"Here You Go"

This afternoon, we broke out the basketball hoop that I bought Henry the other day. I went a little crazy (although I could have done much more damage to the check book) at Toys R Us on Saturday. It was much easier to get what I wanted without Jeff around. Jeff and I are usually tight with our money. Neither of us enjoy shopping...except where Henry is concerned. I personally want to get Henry a jumping castle and an indoor slide, but Jeff is hesitant. Henry has already figured out how to make baskets with his basketball. He also enjoyed having yet another ball that he could drop on Bits.

In the afternoon, I was eating White Cheddar Cheez-Its. Henry wanted to try one, so I gave him half a cheez-it. Can't say that he was enthralled with it. But he proceeded to beg for them so that he could put them in my mouth. After a while, I suggested that he give some to Daddy. As I held him, I gave him a cheez-it and he put it in Jeff's mouth who was standing near us. On one of the cracker transfers, Henry said "Hereyougo." I looked and Jeff and said, "Did you just hear what I heard?" Yes, indeed. Henry's first sentence. He said it as a single word, but it was nonetheless contextually appropriate.

Late in the afternoon, Jeff took Henry over to Grammy and Grandpa's house to check out the new carpet. Henry stayed for dinner and then they dropped Henry back at our place around 8PM. My mom looked at his toys and questioned whether I would have bought as much sports equipment (golf, basketball, soccer ball) if we had had a girl. If the little girl said "ball" as much as Henry does, she'd have any kind of sports equipment she wanted. I'll be sure to get Henry a Sew Perfect sewing machine when he's a little order and is allowed to work with scissors to balance out his toys' stereotypic gender leanings. I would like to point out that we did get him the pink stacking ring set a couple months ago, which does add a different color scheme to his toy collection.

We played with Henry for a little while after he came home. It was clear that he was getting very tired, so we gave him a bath. He did a good job with the bath paints. Then, it was time for bed.

Outings Before RSV Season

We've been going out frequently lately. We're trying to squeeze in as much as we can before the quickly approaching RSV season when we will have to be much more guarded about Henry's exposure to crowds.

Thursday evening we went to Toys 'R Us and got him a little drum type toy and a golf set. I can't say that he's ever been terribly crazy about the make your own music type toys. He loves music, but I think he just wants to listen and not create at this point. The exception seems to be the piano at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is the perfect height for him to reach up and grab the keys or sit on someones lap and bang away. He enjoys the golf set almost as much as I do. He can now say "Putt" and he and I play together a lot.

Grandma and Grandpa usually take Friday off because they spend a lot of time with him on the weekend and he frequently has therapy visits on that day. However, last week they took him in the afternoon because they weren't going to see him on Saturday due to a trip to Phoenix. Kate and I went and saw "W" which wasn't too bad for an Oliver Stone. We had seen "An American Carol" and felt this would balance things out.

On Saturday we did our usual breakfast at the U. One woman and her dog were particularly taken with him. He said hi to a homeless man who thought his hat made him look like he was in the French Foreign Legion.

After breakfast instead of hanging out at the turtle pond we returned to Reid Park, where we had gone the previous weekend. Again he had a great time. He really enjoys the slides. We ended up going for a quick trip to the zoo which is at Reid Park. We could have taken him to the Gay Pride gathering at the park but decided for something more traditional, not that there is anything wrong with that. As usual the fun was in walking around and seeing the people more than the animals. His favorites still seem to be the ducks which is what he calls any bird he sees. He is very good at words that end in uck (duck, truck, stuck) so we really need to watch our language around him.

In the afternoon Grandpa came over, they had returned earlier than we expected from Phoenix. He and Henry spent an hour walking around outside. Henry really likes being outside. That's going to be kind of hard given the prickly and venemous nature of the outdoors here.

I had to work Saturday night so Kate took him back to Toys R Us and got him the things she wanted to get him but that I might say no to. She bought the pony that connects to the tv so when he rides it the pictures on the tv change. She also got a See 'n Say, a train, a soccer ball and a basketball hoop. He hasn't caught on to the pony yet. He's getting the hang of the See 'n Say. He likes to drop the soccer ball on Bitsy the cat, not good. He enjoys the train. The basketball hoop hasn't come out of the box yet.

On Sunday we went out to breakfast again at Tohono Chul park. We hadn't been there for a long time. He made friends with the two ladies at the neighboring table. He also discovered a love of black beans and said the word "bean".

After that we headed to a park in Oro Valley. This was nice because the play areas had big shade cloths over them. There were lots of kids and many play areas and he enjoyed himself. He then spent the rest of the day with his grandparents because I ended up having to work most of the day.





