A Dare Devil

Over the past couple days, Jeff has repeatedly said that Henry has reached a "dangerous phase." Earlier in the week, Henry started sliding off the couch head first, catching himself with his hands and lowering himself to the ground. I think that it was yesterday (Wednesday) when I was at work that Jeff caught Henry trying to dive head first off the bed, which is quite a bit higher than the couch. He also spent a good deal of time yesterday trying to walk down the stairs (two of them) into the living room rather than sitting down on each step and crawling down them. Henry also likes to climb high up on chairs and bounce around. In the past week or so, he has figured out to get up onto the living room chair by himself (it is a little higher than the couch, so it is a tougher climb).

On Tuesday, Grandma picked him up in the afternoon. He went to the vets with Indy, Grandma, and Grandpa. Unfortunately, Indy's retina in one of his eyes has detached, so he is now permanently blind in that eye. Indy seems, however, to be in good spirits though. Henry enjoyed the vets office. He had salmon and asparagus for dinner. When we went to pick him up in the evening, he was trying to climb onto the glass coffee table. He was mad that he was being prevented from doing so. He climbed under the coffee table and hit his head against the top. I said, "Henry, don't bonk your head on the table." So he did hit his head again and said, "bonk, bonk." Not exactly what I had in mind. He didn't hit it hard, but I'd rather he avoid ramming the super noggin into things. When I say "bonk," he sometimes takes his hand and pats his head with it.

On Wednesday, Grammy picked up Henry and took him to visit Lucinda. She dropped him back at home. He fell asleep in the car. Jeff managed to get him into his crib without waking him. Henry took a good nap. I had to stay late at work getting some grading done. Jeff made Henry soup and Henry had some of the middle eastern green beans for dinner (a lot of them). When I returned home, I heard a lot of splashing in the tub. When Henry finally went to sleep, Jeff put him in his crib. He stayed there until about 5AM and then came to bed with us. This morning (Thursday), Jeff remarked that it is good that Henry "can" sleep in his crib, but he did kind of miss the little guy as Henry is very snuggleable. They are making up for it tonight. I fell asleep on the couch around 10PM. Just woke up to find the boys in bed.

Today (Thursday), we didn't have any visits from grandparents today. Henry spent a lot of time in the backpack in the afternoon. Jeff is organizing a grading of our road. Evonne found out that the neighbors on the other side of the wash are having their end regraded. She got Jeff the contact information. Jeff called the fellow doing the work. He stopped by this afternoon to look at the road and give an estimate. Jeff called our neighbors on Wednesday night about it. Fellow stopped by today. Henry went out with Jeff as the guy took a look at the road. Jeff reported that before the fellow showed up, Henry was getting a bit antsy as Jeff and Janice (neighbor directly across from us) talked and tried to climb out of the backpack.

Got a hug from Henry when I came home, although I think that he really just wanted an excuse to get on the dog side of the gate. We decided to go to the mall for dinner, but Henry ended up falling asleep in the car so we drove to Trader Joe's instead. Jeff picked up supplies while I waited in the car with a sleeping Henry. Henry woke up by the time that we got home. Jeff had gotten dinner from Chopped (next door to TJ's). Henry ate lots of pasta salad, some corn and poblano chowder, and turkey from Jeff's sandwich. We played in the living room after dinner, while Jeff read from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Henry's fine motor skills are improving. He picks up puzzle pieces by the tiny red knobs on them. Then, I fell asleep in the living room while Jeff and Henry went to bed.

On a side note, I don't know if we mentioned this on previous posts, but a couple weeks ago, Henry started writing on the magnadoodles that we have. Looks good. And he knows how to use the eraser on it as well.

Rough Day

Henry was a sleepy head this morning. Jeff got me up around 7:30AM. I stayed in bed with Henry for about 15 minutes. I rubbed his back, but he just buried his head in the mattress and managed to get the pillow on top of his head. Bitsy came by and licked the soles of his feet. He then curled them up under his body with his derriere in the air. I got him out of bed by 7:50AM. We were about to take him out to see Alicia and Karina, but they suddenly had to return home b/c Alicia's husband had left his car keys in her car. I played with Henry until they returned around 8:45AM. A later start to my day than I had anticipated.

The big scare of the morning was that Marley bit Henry. Alicia said that Henry was climbing on top of Marley and Marley got upset. Sigh. I've mentioned several times that the kids should not rough house with Marley. She's testy. She's fine when we are monitoring the interactions. We (Jeff and I) are always right by Henry's side if he touches Marley. But I guess Alicia wasn't following those protocols. Marley got his face. He was stunned and didn't like Alicia's effort to clean out his wounds. We are very lucky as it could have been much worse. Marley was banished to the garage. I hopped in the car and went to Safeway to get Neosporin. As I came back, I found Marley wandering around the dirt road near a wash about two parcels over from our place. She'd escaped from the yard...again.

