The Santa Land Diaries...

...Henry style.

No tears! No screaming! No anguish! Success! Henry very calmly sat on Santa's lap while Santa asked him all the usual questions. I am not sure Henry really said much of anything, but nonetheless, he sat through the experience...and not just once, but twice. Once in his "regular" clothes, and once more in his Santa costume. The kid loves a costume and especially the Santa costume. We went to the downtown Macy's so he got to play in one of the old monorail cars (first picture...he looks a little possessed in that photo; he was having an awesome time). He also got to sit at a big desk and write a letter to Santa (third picture). Overall, a great visit! I have some of the professional pictures that they took; I need to scan them in and then will post them as well.

Weekly Update

Where to begin? It's been a busy week! Wednesday we went over to our Anna and Connor's house and got to see the lovely Molly in action, holding court over a bunch of lively toddlers. Henry had so much fun singing songs, playing games and doing arts and crafts projects. Then on Thursday, Auntie Joan came over and watched Henry for 4 1/2 hours (!) while I ran around town and got most of my holiday shopping done. The two of them had so much fun making ornaments for the tree that Henry was so proud to show off to me (and later Brett) when I got home. Friday was Gymboree which continues to enthrall Henry to the point that I've caught him numerous times at home saying "hip, hip hooray, it's a Gymboree day!" :) On Saturday he got to double up and go to Gymboree again, this time with Gigi while Brett and I spent the day finishing up our shopping. He also got to go to the mall with Gigi, something he has (somewhat strangely) been asking to do for awhile now. Today we got to go back to the Christmas Tree farm with Bumpa and Gigi to pick out her tree...with Henry dressed up as Santa. Gigi had asked if we still had his Santa costume from last year and we did...and it still fits. Henry asked me to get it out today and then wanted to wear it all afternoon and even over to Cary and Jeff's for dinner tonight. He put the gifts we took over there in a little bag and played Santa!

Phew, it's been a busy week and I think it will continue to be so through the rest of the holiday season. Thank goodness Brett has Thursday and Friday off. We still have a lot of holiday stuff to get done, including a trip down Peacock Lane and a visit to the big man in the red suit ourselves.

Trees and Birthdays

We had quite the busy weekend this weekend. Saturday we all went to Gymboree together; I think Henry really liked having both Mama and Daddy there to show off his skills for. Then he went with Gigi to a holiday festival near her school (where he got the Santa hat). Later we all went out to dinner to celebrate Mike's 30th birthday. Poor Henry fell asleep on the ride to the restaurant and stayed asleep inside the restaurant until I woke him up finally. Sunday we went and got our tree. Even though we just went to a little place down the street from us (literally someone's house where instead of a regular yard, they planted row upon row of Christmas trees), to Henry it was as good as going to a full on tree farm. He walked up and down the rows saying "too big, too small, too big, too small, too tall, too short," etc. Finally we found the ideal tree and Henry got to watch it be cut down just for us. We've spent a lot of time making little paper ornaments and stringing colored pasta to decorate it. Sunday night we went out to dinner at Nostrana (fabulous!) to celebrate Mike's birthday (part 2), followed by cake and ice cream at Gigi's. Henry insisted on serving the ice cream himself. He is so funny...I need to do a better job of writing down the things he says, because he is really saying some hilarious stuff lately.

Singing....

Today Henry put on a Santa hat he got from one of Gigi's students and started singing. At first I couldn't figure out what he was saying while singing - the same word over and over. Then it dawned on me and I asked him "Are you singing Christmas Carols?" He gave me a big grin and said "Yes!" He literally was singing the word "carols" over and over again! :)

Time out for Henry

Ha ha ha, just kidding! We took a friend's dog out for a walk and when we got her out of her kennel, Henry climbed in. He was laughing and making jokes about being a dog and then when I snapped some pictures I found it hilarious that he looks so miserable in there. Truly, he was loving it!