Today we took him to Funtasticks for mini-golf. It was great because there was almost no one there and it was a good place for him to run around and play without too many ways to get hurt. He putted a few times but mostly he wanted to explore. He liked trying to fit his whole foot in the golf hole, walking up/down hills, grabbing the golf balls and moving them, and just a walking around.


















So his new words for the last few days are putt, pic (picture when he wants to look at pictures on the computer or camera), bean (mmm black beans), and talk (when he wants to talk on the telephone).

A Golf Pro in the Making

On Wednesday, we left Henry alone with Alicia, his nanny, for the first time. I believe that it was the first time that we've ever left him alone with anyone outside of me, Jeff, and/or my parents, with his NICU stay being the exception. I mean, Alicia is often alone in a room with Henry while Jeff and I work in our offices, but family is always in the same house. I was giving a lecture as a part of a Distinguished Lecture series on campus that is conducted by my college, the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, the College of Science, and the College of Fine Arts. It went well. There was an attendance of 100 people, and the reason why we left Henry without one of us nearby is because Jeff and my parents came to the talk. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with Alicia, but I'm still very protective of my baby. So leaving him alone for three hours was a big deal.

I had to teach in the afternoon. In my absence, Jeff got out a putting green that we bought him a couple months ago. It is a fake grass carpet with holes in it. We got it about a month before Henry started walking. At that time, we went to a golf shop to get Jeff a pair of golf clubs, and I came across a set of children's golf clubs. I wanted to get them for Henry but Jeff said that he wouldn't need them until he was three. I raised an eye brow. Jeff said, "He should be walking before we get them." Yes, Jeff the Golfer put the kabash on me (non-golfer) getting Henry golf clubs. Fast forward to last night. Jeff was putting in the living room. Henry took Jeff's putter and hit the golf balls. Jeff was in agreement at that point that Henry should have plastic golf balls and a plastic putter so that he doesn't take out the window or TV.

When I got home, Henry did a putting demonstration for me. And when we were in the kitchen, I asked him if he could turn around and he did. I don't recall anyone teaching him how to "turn around." It is amazing how he has picked up words and phrases. Alas, he turned around some much that it made him dizzy, fall down, and bump his head a little bit on the cabinet. Jeff asked him today (Thursday) if he could turn around (just to make sure it wasn't a fluke last night), and yes, indeed, he knew exactly what Jeff meant.

At breakfast this morning, Henry had two meatballs that Alicia had made. I picked up some lunch for me and Jeff at Sauce. Got a very thin cheese pizza. I decided to give Henry a little bit. It had cheese from cow's milk on it, but I decided to give Henry some, because we want to introduce him to little bits of cow's milk products here and there. That means cheeses before straight cow's milk. Incidentally, he has tried cow's milk on at least two occasions when he has helped himself to Karina's bottle. It could be the case that he is over his infant allergy to milk, or it could be the case that he has a milk intolerance, not an allergy, which essential means that he has a lower threshold for digesting cow's milk products. As long as we stay under that threshold, he should be OK. He really liked the pizza.

Jeff took him for a long bike ride in the afternoon. Then, we went to Toys R Us to look for some golf clubs. So many choices. I want to get Henry this bouncy horse that wirelessly connects to the TV. If baby bounces up and down, the TV screen will change the scenery and such. But that brings up the whole TV issue. Is it OK to expose a toddler to the TV when the TV screen does interact with the child's movements? That's one of the big criticisms of TV when kids are first learning how to process things. Baby makes face at woman on TV screen, but the woman doesn't make a face back. That's confusing. But does that same logic apply to video games that use body movements as the focus? On a related note, I want to get a Wii, because we saw some really neat exercise games that you can get for it. Jeff is hesitant. I guess it is pretty apparent who is fiscal conservative of the family, at least as far as our personal budget goes. Ironic as I'm the one who pays the bills.

Henry had great fun saying "Hi" to people and walking around the store with a Diego chair that was about as big as he is. He had fun playing with a train set on a short table until he dropped a train on the floor, bent over to pick it up, and bumped his head on the table. Luckily, he recovered quickly. He sat in a children's sized Cadillac SUV. He looked good in it, but I think that Jeff preferred the FJ Cruiser. They are incredibly neat battery powered cars that go up to 2.5 mph. We looked around for pedal cars, thinking that maybe kids should get in the habit of moving their bodies, but it didn't seem like they had those in stock. Do they make pedal cars anymore?

