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.