Naughty

Henry has been joining me on my conference calls with my co-authors in the afternoons. He's giving his opinions on the 2008 presidential campaign. Luckily, my co-authors find him cute.

On Thursday, my Dad came over in the afternoon. I was pretty much buried in my office grading exams. Jeff went out to the toy store again to get another round of toys for Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army. I think that we are feeling really blessed this holiday season and realize that we have a lot for which to be thankful. When we went out with Steve and Jamie the other night to a basketball game, Jamie and I pretty much spent the whole game talking. Anyway, at one point, Jamie mentioned how lucky we were at how things turned out, which is absolutely right. We are incredibly fortunate. That doesn't mean that Henry is completely out of the woods on preemie issues. As I've mentioned before, some of the effects of prematurity don't show up until school. But at this point, Henry is certainly ahead of the game for a 25-weeker. In our eyes, he's perfect. That's not to say he doesn't throw a tantrum now and then or give us the run-around when it comes to going to sleep at night, but he is so very loving, smart, sweet, curious...a delight.

On Friday, Henry exchanged gifts with Karina. Karina got Henry a cute Christmas outfit. Henry got Karina a Fisher Price telephone from their collectors series. It was a toy designed in 1963. I had one. Loved it. Shirley canceled her PT appointment with Henry. She was feeling sick. So Jeff called Elsa and canceled that appointment as well. Elsa (developmental coordinator) was going to visit at the same time as Shirley. We went on a walk about an hour earlier than usual. Good thing because we let Henry walk on his own, so things took quite a bit longer than usual. In the evening, we of course looked at "pics." At one point, Henry wanted "mic," which is what he calls music. I was trying to teach him how to use the remote.











Today (Saturday), we got to Joel's a little later than usual (probably about 10:30-11AM). Henry ate pancake, potatoes, ham, french bread with butter, waffles with syrup, and a half a grape. He wasn't interested in the fruit apparently. I stayed at school and graded while Jeff took Henry to the zoo, which was fairly empty. It was a little cooler today than last weekend, but I'm surprised at how the "cold" weather has affected people's visiting habits already. "Cold" of course is a relative term. I suspect that the average Philadelphian would be breaking out the short sleeves if it was as "cold" there as it is here. Not that we are complaining. Less people, fewer germs. We still think that it is important to keep him away from crowded areas. Jeff decided not to take the stroller and let Henry go where he wanted. Henry enjoyed watching kids play on the grass with their families. He learned how to say "baboon" and "polar bear." The big hit of the day was the Cayman Cave. The Cayman is a little crocodile creature that really doesnt' do much. I've never actually seen him move. But the cave has a good view of the fish, which Henry liked. Plus, he enjoys going up and down the ramp into the cave. Afterward, he went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. No nap. He ate a lot of food. Not so good on his milk intake today though.

Grandma reported that Henry tried to climb onto the glass coffee table in the family room. When she asked him if he was being naughty, he repeated the word "naughty" and looked very proud and pointed to himself. She was pretty sure that he thought it was a compliment. After Grandma and Grandpa dropped him back at our place, I felt obligated to ask Henry if he'd been naughty. Here's his reply...



We looked at "pics" when he got home. He said "peas" (that's please) and gave the appropriate sign with his hands, so I was obliged to go through with his request. Alicia has been teaching him and Karina "please" and "thank you." Jeff read a book with him (which has been increasingly rare ever since he discovered my computer). We gave him a bath. He's now in bed.

Alfalfa! Yicky! Bye Bye Doggie!

On Tuesday, Henry woke up in the morning with a funky hairdo. He had an Alfalfa thing going on, but it was really cute. Fun that he has hair that can be messed up. Grandpa picked me up in the morning to take me to Senator McCain's office. I felt bad leaving Henry b/c he wanted me to hold him on my way out the door. The interview with Senator McCain went really well. He graciously gave me 35 minutes of his time and said some things that confirm what my co-authors and I are arguing in a book that we are writing about the 2008 presidential campaign (details to be released when the book is published hopefully at the end of next year).

Grandma picked him up in the afternoon and took him to her place. Jeff and I went toy shopping. We ended up buying lots of toys, but not for Henry. We got a stash for Toys for Tots, which we contributed to a lot when we were in Philly. Jeff and I had a weakness for going to Dave & Buster's. We used our points from the arcade to buy lots of toys every year and would drop them off at a collection site at Jeff's work. We felt that it was important to get a lot of toys for them this year b/c Toys for Tots is hurting as is the Salvation Army, which we have given to as well. They have drop offs at Walgreen's, so it is very easy to pick up a few toys and donate.