Weekly Update

Henry with some of our holiday decor (above) and Henry reacting to seeing Rudolph and Frosty (below). Lots of holiday related activities this week. On Wednesday we went to a holiday dinner with Brett’s parents at their country club. Making their debut were Rudolph and Frosty…to say Henry was excited to see them would be an enormous understatement. As soon as he saw them he let out the loudest scream ever. He then proceeded to scream a couple more times. My eyes were focused completely on Henry, but Brett said that everyone essentially stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. Despite his gleeful exuberance, he refused to approach either Rudolph or Frosty. I have a feeling this might be the same reaction we get with Santa…we’ll have to wait and see.

We also put out some of our holiday decorations; something Henry had been really looking forward to. He keeps saying that he thinks Santa will be coming tonight and I have to tell him, no, not tonight. He usually just replies “maybe so.” I bought him an Advent calendar to try and give him some concept of how many days there are until Christmas, and told him once the windows are all open, then it will be Christmas. His solution is to just open all the windows at once so it will be Christmas tonight. He’s super excited to get a tree. Darn it. Brett and I have avoided getting a tree every year since neither one of us is too into the whole Christmas thing…but I suppose we really have to now.

Friday evening we went into Multnomah Village because they were having horse drawn sleigh rides. Luckily it was not as busy as Halloween was; I was afraid we might have a very disappointed kiddo if the line was too long, but we didn’t have to wait long at all. Henry has been watching a PBS cartoon called “Calliou” lately and in one episode the family goes on a horse drawn sled ride, so this was essentially the same thing without the snow. I think he was excited and had fun, but there were no blood-curdling screams when he saw the horses, so I can’t be certain. (Picture upcoming.)

In Gymboree this week the theme was jungle and the teacher asked where tigers live. Henry thought for a minute and then said “the zoo!” So cute! He was also the only kid that knew a bird’s mouth is called a beak (or at least was the only one to answer).

Crazy Hair

"That was one hell of a party..."

Weekly Update

Oh, I am so bad! No pictures again...after we got home from Thanksgiving dinner I realized I hadn't taken a single picture. I've been so bad lately! I will step it up this week - especially since my new computer arrived! Woo-hoo.
So, this week for Henry included Gymboree (a special make-up session with Daddy since it was closed on our regular day), a Winterhawks game, and, of course, Thanksgiving! All of which were fun, fun, fun. Not so fun was how the week began - all of us feeling a bit under the weather. That, coupled with the bit of ice and sprinkling of snow we got, kept me and Henry homebound on Monday and Tuesday. What long, frustrating days! Despite lots of arts and crafts projects and a couple bundled up walks, both Henry and I were ready to get out of the house and do something by the time Wednesday rolled around. So, we went and got our hair done! :) A visit with the gawdfather himself, Cary, is always a welcome respite, no matter what the situation. Henry held so still while Cary cut his hair that Cary joked I must have given him Benedryl before we came in. Hee hee hee.
Thanksgiving dinner was awesome - spent with the Winder/Baker crew at Gigi's house. Henry, of course, was the center of attention and everyone had lots of fun playing with him. He loves Auntie Joan (who has been so kind in coming over and babysitting him sometimes during the day). Her nickname for him is Boo Boo Bear and he now calls himself that all the time. It is hilarious.
Brett took him to Gymboree this weekend and was proud to report that of all the children there, Henry did the best job of paying attention to the teacher and doing the tasks she gave them to do. It was a much bigger class than our usual one (Brett estimated 20 kids to our normal 5), so I was happy to hear he behaved the same as he does when I take him. He loves that place and drags a blanket, sheet or duvet (whatever's handy) out into the living room all the time yelling "parachute time!!"
I will definitely have pictures to share soon!

Training Wilbur

Here's a little video of Henry showing off his (perceived) dominance over Wilbur. Poor Wilbur. :)

Still enjoying lots of new and surprising sentences coming from Henry. Today what sticks out in my mind as funny is when he woke up from his nap I asked him "do you think Daddy is home?" He replied, "I'll bet he is!" I didn't know he knew that phrase "I'll bet..." So funny. He also absolutely cracked up while we were watching the news today (just for the weather forecast) and the newscaster stumbled over the words "stay safe" - he said "stay sTafe" twice before finally getting it out correctly. Henry thought that was HILARIOUS and we had to rewind it and watch that clip about a dozen times. I was like "why is that even funny to you? How do you know that stafe isn't an actual word?" But he was dying, cracking up hysterically. Oh, and the camera wasn't even on the newscaster, the shot was of a graphic they had made, so it wasn't as though he was reacting to a facial expression or something.

