Weekly Update

I am trying to think about what to write for this week and not much is coming to me...maybe because it's so late and I am so tired...

So, I'll just talk about the pictures and leave it at that for now. This first one is Henry in the backyard with his favorite outdoor toy - the lawnmower. That has proven to be a fantastic toy (thank you Aunt Joan!). He got it on his birthday and a full 6 months later he still uses it every time we go outside to play. In his other hand he has his "tennis" racket. Apparently he was mowing his way over to a tennis game.

Since the weather was so nice today, we decided to hit a local high school football game this evening. Henry loved it (not the first he's been to - he loved it last year too). He yelled at the field constantly...not entirely sure what he was yelling...clapped his hands at all the appropriate times and just really enjoyed himself. I love this picture because it shows just how into the game he is!

This last picture is at the zoo - sea lion exhibit. Those poor animals just swim in big circles over and over....but their monotonous life gives Henry (at lots of other kids too, I suppose) lots of enjoyment. He could stand there for an hour if I let him, just watching the sea lions swim by.

Bike Riding with the Big Kids!

Henry continues to work on his bike riding (gliding?) skills on his balance bike (a regular bike with no pedals). The other day he was out riding around with the neighbor kids and I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures. I really got the sense that he is truly becoming a big boy watching him out there riding his bike and interacting with the older kids.

Last Beaver's Game

On Labor Day we attended the very last Portland Beaver's baseball game at PGE Park. We went with Bumpa (who got us the tickets) and Gigi and Henry had a blast!! Brett has been telling him about how you are supposed to take your baseball mitt with you to the games so you can try and catch a ball - Henry took this very seriously and held his mitt up EVERY play. It was so cute!

Weekly (Monthly?) Update

Finally, I'm back! I realize it's been awhile since my last update...a couple people have mentioned it to me! Good to know people are reading and I'm not just posting for my own enjoyment. :)
I got really, really sick a week ago and then I just got kind of lazy. Or busy, I suppose...busy in all things other than posting, lazy in all things posting. Anyhow, on to the update!
We're still doing our new nighttime routine for sleeping and had a MAJOR breakthrough a couple nights ago. For the very first time EVER, Henry slept through the night. From the time I put him down (around 8pm) until the next morning (around 7am), he stayed in his bed and did not call out for me to come get him once. Woo-hoo! Of course, since then, we've not had a repeat performance, but his overall nighttime wakings are W-A-Y down - so I'll take that! :) He's also been choosing to get into bed by himself and lay there until he falls asleep (rather than me rocking him). He just climbs down out of the rocking chair and into bed without me asking him to. It's pretty awesome. The method we're using is based on the book called "Good Night, Sleep Tight." We haven't followed it exactly, but definitely have used it as a basis for the new method to great success. I highly recommend it.

Henry is definitely developing into an independent, ego-centric little guy. Everything is "my turn!" or "mine!" or "I do it!" (which means he wants to do it himself). This makes a lot of things go very slowly (and messily). But it's obviously just a part of him learning to do stuff on his own and asserting his own preferences while discovering that he is his own person, separate and apart from me and Brett. I just try to keep that all in mind when he wants to do things on his own!

We got a year-long membership to OMSI a couple weeks ago and have already been a couple times. I am looking forward to having that as a place to go once the weather turns bad. The picture of Henry standing in front of the Portland skyline was taken in OMSI. The other picture is of Henry's new favorite toy - Charles the Bear's skateboard. Henry has steadily been earning prizes by filling up sticker charts for going potty on the potty chair and brushing his teeth. One of those prizes was a skateboard (complete with helmet and kneepads) for Charles. But Henry himself uses the skateboard more than Charles - trying to push himself around on it and "drop in" and do flips and olleys.

Happy Birthday, Geoff!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Geoff! Here he is at his white coat ceremony at OHSU.