Henry was asleep when I got home. I put the Neosporin on him while he was in his crib. He got up for lunch a little later than usual (nap was also a little later than usual). He seemed as cheerful as usual.

Grammy picked him up at 2PM and took him to the store. She took him back to her place and he spent some time with Grandpa.

I went to school to teach. Had a nice class. It was a discussion class today instead of lecture. I ordered a huge middle eastern meal from Sinbad's. Got home around 7PM. Henry had returned home before 6PM. He'd gone on a walk with Jeff. I was greeted with a vivacious "Hi!" I walked past the dogs without saying hello and made it to the baby gate to the Henry. Got through the gate and left the dogs on the other side (not that Roger should be punished when it is Marley that's the problem dog). Apparently, Henry had learned much from the day's events. He stuck his hand through the gate, and Marley licked it.

We have full confidence that Marley would never just attack Henry. She gets testy (with other dogs for example) when they are invading her space. But today's events clearly show that she is going to have to be physically separated from the rest of the family when Henry is around. Sigh.

We had a huge family dinner at the kitchen table. Henry ate lentil soup, babagounush, hommous, pita bread, loubeia (green beans), dolmas, and Aladin chicken. He loved trying to say that word "babagounush." We're calling it "baba" now, but in a deep voice. He was having a lot of fun changing his voice to match mine. He was a great eater tonight.

We played in the living room. I read from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." We gave Henry a bath. He is doing better sitting down in the tub. At least tonight anyway. Jeff gave Henry a bottle and put him to bed in the crib. I suspect he'll cry out in about an hour for a transfer to his "real" bed.

Beans! Beans! Beans!

The first word out of Henry's mouth this morning was "pics." He likes computers way too much.

We went to Tohono Chul Park for breakfast this morning. Henry and Jeff played in the back garden while I ordered for us. Jeff got Henry settled in his high chair right before the food arrived. As the waitress put my plate in front of me, Henry called out "Beans! Beans!" He had black beans last weekend when I ordered the same dish. He liked them. And we had taught him the word "beans" but neither of us had used the word since our last visit. We were a bit surprised that Henry remember the word. Henry ended up eating over three-fourths of the black beans on my plate. He rejected the scone, and it seemed like I couldn't get the black beans in his mouth fast enough. There was some cheese from the huevos enchiladas that had gotten on one bite of beans that he rejected. He spotted it and refused the bite but called out "beans" again. Apparently, he is a black bean purist. After finishing a good deal of black beans, he had some fresh strawberry too.

After breakfast, we visited a different park in Oro Valley called the Cañada del Oro Riverfront Park. It was nice. Henry went down a slide. Climbed on the equipment. The kids at the park were nice and didn't trample him when he got in their way. A 6 year old girl approached Jeff and told him that Henry was cute. She talked with Jeff for awhile. She has a new baby sister who spent a long time in the hospital with a kidney issue. She played in the wood chips and dirt with Henry. Henry liked her. Henry ran out onto a soccer field and played in the grass. He shouted out "Ball!" at the father and son playing catch. They threw a ball his way so that he could play with it. We left around noon to held to the Grandparents' house. Henry was rubbing his eyes. It was well past his usual naptime.

Henry fell asleep in the car. When we arrived at my parents' house, Jeff put Henry on their bed instead of the crib. He sleeps better on beds. He took a two hour nap. Jeff and I went home to do some work. I had a conference call, and Jeff did some work outside.

When we arrived at my parents' for dinner, Henry was asleep in Grammy's arms. She reported that Henry didn't tear the house apart as much as usual. A rather sedate day for Hurricane Henry. He ate fairly well at lunch. He got up as we ate dinner, but he didn't eat much himself. We read some books. Jeff took him to the office to look at "pics." When he started rubbing his eyes, it was clear that it was time to head home.