I'm sure everyone will be surprised to hear that Henry has a lot of toys. Between generous gifts from family and friends and our penchant for picking things up at Children's Orchard, we give him new and used toys throughout the year. I'm of the opinion that toys are really important for good development. Even "non-educational" toys have their place because they contribute to a child's creativity. Dolls can teach children nurturing skills, for example, through role play. Anyway, we had some specific ideas about what we wanted to get Henry for Christmas, and we couldn't find them at K.B. Toys or Toys R Us, so Jeff ended up doing some online purchasing. I've been pushing for us to get Henry a drum set. I want it to be acoustic not electronic. There was one that would have been perfect for him at K. B. that I saw before Thanksgiving, but it doesn't look like they have it anymore. The ones at Toys R Us are just a little "too big" for him. Jeff hasn't been keen on the drum set idea, but he has negotiated a deal whereby we wait on the drum set until next year. I've also negotiated the idea of getting a jumping castle, but that will wait until next year as well.

Jeff ended up ordering what I hope Henry will find a very cool gift. We'll wait until Christmas to say what it is. My one hint is that our dining room area is soon to be converted into Henry's Playland Zone II (Zone I being the living room). Frankly, we have only used the dining room twice since we've moved here. We'll use it for Christmas Eve dinner with the family. After that, our dining room table will be taking a vacation to the garage for the next several months. Jeff has been contemplating getting a train set for the inset in the dining room ceiling. I'm all for the idea (provided that Jeff gets the Hogwarts Express train that blows steam as the train moves).

Henry was busy at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We met up with them at Swenson's for dinner. Henry pretty much stuck to eating french fries with a couple bites of hamburger. He liked the frozen yogurt for dessert. When we got home, Henry was exhausted, so I took him to bed and snuggled for a couple hours before getting up to do data analysis. I love my Henry snuggle time.

On Wednesday, Grandma came over in the afternoon. They played in her truck. Jeff went out for Toys for Tots and Salvation Army purchases Round II. While he was gone, I took Henry for a walk with the dogs. Normally, when we go for a walk, Jeff is the one who holds Henry in the backpack. But as of late, Henry has been trying to climb out of the backpack on the walks. He gets indignant b/c he can walk himself. Of course, he often goes in the opposite direction. I figured that the backpack would turn into a disaster, so I let him walk. He felt down a couple times, but dusted off his hands and kept going. He called the cacti "cac," which I think he knows not to touch (not that I'd leave him to his own devices). We only went about half the normal distance on today's walk. Our new word today was "yicky!" I was afraid that he'd try to pick up the dog poop that is on the dirt road. In our area, the norm is to not pick up one's dog droppings (or horse droppings for that matter). It's a dirt road. It's dry. The stools disintegrate fairly quickly. There are so many coyotes who often leave their belongings behind that there doesn't seem a whole lot of point to running around trying to pick up the dog poop. We live in an area where each house is on 3.3 acres minimum. But when one has a 16 month old who likes to pick up "rocks," it is something to watch. So, I identified the "poop" and then repeatedly said "Eeeeeew! That's icky! Yuck! Yicky!" On the way back, Henry would point out the various droppings and say "Yicky!" As we passed Hal and Swanee's house, Annie (the boxer mix) came barreling down the drive way. She runs Roger around, which is great. Henry had fun watching the dogs play. He repeated Annie's name. Then, I pointed out Luke, who is a huge Ridgeback. Henry said "Luke!" Luke was a little nervous around Henry for about 2 minutes but then realized that he was a human. Swanee had never seen Henry walk before. She was surprised and impressed. Henry pointed out some "Yicky!" on her driveway for her. Henry squealed with delight as Annie and Roger ran around and chased each other. As we parted ways with Swanee, Luck, and Annie, Henry yelled out "Bye Bye Doggies!"

It was almost dark when we got back home. I downloaded some pictures that I took on the walk. Henry wanted to look at pics. He was doing a great job of identifying people in the pictures. At one point, I went through a series of pictures, and Henry identified the "baby," which doesn't always happen. Sometimes, he is willing to identify everyone but himself. The funny part was that I went through a couple Henry pictures. Henry identified the baby. Then, I came across a picture of Henry in the buff. Jeff had snapped a shot when Henry was running around before his bath. Anyway, the picture is of Henry from the back. We come across this picture, and I say to Henry "Who's that?" Henry replies "butt." I laughed. What a smart boy.

Jeff returned home shortly thereafter. Jeff at first didn't believe me on the buttocks identification, but I pulled up the picture and asked Henry what it was. He knew exactly what it was. We had dinner. Henry practically fell asleep at the table, so I took him to the back for another evening snuggle. I'm now going to get some grading done, so I'd better sign off.

Go Eagles!

On Monday morning, Henry woke up at 5AM just as I was coming to bed. Stayed up doing data analysis for a meeting. Lucky for me, Jeff got him a bottle and then played with him. Turned out that he was very hungry, having not eaten much over the weekend.

