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.

Lights and Nose

This morning (Saturday), we got a late start. We ended up going to The Garland for breakfast. They have a small courtyard outside. It was cool but we were all wearing long-sleeved shirts. We were the only ones in the courtyard, which meant that Henry could run around at his leisure. The breakfast was excellent.

Henry came home and took a nap. He was a bit picky during lunch. I took him to my parents' house around 3:30PM. On the way to their house, I was playing a CD of 80s music. One song was a rap song. As I peered in the mirror, I saw Henry dancing in his car seat. This isn't the first time that I've noticed that Henry likes rap. We randomly rotate through the various music stations on our DirecTV. Jazz, Broadway, Latin, Gospel, New Age, Metal, Country, you name it. The other night (Wednesday, I think), we gave Henry the remote and let him find a music station. He chose Hip Hop Nation. He liked some Kayne West song. My one qualm about his liking rap is finding artists that don't use the b-word, c-word, f-word, s-word, don't objectify women, and don't glorify violence. If anyone has rap or hip hop suggestions that meet my qualifications, please let me know.

After dropping Henry at Mimi and Poppy's house, I went to Borders. I figured that DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince would have some songs that would probably meet my criteria. I remember liking the song "Parents Just Don't Understand" as teen. Unfortunately, Borders didn't have The Fresh Prince in stock, so it will have to be an amazon.com order.

It turns out that Henry likes heavy metal too. On Friday, Patti was over to help clean the house. She brought her walkman. Henry got a hold of it. Patti had been listening to the radio, so it was already turned out. Anyway, Henry was holding the walkman when Quiet Riot's "Cum on Feel the Noize" came on, and he started dancing to it.

Mimi and Poppy dropped Henry off around 7:30PM. He had had a large dinner at their place. We played for a little while in the living room. I whipped out the bouncy horse that can be used with a video game on the TV. Basically, when the child bounces on the horse, a picture on the TV will change (like switching from a Lion to a Goat). It's cute. Of course, Henry didn't want to play with the bouncy horse. He found the remote to the video game and wanted to explore the menu options. He figured out that pushing the button changed the menu on the screen. Wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Every time, the cursor lit up one of the options, the TV would say "Action-Reaction." Action-reaction indeed.

Henry played with bath tub paints before taking a bath. He did some painting with his feet. He really got into it. He also enjoyed cleaning up the paints with the wash cloth afterward. While in the bath tub, Henry noticed the lights above him. He calls them "ites."



After his bath, we looked at "Pics!" for a few minutes. Jeff took him to bed. He didn't settle down, so I gave it a whirl. No luck. I ended up putting him in his crib, because he wouldn't settle down but was obviously tired. I let him cry for about 4 minutes in his crib. I'm not a fan of the "cry it out" method. Just doesn't seem quite right to me. I'm much more into the attachment approach recommended by Dr. Sears. However, when Henry won't settle in our arms, and he needs sleep, it seems to me that we need to get him to the point where he can learn to calm himself down without our assistance. So, I figured that we'd try a middle ground approach. Tomorrow night, we'll try for 5 minutes by himself in crib, then come get him. Next night, we'll try to stretch it to 10 minutes. I want him to know that we are here for him, but I also want him to be OK with self-soothing. After 4 minutes tonight, he was very upset, so I got him out of the crib. Settled him down with his bottle, but then of course the bottle ran out. Had to go with Henry to the kitchen. He then saw Dada and was upset that Dada wasn't coming into the bedroom. Nevertheless, I managed to rock him to sleep within about 5 minutes, which was good.

