was surprised that they didn't crash into each other. Karina (about 5 weeks older than Henry's adjusted age) started walking about two weeks ago. She's doing a good job, but sometimes still looks like she could get out of control.
I didn't get home until about 5PM yesterday. Lots of work to do. My mom came over in the afternoon.
After my mom left, we headed out the door to the polls. Tuesday was voting day (primaries). Henry voted twice and made friends with the poll workers at the polling station. He received an "I Voted!" sticker.
We went home. I made tortellini with homemade pesto. Jeff gave Henry a piece of the tortellini (they were the small kind from Barilla). As soon as Henry put it in this mouth, he spewed. We suspect that he just wasn't expecting that texture. After that, he didn't want to eat anything. Sigh.
We gave him a quick shower. He acted as though we were torturing him. Then, he had a bottle and went to bed.
Alright. The video (above) that I have been trying to upload for the past two days to the previous post (but kept stalling) has finally uploaded to this post. Don't know why it would work on this post, but not the other. Guess it is just another computer mystery. Enjoy footage of the Amazing Henry!
Yesterday morning, Henry and Karina were both walking around the living room. I was surprised that they didn't crash into each other. Karina (about 5 weeks older than Henry's adjusted age) started walking about two weeks ago. She's doing a good job, but sometimes still looks like she could get out of control.
I didn't get home until about 5PM yesterday. Lots of work to do. My mom came over in the afternoon.
After my mom left, we headed out the door to the polls. Tuesday was voting day (primaries). Henry voted twice and made friends with the poll workers at the polling station. He received an "I Voted!" sticker.
We went home. I made tortellini with homemade pesto. Jeff gave Henry a piece of the tortellini (they were the small kind from Barilla). As soon as Henry put it in this mouth, he spewed. We suspect that he just wasn't expecting that texture. After that, he didn't want to eat anything. Sigh.We gave him a quick shower. He acted as though we were torturing him. Then, he had a bottle and went to bed.
Alright. The video (above) that I have been trying to upload for the past two days to the previous post (but kept stalling) has finally uploaded to this post. Don't know why it would work on this post, but not the other. Guess it is just another computer mystery. Enjoy footage of the Amazing Henry!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Thirteen Steps
This morning, we went to the mall to play in the kids' play area. When we arrived, no one was there. We had the run of the place to ourselves for the first 20 minutes. It was kind of nice from our perspective, but Henry got bored and kept trying to crawl out into the open mall. It wasn't crowded, but I didn't want Henry touching the floor.
The place filled in quickly with children four years old (I'm guessing) and younger. There was a boy around three years old who came near Henry and hit him in the face. I wasn't too thrilled about that, but at least the mother took the child to the other side of the play area. There was a 10-month old boy who looked physically about how Henry did at that age. And there was a 10-month old girl who was pretty big and was tottering around. Not walking well, but pretty darn good for a 10-month old. I was impressed. Henry must have been impressed too. After watching her walk, he took five steps on his own. Then, he tried again and took seven. There is certainly something to be said about learning through social comparison.
We went to a crepe place for breakfast. It was by far the best mall dining experience that we've ever had. The food was fantastic (and being in a mall, it didn't cost much). Henry didn't eat much. He started getting very fussy, so we decided it was time to go home.
When we got home, Henry took a 2.5 hour nap with me. He got up before I did and played with his papa. I was exhausted.
In the early evening, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Erin's birthday. In attendance were Grandma, Grandpa, Erin, Brian, Uncle Jim, Jeff, Henry, and me (and the pups Ramses, Indiana, Winston, and Wembly). We were happy to have Uncle Jim with us, although we had hoped that he would have his new kidney by now. He was in the hospital on Friday night because it looked like he was going to get a new one (his current one was transplanted 19 years ago...10 years beyond the average life-expectancy of a transplanted kidney). The match wasn't as good as they hoped, so they send Jim home. At least it is clear that the hospital has him at the top of the transplant list, so he'll be getting new one soon. And he did get to spend Erin's celebration with us.