Henry ate a Gerber toddler meal for lunch. Grandpa visited in the afternoon. They walked around the property together. We of course looked at pics on several occasions. Henry often chants "Aucky! Aucky! Aucky!" or "Izzy! Izzy! Izzy!" until I submit. I, however, got him to give me a few kisses today in exchange for pic viewing. I also am teaching him the word "pretty" in reference to Izzy. He said it a couple times. When looking at pictures of himself, he often refuses to identify himself but will identify everyone else in the picture. Or, he refers to himself as the "baby" but he seems to know that there are other "babies" in the world too. When I asked him "Who's that?" when looking at a picture of himself, I got him to say "me" and he pointed to himself when he said (not prompted by me).

Henry ate a large dinner. In fact, he ate about a third of my lentil soup, but he wouldn't eat Jeff's (completely different of course). Jeff took him out in the evening to the store (not crowded). They went to OfficeMax (practically vacant) instead of BestBuy (which tends to be quite crowded) to get a digital recorder for me for my interview with Senator McCain tomorrow.

Looked at pictures when they came home. Surprise, surprise.

Jeff turned on the last few minutes of the Eagles vs. Cleveland game. The occasional Eagles game (or couple minutes of an Eagles game) is one of the rare times that the TV is on these days. Henry learned the word "Eagles." That's a useful word in our household.

Winter Haven

It was a gray and cloudy day in Tucson. Woke up to a gloomy sky around 7:30AM. I took the dogs for a walk while the boys snoozed. Henry was snuggled into Jeff's side. It was nippy and sprinkling. The dogs liked the cold weather. I got some things done around the house as the boys slept. They woke up around 9:45AM. Jeff gave Henry half a pancake. We decided to keep it bland and simply today. We played in the living room. Looked at lots of pics in my office. Henry made requests to see Aucky (Austin) and Izzy, so I went back and forth between my friends' blogs. Henry took about a three and a half hour nap sometime after 12PM. He got up around 3:30PM. We had planned to have him visit Grandma and Grandpa, but instead, we just stopped by for dinner before taking Henry to visit Steve and Jamie's house.













Steve and Jamie hosted a winter holiday get-together with some of our friends in my department. Jamie made biscotti and cookies (she should open a bistro; she is an excellent cook/baker). Henry was shy for about 5 minutes and then walked around their house without hesitation. He liked their dog Rey and had fun watching Roxy, one of their cats. Steve gave Henry his old cell phone, which Henry loved. It wasn't active, but it still turned on so that he could punch in numbers. He tried to figure out how to work the TV. In a cute mix up, he grabbed onto Kevin's leg and called him "Mommy." We had hot chocolate and then headed to Winter Haven for the Festival of Lights. Winter Haven is a neighborhood that has long put on a holiday light show. Tonight was their second night of the season. There were people, but it wasn't crowded. We could walk up and down the wide streets with ease. Henry was in his stroller, which he wasn't used for awhile. He prefers to walk himself, but he always wants to set his own course and isn't interested in hanging with the group. He very much wanted to touch the light exhibits on people's lawns. We figured that wasn't a great idea. All in all, he did well, but it was a lot of stimulation and he did get a little fussy at times when he didn't want to be carried. At one point, he fell, caught himself, but then cried. I don't think that the fall was very hard, but he was frustrated that it happened. We felt a little awkward holding up our group on several occasions but they were very understanding. Henry got a second wind on the way back to Steve and Jamie's house. He decided that he would push his stroller himself. Couldn't quite reach the handle bars, but he managed with a little help from Daddy.

When we got back to Steve and Jamie's house, Henry headed straight for Rey's water bowl and decided to play in it. Almost drank out of the dog's water but Jeff stopped him. He gave Rey a hug and pet him, checked out Steve and Jamie's cabinets, and then gave Jamie a big hug. We showed off Henry's skills by asking Henry to touch his toes, which he did much to Jeff's surprise, and to stand on his head, which he also did (this weekend's new trick). It was about 9:50PM by this time, so we said bye bye and headed home. He fell fast asleep in the car.

Here's Henry sacked out on "his" bed...

An OK Week, Except for the Vomit

On Wednesday, Jeff was playing with Henry on the patio. Henry walked to one of the locked doors and tried to open it. Jeff told him it was locked. Henry said "keys." Smart boy. Jeff dropped off Henry at my parents' house in the early evening. He met me at school, where I was having an end of term dinner with my graduate research methods class at Frog & Firkin, which was a lot of fun. They were the best graduate class that I've ever taught. Then, we went to the UA basketball game vs. San Diego State. I suspect that is to be our last game of the season. I look at the RSV (that stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus) report that Arizona's Department of Health Services puts out each week. Last week's report showed that there were no reported cases of RSV in our county. But this week's report shows the total at 5. Not that many. The numbers just show the trends, not actually what is going on in the community. When adults get RSV, they often don't know it and write it off as a trifling cold, which for adults it probably is. It's the little ones and elderly that have problems with it. Once the numbers in the report start increasing, we know that we have to be more vigilant. Right now it isn't that bad out there, but it is amazing how RSV can explode within a couple weeks.

