31 Weeks Old

We started baby sign language classes this week. Henry is the youngest in our class with the oldest being 1 year. It is so hilarious to watch all the little kids play together. At the beginning and end of the class all the parents sing a song to the children with a verse for each child. All the kids' faces light up when they hear their own name. The teacher is a speech pathologist so in addition to teaching us the signs she is teaching us some great ways to teach language skills. It will take some getting used to signing all the time (the more you use the signs, the better), but so far it's been pretty fun.

Here he is in his Halloween shirt and socks from Gigi and then also wearing his pumpkin hat from Uncle Mike and Jackie.

Seven Months Old!

I took this picture today while Henry was eating his breakfast. It makes me laugh because it reminds me of a Halloween themed recreation of a scene from The Exorcist. Actually it's Henry
"eating" a piece of orange. He has a habit of chewing on whatever piece of food he has (apple, orange, bread, etc.) and letting it hang out of his mouth as if he's saying "Look, no hands!"

Look Who's Talking

So...this video doesn't properly demonstrate his speaking capabilities but after trying a number of times to get him to say "mama" clearly, this is the best I could do. But take my word for it, even if it sounds like he's just babbling and randomly happens to say what sounds like "mama" on this video, that is actually not the case. In person he will clearly say it after Brett or I say it to him.

30 Weeks Old!

Almost to 7 months old...just a couple days away. The biggest accomplishment is that Henry is saying "mama" very clearly and can do it on command. Of course he has no idea what it means, but it's still exciting. The baby books call is indiscriminate talk which is the first step towards understanding how to use language in a meaningful way. We start our baby sign language classes next week and are really looking forward to them. I've been having Henry practise his fine motor skills as much as possible in preparation! He's always been a very curious, observent child, but as he is getting older he is really getting even more curious and interested in the world around him. It's amazing to watch. For example, he just discovered that he can tilt his head way back and look behind him, so now he does that all the time to see what's going on behind him. It's hilarious.

Pumpkin Patch

We took Henry to the pumpkin patch yesterday. My mom, dad, Mike, Jackie, and Geoff all joined us for a trip out to Lee Farms where Henry got to sit with pumpkins, goats, chicks, and hay. I didn't get the best pictures with our camera, but somebody must have gotten some because I'm sure Henry must have felt like a mini-celebrity being stalked by the paparazzi there were so many people flashing pictures of him. I'll have to check out everyone else's pictures to find some better ones, but for now here a couple of the better ones I got.

More Eating Fun

Brett was feeding Henry and saying to him "say ahhhhh" and Henry was repeating the "ahhhh" sound with his mouth open waiting for the next bite. It was so cute that I had to get a video of it, but of course, once the camera came out Henry stopped doing it...so you have to listen at the very beginning of the video because I only captured him doing it one time. But the rest of the video is pretty darn cute anyway.

Laugh Track

Okay, so I know this is weird...but this is a video with really no visual component...just the audio component of Henry laughing. The reason there isn't anything to see is because I took this in bed last night when I was making Henry laugh and laugh and laugh. So just turn the sound up and enjoy!

29 Weeks Old!

Sleeping has been thrown off, I'm thinking due to the teething. Those sharp little teeth are coming right in...it's so cute to see them get a little bigger each day. It hurts when he chomps down on my fingers (or nose!) but he doesn't seem to mind chewing on his own fingers. He continues to do really well eating "solids" (not a very accurate term because they are really anything but solid!). He's now had: bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples (that's the newest), lots of prunes, and a taste of peas and apricots. These all get mixed in with the rice cereal which was causing some, ahem, congestion problems - hence the prunes. I cannot express how much I love that he's sitting up so well now! It makes so many things WAY easier to do now that I can just plop him down on the floor with a couple toys in front of him. He absolutely loves to be sitting up with a couple interesting things within his grasp. This is a 180 degree change from the way he was about lying down - he absolutely hated to be laid down so this is such a nice change!

He was much more interested in his shoes today (second picture) than in having his picture taken...

Tooth...make that Teeth!

That's right...today the bottom, left tooth started poking up through the gums. So, now he officially has TEETH!! Oh my goodness - getting two teeth has really made him cranky. Sometimes I forget just how much of a calm, content, easygoing little guy he is until something like this reminds of what he could be like. It's been so hard to get him to fall asleep for the past two days and he will wake up just crying and putting his little fists in his mouth. I hope that once these two are through that he gets a break before the top ones start coming in.

Major Milestone Alert!

Tooth, tooth, tooth, tooth!! Henry was a bit fussier than usual Thursday night...okay, a lot fussier than usual. When he didn't even want to nurse, I knew something was up. Sure enough, a little, sharp tooth was poking through on the bottom. Finally I got him to sleep and today you can still feel it, but it seemed to have gone down a little bit which I thought was odd, but mom says they do that. But it's definitely here, his very first tooth!!

28 Weeks Old!

Not a whole lot of new developments to report this week. Henry is continuing to eat rice cereal and bananas, usually two servings a day. I'm going to start introducing him to more new foods slowly (to make sure he doesn't have an allergic reaction to anything). So far I've made sweet potatoes, carrots, yellow peas, prunes, and of course the bananas. I buy the organic produce and then steam it and puree it and then freeze it in ice cube trays. It's super easy to do and since the portions are so small you actually get quite a bit of food done all at once. It definitely saves money but I think the more important thing is that I am controlling exactly what goes into his body at this important stage in his development. I guess the only other new thing that's going on is something that you can see illustrated in this picture...he is trying to move around a lot. He reaches, stretches, leans, bends, etc., to try and get things that are out of his reach. I suppose this is the first step to crawling!

Bathing Baby Boy

Once again, here's more of Henry in the bath...this time in a video so you can see him in action. As much as he is active in this video, he is usually even more active - I think he might have been a bit camera-shy.

Adventures in Eating

We added another food to his diet...bananas! Here he is trying mashed bananas mixed into his rice cereal for the first time. There's the still photo as well as the video in case some people have trouble viewing the video.

27 Weeks Old!

Henry cannot keep his fingers out of his mouth right now....he's been teething for about 2 months now and still no sign of a tooth. I keep having dreams that he gets all his teeth at once, so we'll see. He wasn't very pleased with having his picture taken today and used his new-found weapon of choice, the back arch, to try and wiggle out of the boppy. This is the best picture I could get of him. We are continuing a nightly feeding of rice cereal and he is still loving it. Last night he ate about half of what I mixed up for him and then just shut his mouth and refused any more so I guess he was full! Right now he's sitting on the bed next to me and picking up and dropping a pacifier over and over. Picks it up, drops it, picks it up, drops it. And he is very intent on it. :)