Afterward, we went to the mall, where Henry played in the children's area. He had fun sliding down the equipment. We then had crepes for dinner. Henry had a few bites. He got very sleepy at the end of the meal and made it clear that he was ready to go home. He fell asleep in the car. He was so tired when we got home that he stayed asleep through his diaper change (which is so much easier than when he is awake). He woke up after 30 minutes calling out for Dada. He is snuggled in bed with his Dada right now.

I was trying to keep track of all the words that Henry can say. No point trying to figure out how many he knows, because it is way too many to count. Words added since my last listing of words he can say would be things like: duck, Hi, bath, keys, turkey, trucks, hot, car, teeth, OK, uh-huh (it is sort of a word, if meant as yes)

This is Proud Mama, signing off.

Bits to Bites

Henry was wide awake when he came home on Sunday night. Grandma asked him if he was ready to go home, and he told her "keys."



He chased Bitsy around the living room when he arrived (see video below). His latest skill is trying to step on Bitsy without falling over. She isn't exactly thrilled with this new trick. I suspect that Henry doesn't know that he is now bigger than Bits...about three times her size. When he first came home, she was about twice as big as he was.

After he ran around, he was ready for a bath. He's taken to running around the house undressed or in stages of undress while the water is filling the tub. He's actually getting quite fast when he wants to escape.

On Monday, Alicia started making "real" foods for Henry at breakfast. Things appear to be going well. Alicia reported that Henry and Karina were deep in conversation at lunch and were apparently swapping funny stories because they were both laughing up a storm.

While Alicia was changing Karina's diaper, Henry wandered to our bathroom, opened the closet door, and then shut it. Unfortunately for him, it was pitch black inside, so he started yelling. Alicia was stuck with Karina on the changing table. Somehow, Henry managed to find the door knob to the closet and release himself from it before Alicia arrived to save him.

Grandpa visited in the afternoon while I was at work. The weather is certainly fall weather now, meaning that I need to get a space heater for my ice cube of an office (which in Tucson-speak means that it was probably 65 degrees). We're also going to have to turn the heat on to the house. Henry still refuses to sleep under the covers. But he has been wearing PJs, so he should be fairly warm.

Henry decided to get up at 5:30AM this morning (Tuesday). He must have some sixth sense that tells him to get up early whenever I go to bed late. Jeff took care of him though, while I slept. I got up around 7AM. Henry had been on a walk with his Dada.

Henry's new trick today was an attempt to step on Marley's feet, which is a very bad idea. I scolded him for it. We don't mess with Marley. She is the grumpiest 3 year old this side of the Mississippi. She's been tolerant of Henry, but we know that she and Henry have to be watched closely during interactions because she is unlikely to be forgiving toward him if he causes her any discomfort. He also was very interested in Princess' tail, which she didn't appreciate. I'm protective of Miss Princess. She was my first cat. In her youth, she was stronger than any cat I've ever met pound for pound. Feisty too, even without front claws. But she is a senior kitty now. Not that she is disabled in any way, but she does deserve the right to cross the kitchen without having her fluffy tailed yanked.

We aren't worried that he will hurt Bitsy when he chases her around. In fact, she deserves it. When we first got her, she was merciless in attacking our senior kitties, Princess and Jackson. What goes around, comes around as far as I'm concerned. Plus, Henry is the pal that Bitsy has always wanted. At 2 year old, she is still a kitten at heart. She is quick too. So if he oversteps his bounds with her, she'll let him know with a bite or a swipe. Given that Henry might have a hard time distinguishing different boundaries from animal to animal, we'll have to come down a bit harder on him when he tries to step on Bits though.

Jeff took Henry to Grammy's in the afternoon. Grammy and Grandpa took Henry to Swensons where he "ate like a little piggy" feasting on hamburger, french fries, some kind of dip sandwich, and a little cherry ice cream.

Jeff picked him up, while I did some shopping at the mall. When I came home, Henry was already asleep. I stopped by the toy store at the mall but didn't buy anything yet. I've decided that I want to get Henry a jumping castle, a pool of balls, a basketball hoop, and a bunch of other stuff, but I suspect that Jeff will want to wait for Christmas.

Fun at the Playground

Yesterday, Henry ate a lot at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He came home a little earlier than expected at his request. Grandma didn't plan on returning him until 8:30PM or so (after a baseball game had ended). But around 7PM, Henry kept talking about Mama and Dada. So my mom asked him if he wanted to go home. He said "Uh-huh," picked up her purse, and handed it to her.

We gave him a bath. We haven't had much success getting him to not stand up in the tub, but we're working on it. Getting his PJs has turned into an evening wrestling match. Luckily, it is 2 against 1 (and we weigh more than he does).