On Thursday, Henry turned 16 months adjusted. He was more sluggish than usual...relatively speaking. He'd play and then crawl on the couch and rest for a couple minutes before resuming play again. Grandpa visited Henry in the afternoon. I went to the doctors b/c my voice was at 30% (an improvement over the last few days when it was out completely). Saw the nurse practitioner. She said that I had bronchitis. Gave me some super strong antibiotics to wipe it out. Can't say I'm surprised, although I've been fortunate the last three years in Arizona. In Philadelphia, I'd get bronchitis every spring. I attribute it to my crappy preemie lungs. As the research shows, even "bigger" preemies often have lung issues when they are older. I was born at 33 weeks.

On Friday, Jeff took a vacation day. Henry had been snuffly during the night and felt a little warm, so he suggested to Alicia that she not work today. Henry's appetite was fine for breakfast, but he didn't eat lunch or much dinner. Henry and Jeff went to the back to take a nap around 11AM. Jeff struggled with him for an hour. He gave up holding him and put him on the ground. Then, Henry crawled onto our bed and fell fast asleep. When they woke up, played golf in the living room and in the backyard. Henry was full of energy. We went to R&R Pizza in the late afternoon (not crowded at all). Henry watched the train travel around the restaurant. He wasn't interested in food though. We played in the living room in the evening. We decided to let him watch his first TV program (not ball), "Frosty the Snowman Returns." But he wasn't interested. Watched maybe 5 minutes and then said that he wanted to look at "pics." He was hard to settle down. It was getting late, so Jeff took Henry to the back for bed. Over much wrestling and tears, Henry made himself so upset that he threw up. After we cleaned him up, he settled down to sleep.

Henry and I slept until 9:15AM on Saturday morning. He was in a great mood. It took us awhile but we finally got out the door around 11AM and headed to Joel's for breakfast. It was nice outside, and the patio was empty. We were one of two sets of customers at the restaurant. We then headed over to the turtle pond for some exploration. Played tag around a palm tree. We came back home around 1PM, thinking that Henry would take a nap. He took a 20 minute nap in the car but then was alert as ever after that. Around 4PM, I took Henry over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I stayed until about 5PM, then headed home. As I was leaving, Henry had Grandma's car keys and was trying to set off the panic button. He said, "Beep, beep!" once he set it off. Apparently, he has said this to the grandparents before.

The grandparents brought Henry home around 8:45PM. Henry was wide awake. He liked the flash light that Jeff uses whenever they pull up. With all of the creepy crawlies, we check out the drive way before walking on it at night. We tried taking pictures of Henry for a family Christmas card. A no go. We had a beautiful picture set, but then Marley walked in front of the camera. Go figure.

VOMIT DETAILS NEXT (skip paragraph if you have a weak stomach)

Henry was very active and wouldn't settle down. Jeff took him to the back. Henry was talking up a storm. I went to help around 11:15PM. Not that I'm very good at settling him down. He is a daddy's boy at night. In any event, Henry got upset again at being told to go to sleep. He vomited all over Jeff. Jeff got up, took off his vomit shirt, and went to the kitchen to get towels. In the meantime, Henry was sitting upright with me holding onto him from behind. He projectile vomited all of his front four or five times. I managed to catch about half of it in my hand, cupped against Henry's body. I called for Jeff to get a plate to catch the vomit. It was a mess, but only about half of it doused the sheets. Henry was not happy but relatively calm at this point. I think that he was trying to figure out what his body was doing. Ultimately, I think that he felt better after the vomit. It contained foods from his brunch, snack, and dinner. Obviously, his digestive system had come to a halt. We went to Henry's bathroom and started up water for a bath. I gave him a bath while Jeff changed the sheets and gathered up the vomit clothes. Fun, fun. Henry wasn't in a bad mood at all, but he wasn't energetic either. He took some swig of water from a cup to clear his mouth. Splashed around with his toys. I scrubbed him, and then he was ready for new clothes,

All three of us stayed in the living room for a little bit. I believe it was after his bath that he decided to collapse on the floor near me but from an angle where I didn't get a good look at him. I thought that he had "collapsed, collapsed" and started calling out his name. I was afraid he was having a seizure or something. Jeff had a better look from where he was sitting and couldn't figure out why I was panicking b/c Henry had actually just "flopped" on the floor not collapsed. I saw a video about a month ago on "The Preemie Experiment" blog where there was footage of a child having an all out seizure. I think that the visual must have affected me more than I thought it did. I was not an easy video to watch. I actually had to stop after a minute. Anyway, Henry and Jeff went to bed. I was about 10 minutes behind them. Marley had taken my place by the time I arrived. She wouldn't move either. Acted like dead weight. I managed to squeeze in.

