Eremikophobia...

is the fear of sand. I grew up in Southern California and Hawaii, so I've always been around sand, and I've always liked it. Not Henry! He has feared and hated sand since he was an infant. When he was 9 months old, I took him to Hawaii, and even then he was freaked out by sand. I thought he would have fun playing in the sand and wiggling his toes in the sandy ocean floor. Nope. He spent his time in Hawaii on a towel or a beach chair. We've gone to really cool parks with amazing sand boxes, and Henry would NOT go in. You might remember our beach getaway last summer when Henry cried the ENTIRE time we were on the sand. Every single time Henry has been on sand, he has screamed and cried and shaken and had a huge melt-down. So, I'm not sure why we decided to go to the beach at Sauvie Island on Saturday. But, we did. It had been over a year since our beach trip, so we were just hoping that he was over the sand thing. Jeff and I packed up the dogs and Henry and sand toys and towels and snacks and we went. As soon as we could SEE the sand, Henry demanded to be picked up. As I started walking on the sand (carrying him), he clung to me. He kept saying, "Go home! Go back to car!" We didn't drive 45 minutes to turn around and go back, so Henry was going to sit on the beach whether he wanted to or not. I spread out the towel, and put him down, and he was not happy. He sat on my lap and clung to me for a good while. We tried putting him on the sand a couple of times, but he couldn't stand it. He screamed and cried and shook, and snot ran down his face. I wasn't going to force him to do something which so obviously terrified him. I was o.k. with him sitting on the towel the whole time, but we weren't leaving. When Jeff took off for a walk on the beach with the pugs, Henry said, "Go touch the water." So, I carried him to the water and put him down on the wet sand. He seemed nervous and uncomfortable at first, but soon he was splashing his hands in the water. Then he sat down on the sand. Then he ran his fingers through the sand. Then he started picking up handfuls of sand and throwing them into the water. Soon he was laughing and having fun. I think Jeff was surprised to walk up and find us playing in the sand at the water's edge. Eventually Henry and I took a barefoot walk down the beach, and when it was time to leave, he didn't want to go. I'm so proud of him for facing his fears, and learning to love sand. No more eremikophobia!

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Took a Little Trip

Henry and I took a little trip up to Spokane, Washington last week. We flew up on Thursday and flew back on Monday. Henry did great on the airplane. The flight was only an hour long, so there wasn't enough time to get bored or need to get out of our seats.

We went to Spokane to visit Henry's Grammy and Auntie Kath, and to see their new house. The weather was great while we were there. We fed the ducks (and geese and seagull-type birds) at the riverfront park downtown. There were SO many birds. They kept swarming around us and our bread, and the geese looked kind of evil. I was afraid they were going to attack Henry!

The park had a huge Radio Flyer wagon that you could climb on and slide down the handle. Henry wasn't too interested in sliding, but he and Grammy posed for a picture.

We took Henry to the Japanese Garden one day, and he LOVED throwing rocks into the water. He would have been happy to do that all day. It was a beautiful setting, and it was fun to let Henry play at a park where his Daddy and Aunties played as children.

I really like this picture of Lannie and Kathleen!

We had a fun barbecue one of the evenings while we were there. We got to spend time with Lannie's friends, Midge and Julie, and we got to meet Kathleen's friend, Linda, and her family: Kevin, Olivia, and Sam. We had some delicious barbecue food, and enjoyed relaxing and hanging out on the nice patio.

The Kids' Table was the place to be! Henry claimed TWO chairs, though, and spent the whole time hopping back and forth between the two chairs.

Yummy ice cream!

We had a really great visit! We had lots of fun spending time with Grammy and Auntie Kath, and it was nice for me to have a little "down time" from Henry. Kathleen and I went out for a manicure and pedicure one day, and we went to a movie another day. Fun! Too bad Spokane isn't closer!

A few days ago...

we took Henry to the fountain. He was completely uninterested in playing in the water. He whimpered when the water mist blew into his face. He ran from the fountain area. He much preferred the playground.