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Dancing in the aisle...

Up front waving his Plex doll to the big Plex...

Brett got us tickets to see Yo Gabba Gabba (a Nickelodeon kids' show) on Sunday. Wow...Henry was so super excited. He knew we were going for the few days prior and kept asking me if it was time to go "right now!" He alternated between stunned fascination and happy participation throughout the whole show. It was so so so cute to see him stand up and dance and wave hello to all the characters. Gigi rushed the stage with him at one point (hee hee hee) so he got to be right up front and he took his "Plex" doll (the yellow robot) and waved to the big Plex. He had a fantastic time.

Weekly Update

Another week with no pictures...hopefully I will remedy that situation soon.

Lots of talking this week - new phrases abound. It is absolutely hilarious to hear Henry use some phrases I must use frequently but never really paid attention to. He's big into saying "My have an idea!" (he uses 'my' in place of 'I' a lot.) Another one I hear a lot is "maybe so," which cracks me up. I didn't realize how often I say that but apparently I do. The one that got me tonight was "That's fine." Not particulaly amusing under normal circumstances but that's what I say to him when he is doing something he thinks will annoy me or he's not allowed to do. For example, if he's banging something on the floor and making a lot of noise he'll look at me and say "My doing this..." and then do it again with a look that says, "go ahead, tell me to stop." Then I'll say "that's fine" and ignore him which makes him stop much faster than if I get upset about it. Well, tonight we were having a battle about bed. He was standing up by his bed and I told him to either get into bed or he could sit on my lap in the rocking chair. He looked at me, said "that's fine" and stayed right where he was. I'm not sure I have ever felt the urge to laugh while being so frustrated before.

We went to Benihana last night for dinner - Henry loved it. Had an absolute blast...great place to take kids...too bad it's so expensive!
Tomorrow is Yo Gabba Gabba. Henry is SO excited. The very first thing he said to be this morning, all groggy and still half asleep was "Go to Yo Gabba Gabba right now!" When I told him the show wasn't until tomorrow and they wouldn't be open now, he said "maybe so." :) Can't wait to see what he thinks of the show tomorrow!

The Robot

Here is a video of Henry dressed up in the robot costume (missing his legs though - so the effect isn't 100%). It was taken a couple days after Halloween and he's playing Trick or Treat...I get him to do a quick robot dance at the end. :)

Halloween

We had a great Halloween! Henry had two costumes (what a divo!)...first he had his dinosaur costume that he wore during the day. We went to the Multnomah Village Trick or Treating party, which was a much bigger affair that we thought it would be. It was packed - a slowly moving line around the village. But Henry had a blast and got to see lots of costumes which he enjoyed. Then after a dinner of pumpkin shaped pizza, he changed into his robot costume and we headed out in Gigi's neighborhood. He loved his robot costume and would happily perform a little robot dance whenever anyone asked. It was absolutely hysterical to watch him walk around in that thing - I hope I got a good video of it, I haven't checked yet...if I did I will post it. He took in quite a nice haul of candy, but I got a great idea from a friend of his and we "fed" his pumpkin the majority of his candy last night before bed. When he got up the pumpkin had magically transformed the candy into a (non-candy) present for him. What a great idea!

Carved Pumpkins

Still no computer cord, so still no access to all the pictures I had taken and already downloaded to my computer. But, I did take a couple pictures of our freshly carved pumpkins. And, yes, I said pumpkins since I did go out and get another one! Henry is delighted with the results and while I think he enjoys the chance to blow out the candles more than enjoying them actually lit, he did spend a lot of time gazing at the glowing orbs through the window.