This morning, I got up at 7:35AM. Henry and Jeff remained sacked out until about 9:45AM.

Monkey, Towel, and the Mighty Grizzly

On Monday, Alicia and Karina had to leave early unexpectedly, so Henry and Dada spent some extra time in the early afternoon together. Grandma came over around 3PM. She and Henry spent time in her car. He likes the car. He rooted around her purse for keys as he knows that keys go with the car. He fell asleep on Grandma's lap in the late afternoon. I brought home Thai food for dinner. Can't say that Henry was taken with it. He had some chicken though. We also decided to let him try a piece of tofu. He was more intent on looking at "pics" than eating. Sigh.

On Tuesday, Alicia and Karina left early (prearranged). Jeff took care of Henry for a few minutes while I was unpacking groceries. Then, Henry and I played around until Grandpa came. We called Grandma on the telephone, which Henry likes to use. He spent a good deal of time kissing the phone when Grandma spoke. Later, Grandpa found us outside in the backyard. He gave Henry his keys, and I watched as Henry walked to the front of the house and tried to insert the keys in Grandpa's car. I left Grandpa and Henry playing in the car.

At some point, I ended up looking at pics with Henry (for the umpteenth time). I decided to look at monkeys in Google images. To my surprise, Henry repeated "monkey" when I'd flash pictures on the screen. His enunciation was excellent. We went to the kitchen. I handed him a monkey magnet and asked him what it was. He said "Monkey!" Jeff handed him a Winnie the Pooh magnet and he said "Pooh!" Jeff said that he's been doing Pooh for a couple days now.

Henry has a book that has buttons for sounds to accompany the reading. One is about Boog the bear and his friend Elliott the deer. Jeff told Henry to push the Grizzly button ("Behold, the Mighty Grizzly" is Boog's phrase), and Henry did so. Then, Jeff told him to push the "What's the dealio?" button (Elliott's phrase), and Henry did that too. We were surprised.

Here's video of Henry at dinner. We let him feed Marley his macaroni that he was not enthralled with...



After dinner, Jeff broke out our Christmas tree and ornaments. I handed Henry a Winnie the Pooh ornament and asked him who it was. He said "Pooh!" He helped with a few of the ornaments but also tried to put them in his mouth. He again really wanted to look at pics, so the enchantment of Christmas didn't last long. Prior to setting up the ornaments, Jeff put a fire log in the fireplace. Henry was good. He looked at it, and I told him it was hot.


I tried getting him to bed, but just when he settled down, I'd cough, which ruined it. We got up. Jeff and I gave him a bath. When he was ready to get out, he pointed to the towel and said "Towel!"

After the bath, Jeff settled Henry down for bed.

Looking at Izzy and Austin

On Saturday, Henry and Dada spent time together at home in the morning. Jeff had to work in the afternoon and evening. So he took Henry over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma and Henry picked me up at the airport around 8:45PM.

I miss Henry and Jeff like crazy when I'm away from them. Nevertheless, it was a packed, productive, and fun couple of days. Friday's Annenberg election debriefing with the Obama and McCain consulting teams was great. I ended up doing the moderating, which meant running around with a microphone. I also got a chance to spend some time (brief, but still time) with Patrick, Kathleen, and Bob Jamieson on Thursday night, Talia Stroud on Friday night, and Brenda, Paul, Austin, and Audrey Curtis on Saturday morning. Plus, I worked with Kathleen, Ken Winneg, and Bruce Hardy on Thursday and with Kathleen and Bruce on Saturday (late morning/early afternoon). Brenda and Paul drove me to the APPC after breakfast. The funniest part of the trip was Austin, age 4, insisting on taking my large suitcase from the hotel restaurant to the elevator and then to the front of the hotel. It was a goodly distance, especially for a person who is 3 feet tall. He was being polite and did manage to do most of it himself, which was impressive b/c the suitcase weighed about three times as much as he did (thank goodness for rollers). I was convinced that I was breaking some child labor laws, however, by letting him carry my stuff for me. I can't wait to take Henry to Philadelphia to meet people and show him the city sights.

When I got home on Saturday, Jeff said hello and then had to disappear into his office after a minute (literally). Computer crisis at work. Henry and I played before going to bed.

