78 Weeks Old

As you all know, we received fabulous news this week. So exciting for us and for Henry!!
Henry seems to really be working on his verbal skills lately. He practiced saying "baby, baby, baby" over and over today. The best is that he tends to say and sign at the same time, so when it's words you can't understand (like "shoes" which is pretty incomprehensible at this stage), he simutaneously signs it which then allows us to understand and him to feel confident in his communication. His favorite word is still "bra." Gee, wonder why? :)

I took him to a preschool storytime at the library for the first time this week. It is intended for 2 and 3 year olds, but we needed something to do, so I thought we could at least try. Given that he is 6 months younger than the intended age, he did really well. He loves to watch the other kids but also was not intimidated to join in with them when it was time to chase bubbles or go get a scarf from the teacher. He's always loved books, so getting him to pay attention during the story was no problem. I'm going to make an effort to take him to the one that is for his age group and see if that one's better. (We'd gone to the Lake Oswego and West Linn library's programs, but these are through Multnomah County.)

The second picture was taken with an odd camera setting which is why it is blurry.

18 Months Old

Yesterday Henry turned 18 months old. So hard to believe. He has really grown up into a little boy over the past couple weeks. We even experienced our first little temper tantrum the other night, complete with foot stomping and whining.

Today we went to Washington Square so I could have his feet measured just to make sure that he's in the right size. We stopped to play there, where I took these pictures. He was able to climb up on this fish all by himself...and climb down again too.

77 Weeks Old - Pictures

Here are some pictures taken on Saturday during the Arizona/OSU game. With a house divided along alumni loyalty lines, Gigi and Henry did school work at the dining room table during the game, as you can see here. :)

77 Weeks Old!

I don't have a picture yet - I haven't taken any this week except for the ones from last weekend at the beach. But I will take some tomorrow and post one.
Tonight is the third night that Henry is sleeping in his room, in his twin bed. Yippee! Of course, I am sleeping on the floor in there and sometime during the night (actually I think it's probably about 4 am) I do end up in the bed with him. It's just out of pure tiredness. I reach my breaking point and fall asleep while trying to get him back to sleep and just end up asleep in the bed with him. This happens at naptime sometimes too. But from the time he goes to bed (about 8 pm) until the time I go to bed (about midnight) he's in there all by himself. And then from midnight to 4 am (or thereabouts), he's alone in his own bed. So at least that's a step in the right direction. I'm sure he would be fine if I slept in my own room, but I wouldn't be...having to get up out of bed and walk all the way to his room would totally wake me up and then I would be miserable. This method is much more conducive to my own good night's sleep.
In other news, he's been really practising saying words this week. He tries to enunciate his words so carefully; it's so cute! He says "more" and Brett's teaching him to say "more, please" and he just tries so hard to get the right sounds out. We got him to say "Gigi" the other night. Which sounded a lot like "keys" and also "cheese." Context. It's all about context. :)
So more tomorrow when I take some pictures.

Cannon Beach Trip

Last weekend we spent the night at Brett's friend, Kyle's mother's house in Cannon Beach. Kyle is a friend from college. Also there was another friend, Scott, and his family. Three kids, four dogs, a bonfire, and lots of fun. I wish we could have stayed a week instead of a night. Here's a picture of Henry on the beach...can you see Wilbur in the background? Looks like he's licking that stick. Hee hee hee.

76 Weeks Old!

All the people who have told me that the best age is the age your child currently is, are so right. I keep thinking that "this age" is the best, and then he gets a bit older and changes, and then all of a sudden "this age" is the best. Not to say I don't reminisce about the days gone by where I could fit him in the crook of my arm or set him down and he'd stay there, but, wow!, am I enjoying the present time. The ability to communicate with this little human being that you've known for a year and half but haven't really known what they are thinking is amazing. I love it.

His poor teeth will be fixed by the first week of November, if not sooner. Due to the exigent circumstances of the severity of his decay, we are first in line for any cancellation. Cross your fingers for us. It'll be about a two hour procedure all in all. Poor little guy. I'm just so glad he'll be asleep and won't remember any of this!
Also night weaning and trying to transition to his own bed. So far this week we've done all naps in his own bed. He even missed a whole nap one day because he wouldn't settle down into his bed. It was so frustrating for me because I knew if I took him into my bed he'd go right to sleep, but I stuck to it and didn't let him. Today was the best day so far - an hour and half in his bed (by himself!). Tonight is the first night of night weaning and I am anticipating a rough one. We'll see.

These pictures were taken today - at Smith Elementary and in our backyard.

Proof!

Here's Henry taking his nap in his big boy bed today! Since you can't see him in the bigger shot, I took a close up one too. Debating whether to tackle overnights now since we are going out of town this weekend. The plywood on the back of the headboard is temporary - we couldn't leave it open while he's so little and could get his head stuck in between the bed and the wall, so we nailed that to the bed for now.

75 Weeks Old!

No (new) picture this week. I left my camera at Gigi's house over the weekend...a whole week without photo documentation! What have I been doing with my time?!? This is a picture from last week at Washington Square.

Well, actually, we've all been a bit under the weather this week. Just a little cold; certainly a taste of what the winter has in store for us.

Henry has been signing even more words and along with signing them he has been trying to say more and more. We were practicing the sign for 'book' and he was doing the sign and trying to say 'book' at the same time. Then when we were at the library he signed and said book. So cool.

We got him a twin size bed at IKEA and just finished putting it together and making all the necessary modifications to make it safe for him to sleep in. As soon as I get my camera I'll take some pictures of it and post them. We've been letting the mattress air out and fluff up (as recommended by IKEA) but tomorrow I plan on using his bed for his nap and we'll take it from there.

74 Weeks Old

I feel like this week has flown by. Let's see...what can I recap? The biggest thing on our mind is finding a solution to Henry's cavity problem. Our piece of crap insurance company (United Health Care) denied our request to pay for him to have it filled under general anesthesia at the hospital. So, luckily, Brett's parents are in the dental industry and have put out feelers for a dentist that can help us out. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON OUR FOR-PROFIT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. All I will say is that it is my belief that health care is a basic human right (so does the United Nations and just about every other country on this planet). Thankfully, no matter what happens, we do have the means to take care of this; I can't imagine being faced with a more serious problem and not having the means to pull together enough money/resources to pay for it.

Deep breaths.

Look at the little boy! I know I keep saying this, but no more baby. Today we went to the park, library and out to lunch together. While Henry was eating his favorite Thai entree, Pad See Ewe, a woman from all the way across the restaurant shouted "He eats Thai food?! Look at that little boy eating the Thai food!!" Hee hee hee. He loves it!