Thanksgiving and Post-Thanksgiving: Quiet Days

On Thursday, we made breakfast. Henry was hungry, so we ended up eating in the kitchen and serving Henry as things were ready. I took Henry to Trader Joe's but the store was closed, so we turned around and headed back home b/c Henry was asleep. Jeff did most of the cooking (pumpkin pie, vegetable jalousie, peeled potatoes). I made a salad (candied the pecans myself, made fresh salad dressing, whipped up the potatoes). Headed to may parents' house where we met up with our friends, Nikki and Dana. It was fun showing Henry off. When we walked into the family room, Henry walked right up to Dana, which he usually does not do. He normally sizes people up when he first sees them. Interestingly, he gave Dana a huge smile when he first met her a couple months ago. So, he doesn't appear to have his usual cautious guard up with her. Later in the evening, Dana asked about Henry, "I know that you are worried about his cognitive development, but is he advanced?" I suspect that he is on his verbal/communication skills, which is not typical for a boy baby (they usually lag behind girls a little bit). And Henry does seem mechanically inclined.

On Friday, Henry got up around 7AM. We wished that he'd slept in, but once he's up, he's up. We had breakfast and played. Henry helped his Dad take the dogs for a walk in the morning. Around 10AM or so, I took him to Trader Joe's for a quick stop. It wasn't crowded at all, which was nice. When we got back from the store, he looked sleepy. I had no success getting him to take a nap that he sorely needed, but Jeff got him to sleep. They snoozed for 2 hours 45 minutes. I tried to switch with Jeff but Henry woke up as soon as Jeff had left. He has a Daddy sensor that let's him know when Jeff is 5 feet away from him or something.

My Dad called in the afternoon to arrange a Henry visit, but we decided to just hang out with Henry rather than go anywhere. But we'll make sure that Henry gets to see Grandpa tomorrow. Jeff, Henry, and I took the dogs for a walk in the early evening. It was cool but nice. I set up some reindeer figures that Grammy gave us. She normally puts them in her front yard but thought that Henry would like him. He does.

He had dinner and a bath. His big thing during meals is to pretend that he is going to share his food but then pop the morsel in his own mouth instead. He "tricked" me several times into thinking that I was going to get some of his strawberries. The "trickster" game has turned out to be a good way to get him to eat. Before his bath, I asked him about body parts. Turns out that he can point to eyes, nose, and feet. We haven't really worked on them actively, so I was impressed. Played in the closet for awhile after the bath. We then played in the living room for a little while, and I read "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" aloud.

His vocabulary is pretty big, and he understands a lot. I asked him a question, can't remember what it was, but his answer was "I know," which was appropriate. Jeff heard it too. I was probably asking him if he knew he was handsome or smart or something like that.

Here's a list of some of the things we know he knows...
He can say the following words:
Mama, Mommy
Dada, Daddy
Boo (as in Bitsy Boo the Cat)
Ball
Bye Bye
Hi
Pool
Book
Tea
Poop/Pee
Turkey
Hat
Bath
Keys
Hot
Dog (comes out as Daw)
Cat
Bot (bottle)
Duck
Up
Car
Truck
Pics (pictures)
Teeth
Black beans
Peas (as in Pea Crisps from Trader Joe's)
Putt putt
Tree
Backpack
Bonk
Rocks
Dis (this)
Milk
Uh-huh (yes)
Poppy (Grandpa)
Mimi (Grandma)
Pepsi ("Pepi" is what Grandpa drinks)
Baby
Happy
Clock
TD (TV)
Eat
Treat (for the dogs)
Done (as in “all done”)
Plate
Eye
Sock (sounds like hock)
Shoe (sounds like hoo)
Uh-Oh
No
Light (sounds like ite)
OK (usually sounds like K)
He is in the process of learning “Please” (sounds like “pee”).

He can identify the following body parts:
Tummy
Ears
Teeth
Head
Feet
Eyes
Nose

He can make the following animal sounds:
Lion
Dog
Cat
Chicken
Monkey
Cow

I'm sure that I'm missing a lot, but that's all I can remember right now. Signing off...

Stair Master

Last Friday Henry had an appointment with the physical therapist Shirley. She brought a basket full of balls to play with. She has been encouraging him to throw balls and he has sportingly obliged. He now is getting dangerous, chucking balls and any other objects he might grab. He has a peculiar style at the moment which is more akin to a discus thrower than a baseball player which results in his best throws typically going backward. I'm now trying to think of the best way to protect our television from random projectiles.

Shirley did not have any particular concerns but will continue to visit to make sure Henry stays on track.