On Sunday morning, Henry wanted to look at pictures. I started taking him to two of my friends' blogs shortly before I left for Philly. I wanted different pictures to show him, and my friends post pictures of their children. Before I left, I showed him pictures of Izzy who is 3.5 weeks older than his adjusted age. He managed to call her what sounded like Id-Dee before I left. This morning, he had a request to see Id-Dee pictures. I called out to Jeff in my rather throaty voice (was coming down with laryngitis). Jeff came with the camera. Here's Henry looking at the Acorn Dreams blog...



He's getting better at pronouncing Izzy.

I also showed him pictures of Austin and Audrey. Austin is 4 and Audrey is 1 month old. We mainly looked at pictures of Austin. Henry was calling Austin "Aut." This morning, he managed to say "Au-ten," but I don't think that he has the word matching with pictures down quite yet.

He loves pictures, and he has really enjoyed looking at pictures of other children.

We went to Tohono Chul Park for breakfast today. We were the only ones seated in the courtyard, which was nice. There was a chill in the air outside, which accounts for the emptiness of the courtyard. What the other guests probably didn't know was that they had outdoor heaters over the tables, so we were warmer at the table than we are in our own home. Felt like 78 degrees or so. It was nice. Henry ate A LOT. He had half of my black beans (his favorite), scone (a decent amount of it), egg, and french toast. We offered him melon, but he rejected it. We walked around the garden of the restaurant. Henry was enamored with some orange cones that were being used to keep people from stepping in this one area. Henry started saying the word "cones," but I'm not going to officially add this one to the list quite yet. I suspect that he gets it, but is quite possible that he was just mimicking me, instead of really knowing the word. After Jeff paid the bill, he joined us in the garden. Henry showed him the cones. Jeff wondered aloud, "Are we holding him back?" as he and I are completely floored by how fast Henry picks up new words and ideas.

We then went to my parents' house. They weren't home yet. We went for a walk around the neighborhood with Indiana, their border collie. We let Henry walk on his own, which meant that it was a very slow walk as Henry had to check out the texture of the asphalt, look at the rocks, touch the palo verde trees, etc. I tried to explain how cacti hurt (ouch!) and how Mommy and Daddy don't touch the cacti (shaking my head no and trying to get him to do it too). Will his understanding of cacti last? Probably not. It is much easier to get him to do something than to "not" do something. It will be nice when the concept of a "negative" kicks in (e.g., "not" bonking one's head on the table, etc.).

Henry took at two hour nap at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He ate mashed potatoes, Yo-Baby, 1/2 a falafel, turkey, and pea crisps. Grandma said that he was very active. They returned him to our place around 7:15PM. We decided to skip dinner with them as I am still tired from the trip and had by this point completely lost my voice.

Jeff went to the store to get some goat's milk for Henry after the grandparents left. I watched Henry. The one problem was that with no voice, I couldn't say "no" when he went into my office repeatedly. When I clapped to get his attention, he thought I was being funny. I gave him a bath. His new thing today was using his hands to make my hands clap. He moved my hands back and forth. He is working on the word "clap." Unfortunately, it sounded more like "cock." Must be the age for this word or sounds close to it b/c other parents have recently mentioned hearing it from their children.

Words in Henry's vocabulary to add to the list...
* Marley. which was sounding like MA-Dee, now sounds like Mar-Dee.
* Indy...Indiana's nickname was said today.
* Roger...Grandma reported last night that she heard Henry say "Oger."
* Bird...Henry shouted this in the courtyard, and another patron turned to him and said, "Yes, that is the bird." Nice when someone outside the family understands what he's saying. A bit unexpected.
* Hoop...Henry was dunking baskets last night and said "hoop" as he put the ball in the hoop.
* Bitsy...Henry started saying Bitsy tonight, and he follows it with Boo a couple seconds later.

I think that he is also trying to say "Jackson." It came out tonight as "Act-Un." I'll wait before adding it to the list though.

That's all for now. Jeff's feeding Henry his nighttime bot.

flu shot, battle of wills

On Wednesday Kate left for Philly on the red eye. Fortunately her father took her to the airport so that Henry and I could stay home and sleep. She'll be back Saturday night.

On Thursday I took Henry to get his second flu shot at the county health department. It was a bit of a challenge without Kate. He wants to run around everywhere but doesn't listen to commands like "come back" or "don't grab that nice persons buttocks". So I had to hold him the whole time which was more painful for him than the flu shot. This time he did cry for about 5 seconds after the shot. Last time I don't think he cried at all.

After the flu shot we went to his grandparents to go out to dinner. He fell asleep for a bit but not very long. We then went to El Charro which we had visited on Halloween. He hardly ate anything and was pretty fussy. I chalked it up to being restrained for several hours (car, health department, restaurant high chair).