This morning, we went to Joel's Bistro for breakfast. While waiting for breakfast, Henry chased some pidgeons around and shouted "ducks!" at the top of his lungs. Then, we headed to the zoo. Henry was fast asleep in the car, so we put him in the stroller and found a nice place in the park to sit and read. The weather was glorious. Henry woke up after half an hour. He walked around and enjoyed watching people play "ball." We decided to do some exploring before going to the zoo. We found a man-made creek that I used to love as a child.














We spotted some playground equipment and decided to take a look. There were some slides that were Henry-sized, so we let him loose. He had a blast. He went down the slides on his back and on his tummy. Henry enjoyed watching the other kids. It kind of looked like he wanted to join some groups of older kids (about 5 years old). He said "hi" to lots of people.










We then went to the zoo to take a look at the gibbons. They are near the entrance. It was a good time to visit because they were out and about and did a little showing off. We decided just to do the "South America" loop today, because it was 12:45PM by that point. We visited the South American aviary. They have a small pond with ducks in it. Henry really likes ducks. As we passed the king vultures, I told Henry that they were "big birds." Henry repeated "big bir" a couple times. We got a great look at the jaguars, who were lounging in the sun, which is a rarity. They normally hide in the rocks at the back of the enclosure. They are truly magnificent creatures.

We took Henry to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their house. We left there around 3:30PM or so. I'm currently working on a community lecture for Wednesday, and Jeff is handling a computer crisis. Grandma is bringing him home soon.

Shape Sorting

Henry and Karina had fun running around the living room on Friday. They looked like two peas on a pod. Like Henry, Karina is tall and skinny. Alicia has been turning their chairs so that they face each other during meals, which they really like. They get to smile at each other.

I asked Alicia if she'd be willing to make "real" breakfasts for Henry in the mornings. I suspected that she would enjoy it because she enjoys cooking. Thus far, she has been giving Henry baby food for breakfast and lunch. I'm hoping that by converting to "real" food, Henry won't throw up so much on her watch. The baby food flavors that we give him are not terrible, but they cannot compete with the flavor of real food as they are devoid of all spices. So maybe if Henry is given food that he can, for the most part, feed himself and that he enjoys, we can avoid the gag reaction. Plus, she won't have to fix two separate meals...one for Henry and one for Karina. She looked enthusiastic about it. She made him scrambled eggs in the morning, most of which he ate. I told her that if she made up a list of supplies that she wanted us to stock in the kitchen, we get them. She offered to contribute to the supplies, which is nice, although not necessary. I figure that we waste a lot with Henry, so it would be better to use up our stuff and feed Karina than to have the food go to waste. For example, Henry is unlikely to eat a whole piece of French toast by himself. Why not share it? In any event, I am hopeful that this solution will result in Henry throwing up less and Alicia getting the opportunity to do something she likes doing.

Shirley, Henry's PT, visited in the afternoon. She asked us what he'd been up to since she last saw him. We told her about him walking down the stairs. That was unexpected. Plus he can spin and walk backward. He didn't walk down the stairs on his own in front of her, but he did it with some assistance. She looked impressed.

She asked if he was jumping or trying to bounce up and down when we hold his arms. Can't say that I've seen that. She said it was the next thing to look for, although it is a bit early to be launching off the ground at his age. I wouldn't be surprised to jumping off furniture is coming our way soon. I remember that the cute little 16-month old red-haired boy who Henry met at the mall several weeks ago was launching off objects and falling to the ground with much gusto. If only we could turn all of our floors into gymnastic mats for the next year!

Shirley was also impressed with Henry's attention span. Give him a book. He really listens and interacts with the pages. She went through the big truck book with him. It has textures in it. She would say, "Where's the truck?" Henry would repeat "truck" and point to the truck. She asked him where the bunnies were. He pointed to those too. I think that he was trying to say bunny, but just the sound "bun" came out. I didn't know that he knew the word "truck." His vocabulary is impressive. Two syllable words are much more difficult to say, so often the last second syllable gets garbled or lost. "Bottles" are "Bots."

At one point, Shirley had Henry sitting in front of his dinosaur puzzle. She sat behind him. She asked him to pick up a piece, and then she helped guide his hand to the correct spot for the piece. Jeff and I were amazed. We'd never seen anyone manipulate Henry's hands with much success. It was one of the things that frustrated Selah, Henry's former OT. Henry generally doesn't like to be told what to do or forced to do something with his hands. He often pulls his hands back. But he didn't seems to have any issues with it when it came to Shirley directing him about where to put the puzzle pieces.