Henry and I spent Friday afternoon and evening playing. He loves to be outside and we spent time walking from the front of the house around to the back and back to the front again. Of course I keep a keen eye out for snakes which are active because it is still so warm.

We went to the Desert Museum on Saturday morning. He fell asleep about 5 minutes from the museum so I drove around the area for about 45 minutes while he napped. When he did wake we had a good time at the museum. He enjoyed walking around and exploring and being social. He met a couple small children who were friendly. Chloe, a 3 year old English girl, helped him up when he fell and seemed to enjoy having him tag along for a little bit.

Henry excels at going the opposite way you want him to. One of the cutest things was when he was walking against the grain on a path and two men were walking by. He stopped, looked at them and said "Hi!" very enthusiastically while waving to them. They both smiled and said "Hi!" back.

I dropped him off at Grandma and Grandpa's for a few hours in the afternoon then returned later for dinner. Aunt Erin was there for dinner as well with her dogs which Henry enjoyed.

That evening Kate came home at 10:50pm. I took Henry with me to the airport and he slept almost the whole way.

On Sunday we went to the U for breakfast, as we usually do on Saturday. Henry loves to walk up and down hills and go up and down stairs. We went to the Old Main building and he went up and down the stairs there several times, which is pretty impressive. He's going to have some serious lower body strength if he keeps it up.

On Monday Grandpa came over in the afternoon. They always have a lot of fun. They spent most of the time outside, which Henry loves.

Tuesday, Henry had a follow up with the Developmental Clinic and Dr. Tsai. She had him play with lots of toys and asked a great number of questions about him. At one point she pulled out a board with holes for pegs in it. He grabbed the pegs and put them in the holes like he had done it a million times. He had been given the same test at the occupational therapist a few months ago and couldn't do it. We had not practiced it since then. I was shocked because his fine motor hasn't seemed that great. When we try to stack rings he has real trouble and shape sorting anything but circles is frustrating for him. But pegs in small holes are no problem, go figure.

She was very impressed, particularly by his ability to mimic actions and his calm demeanor. She frequently has kids in there bouncing off the walls but Henry was very deliberate and easy to work with. She pronounced him graduated from the clinic. We can call her if we need but she doesn't see any need to have him visit anymore and didn't have anything for us to work with him on. It's great news, although it is fun to visit her to show Henry off and find out how things are going at the nicu.

We dropped him off at his grandparents for a couple of hours after that and he had dinner with them. We picked him up around 8pm and he stayed awake all the way home. We gave him a bath and tried to get him to sleep which was a struggle.

Today he was very cranky most of the afternoon. I persuaded him to take a nap at 5:30 for an hour and he was in a much better mood after that. However, he stayed up until 10pm and it took almost an hour to get him to go to sleep.

The big challenge for us right now is sleep. He does a good job of taking a morning nap for Alicia during the week and we keep that up most weekends. I think he would be well served by an afternoon nap around 4pm but that rarely happens. Sometimes at night he seems to want to go to sleep but flops around and can't seem to get settled. It could be something he got from me. Through my childhood until early adulthood it frequently took me a long time to get to sleep. As a child I could spend hours trying to get to sleep and would head bang and roll my head back and forth trying to make myself tired enough to sleep. Hopefully that is not it and we can find a routine that works for him.

We tried to ween him off the reflux meds but are probably going to return to full dose again. His intake is down and he rarely finishes a bottle these days. Maybe this also has something to do with his sleep.

Cute Pic

Nothing too exciting today, just wanted to share this cute picture.

Kate left for Chicago today. We had to get Henry up at 5:30am which he took fairly well. By the time we got home from taking Kate to the airport he was asleep again and slept until Alicia arrived. Kate is homesick already.

Grandma came by in the afternoon and taught Henry to yawn, stretch, and say Cockadoodledo, or something similar.

He took a 3 hour nap this afternoon and tonight was in bed just before 8pm. He hardly ate any dinner. Grandma thinks his molars are really bothering him and I agree. Hopefully they will be all the way in soon.