The NICU Graduate Picnic

On Thursday afternoon, we took Henry to the Pima County Health Department for his flu shot. His pediatrician's office doesn't offer the preservative free flu shot. Some people claim that all infant shots are preservative free, but they are wrong, operating under some serious misunderstandings of the reality of vaccines. So off to the health department we went. Last year, we were pleased with the operation. Child vaccination clinics are offered on Thursday afternoons/evenings. Last year, we went right at 1PM when the clinic started. It was an efficient operation. This year, we arrived after 3PM. It was jam packed solid with people. Oy vey! Some teenagers with what I'd call alternative hair styles were very taken with Henry and made faces at him to make him laugh. This was good because we were holding him, which was making him mad. He wanted to run around, which is the last thing we wanted him to do. Run around the health department...I think not. It took awhile, but once we got into the exam room, the nurse (or whatever the title was of the person sticking the shot) had Henry sit on Jeff's lap sideways so that he was facing me. She stuck him in his left upper arm. He turned to watch her as she drove the needle into his arm and he didn't flinch. Not a peep. OK. Most people who probably say, "Wow, what a brave little boy! How wonderful!" But it isn't really that great a thing. Henry has a very high pain threshold, which isn't uncommon in preemies, and that can actually be problematic because pain actually teaches us important lessons of what to avoid. There is some empirical evidence that suggests that the preemie brain gets rewired because it has faced stimulation (e.g., needles in the arms, legs, heels) too early. I too have a much higher pain threshold than many, but I don't think that it is comes close to Henry's. Sigh.

After the flu shot, I headed to school because I was evaluating one of our graduate student's teaching performance. Then, I sped off to the Northwest side of town for a dinner with six scholars (three U.S., three German) and their organizers from the Transatlantic Academy who are in-town studying immigration issues. My mom was one of the main speakers at the dinner. Long story short, I didn't get home until after midnight. Came home to find the house in absolute disarray. You know those television ads where the mom gets sick, so the dad takes over, and once the mom has recovered by taking NiQuil, she walks into the kitchen to find the place an absolute disaster. Well, my house could have been in that ad. I found Jeff and Henry sound asleep in bed.

Jeff took Henry to the mall after the flu shot. They went home. Had dinner. Or at least left food around the kitchen. Then, the boys decided to take apart the living room and make a fort/slide out of the couch cushions.

Here's what I missed:


On Friday, I had a colloquium to attend at school (my mom was the speaker), so I didn't get home until after Shirley had left. Jeff said that they played with the basket ball. Henry sat on Shirley's lap, and she showed him how to throw the ball to Jeff. Jeff was again amazed. Shirley has the touch. Henry doesn't let anyone else manipulate his hands without protest.

We played with Henry. Then, Grammy, who hadn't seen Henry in a couple days, picked Henry up and took him to her place. This was in the late afternoon. After Jeff and I got some stuff done and walked the dogs, we went to Grammy and Grandpa's house. Grandpa was a bit surprised because during a diaper change, Henry said a new word: "penis." All five of us went to dinner at Swenson's. Henry tried some of Grammy's strawberry milkshake. Grammy has been dying to give Henry dessert for the longest time. We said OK, but not very much, because it has cow's milk in it. We figured that it would be a test. No more milk products, however, for a couple days. We have to make sure that his output is alright. He liked the milk shake. Had some hamburger. He was a very tired boy, however, at the end of the meal.

The big event today (Saturday) was the NICU Graduate Picnic at Reid Park. We saw several of Henry's nurses: Lisa (nurse practitioner), Penny (specializes in development), Jenny (helped out immensely one night when "the traveling nurse" was assigned to Henry and couldn't handle her job assignment; we greatly appreciated Jenny's help that night b/c she stepped in when care was needed), Carol (also does administrative work), Karin (does administrative work and rotations), and Holly (evening primary nurse).


After assessing Lisa for about 5 seconds, Henry let her hold him. That's pretty unusual for him. It has happened with a couple people before, but he usually likes to assess people for about 20-30 minutes. He liked her. Lisa was one of the first people that I remember in the NICU. I thought she was a doctor at first. She is a nurse practitioner (NPs) , which basically means that she does some extra procedures that the RNs don't do (e.g., PIC lines). The NPs basically have the knowledge the doctors and the knowledge and interpersonal skills of the RNs. As a group, they are outstanding communicators. Jeff and I have nothing but utmost admiration for the NPs. During Henry's first week in the NICU, Lisa had the task of having to tell me that Jeff and I needed to indicate at times whether or not the medical staff were intervening too much in assisting in Henry's survival. It takes a special person to have the skill to broach tactfully that part of the NICU experience when one has had a micropreemie b/c survival isn't the only issue; quality of life is an issue too. Anyway, it was very nice to see her.

Jenny was so sweet to us. She told us that she thought about us often. I've already mentioned above how much we appreciated Jenny when she stepped in during a not-so-great nurse experience one of the evenings.

I've talked about Holly dozens of times before, so I'm sure that readers of this blog already know that Holly was one of Henry's primary nurses on the night shift. At the picnic, she set up some games for the kids. One involved beach balls being used as bowling pins. The pins were made of NICU bottles filled with water. Henry kept grabbing the NICU bottles, shaking them, and running around with them. Holly was exceedingly generous as always. She gave Henry several fun toys to take home (e.g., beach ball, goggles, slip-n-slide, etc.).