Shirley thinks that Henry looks good. A "miracle child." But she wants to still visit a couple times a month because he is still "at-risk." We agree. Henry is doing great, but the "at-risk" status is going to be hanging over his/our heads for a long time to come.

Grammy visited in the afternoon and took Henry to her house for dinner. He had a good time with her and Grandpa. He, unfortunately, bit her on the hand. She was not sure how we wanted to handle punishment. We've decided to put him down, tell him that biting hurts, it isn't nice, and we don't want to be with him if he is going to be mean, and then walk away. I'm not convinced that physical punishment is going to work with him because his pain threshold is so high (a typical consequence of being bombard with painful stimuli when the brain is still undergoing major development in the NICU). A couple months ago, Henry kept trying to crawl into the fire place. Telling him "no" wasn't working. So I gave him a slap on the hand. That didn't work, so I gave him an even harder rap on the hand, trying to create what should have been a big stinging sensation. Nothing except a sweet but puzzled smile from him. As near as I could tell, the only thing that it did was leave me feeling like crap, the worst mother in the world, for about a week. Consequently, we are going to try social sanctions first in response to biting. We aren't sure what we are going to do if he bites while we are out in public.

We are pretty sure that Henry knows what "no" means now. When Henry tries to open the door to my office by himself, Jeff will say "Henry, no" at which point Henry bursts into tears.

After Grammy and Grandpa dropped Henry off, we played in the living room. I read "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" out loud while Henry and Jeff played with the shape sorter. Something clicked for Henry. He was able to put the shapes through the shape holes, instead of merely through the large opening with the flap.

Henry didn't seem sleepy, but around 10:30PM, we decided to call it a night.

Around 7:40AM this morning, Henry got up. He managed to ram his head hard into my face as my wake up call. I thought that he'd broken my nose. While Dada was taking a shower, Henry and I played in the living room. He again demonstrated his shape sorting skills.



We went to the UA for breakfast at Cafe Paraiso. Then, Henry ran around the turtle pond area. He kept trying to climb over one of the walls, much to our frustration. Acres of grass to run around and he decides to go to the one location that we didn't want him to go. Sigh.

Henry came home, had a nap, and then played. Jeff took him over to Grandma and Grandpa's for an afternoon visit.

Teeth

On Monday, Grandpa visited in the afternoon. I didn't get a chance to spend much time with Henry because it was a teaching day. I really like my graduate class, but I don't like the limited amounts of Henry time on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

I think it was Monday (give or take a day perhaps) that Henry started saying a string of syllables that we hadn't heard before. His string is dubadubadubdubaduba, said rather softly. We don't know where he's gotten this from. I asked Alicia, and it didn't sound familiar to her.

On Tuesday, Henry went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the afternoon. He went with them to take Indiana to the vets. Indiana had a follow-up appointment. He had the lens in his left eye removed a couple weeks ago, because it was floating (again) and pressure was building up in the eye. As the vet was going over the results with my parents, Henry approached her, tapped her on the knee, and smiled. Grandma said that she melted at Henry's charm. He sat in her lap while she talked about the results with my parents. The good news is that the pressure has been reduced in his eye. The bad news is that he can barely see out of it because a lot of retinal degeneration has occurred, which is not uncommon for his bread (border collie). So Indiana is pretty much blind with some sight left in his right eye. But the dog continues to be a trooper. He's always been an upbeat dog, even the day after he had one of his kidneys removed a couple years ago. And, out of all of our family pets, Indiana is the dog that loves Henry the most. He truly is a Nana.

On Tuesday night, Henry, Grandma, Grandpa, Jeff, and I went to Swenson's. While we waited for a booth, Jeff watched Henry outside the restaurant. A large family with lots of kids surrounded Henry, curious and friendly. Jeff said that the kids were very nice, and Henry handled everything well. Henry ate quite a bit more hamburger than usual at dinner. I ended up taking him outside as we waited for dessert. Henry walked along the shops and was intrigued by a group of fellows taking a karate class. When he returned from our walk, Henry tried some of his Dad's sundae. We didn't feed it to him directly. He took my spoon, stuck in in the sundae, and then licked the little bits that clung to the silverware. He seemed to enjoy it, though he really didn't consume more than a spoonful in volume (if that).

