Beach Getaway

We spent Monday and Tuesday night on the coast at Lincoln City. It was so nice to get away for a few days. I spoke to my high school friend, Jill, last week and she told me that she and her husband and daughter would be in Lincoln City for a few days. So, we decided to crash their vacation. We got a hotel room right next door to theirs. We swam in the pool, sat on the beach, went out to eat, went to a park, gambled a little at the casino (not Henry), Jeff swam in the ocean, and we had a really nice time. I took LOTS of pictures.

There was an indoor pool at the hotel, and we went in right after arriving. Henry didn't cry at all. He seemed to love it. We stayed in the pool for over an hour. Jill's daughter, Madison....
Henry still hates sand, but I think we made some progress. The day we arrived, Jeff took Henry down to the beach in the wagon while Jill and I watched from the hotel balconey. I took several pictures of Jeff and Henry on the beach using my camera's zoom feature. When they got back to the room, Jeff told me that Henry cried the entire time. He hated the sand, and cried his shaky-chin cry from the moment they stepped onto the sand until the moment they stepped off. We tried again the next day. This time we spread out a sheet on the sand, and I sat with Henry reaading books while Jeff swam in the ocean. After a while, Henry actually ventured off of the sheet and took couple of steps in the sand before quickly returning. He had a minor meltdown, but it didn't last long. Here's a great example of Henry's shaky-chin crying on the beach:

On our way back up the beach, he held my hand and walked a little bit, and he was o.k. I think if we had more time, he'd get used to the sand, but who knows when we'll be at the beach again. We took the kids to a really cool park that was several blocks away from the ocean, but it was on a lake. It had a huge wooden castle play structure that Henry will probably love in a year or two.



Daddy & HenryCalvin & MaddieJill & MaddieIt was a fun little getaway! Just in case Jill, Calvin & Maddie haven't seen enough of us yet, we're heading up to Seattle tomorrow to stay with them for a couple of days. Jeff is going to paint his sister's house, and Henry & I are going to visit with Jeff's sisters and his mom and Jill's family. We'll be back on Saturday or Sunday.

Yard Work

Four years ago, the summer after we moved into this house, I planted a garden. I had tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, beets, carrots, corn, zucchini, onions, peppers, basil, beans, snap peas, and maybe a few other things. It produced some nice tomatoes, but a lot of the veggies weren't worth the cost, time, water, etc. Besides, then we got the dogs, and then we had Henry, so the gardening went by the wayside. Ever since then I haven't done any gardening. But, this year I decided to try again on a small scale. I have tomatoes, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, squash, and basil. That's it. Also, my friend Becky gave me a gift card to a garden store for my birthday, and yesterday we went shopping. We bought flowers for the front window boxes and for the planter around the tree in our front yard. We planted them yesterday, and this morning when I was watering them, Henry got in on the gardening action (while still in his jammies).

After his nap today, Henry did some more gardening in the backyard.
Is he too young to mow the lawn?

Chattin' with Henry - Part 2

I finally managed to get some recent video of Henry talking. He was eating dinner and repeating almost every word I said, including a pretty impressive version of "Stella Belle." Of course, by the time I got the camera, he wasn't as interested in talking, and he wouldn't say "Stella Belle" anymore. He said "apple," "mama," "dada," and "ball" and then he was pretty much DONE.

Chattin' with Henry

Sometimes I worry that Henry isn't talking enough for his age, but lately he's really started talking more and more. He still usually grunts and whines when he wants something, rather than say the name of the object, but at least I know he can say it. When he wants to go somewhere, he holds up his arms to be picked up, and he says "bye? bye?" He also says "baba...nee-nee" when he wants his bottle and to go night-night. Yesterday, he wanted up into his highchair, so I put him in it, and then asked him, "do you want to EAT?" He just whined while I repeated "EAT? EAT?" several times. Since he wasn't responding, I started to walk away. He immediately called out, "EAT! EAT!" A week or so ago, we were playing, and Henry kept trying to shove a red plastic ball into my mouth. I wouldn't let him, so he started saying, "apple...apple," and sure enough when I looked closely at the ball, it was actually a plastic apple.

