Bye-bye Grandma Jackie!

My mom left this morning, and headed back to Hawaii. We were sad to see her go. Henry had fun staying home with his Grandma Jackie while I was working, and my mom and I had fun shopping and playing cards. After our trip to Maui in July, we realized that we never took a picture of me, my mom, and Henry together. Then this morning as I was about to leave for work, and my mom was about to leave for the airport, I realized that we never got that picture this time, either. Jeff was working, so I set the camera on automatic timer and took a couple of pictures. Here's the only half-way decent one of all 3 of us, and Henry's not even looking at the camera!

Here's a much cuter one of Henry (and a good one of my tonsils).

Henry had a good first day back at daycare. He hadn't been there for 9 days, so I was hoping he'd do o.k. Other than only taking one nap (he usually takes two), he had a good day. Here he is after a long day at daycare. Check out how dirty his shirt is. He often comes home quite messy. Maybe they're having baby food fights during lunch. Actually, Henry has started trying to feed himself with a spoon, but the result is usually a shirt covered in food. That's probably what happened.

Thanksgiving and More

This past week was another opportunity for Henry to spend time with family. His cousin Nathan is only 4 months older, so Henry and Nathan toddled around Grandpa Norm's house together on Thanksgiving and played with toys at our house, and even ate out at restaurants a couple of times. They're so cute together! Nathan seems so much bigger and older than Henry, but it's funny to think that someday the 4 months difference in their ages will be nothing. It will be fun to watch them play together as they grow up. Henry's also been able to spend lots of time with his Grandma Jackie. He's been playing hooky from daycare so that he and and Grandma J could stay home together. Tomorrow will be their last day together because she's leaving on Thursday morning. I know they'll miss each other!

Nathan & Henry enjoyed their Thanksgiving meal together (some turkey, but mostly crackers).














Both boys cuddled and played with their Grandma Jackie.














Getting a good picture of two toddlers is not easy!














Henry & Nathan loved the singing bass at the sushi restaurant. The other customers didn't love the constant replaying of Jingle Bell Rock, but at least the boys were happy.














Grandma Jackie & Henry in matching outfits!



















I didn't get any pictures of Henry with any of his Aunts or Uncles. My camera batteries died after only two pictures on Thanksgiving. Soon we'll have Christmas pictures with his Cubley relatives! I'll start charging up the camera batteries now.

Cousins Galore!

Henry has eight cousins, and he got together with all of them on Sunday. My mom is visiting from Hawaii for two weeks, and my older brother, Greg, and his family are visiting from Minnesota for a week. My mom is staying at our house; and Greg, Marianne, Peyton, and Nathan are staying at my dad's house. We thought it would be fun to get all of the cousins together since they've never all been together at once. So, Patrick and his family drove up from Eugene, and Jessica and her family headed over from Gladstone. We all met at my dad's house on Sunday afternoon for dinner. All four of my dad's kids were there (with all four of our spouses) and ALL NINE of my dad's grandchildren were there. My dad, his girlfriend, my mom, and a couple of my dad's friends made for a big crowd. The kids had fun running around and playing together. It was pretty chaotic! The only relatively quiet time was when we sat down to eat and all of the kids' mouths were full. Patrick and his family can't make it back up for Thanksgiving, but the other six cousins will get together again on Thursday. Too bad we don't live closer so that we could do this more often.

Top Row: Jacob (Patrick's son), Cormac (Jessica's son), Owen (Jessica's daughter), Theo (Patrick's son). Sitting: Peyton (Greg's daughter) holding her brother Nathan, Grandpa Norm holding Henry, Miranda (Jessica's daughter) holding Oliver (Patrick's son).