On Wednesday, Grammy picked Henry up. They visited Lucinda at her house. Henry was a little shy, but smiled quite a bit. While tromping around Grammy's backyard, he fell and has a scrape on his forehead as a consequence. He was awake when I came home, which was nice. We ended up giving him a bath, because his feet were really dirty. While I was getting him into the bathtub, I said something about his teeth and he put his finger in his mouth and touched his teeth. I was surprised, because I dont' recall me or anyone else point out teeth, although we've said the word many times, such as when he is teething. I asked Henry, "Where are your teeth?" And he pointed right to them.

On Thursday, Henry gotten bitten by Karina. Apparently, Karina bites when she gets jealous. Great. I was a little irked at that development. Henry's so nice that I just wanted to make sure that he can protect himself. I suggested to Jeff that I teach him how to hit as a matter of defense to which Jeff replied "I've seen you hit. I don't think that you should be the one teaching him." I asked Jeff what he was talking about, to which he reminded me of my brief two year stint in karate. I was decent enough at kata and weapons, but I wasn't a very good fighter. So maybe Aunt Carolyn or Aunt Erin, both who were very good fighters, can teach him how to hit. Aunt Carolyn once had her hand broken in a karate match and continued fighting with it and won.

OK. I know that hitting isn't really the answer. At the same time, I don't want Henry to be pushed around. I heard Alicia calmly telling Karina that we don't bite and how would you like it if someone bit you. But I don't think that there's a lot of rational processing going on in the little gal's head. If she keeps it up, I might have to suggest: (1) pinching her lip the next time she does it, which is what Grandma did to Aunt Carolyn to get her to stop and it worked, (2) walking away from her and leaving her alone so that she knows that there are social consequences for being mean, or (3) biting her back, meaning having Alicia do the biting. I'm on a preemie discussion board where options 2 and 3 have been suggested on the popular topic of biting, both of which seem to have taught kids that biting isn't a good thing. I suspect option 2 would really hit home with Karina, as she is very clingy to her mother, breaks down a lot when her mother steps away. She has separation anxiety big time, so a social sanction that says "If you bite, I don't want to be with you" would really hit home. I'll try to keep my mouth set unless it happens again, as most people don't want to be told how to parent. But I don't want my son to end up a chew toy.

Incidentally, Henry does bite, but it seems to be limited to Dada and Grandma. Henry bit Jeff tonight, and Jeff put him on the ground and stepped back. That technique is certainly the way to go when we are home. But what to do when Henry bites Jeff in a parking lot or some area where we can't step back and say "You are on your own with that behavior!"?

We took Henry and the dogs to Columbus Park in the late afternoon. There's a dog park there. Jeff held Henry because the dog park isn't exactly a location where one wants a toddler to touch the ground. We then went to a grassy area away from the dog pen. It was very green. Henry ran around the grass. I did take Marley off leash for a brief stint, so that she could run around. She won't run around the dog pen, because it is mainly dirt, but she goes crazy on grass and runs in large figure eights.

We gave Henry a bath tonight. We've been giving him one just about every night. I was a little concerned about doing it every night because I've heard a lot of people say that it dries out baby's skin, so every other day is better. Our problem is that Henry does get really, really dirty. And, a warm bath seems to unwind him before bed, which is needed. So we aren't washing his hair every night, but we are giving him the bath. I asked him about his teeth again, just to make sure that he really knew where they were.

He can now point to five body parts, which is a 18-24 month skill. I asked him about his toes but he did not know what I meant and thought I was saying teeth. Maybe I should have said feet. If I say "Henry, can I kiss your feet?" when he is in his car seat, he'll often stick one out for me to kiss. Or if I say, "Henry, can you stomp your feet?", he will. I haven't seen him point to his feet though. Nose also seems to be difficult.

After the bath, he wasn't as sleepy as we thought he'd be. He ended up chasing Bitsy around the living room, which she loves. She got into her Spazzy Cat mode. Ran up her cat tree. Zoomed past Henry, much to his delight. He chased her around with a plastic bag that was filled with odds and ends and tied on the end so that he couldn't actually get into the bag. He'd put it on Bits, and she'd claw it. Those two are certainly best buds.

Our Boy is Advanced

On Sunday morning, Henry slept in a little later than usual. Jeff was feeling better, so we headed off the Joel's at the UA for breakfast after Henry got up. We took turns wandering around with Henry, while we waited for our food. Henry got mad at me because I wouldn't let him run in the street and stopped him from opening a car door. Then Jeff took him around. Henry bit Jeff a couple times when Jeff prevented him from wandering into the street. We are such stick-in-the-muds.

Elsa gave us a handout of infant/toddler milestones a couple weeks ago. On the 18 to 24 month list, it says "Has temper tantrums when frustrated." I just want to let everyone know that our boy is way advanced. He has hit this milestone well before his adjusted age. When he doesn't get something he wants, he can burst into tears in an instant and/or throw himself onto the floor on his stomach. As you can imagine, his papa and I are very proud of this accomplishment and can't wait for what the "terrible twos" have in store for us.

