Drinking the Bathwater

I know I've already blogged several times about Henry's bath time, and added quite a few bath pictures and videos, but Henry just loves his baths...and so do I. He is so happy when he's in the water. He splashes and laughs and plays. Recently he's also started drinking the bathwater. Straight from the faucet. He also loves it when I lay him down on his back in the tub and swish him around, with my hand under his head. He laughs and hunches up his shoulders, and as soon as I sit him up, he flings himself backward for more. I have got to get this boy into swimming lessons again. He started taking lessons at 5 months old, but we haven't been in the pool since August. I think we'll start up again with the Spring session. Here's a funny video of Henry drinking from the faucet:

A few more pictures....

Henry playing peek-a-boo with Auntie Kath using the blanket that she knitted for him for Christmas!

Henry spent lots of time cuddling with his Grandma Lannie.







Carol, Auntie Liz, and Henry are all looking happy!

Daddy & Henry playing around on our Thursday Christmas. Henry's wearing the cute plaid outfit from his Auntie Liz.

Although it's cold in Spokane, Henry was warm enough inside to run around naked between diaper changes.

We're back (home & online)!

We got home from Spokane on Friday, but we've been without a computer since then, so I was unable to post. I was looking forward to updating the blog when we got home, but when we got here, our computer was dead. It wouldn't even turn on. We still aren't sure if the computer is salvageable, but in the meantime, I found a GREAT deal on a laptop at Fry's After Christmas Sale. It was a 1-day sale that started at 7 a.m. and the ad said "while supplies last," which I knew to mean that they only had a few at the incredible low price. So...I set my alarm for 6:00(during my vacation!) and arrived at Fry's at 7 a.m. sharp. There was already a 30-person line
waiting to buy computers! Crazy people (including me)! Not only did I replace our (temporarily?) dead computer, but I bought a laptop for my mom for only $399...I didn't actually BUY it for her. She will pay me back, but I was pretty excited to be a part of the effort to bring her into the 21st century. Anyway, the point of the story is that we're back up and running. We had a great time in Spokane. We celebrated an early Christmas on Thursday at Lannie's house, and Henry got lots of fun toys and books and cute clothes from his Grandma and his Aunties. It snowed the last two days we were there, but we stayed nice and warm inside. Jeff got to visit several old friends, and we all took a trip out to Carol's (a dear family friend) where we visited with her and her son and her animals. Henry liked the horse!

p.s. Blogger kept bugging me to switch to the NEW & IMPROVED FORMAT, but I resisted for many weeks. I finally switched tonight, and now it's not letting me add all of the pictures I want to add. So, I'll add some more in a separate post. Also, I'm seeing my profile and links, etc. way down at the bottom of the blog page. I'm not sure if it looks this way to everyone, but it's making me mad! Lastly, if you try to add a comment (please do, by the way) it may ask you to create a new blogger Google account. Uggh...why did I switch? Change is NOT good. Be back with more pictures....

Spokane Grandma

The flight to Spokane was quick and easy. A Baby Einstein DVD helped to make the hour fly by. It's super cold here in Spokane, but we're staying nice and warm inside Grandma Lannie's house. Henry has been having lots of fun with his Grandma Lannie. She gave him several early Christmas toys, which he loves, but his favorite thing is her cat, Basket. He follows Basket around, and laughs at his every move. Henry has also gotten to see his Aunties, Liz and Kathleen. He is getting lots of love and attention!

Here is a fun video of Henry enjoying some whipped cream...straight out of the can!

Early Christmas Gifts

Henry got some early Christmas gifts this year. Daddy and Mommy bought him his own little armchair and ottoman. He loves it! The box it came in wouldn't fit in the trunk of Jeff's car, so he had to take it out of the box in the Costco parking lot. Therefore, the chair was not destined to be wrapped and put under the tree (which we don't even have yet). It was simply taken out of the trunk and set down in the living room. Henry immediately loved it. He sits in it, climbs on it, hugs it, kisses it, and smiles at it. Frankly, I'm getting a little jealous. We can say "go sit in your chair," and he'll toddle over to it and sit down.












Another early gift was an adorable outfit from Grandma Jackie. It's Kenneth Cole Reaction...very fashionable! I was thinking that Henry may want to wear it to his Grandma Lannie's Holiday Party in Spokane this week. So, last night we decided to try it on him. Apparently Henry wasn't in a try-it-on mood. The outfit was very cute, but the pictures I took show a very unhappy (albeit very fashionable) little guy. Hopefully he'll be happier about wearing it to the party. Speaking of which, we are flying up to Spokane tomorrow. We'll be visiting with Jeff's mom and sisters for an early Christmas. Then we'll be back on Friday.

















Here's a video clip of Henry showing off one of his newest talents - blowing kisses!