Henry played on the playground equipment. A boy named Atticus who is almost 2 was so kind as to not trample over Henry when Henry got in his way on the equipment. He patted Henry on the back, which was sweet. I let Henry loose in the jumping castle. He's too short to go on the one at Funtastics, where they require a 36" height. Jeff was a bit hesitant to let Henry loose in the jumping castle and told me that if Henry got stuck (e.g., wedged in the back), I was going to fetch him. The parents of a girl, who I guess was about 4-5 years old, kept telling her to stay away from Henry. I think that they thought she was going to fall on him. I wasn't particularly worried about him. He's been knocked over several times by Roger's derriere and Roger probably weighs 40 lbs more than the little girl did. She was disappointed b/c I think that she found Henry cute. She actually seemed to be a well-coordinator and controlled little lady. Henry had a very good time on the jumping castle. Hoping that Dada will eventually concede to us getting a smaller one for the living room.

After the picnic, we went to the zoo. Henry relaxed in the stroller while drinking a cold bot. The weather was nice. It wasn't too crowded. And the animals were out and about. The jaguar were actually moving. We were impressed last time because they were in the front of their cage, lounging in the sunlight. They usually hide in the back. Today, one was pacing near the side of the cage. I think that he saw a bird or something in the bamboo. The other one walked up a tree trunk and hung out at the top in a most unmajestic fashion. It was hilarious. As we watched the jaguar, a little girl of about 6 was smiling at Henry. She tickled to him a couple times, and he grinned back at her.









It was feeding time for the giraffes by the time we got to their pen. Henry and I bought two biscuits. We were the first to fed one of the female giraffes. She took the biscuit right out of my hand before I was expecting it. I gave the second one to Henry who placed it right on her tongue all by himself. We visited an area where they have peacocks wandering around. Henry was enthralled with a white peacock and started chasing it, so Jeff had to hold him back. Jeff didn't think that the white peacock really wanted a hug.

The zoo had a lot of Halloween decorations up. Henry was fascinated with Yoda. Funny because we were thinking of dressing him up in a Yoda costume for Halloween.






At the end of our visit, Henry played in the pumpkin patch. But alas, the pumpkins were too heavy to carry.










He then went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have chicken Florentine for dinner. The grandparents brought him back to our place around 8:15PM. We played and played. Henry had fun wrestling with me on the bed while Dada pet Marley. Henry was giggling loudly when I tickled him. We also played a game of "Where's Mommy?" I'd "hide" under his blanket. Jeff would say "Where's Mommy?" Then, Henry would pull the blanket off me, laugh, and dive into me. Then, we'd do it again and again and again. We later went to the living room, where I read from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" while Henry played on his couch cushion slide. He and Jeff headed to bed around 10:15PM or so.

Henry Gets Kissed By and Kisses A Girl

On Wednesday, I gave Henry a kiss before I left for work. He was in his high chair having lunch. Alicia was holding her daughter Karina. I said, "Henry, I'm going to give you a kiss" and leaned over to give him one. Karina, nearly fell out of Alicia's arms, bending over to give Henry a kiss as I was doing so. After I gave him a kiss, Karina bent over a second time and managed to give him a kiss on the lips. Then, she bent over a third time but it was Henry who was the kiss giver this time. It was very cute.

Jeff took care of Henry while I was at work. They went for a bike ride around the neighborhood and played in the living room. Jeff attempted to make a tuna melt, which was apparently a "disaster." Henry did try a bite of the tuna melt, but that was about it.

When I got home, I made some Top Ramen. I've been craving it for a couple months now. Henry decided to try some. He loved it. Ate about five bites of it. It does have some soy in it (in the powder). He hasn't had soy in a really long time. So we've wanted to try trace of it in his foods to figure out if he has an actual allergy or an intolerance or maybe the whole issue has disappeared now that he's older. That said, it will be awhile before I give him tofu. I don't see any reason to rock the boat on the issue.

We played basketball while Dada read from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." And we played golf. Henry has gotten into the habit of dropping balls on Bitsy. No sure why. When the soccer ball comes down, Bitsy usually moves a couple feet out of the way, but she never vacates the premises. She tolerates the golf balls from Henry's toddler golf set; they don't weigh much.

We gave Henry a bath. He wasn't as bad as he usually is about standing in the tub, which drives us nuts. He's been playing with the little figures from his Backyardigans pirate ship. We've been holding Olympic high diving trials for Pete the Pirate and Sam the Snail. Henry likes that.

"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.