Henry spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa. The highlight of his day was going to the mall and getting a bunch of new clothes. Grandma also reported that Henry said "Grandmama" for the first time.

Grandma and Grandpa dropped him back at our house in the evening. We went through his new clothes. He had fun running around the living room with the bag that the clothes came in (supervised of course). He liked the rattling noise that plastic made and chased Bitsy around with the bag giggling with joy. He was able to walk down a step into the living room without falling. It's not a consistent skill yet, but I was surprised that he did it at all. He also swung an empty soda bottle around and yelled at the top of his lungs at Bitsy. She was unmoved (see video below). Frankly, if someone two and a half times my size approached me swinging a bottle and yelling, I'd probably move. But Bitsy is an unusually confident cat.




Henry went into the bathroom and hopped in the tub by himself. That was a first. It wasn't the most graceful tub entrance, but it was pretty darn good. He told us that he wanted a bath. He was still wearing his overalls (see video below).



We gave him a bath. He played with his bathtub paints before we put water in the tub. Incidentally, he learned that the paints don't taste good.











After the bath, we put Henry in his first pair of PJs. It said 18 months on the tag. Given that Henry's not yet 14 months adjusted, we figured they'd be roomy. They just barely fit. I think that he'll outgrow them in about a month. They are cute nonetheless. He had fun with Bitsy who kept crawling in the plastic bag. Unfortunately, that gave him the idea of putting the bag on his head. So Dada took the bag away, which resulted in many tears. We have such unfair rules in this house (no putting plastic bags on head, no playing with forks and knives, no wandering in Mama's or Dada's offices unsupervised, no eating paper, etc.).

Yogurt Facial and Hair Treatment

On Thursday, Jeff was quite ill and spent most of the day in bed. Henry and I played together. We went to the grocery store where Henry caught the eyes of many shoppers. Several people came up to him. Obviously, this was a clear, reinforcing sign that we can't take him out during RSV season. He's a people magnet and a flirt to boot. In any event, we are making the most of Henry's last few weeks of freedom while we can. RSV season starts in November, at which point we have to go back on clamp down.

We watched the VP presidential debate in the evening. Jeff got up for the debate but left after awhile as the lack of substance by both candidates and the exaggerations on how many times a person voted on X made him even more sick to his stomach.

On Friday morning, I was feeling ill, and Jeff wasn't well either. I called Alicia and told her that she and Karina better stay home. I canceled my appointments for the morning. Luckily, I wasn't as bad off as Jeff. In fact, although I was queasy for a little bit, I felt OK after a couple of hours. Grandma came over and picked up Henry in the afternoon. He tore apart their house and had two helpings of hamburger casserole at dinner. Grandma and Grandpa were impressed at Henry responding to some commands. They asked him to close a door, he said what sounded like "OK" and went over to the door and closed it. They returned Henry around 8PM.

We spent Saturday morning at home. Jeff is/was still under the weather. Henry was very active. He had fun walking around the house. The last week or so, he's been interested in taking his hat on and off his head while saying "hat."



He played "hop on pop" while Jeff was on the couch (still recovering from stomach flu). I admit that I suggested it. I was impressed that Henry knew what I meant when I said "giddy up, giddy up" when he was on Dada. I wasn't really expecting him to respond accurately to the suggestion. Incidentally, we decided that there wasn't any point in quarantining Jeff to a single room in the house. Henry and I have already come into contact with Jeff's germs, so if we are going to get stomach flu, we're going get it. Hopefully, I'm producing some good antibodies which Henry will get from my breast milk (yes, I'm still pumping...17 months later).




At the end of lunch, Henry helped out by taking the wash cloth from Jeff, cleaning his yogurt covered tray with it, and then "cleaning" his head with it. The end result was a yogurt facial and hair treatment. We gave Henry a bath before taking him to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Henry likes ducks and can say the word "duck." The other day, he went through his 26 clear blocks and found the one with a duck in it and brought it to me as he said "duck." He has a Santa duck that he plays with in the bathtub. When he was done playing with Santa duck, Henry sassed his Dada a bit by standing up in the tub.