Baby Jail

The baby gate between the kitchen and dining room was there long before Henry was born. Its purpose is to keep Rocco and Stella in "their" part of the house. When I'm in the kitchen, Henry likes to stand on the kitchen side of the gate, shaking the bars. When I'm in the dining room, he likes to stand on the dining room side of the gate, reaching in toward Rocco and Stella. However, if Henry and I are on opposite sides of the gate, he gets mad! He screams and cries and rattles the gate until I let him out. 0I feel kind of like the warden in a prison. All Henry needs is a little tin cup to hit against the bars and a teardrop tattoo. Right now he's out on parole...early release for good behavior

Temper Tantrum!

Henry is getting to the stage where he wants to do things HIMSELF! He has started to grab the spoon away while being fed so that he can feed himself. He actually does a pretty good job...usually. Here is a video that shows Henry WANTING to feed himself, but not quite able to do it. Then when I try to help him, he gets MAD! Notice how he swings his arm at me and turns his back on me. Then all of a sudden, he wants me to feed him again. I guess I shouldn't laugh at his temper tantrums, but he's such a funny boy.

Fake Coughing & Communicating

I'm not sure why he thinks it's so funny, but Henry loves to fake cough. He likes to play a game where he fake coughs, then I fake cough, then we laugh, then we start all over. This video shows some of his fake coughing, but it also shows him communicating in sign language! We took a baby signing class over the summer, and he just recently started doing a couple of the signs. He will do the sign for "all done" (hands palm up and then turned over) when he's finished eating in his highchair. He tries to do the sign for "more" (fingertips from both hands touching together) but it looks just like clapping. Depending on when he does it, you can tell whether he means "more." Henry's also starting to say words! He's been saying "Momma" and "Dada" for a long time, but he recently said baby, baba (what we call his bottle), and cracker (it sounded like "ca-ca"). I'm so excited to hear his cute little voice talking!

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Henry the Elf

It's getting close to Christmas, and in the spirit of the season, Henry has learned an Elf Dance!

Click on the link to see Henry's Elf Dance:

Watch Henry the Elf!

The rest of the family had to get in on the fun, too.

Watch Jeff the Daddy Elf!


Watch Jocelyn the Mommy Elf!


p.s. When I showed this to Henry, he cracked up laughing.

Blog Neglect

Sorry to be neglecting the blog. I'm doing report cards this week, and most of my non-Henry time is being devoted to working on the report cards. They will be sent home on Friday, and then I will have more free time again. I'm sure the world isn't waiting on pins & needles for the next blog entry, but I like to keep Henry's friends and family updated.

In the meantime, here's a recent picture that I like a lot. Henry loves playing on the bed in the guest room, and in this picture he was running around on the bed and laughing. He looks so happy with himself. I love that smile.

Henry likes Santa...kinda...sorta

I took Henry to the mall today for the time-honored tradition of having his picture taken with Santa. This was our second attempt. The first time, my mom and I took him on a whim since there was no line at the Santa Land in the mall. I was worried about Henry freaking out and not liking Santa, but we introduced him to Santa slowly, and he seemed fine. However, he wouldn't look at the camera. He couldn't take his eyes off Santa. It would have made a cute picture except all you could see of Henry was the back of his head in most of the shots. There was one shot where he was looking at the camera, but he had his hand covering most of his face. I decided not to buy any of those pictures. So, today we tried again. We went to a different mall, but once again, there was no line when we got there. While we waited for the photographer to wrap up with the last customer, Henry checked out the Santa area. Santa was sitting in his chair, calling Henry over, but Henry just walked around touching ornaments and playing with the train under the tree. When it was time, he was o.k. with sitting on Santa's lap. He wasn't scared of Santa, but really wanted to get back down to play with the toys. We handed him a train, and he was good to go. He sat on Santa's lap and looked right at the camera. But he wouldn't smile. He had sort of a blank expression on his face. While the photographer showed me the blank-expression pictures on the computer, Henry stayed on Santa's lap. I glanced over to see Henry and Santa looking at each other, and I said "That's good! Take that picture!" So, the photographer snapped the photo, and that's the one we got. It's not the classic smiling-at-the-camera pose, but I think it's cute.

p.s. Here's Henry's Santa picture from last year. We had it done at a dog grooming shop while we were getting Rocco & Stella's picture taken with Santa. Nice fake beard, Santa! At least this year we went to a place where they gave away candy canes instead of dog biscuits. Seriously.

Blowing Bubbles (and choking) in the Bathtub

Henry recently discovered blowing bubbles in the bathtub. He absolutely loves doing it. Unfortunately, it makes him so happy that he laughs hysterically. Laughing with your mouth underwater inevitably causes choking. I thought the bubble-blowing was so cute that I got out the camera to video it, and I ended up capturing a series of blowing bubbles and choking. Looking back at the video, I feel a little guilty for continuing the videoing while letting my baby choke, but as you'll see, he's fine. As soon as he was done choking, he went right back to bubble-blowing. He's tough.