After dinner we went home and he was still very awake. I tried to put him to sleep unsuccessfully. He came over to me and wanted to be picked up. He then proceeded to vomit a fairly large amount, only hitting me a little. It was pretty much just milk. I had missed his Prevacid dose that morning which might have had something to do with it. I gave him a dose and he seemed pretty happy after that. Within the hour he had another bottle and went to sleep, around 11:30pm.

Today he had a visit from Shirley the physical therapist. She brought her basket of balls again. He had fun throwing them and putting them back in the basket. Shirley still thinks things look good. Elsa, the DDD coordinator was supposed to be there but she was sick.

After that we went outside and walked around. We took turns swinging the golf club. He almost managed a full backswing with a full sized club. Getting pretty dangerous. We walked down the driveway and he went to each of the solar lights and patted it and said "ight" which is his version of light.

He and I took about a 2 hour nap together. That was sooo nice.

We had a bit of battle of the wills in the evening. He never eats well for me at dinner. Kate sometimes manages to sneak food into his mouth which he then realizes tastes good and decides to eat more of. I was a bit successful with that. I had to be resolute and decide not to take no for an answer. There was a bit of fussing and screaming but he ate more than he usually does for me.










The battle continued after dinner. He decided it would be fun to bang hard things against the windows. "No!" didn't do the trick so I had to take things away from him which resulted in much screaming. Then I broke out the camera and he immediately wanted to look at "pics". Of course I needed to take some pics for him to look at. That resulted in pictures of him having a fit over not being able to look at the pics right away. Then he wanted to climb on the glass end table which is a no-no so we battled over that.

Finally after wandering around Kate's office saying "Mommy" and "Pic" he entertained himself by playing with her mouse. He had great fun dragging it all around the house and playing with Bitsy with it. Hopefully it still works.

He has a couple new words. Grandma taught him "deer" the other day. We have two lighted xmas deer in the entry that he will point to and say "dee" since he can't say r's yet. He also says "Dack" for Jackson, one of our cats. He has started to call Marley "MAdee". He still frequently says "pack" which we don't know what it is for. He will say "back pack" for the back pack that I walk him in but I don't think that is what it is for.

Finding Henry a Sibling: Fostercare-Adoption

On Monday, Grandpa visited in the afternoon. He spent time with Henry outside on the patio. Apparently, Henry took Grandpa's keys and then walked around to the front of the house and tried to insert the keys in Grandpa's car door. When we were at the UA a couple weekends ago, Henry took my keys and tried to insert them into a door lock too. He definitely gets the whole "keys" concept.

I brought food home from Pei Wei after my class and office hours. Henry didn't eat much. He liked the insides of a vegetarian spring roll, but the texture (stringy stuff) gave him a little bit of trouble (gagging). He stayed up late and was difficult to get to bed. At one point, he bit me on the chest through my shirt, so I put him in his crib, walked out of the room, and let him cry for a couple minutes. He was upset when I went back into the room, but he settled down quickly in my arms. Given the choice between crib and my arms, he decided that me holding him was OK. Jeff cleaned the house (including my office) while Henry and I slept. My office looks like a different place.

Jeff took today (Tuesday) off. We had our first home visit from Lora Sol of "A Place Called Home," the foster-adoption agency we selected. This was the second step on our road to entering the foster-adoption system. She asked us questions, similar to the ones we did over the telephone. She asked Jeff why we wanted to be foster parents/adoptive parents. Having not coordinated a response whatsoever, Jeff basically said the same thing that I had told her on the telephone a couple weeks ago. We love kids. Being Henry's parents has been an amazing experience for us. Nothing compares to being a parent. And, we are lucky to have (Jeff's term) or are blessed with (Kate's term) a lot of resources (not just financial). We feel that we would be good providers for someone who is less fortunate and needs a family. She asked us about our histories (e.g., have we been abused by anyone, have we ever been arrested, have we been ever been abusers). Our favorite question: "If selected to be a part of the program, would you be willing to follow state laws?" Hmmm...let me think on that one.

We were also asked if we were interested/willing to be parents to someone who wasn't from our racial/ethnic group. Apparently, most people only want kids from same backgrounds. We, however, don't care. Lora said that people sometimes change their minds when they get assigned a family coordinator (after passing the training). She said that she suspected that sometimes people don't want to say that they wouldn't be willing b/c they are afraid that they won't be admitted to the program. Plus, she's black, so she thought that people, if they are not black, might find it difficult to tell her that they wouldn't be willing to foster black children in their home.