I'm not sure why he hated the fountain so much. Actually, it could have stemmed from a recent incident. We were playing in the backyard, and he was fascinated by the hose. I had the hose turned to the MIST setting, and Henry was loving it. He kept laughing and laughing when the mist hit him. In fact, it was so funny that I grabbed my camera to record his laughter. Well, the video tells a different tale...

Worst Mom of the Year Award coming my way?

Finding Fun

I like to get out of the house to do fun things with Henry. He likes it too. When we're home, Henry asks to "go bye-bye" a lot. The thing is, I can't always think of fun things to do. Yesterday Jeff was home, so we decided to take Henry to the zoo. As we approached the zoo off-ramp, we noticed cars lined up FOR MILES in both directions. It turns out that on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, the zoo has free admission. LOTS of bargain-conscious people were waiting in their hot cars to get into a very crowded zoo. We decided that we would not join them. So, we made a quick decision to go to Oaks Park, which is a small amusement park in SE Portland. I haven't been there since I was about 10. We arrived just after 11:00, and once inside, we found out that every Tuesday and Wednesday morning they have a "Pre-School Party" from 9:30-11:30 for kids 6 and under. They can ride on the kiddy rides, and there's a snack and story time included. It's just $6 per child, and parents are free! We didn't actually pay anything, though, because there was no one at the gate by the time we got there. Shhh...don't tell all of the zoo bargain hunters! We started out by putting Henry on a rocket ship ride. As soon as the ride started, Henry started crying. Shaky chin and all.

The ride operator actually stopped the ride to let Henry off. Poor guy.

We thought maybe we'd have better luck if he went on a ride with one of us, so Jeff and Henry got in line for the roller coaster.

It wasn't much better.

Here's a closeup...

By the time we finished those two rides, it was 11:30 and the rides were over. Bummer. We are going to go again soon and try some of the rides that we think he might like better.

Today I took Henry to Pump It Up, which is an indoor inflatable playground.

We got there right when they opened at 9:00, and Henry had the whole place to himself for the first half an hour.

He had fun playing for about an hour, until he discovered the water fountain, and decided that drinking from it was more fun than playing. Once his shirt was good and wet, we decided it was time to go home.

So, it's been a fun couple of days. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow.

Maybe To-Later?

When Henry asks to do something, like go to the playground or go to "Old McDonalds" or watch another Thomas show, rather than say "NO," I often answer with, "Maybe later" or "Maybe tomorrow." Well, Henry has now combined those two answers into "Maybe to-later." He knows my answers so well that he sometimes answers his own questions. For example, Henry will say, "Henry and Mommy go to the zoo?...Maybe to-later!"

These pictures have nothing to do with anything, but I like to add pictures to my posts. So... Here's Henry this morning eating a peanutbutter sandwich and drinking his milk.


I will write more soon...maybe to-later!

4th of July

For the past few years, I haven't done anything on the 4th. Jeff's usually working, and I've had Henry in bed long before the fireworks started. This year we finally had something to do. Jeff had to work (bummer), but Henry and I went over to my dad's house for a barbecue. I wasn't sure how he'd react to fireworks since he'd never seen them, but he was great. Every time a firework would POP, Henry laughed and laughed. His 10-year-old cousin Miranda said, "I don't ever want Henry to grow up because I love the sound of his laugh." Too cute! Henry's favorite thing of all was playing on my dad's tennis court.

I really wish we had a tennis court. Not because I want to play tennis, but because it's like a huge toddler cage. You can close the gate and put some toys or balls in there, and the children are contained! For some unknown reason, Henry called the tennis court "Town Square." Maybe he mistook the words tennis court for town square? I'm not sure, but he kept asking to go back to Town Square, and once there, he would say, "Mommy's in Town Square" or "Uncle Greg is in Town Square." Today he's been asking about going to Town Square.

Miranda and Owen

Henry hugging his cousinGroup HugBesides the fireworks and Town Square, Henry's favorite part of the 4th of July was eating a chocolate cupcake.