Weekly Update

Hello all! This will be a fairly boring post since I am sans photographs at the moment. My darn computer needs a new cord to plug it in so until I get a new one I don't have access to my pictures.
Speaking of pictures, it seems to be the theme of the week. The owners of Mike's antique gallery also have a (non-antique) shop on Hawthorn and needed a model for some of their kid items. Henry and I went down there on Friday and had him model some of the items. The pictures turned out so cute! He totally hammed it up for the camera. Then today we took Henry into Penney's for some more pictures. I wish I could say it went as smoothly today as it did at Lotus. :( The first photographer we got scared him with some weird noises he made which I suppose make other kids smile, but they made Henry cry. After trying to get him to calm down I realized it was a fruitless endeavor so we rebooked another time later in the day to go back and try again with a new photographer. This time it went much better, but even so Henry was no where near as comfortable as he was at Lotus with Mike. Hmm...maybe I should see if they'll do some regular pictures for us sometime!
We carved our pumpkin tonight...yes, only one. Why make it difficult? However, I think I might get another one because as Brett was carving this one I got the idea to carve "Henry" into it instead of a regular face. So I think I will end up getting one more and doing that. He'll get a kick out of that. He's getting really good at recognizing his name...and especially the letter H. He kept saying he saw an H the other day at the store and I didn't see where he was looking until I looked up and, sure enough, he was looking at the sign above the milk coolers that said "Fresh Milk." :)

Weekly Update

Blazer game, Pumpkin Patch...plus all the regular weekly activities - we've been out and about a lot this week. I don't really think that there is a lot of new news to report. Still struggling with sleep. Now it's carried over to nap time too which I used to be able to count on as an quick and easy put to sleep time....not any more it seems. I really, really hope this is just a phase and not something that is going to take some more sleep training to fix. I hated that.

I'll write a separate entry for the pumpkin patch because I still need to look through those pictures. For now here is a picture of Henry in the fallen leaves and one of Bumpa reading to him and Wilbur. Wilbur looks suspiciously interested in the book...until you realize Henry is holding a cookie in his hand, then it all makes sense!

It's a Fine Line Between Frustration and Fun

Henry is still trying to get the hang of the remote controlled car he got last Christmas from

Bumpa... the cutest part is when he gets frustrated and puts his head down...then regains his composure and tries a new tactic.

Weekly Update

Celebrating a goal at the hockey game!
Trying to do a rail slide.
"Seriously, mom, quit trying to take pictures, I'm getting ready to drop in!"

Subtitle: Cool Tricks

Another week has flown by. We've been taking advantage of the continued beautiful weather by spending lots of time outdoors, especially since the forecast is for rain in the coming days. We also went to a hockey game which Henry loved. He remembers every detail of it and when I tell him the story about going to the game he prompts me for anything I might have forgotten. It's funny that he seems to consider the dancers that came out between periods to be an integral part of the game but apparently he does because he always reminds me to tell about them. Ditto for another "performance" we saw: an exhibition of disabled hockey players who used modified sled type skates to play hockey from a seated position. When he first tried to remind me to tell him about this aspect of the game I could not understand what he was talking about and I asked him if he could show me. He sat down on the floor with his legs straight in front of him and pushed himself around with his hands and pretended to use a hockey stick. I understood. :)

We took his bike to the park after library storytime this week and he had a chance to use it on the skatepark since no one was there. Oh boy...how he wanted to be able to do some cool tricks. And in his mind, he probably was doing them. I got a flash-forward view of what my future has in store...

Lots of sleeping troubles this week. I think it could be related to this whole independence streak he's got going now. He does not want to be rocked. Does not want to nurse. Does not want me to sing songs to him. He does want to play in his bed. He does want to hear sports stories. He does want to go potty on his potty chair (when he's supposed to be sleeping). He does want to sleep in our bed or on the couch. It ends up being a power struggle every night - here's hoping for a detente rather than mutually assured destruction. Hmm...does that sound pessimistic? Must be the lack of sleep. :)

Weekly Update

Storytime with the 3 year olds...they have to remain seated for the entire book...tough to do!
Bumpa's birthday party...don't ask about the candle (or the cake)...
Astronaut Henry at OMSI

Henry is officially 2 1/2 now! Or 130 weeks for those of you keeping track!