She said that it was important to stay true to our values and needs. So if a coordinator asks us to foster a child that doesn't fit our profile, it is best to say no upfront. I told her that I was hoping that the training would give some insight into us figuring out what kind of children would be a good match for us. I'm still trying to figure out what the age cutoff should be. Having gone through a lot of profiles, I'm fairly certain that we shouldn't foster older children while Henry is so young. One disturbing thing about my online searches is that the descriptions of the children do not always match up across websites. There was one boy whose description on one website intrigued me. I thought that although he was older, it could possibly work. It said that he would be good in a home with or without children. Yet, on another website, the same child was described as not being good with younger children in household. Anyway, she basically started talking about how the training doesn't prepare you for all of the ins and outs of being a parent, which wasn't exactly what I was talking about. She mentioned that a lot of foster parenting is on the job training. She said that they have foster parents describe their experiences on a panel during the training. For example, if a child acts up, a typical response might be "go to your room." But for many foster children, they equate that phrase with having sex forced on them. I'm not so concerned about us being able to work around challenges, but I am not keen on the idea of bringing a child into the home who could be a threat to Henry, which is particularly a concern if the child is older. Jeff doesn't think that a placement is likely if we are looking only at younger kids. I'm a bit more optimistic. I figure that there are younger children out there who need homes too. We have time to wait for the right placement. There's no rush. When the right kids comes along, we'll be ready to foster them. And as Henry gets older, the range of children that we would be willing to accept into our household will expand. I read on one website that 2 out of 3 kids who enter foster care do not end up returning home. Obviously, there's a need.

Lora did a walk through. We have to change some of our baby locks from the plastic kind to metal. In the garage, the paint cans need to be in a locked cabinet. Other than that, our place looks pretty good. We'll need to change the batteries in our smoke detectors to make sure that they are up-to-date. We also need to buy a fire extinguisher. Nothing major.

Next week, Lora is meeting with the director to go through the list of interviewed couples and invite the ones who meet their needs to the training, which begins in January and lasts 2.5 months (MW 6-9PM). She will be calling us in a couple weeks to let us know their decision. I suspect that we'll be invited to the training. My parents have agreed to take care of Henry while we're at training. There is babysitting at the training, but it will still be RSV season, so we'd rather not chance it.

Henry was delightful during her visit. She was impressed by his clearly enunciated vocabulary. We're impressed with it too.

I put Henry down for a nap around 11AM. He passed out in my arms without trouble. Then, I headed out to Trader Joe's. Jeff took the day off work. When I got back from TJ's, I got out some cheese that I had picked up. A fine Gruyere with spring onions. OK, it was expensive, and I admit that I didn't even look at the price tag when I picked it up. It was the taste sample item for today. I tasted it. Liked it. Stuck it in basket. I got a 1/2 lb block. A tad expensive at $12 per lb. When I got home, Jeff commented that I didn't get the memo that there was a recession going on. Incidentally, Henry didn't get the memo either. We've tried cheese on him a couple times. He has always rejected cheese pieces (swiss, cheddar, and yogurt cheese). I stuck a piece of this Gruyere in his mouth, and he liked it. Ended up having quite a few pieces. That's my boy. He has a sophisticated palate apparently.

In the afternoon, I took Henry over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a quick visit. We stopped by on our way to the post office. Grandma accompanied us to the post office, just in case the line was long. Then, we headed back to their house. Stayed until Grandpa came home from work so that he could see his boy. Then, back home.

Jeff was passed out when we got home. Henry was passed out too. Gave me a chance to walk the dogs and make dinner. Henry got himself in timeout after dinner. He kept sneaking into my office to see Pics! even when we said no. He was better behaved after spending 2 minutes in timeout (in his crib...we know we need a better location). Jeff gave Henry his nightly bottle. They are sound asleep in the bedroom. Henry has inch wormed his way toward the bottom of the bed, which is unusual. Even more unusual is that he is under the sheets (not completely) but usually he doesn't want sheets over him at all.

19 Months Actual!

Henry turned 19 months old on Sunday. Jeff made French toast. Then, we headed off to the Pima Air & Space Museum. I had never been to the museum before. It was amazing. I had no idea that Tucson had such a fantastic and unique collection of aviation artifacts. Going to the museum was Jeff' idea. He wanted us to take Henry somewhere new, and he figured that Henry could run around.

We only scratched the surface before Henry got tuckered out and fell asleep in Jeff's arms. But while he was awake, he had a great time running around looking at the "panes." They have a collection of Air Force Ones. Tourists can board the Kennedy-Johnson plane used from 1961-1965. We visited Jeff's favorite on the air field, the Super Guppy (transport plane).




















Henry visited Mimi and Poppy in the afternoon. We all went out to dinner at Swenson's in the evening. They finally fixed the train that travels around the room, much to Henry's delight. Unfortunately, the meal ended with a bang...literally. Henry banged his head on the table while trying to flop onto the booth seat. He now as a lump on his head. He cried for about two minutes, then shook it off. Came home and wasn't tired. Played in the living room while I read "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" aloud. Then, it was bedtime.