Cracker Monster

Henry really loves crackers. All kinds of crackers. He loves Goldfish, Ritz, Graham Crackers, oyster crackers, rice crackers, and plain old Saltines. I just recently found little dinosaur-shaped Ritz. They're a big hit. I won't be surprised if "cracker" is Henry's first word. I have a funny cracker story from yesterday. Jeff picked Henry up from daycare and brought him home (I was at home sick). After giving me smiles and hugs, I put Henry down in the kitchen. He immediately toddled over to "his" drawers. There are 3 drawers in the kitchen that he opens and empties daily. He walked over, opened the utensil drawer (which is above his head), pulled out a cracker (from the day before?) and walked away eating it. It was so funny! How did he know there was a rogue cracker in the drawer? Did he stash it there, knowing he'd get it later...and then actually remember? Or did he just happen upon it and think, "oh, cool...a cracker"? I don't know why it struck me as so funny, but it did.

Henry also makes me laugh when he's in his highchair. He leans his head all the way over to one side and smiles at me, then leans all the way over to the other side and smiles. He's actually worn down the leather on his highchair cover because he does this so much. I'm not kidding. The highchair looked great when we got it, but now its very worn in an arc shape behind his head. Why does he do this? I don't know, but it makes me laugh. Maybe that's why.

Under the Weather

For the past 5 days, Henry hasn't been feeling well. He had a low-grade fever on Tuesday when I picked him up from daycare. The fever went away after giving him some Motrin, and he seemed as good as new. I thought maybe the fever was due to teething. Henry had 3 new teeth pop through at once last week, and many veteran moms have told me that teething can cause fevers, diarrhea, coughs, and more. So, I tried not to worry too much. I picked him up early from daycare on Wednesday, and he was really hot. When I got home, I took his temperature, and it was 103.4. That scared me! I called Kaiser, and they said that it wasn't anything to panic about. Small children can tolerate even higher fevers. She told me that I should bring Henry in if the fever continued for FIVE days, he had trouble breathing, wasn't wetting at least 3 diapers per day, or if he was listless. So, Jeff stayed home with him the next day. I called a few times to check on Henry, and when I called at 2:00, Jeff said "He's burning up. Come home." I raced home and found out that his temp was 104.4, so I called Kaiser again and made an appointment to bring him in the next morning (Friday). Poor baby seemed pretty miserable. He was whiny and clingy and didn't know what he wanted. It must be so hard not to be able to communicate what you need or how you're feeling. I took Henry in yesterday, and at the doctor's office, he was walking around the exam room in his diaper smiling at the doctor and clapping his hands. No! You're supposed to whine and look pale and not make Mommy look like a crazy overreactor. But, in the end, it turns out he has an ear infection. I was really surprised because he never had an ear infection in his first year of life. Usually babies are prone to them and get them all the time if they get them at all. So, he's on Amoxycillin twice a day for 10 days. He hasn't had a fever at all today, so I think he's on the mend.

Unfortunately, I started to feel sick yesterday. My glands were swollen, I had a fever of 101.7, and I was very achy. All of my joints hurt. Jeff had to work last night, so I was left to take care of a sick baby while sick. Not fun. At one point last night, all I could do was lie on the floor while Henry crawled around me playing. I was counting down the minutes 'till bedtime. Unfortunately, Henry wouldn't go to sleep last night. He finally fell asleep around 9:00, and then he woke up at 4:30! I feel a bit better today. No fever, but I'm still achy and have a sore throat. Hopefully we'll both be better after a weekend of lying around in our pajamas.

Multi-tasking

Henry is walking more and more every day. It's not just a couple of steps, either. He is walking across rooms. In fact, he is walking from room to room. He takes those cute Frankenstein steps, with a wide stance, his feet shuffling, and his arms outstretched in front of him. He now walks more than he crawls. If he falls down, he actually gets back up and keeps walking. Henry has the added challenge of learning to walk while two excited pugs follow him, circling around his legs. I think Rocco is trying to herd him, and Stella is just waiting for a morsel of food to drop from his mouth, hand, clothing, etc.

Here is a video clip of Henry multi-tasking. He is walking, holding and sucking his binky, and eating a cracker. Of course Stella is right there searching for cracker crumbs. Sorry for the blurriness. I'm not as good as Henry at multi-tasking.