Another great week! We have had another busy week of visits to the zoo, OMSI, playdate with Henry's friend, Inari, celebrating Dad's (Bumpa's) birthday, a return to our regular library's storytime and lots of park playtime. We had a little BBQ over here at our house for Dad's birthday which Henry loved - I think he got more presents than Dad did! Everyone seemed to have brought him something...he is so well loved! We tried the Preschool Storytime at the library this week (instead of the Toddler one). Same "teacher" and many of the same kids since they all "graduate" at different times. While Henry did okay in it, I think we'll drop back down to the Toddler one - he has plenty of time to be with the older kids later; for now I'll let him run free and chase the bubbles with the little kids! :) We start a new session of art classes at the Multnomah Arts Center next week. I am interested to see how much he remembers of it from the last time.

Henry is totally talking so much more every day. He's putting together full sentences which is awesome. We were watching baseball the other day on television and he turned to Brett and said "Where are the baseball mitts?" It was so clear and perfectly said, Brett and I just looked at each other and said "wow...did you hear that?" He is also using the word "umm" a lot which I find so endearing. I'll ask him what he'd like me to tell him a story about and he'll say "Mama tell story about...ummm....ummm..." and then fill in the blank with either skateboarding, baseball, football, soccer, or basketball. Inevitably a sport. Tomorrow we are going to see a hockey game so I'm guessing I'll have to add hockey to my repertoire.

One more quick sports related story: Henry and I were shopping at Trader Joe's the other day and he was in a particularly mischievous mood. Between trying to run out of the store, bumping his cart into walls and people, the funniest thing he did was grab a tub of cookies off the shelf, kick it across the floor and then yell out "fouled!!" and drop down onto the floor. He laid there among the passing shopping carts and amused shoppers until I picked him up off the floor. Apparently he had gotten fouled by an unseen opponent in his game of grocery store soccer. Hard to be too mad when it's so dang funny.

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.

Weekly Update

Trip to Alpenrose to see the Little League Softball World Series...as you can tell, Henry was totally into the game.

It's been so long since I've updated that I'm not sure where to start! First of all, Gigi and Geoff have returned from South America and Henry could not be happier! They had a wonderful time and are already saying we need to take a family trip to Panama sometime soon! (Although Gigi did come home with some nasty looking arms that have been bitten to pieces by some sort of bug - she looks like she has small pox or something.)

We've been keeping the summer streak of business alive...trips to the zoo, Chuck-E-Cheese, OMSI (which we just bought a membership to - yay!), lots of time outside, etc., etc. One of Henry's favorite things we've done recently was attending the Dew Tour where we saw a BMX event. I've attached a video since I wouldn't be able to do it justice by describing it.

We also took a trip to the beach; to Lincoln City. While it was close to 100 degrees in Portland while we were at the beach, it was actually cool and slightly rainy at the coast. We still had a blast, nonetheless. Henry's favorite activity was flying a kite with Daddy (which, conversely, was Wilbur's least favorite activity. For whatever reason, the dog hates kites).

Currently we are working on a new sleeping routine. So far it has been awful...but we'll see...gotta give it some more time. That's about all I have the energy to say on that subject.

Oh, one final shout out to Geoff, who's White Coat Ceremony we just attended today at OHSU. Big ups, little bro!

Quick Bragging Story

Sorry if this is annoying...but I totally have to brag for a minute...

I asked Henry to get a ball for Wilbur and when he did I jokingly said "Now, Wilbur, tell Henry 'thank you'!" I laughed and said "that's silly, huh? Wilbur can't say thank you." Henry signed 'thank you' and said "Wilbur, hands." I said, "Oh, Wilbur could say thank you with his hands? Could he say thank you with his hands?" Henry thought for a minute, held up his hand with his thumb folded down and said "no thumbs!"

:)

Washington County Fair

Henry riding the kiddie rides at the fair...

Finally I am getting around to posting the pictures and video from the fair that Henry and I went to last week. This video is of us in the sheep exhibit. Henry was pretty worried or even scared at first because there were so many sheep on all sides of us and they are so loud. I think he's used to seeing the goats at the zoo which are so docile and quiet in comparison. We saw so many animals - the only ones he seemed to be really comfortable around were the ones that were kept in cages... he didn't want to get close to the horses, calves or any others that weren't inside a pen of some sort.

He did so well on the rides. Technically he wasn't tall enough to ride them, but all the operators let him go anyway. I wasn't sure if he'd freak out being on them by himself, but he didn't at all - he seemed to really enjoy them.