Henry's walking keeps getting better and better. By the end of the evening, I counted thirteen steps in his trek across the room. Pretty darn good. Jeff and I have borrowed my mom's digital camera to capture Henry's walking (at least until our camera gets fixed).
The place filled in quickly with children four years old (I'm guessing) and younger. There was a boy around three years old who came near Henry and hit him in the face. I wasn't too thrilled about that, but at least the mother took the child to the other side of the play area. There was a 10-month old boy who looked physically about how Henry did at that age. And there was a 10-month old girl who was pretty big and was tottering around. Not walking well, but pretty darn good for a 10-month old. I was impressed. Henry must have been impressed too. After watching her walk, he took five steps on his own. Then, he tried again and took seven. There is certainly something to be said about learning through social comparison.
We went to a crepe place for breakfast. It was by far the best mall dining experience that we've ever had. The food was fantastic (and being in a mall, it didn't cost much). Henry didn't eat much. He started getting very fussy, so we decided it was time to go home.
When we got home, Henry took a 2.5 hour nap with me. He got up before I did and played with his papa. I was exhausted.
In the early evening, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Erin's birthday. In attendance were Grandma, Grandpa, Erin, Brian, Uncle Jim, Jeff, Henry, and me (and the pups Ramses, Indiana, Winston, and Wembly). We were happy to have Uncle Jim with us, although we had hoped that he would have his new kidney by now. He was in the hospital on Friday night because it looked like he was going to get a new one (his current one was transplanted 19 years ago...10 years beyond the average life-expectancy of a transplanted kidney). The match wasn't as good as they hoped, so they send Jim home. At least it is clear that the hospital has him at the top of the transplant list, so he'll be getting new one soon. And he did get to spend Erin's celebration with us.
Henry's walking keeps getting better and better. By the end of the evening, I counted thirteen steps in his trek across the room. Pretty darn good. Jeff and I have borrowed my mom's digital camera to capture Henry's walking (at least until our camera gets fixed).
An Afternoon and Evening at Grandma and Grandpa's House
On Sunday, Henry woke up around 7:30AM. He went for a walk with Jeff and the dogs, while I did a final round of edits on my book chapter and sent it into the editors. Around 10AM, Jeff took a shower while I played with Henry on the bed. We spent several minutes rolling around the bed and playing peak-a-book underneath the blankets. We had planned to take Henry the mall, but he looked very tired and fell asleep around 10:30AM. He and Jeff took a nap until just before 2PM. That's right, 2PM. Grandma and Grandpa came by around 2:30PM to pick up Henry. Jeff and I headed up to Phoenix to watch the Diamondbacks get trounced by the L.A. Dodgers (it wasn't pretty). Game started at 5PM and ended around 8PM. Got some dinner, got stuck on I-10, not moving an inch for about 35 minutes or so. Looked like boarder patrol was doing something as there were probably 12 or more police and boarder patrol vehicles doing something off the interstate.
In our absence, Grandma and Grandpa reported that Henry had a large second lunch and then a dinner. They noticed that Henry is being more communicative about his food preferences. If he doesn't want to eat something, he'll let you know. He likes having choices and exercising his power to communicate those choices. I've noticed it too. In fact, I was just mentioning it to Jeff during Henry's first lunch that took place after his nap. I got out some squash, but he didn't want squash; he wanted banana (even though he already had banana for breakfast). I acquiesced. It's not like he gets junk food. So if he really wants a piece of fruit, who am I to say "no"? I suspect that there will be many legitimate parent "no"s in the future, but they won't be over fruits and veggies.
Henry had a very busy afternoon exploring his grandparents' abode. Grandma said that they went swimming but that Henry was more hesitant about the water than usual. He took three or four steps twice (and made sure that Grandma and Grandpa knew that they were supposed to clap). He said "tea" when Grandma was drinking iced tea. He was quite vocal. Grandma said that he is doing a good job making hard "g" sounds.
When Jeff and I got Henry home after midnight, he was partially awake, but it didn't take much to get him to fall asleep. I skipped the crib tonight. He always ends up in our, I mean "his", bed anyway.