After all of this recent talking, I decided to write down the words that Henry has said, and I was shocked at how many there were. He doesn't consistently use these words, but they are all words he's said several times. Here are the words that Henry has said at 20 months old:

Daddy

Dada

Mommy

Momma

Baby

Baba (for bottle)

Nee-Nee (for night-night)

Cacka (for cracker)

Car

Apple

Bubble

Bat (for bath)

Ball

Hi

Bye

Up

Off

Doggy

Two

Free (for three)

Four

Fife (for five)

Seven

Ice

Shoe

Pees (for please)

Cup-ee

Binky

Down

Hot

He-wee (for Henry)

Okay

Uh-oh

Poo-poo

Pee-pee

Wow

Wowee

Nana (for banana)

Dup (for jump)

Tetta (for Stella)

Pasta

Egg

"Mooo" (cow sound)

"Me-You" (cat sound)

"Wow-Wow" (instead of "Bow-Wow" for a dog sound)

"Hush" (when we're reading "Goodnight Moon")

E-I-E-I-O

**Plus, he signs "more," "all done," and "eat"

That's over 40 words! Of course, he hardly ever says them on command. When we're leaving someone, he won't wave or say "bye." I tried to get some recent video of him talking so that I could add it to this post, but he wouldn't cooperate. He's a stubborn one! I wonder where he get that... Jeff? Me? Both of us?

The Pool

Today was the first day of Toddler & Me swim class. The pool is right down the street from our house, so Henry and I got into our bathing suits and loaded up the wagon to walk to the pool. Henry hasn't been in a pool since last summer, so I wasn't sure how he'd react to swimming again. He loves the bathtub, but hates showers, sprinklers, and his baby pool. The class starts with all of the moms sitting along the side of the pool holding their babies. We each get a sponge, and sing "this is the way we wash our feet (legs, tummy, etc)," as we get them wet with the sponge. Henry did just fine with that part. But, as soon as I got into the pool with him, he started crying. Not JUST crying, but shaky-chin, wailing, giant tears, snotty-nosed crying. He cried that way for the first 5-10 minutes of class. I held him close and comforted him, but I just kept right on singing the songs and moving him around in the water. Eventually he stopped crying. Then he started having fun. He liked playing with the balls and toys in the pool, and he liked floating on his back. Hopefully next time he'll remember that he likes it, and we won't have to go through the crying. When the class was over, I loaded Henry into the wagon, and was pulling him through the lobby of the swim center when we were stopped by three "grandmotherly" women sitting on a bench. They all cried, "there he is!" They told me how cute he is, and how they were watching him from the balconey overlooking the pool. One of the women told me that they were supposed to be there watching nine other older kids who were taking lessons in another part of the pool, but instead they were all watching Henry. The loved his shaky chin crying, and then they enjoyed seeing him relaxing and floating with his head on my shoulder, and they even recounted the fun he was having playing with a ball. They asked whether we'd be coming every Tuesday and Thursday, and when I said yes, they were all happy and said that they'd be back to watch him next time! As we left, they were waving and calling out "Bye, Henry! See you on Thursday, Henry!" When I got home, I told Jeff that Henry has his first Fan Club. We'd better not let the fame go to his head.

Playing in the backyard after swim class.

Henry loves his trucks!

He's doing some gardening.
The past few nights, Henry has stayed up WAY past his bedtime. I've been putting him into his crib by 8:00, but he talks and plays until 9:00 or 9:30. Last night he didn't go to sleep 'till after 10:00. But, he still wakes up by 6:30 every morning! I think swimming really tired him out because during his bath tonight, he stood up and held out his arms to me and said "nee nee" (night night). I gave him a bottle and put him down at 7:30, and he was out immediately. Maybe we should swim every day!

Baby 4 Sale

Look what I bought at the store...a fresh, delicious Henry!

Daddy helped out by putting away the groceries...Henry loved being pushed around in his little shopping cart, but he got very mad when I put Stella in it. He tried pushing her out, but she wouldn't budge. He signed "ALL DONE" at her, but she stayed put. He finally turned around, balled up his fists, and stomped his feet until she got out.

Haircut #3

Henry REALLY needed a haircut. I absolutely love his blonde curls, but when his hair gets too long, it starts to get poofy and crazy.

It's a little shorter than I wanted, but he still looks pretty cute.

E-I-E-I-O

Henry went to daycare yesterday, and when I picked him up, Tamara said that he'd sung a lot throughout the day. He's been humming the tune to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for a couple of months now, so I asked whether that's what he'd been singing. I was very surprised when I was told that he'd been singing "E-I-E-I-O." Neither Jeff nor I had ever heard him sing that! After some prompting last night, we got him to sing it for us. Here's a video...

When he wants out of the tub, he wants out NOW!

Summertime!

It's officially summer! According to the calendar, summer doesn't start for another couple of days. But, according to my work schedule, it is SUMMER NOW. Yesterday was my last day of work. Report cards are done. My classroom is all put away. I've turned in my keys. Now I'm ready for summer! I'm so happy to have the next 11 weeks off. I'm really looking forward to having Henry home with me all day, and we have lots of fun things planned. I signed him up for three classes through our local parks & rec district. On Mondays, we'll have "Creating Together," an art class for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 year olds. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we'll have "Toddler and Me" swim class. I'm hoping Henry still loves the water like he did last year. On Fridays, we'll have "Kindergym," which I think is similar to Gymboree. On Wednesdays, Henry will go to daycare, and I will have a day to do errands or other non-Henry activities. Jeff, Henry, and I are going to Minnesota for 8 days at the end of July. We're going to stay with Greg, Marianne, Peyton, and Nathan at their house in Brainerd. They live on a lake, so we'll go swimming and boating and have lots of fun. I'm so happy it's summer! Henry's pretty happy, too!