We took Henry over to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the afternoon. Then, we went to Children's Orchard (secondhand children's clothes and toys). We've found a lot of neat things there. Today's purchases included two puzzles, some dinosaur magnets, some PJs, and my favorite, a Sit'N'Spin. The Sit'N'Spin is a bit more snazzy than when we were children. This one has some flashing lights and music to accopany the spinning. Can't wait for Henry to see it. Now that Henry is a big boy and doesn't have outfits with feet, we felt he needed proper PJs because he likes to sleep without covers on. We wanted something warm for his legs.

There was a mother with her 13-month old at the store. Henry is about 13 months 3 weeks adjusted. I was surprised when the mom told me that her cute son was 13 months. Henry just looks so much more mature than this tot did. I think that it has to do with his lean build. I remember my friend Robin saying how Henry looked like a little person, not a baby, when she met him in April. She thought it was in part because of his lack of baby fat. I think that's true. The lack of fat gives him a more mature look. Plus, now that he is rather tall for his adjusted age, it makes him look even older.

Jeff and I came home and did some cleaning. A fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We are awaiting Henry's return. Grandma and Grandpa were going to feed him some dinner.

Vomit, Vomit Everywhere

Wednesday wasn't a great day. At lunch time, I walked into the kitchen to find Henry covered in vomit. Alicia was on the other side of the kitchen eating something. She said that he had just done it 10 seconds earlier. Henry didn't seem upset, but it was yet another colossal episode. He vomits about twice a week. And by vomit, I don't mean a little bit or just spit up. We are talking everything in his stomach comes out.

Jeff and I aren't sure what to do. He doesn't vomit for us. It's almost always for Alicia and a couple times for my parents. I can't figure out what the trigger is. Dr. Bianchi said that we could try him back on Reglan to increase motility. I bit my tongue from saying that there is no way in hell I'd ever let my child take that awful medication. Frankly, I don't think that they have tested it thoroughly enough. It was the medication that gave Henry insomnia when he first came home. Five weeks of only sleep 1-3 hours per day. I think that we'll pass. Besides, and as I told our friend Steve (who is an expert in health communication and the Internet), I know that I'm basing judgments off of anecdotal evidence through message boards, but there are a lot of women on the boards I frequent who have taken Reglan for increasing breast milk production and then ended up majorly depressed to the point of having suicidal thoughts. What if doctors are giving it to kids who end up majorly depressed but don't have the vocabulary to express those feelings? Yeeesh. To Reglan, I say "Thanks, but no thanks."

But where does that leave us with Henry? Dr. Bianchi said that there was a product that he used to take b/c Reglan didn't work for him. He has reflux issues too. It was excellent, no psychological side effects, but alas some people had heart arrhythmia problems. Apparently, you can get the med in Mexico, but again, I think we'll have to pass on that one too.

I didn't ask about erythromycin, which is an antibiotic that also happens to stimulate motility in the intestines. If we can't figure something out, then I'll ask about. I'm not particularly crazy about the idea b/c I don't want Henry to build up a tolerance to antibiotics, just in case he needs them for their primary purpose in the future.

I didn't get home until 9:30PM last night. Yesterday was a teaching day but then I had to finish editing my third year review application for work. Henry was wide awake. It took us until about 10:30PM to get him to settle down. I don't know what time he finally drifted off.

Henry woke up around 6AM this morning wanting a bottle. He went back to sleep and didn't get up until 8AM. Alicia was feeding Karina breakfast when Henry woke up. I decided to make Henry breakfast this morning. I gave him a bunch of foods that he could self-feed on. My thought is that maybe the problem with spoon feeding is that he doesn't know how to say no. Jeff and I rarely feed him baby food. We almost always give him what we are eating and some additional stuff (like turkey, puffs, chicken, cereal bars, etc.). I can't say that Henry ate much. He rejected cantaloupe bites, had a few piece of banana, rejected some toast, ate some hash browns. At one point he stuffed way too much hash brown in his mouth, so I asked him to spit it out. He spit it out without vomiting, which was good. I made some scrambled eggs. He had a couple bites. He was mad that I wouldn't let him play with the fork. I did, however, let him guide the fork to his mouth with the egg on the end by himself. He did a really good job. I'm going to have to buy some additional toddler forks today. The one that he has was dirty and I wasn't exactly comfortable letting him handle mine on his own, as he likes to swing silverware around.

Jeff and I plan to start up the Probiotics again. Maybe his motility isn't great b/c the acid blocker (he's on Prevacid twice daily) has wiped out all of the good bacteria in the gut. I hope that's the trick, because we've had enough major vomits to last a lifetime.

That's all for now. Jeff's not feeling good. I'm beginning to feel queasy too. I'd say that Henry has caught it too (maybe that's the reason for the vomit), except these major vomit episodes have been going on for about 2 months now.