Not that he did it much today, but over the past couple weeks, Henry has developed a bit of a temper when he doesn't get his way. If we don't let him explore the closet while Jeff gets out the vacuum cleaner and he wants inside the closet, he flops onto the floor as though the world is coming to an end. He is developing quite the dramatic flair. Maybe he'll go into theater like his Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian. We don't want to encourage him to act out, so we don't usually go out of our way to acknowledge the tantrums, other than to say, "Henry, let's do X" or "Henry, it isn't a big deal. Come now." I have had to suppress a chuckle a couple of times, because it is kind of funny. I don't want him to feel like we are laughing at him, but wow, he is so cute even when he has these dramatic moments.
Tomorrow, we'll be spending the entire day with Henry as it is Labor Day. In the evening, we'll go to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Aunt Erin's 24th birthday, which took place on Wednesday. Hopefully, Jeff and I will see some of his walking skills in action. We've seen a step or two, but not three or four. Given Henry's birth profile and the odds associated with that profile, it wasn't a sure thing that we'd see this day come. Although we aren't in the clear on a host of issues (and won't be for many years to come), Henry's progress is remarkable, and I am optimistic that he has sidestepped some issues that probably would have appeared by now if they were going to appear at all. While dazzled and impressed by Henry's steps, Jeff is a bit sad to see the mark of Henry's babyhood come to an end. Not that Henry's going off to college soon or anything, but it does mark the passage of his infancy and opens the door to a new chapter of Henry's House.
In our absence, Grandma and Grandpa reported that Henry had a large second lunch and then a dinner. They noticed that Henry is being more communicative about his food preferences. If he doesn't want to eat something, he'll let you know. He likes having choices and exercising his power to communicate those choices. I've noticed it too. In fact, I was just mentioning it to Jeff during Henry's first lunch that took place after his nap. I got out some squash, but he didn't want squash; he wanted banana (even though he already had banana for breakfast). I acquiesced. It's not like he gets junk food. So if he really wants a piece of fruit, who am I to say "no"? I suspect that there will be many legitimate parent "no"s in the future, but they won't be over fruits and veggies.
Henry had a very busy afternoon exploring his grandparents' abode. Grandma said that they went swimming but that Henry was more hesitant about the water than usual. He took three or four steps twice (and made sure that Grandma and Grandpa knew that they were supposed to clap). He said "tea" when Grandma was drinking iced tea. He was quite vocal. Grandma said that he is doing a good job making hard "g" sounds.
When Jeff and I got Henry home after midnight, he was partially awake, but it didn't take much to get him to fall asleep. I skipped the crib tonight. He always ends up in our, I mean "his", bed anyway.
Not that he did it much today, but over the past couple weeks, Henry has developed a bit of a temper when he doesn't get his way. If we don't let him explore the closet while Jeff gets out the vacuum cleaner and he wants inside the closet, he flops onto the floor as though the world is coming to an end. He is developing quite the dramatic flair. Maybe he'll go into theater like his Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian. We don't want to encourage him to act out, so we don't usually go out of our way to acknowledge the tantrums, other than to say, "Henry, let's do X" or "Henry, it isn't a big deal. Come now." I have had to suppress a chuckle a couple of times, because it is kind of funny. I don't want him to feel like we are laughing at him, but wow, he is so cute even when he has these dramatic moments.
Tomorrow, we'll be spending the entire day with Henry as it is Labor Day. In the evening, we'll go to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Aunt Erin's 24th birthday, which took place on Wednesday. Hopefully, Jeff and I will see some of his walking skills in action. We've seen a step or two, but not three or four. Given Henry's birth profile and the odds associated with that profile, it wasn't a sure thing that we'd see this day come. Although we aren't in the clear on a host of issues (and won't be for many years to come), Henry's progress is remarkable, and I am optimistic that he has sidestepped some issues that probably would have appeared by now if they were going to appear at all. While dazzled and impressed by Henry's steps, Jeff is a bit sad to see the mark of Henry's babyhood come to an end. Not that Henry's going off to college soon or anything, but it does mark the passage of his infancy and opens the door to a new chapter of Henry's House.
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