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.

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.