Happy Father's Day!

We celebrated an early Father's Day yesterday at my dad's house. I thought it would be cute to get a picture of Henry and Grandpa on Grandpa's new Harley. Henry didn't think it was so cute. He was terrified of the motorcycle. He cried every time we tried to get him near it. All of the other kids loved it, though!

Henry with his favorite fathers, Daddy & Grandpa! He's still a bit traumatized from the motorcycle incident.

Henry & Nathan with their Daddies & their Grandpa.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Today is Grammy's birthday. Happy Birthday to Grammy Lannie from Henry (Jeff & Jocie, too)! We hope you're having fun in Florida. We'll bake you a booze cake the next time we see you! Hopefully it'll be soon. We love you!

Leashes...not just for dogs anymore!

Before I had Henry, I thought putting a leash on a child was a strange idea. It seemed odd to see a parent "walking" their toddler using a harness and a leash. Well, now that I have a VERY active toddler who loves to RUN AWAY from me into streets or out of stores or into kitchens at restaurants or anywhere else he pleases, a child on a leash doesn't sound like such a bad idea. Henry is not a child who likes to stay near his mommy when we're out. He doesn't cling to me in public. He is not afraid to venture out on his own. This scares me. I usually have Henry in a stroller or a shopping cart when we're out, but sometimes he gets tired of being in the stroller. If I dare to let him out, he immediately runs away, and keeps running until I catch him. He tries to open doors. He tries to leave buildings. He tries to cross streets...and gets mad when I won't let him. So, if Henry is not in a stroller, someone needs to be within arm's length at all times...grabbing onto his shirt...much like having him on a leash. Recently when I've seen parents with their toddlers wearing harnesses and leashes, it hasn't seemed like such a bad idea. Especially if the harness looks like a cute little backpack shaped like a teddy bear! Then it's downright adorable!

It's a cuddly teddy bear buddy.

Please ignore the string of drool hanging from Henry's binky.Yes, I bought a harness and leash for Henry. I'd rather walk around with my child on a leash than have him get hit by a car or some other horrible free-range toddler accident. So far he's only worn the harness...I mean backpack... in the house so that he gets used to it. He doesn't seem to mind it at all. We'll see what happens when we add the leash...I mean strap.

BAD picture-taking

Something has been SERIOUSLY wrong with my photography skills lately.

Last week my mom was here visiting from Hawaii. I only got one picture of Henry and my mom...and he's crying in it. My brother, Greg, and his wife, Marianne, and their kids, Peyton and Nathan were also visiting last week. This would have been a nice picture, but where is Marianne??I really wanted to get a good picture of Henry and Nathan together. We thought about getting their picture taken professionally, but we ran out of time. This is the best shot I got of the cousins, but it's not so great.

Here's another great shot...Henry and Nathan in matching tie-dye shirts...both crying.At least the crying picture was better than THIS one. It's super cute of Nathan, but Henry looks like he's had a few too many.

We had a barbecue get-together at my dad's house last week. I tried to take a picture of all 9 of the cousins again, but it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a good picture of 9 children. Here's proof....

I got a couple of decent pictures when we went to the zoo on Tuesday. But, on that day, I forgot to put my memory card back into my camera, so I only had room on my camera for a few pictures.

Henry & Nathan on the tractor in the petting zoo area.
Henry, Peyton, and Nathan looking cute!Henry and his old orangutan friend.

I am going to have to try to do a better job in the future.

Blogging Centennial!

When I logged in, I noticed that this is my 100th post! It's been a fun way to keep everyone posted on what's going on with Henry and our family. I also hope that some day Henry will be able to read it, and that it will be like a digital scrap book. I started this blog in June of 2006, and in that time, Henry has gone from this:

To this:

Wow, time flies!

Dinner AND a show!

While Henry was eating dinner the other night, I was folding laundry in the kitchen. Before I folded each piece of clothing, I got the wrinkles out by whipping it through the air a couple of times, matador style. Each time I did that, I noticed Henry stopped eating and laughed. So, I started waving the clothes more and more, and doing it closer and closer to Henry. Pretty soon he was laughing so hard, he could barely breathe. Here's a 50 second video of Henry enjoying the meal-time entertainment!


In this 20 second video, he laughed so hard and loud that he seemed to startle himself!


Maybe we should take this show on the road? We could perform for audiences of toddlers in highchairs.