This next video cracks me up. Just watch the first 10 seconds. Henry loves his binkies. So, I put 5 binkies in front of him to see what he would do. He attempted to cram 3 of them into his mouth AT ONCE. That's my boy.

First Haircut (#2)

I wrote all about Henry's first haircut on Sunday, and the blog entry has vanished! Cursed technology! Since I like to think of this blog as an electronic baby book that Henry may read someday, I will try to re-create the post. I'm sure it will be different, but oh well...

Henry got his first haircut on Sunday. We went to a fun kids' hair salon called "Little Clippers." Whoever thought up this place is a genius! Instead of chairs, the kids sit in/on cars, jeeps, motorcycles, and horses. Each child gets to watch the movie of his choice on a little t.v. Henry watched a Baby Einstein video. The waiting area is full of fun toys that Henry loved. As soon as we checked in, Henry got busy playing. Unfortunately his name was called after only a few minutes of play time. He almost got upset about that until I put him into a cool silver convertible car. He was so good during the haircut! He sat still, played with several combs, and watched his video. I've heard horror stories about kids who hate haircuts, and won't sit still, but Henry was perfectly happy to steer the car and watch his movie. He even giggled when the lady sprayed his hair with water and when she cut around his ears. I couldn't believe how grown up he looked after the cut. His hair is quite a bit shorter, but still curly (especially in the back). Once he was done, I took my big boy back to the waiting area and let him play in the giant camper, slide down the slide, and enjoy the other toys for a while before we left. Jeff & I agree that we like his hair a little bit longer, but it will grow back (all too soon).

Here are some pictures of the haircut experience:

BEFORE:

The day before the haircut. Look at those long curls!



















"I'm ready. Let's go!"














DURING:

"Just a little off the sides, please."















Look at Henry's feet sticking out the bottom!















AFTER:

"Oh my God! I look so old!"














"I may look like a big boy, but I still need my binkie."














"I love the play area!"



















"Let's go camping. I'll drive!"














At home, with no after noon nap. "I'm grumpy, but still cute."

Henry Hates Halloween!

Maybe he doesn't hate Halloween, but he hated wearing his costume. All of the little kids at Henry's daycare wore their costumes on Halloween, so I put Henry in his dragon/dinosaur costume when we got there in the morning. I've been calling it a dragon costume, but then I started thinking about it...don't dragons have wings? Maybe his costume is supposed to be a dinosaur. I just don't know. Anyway, Henry tried to fight me while I put on the costume, but he was o.k. for a short time once it was on. However, he DID NOT want to wear the hood. He hates to have anything on his head. He takes off all hats immediately, and the hood only made him angry because it didn't come off when he pulled on it. When I left the daycare, Henry was an angry dragon. His daycare provider, Madri, took lots of adorable pictures of the kids in their costumes. Unfortunately she was only able to get two of Henry before he started to have a melt-down. There are a few pictures showing Henry crying in the background. That evening at home, I once again tortured poor Henry by putting the costume BACK on. I thought we might go trick-or-treating to a few houses on our street. Henry had other ideas. He rolled around on the ground, crying and pulling at the costume in an attempt to undress himself. Meanwhile I was trying to get some good pictures of my little dragon. I let him hold the bowl of candy (which he liked), but every time the doorbell rang, I had to take the bowl away (which he DID NOT like). Finally, I realized that trick-or-treating wasn't going to happen, and I took off the costume. Hopefully by next year, Henry won't mind wearing his costume. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures. Hopefully we'll go trick-or-treating.

At daycare: "Mom, please don't leave me in this costume"















A very serious dragon!













Every dragon needs a binkie.
















This picture was taken last Thursday at Jim's pumpkin-carving party
(before he really hated his costume).














Trying to pull the hood off! GRRRrrrrr!



















Candy makes me forget about the stupid costume.














I'll take this one. I wish I had some teeth so I could eat it.