9 Months, 1 Week, 6 Days

We had an interesting night in our house. Henry is a pretty routine kind of kid. He is asleep by 7 pm every night. Generally we follow a dinner, bath, bed routine from about 6-7. Tonight when i picked him up from Brenda's he had taken a negligible afternoon nap-- something he's been doing for about a week. We got home a little before 5 and after just a few minutes on his stomach he was unhappy-- then quickly inconsolable.

I was trying to figure out what was wrong and decided to try dinner. That wasn't the problem today-- he did some damage to peas and rice, hummus, and applesauce. However, by the end of the mail he was crying big tears in between his eager bites of applesauce. I figured this meant he was exhausted. I decided to skip the bath and head straight back to his room to begin nursing him and our soothing routine. He struggled. I put him in the crib and he fussed and cried off and on for about 30 minutes. Then, he went into hysterics. When i went back to get him he quieted down immediately. At first i was just walking our hallway but he seemed wide awake so we decided to come out and play. He was all smiles and even getting his knees up underneath him a bit as he stretched for some of his books.

Then, he seemed to get tired so i put him down and he went effortlessly asleep at 8:30. I'm not sure i'll repeat the late afternoon nap again.

9 Months, 1 week, 5 days

Tonight we offered a smorgasbord to Henry for dinner. He seems to have ramped up his aversion to many previously-appreciated foods. I heated up some greens and sour cream (which previously he's loved) and he wouldn't even take a bite. Instead i wound up accidentally painting his eyebrows with it. Then i tried cottage cheese both spoon feeding and giving him the large curds to pick up himself. At some point he decided that ways okay and did let me feed him about 3 bites of cottage cheese. Then he clammed up tight.

I tried some plain white rice to no avail and then decided to break out the hummus. I scooped out some hummus and offered it to him, planning to use the cracker as a hummus delivery system. Instead he bit off a piece of the cracker. This really got him interested so JT smothered several little bits of cracker with either hummus or ricotta on them. He was super-eager to eat those but the cracker bits (even tiny ones) often caught in his throat. So, we turned to the ever-popular yogurt and he went nuts.

For the time being our strategy is to give him prunes and applesauce every day for lunch (and whatever else he'll take) and then load up on the yogurt and hummus and other protein-rich foods we can in the evenings. Hopefully this is just a (short-lived) phase and not the beginning of us offering eight choices every night for dinner.

9 Months, 1 week, 4 days

Thanks for the vacation! We had a very busy weekend and somehow my evenings just didn't allow for posting. Friday was our neighborhood playgroup, although Henry didn't nap that afternoon so his patience was a little thin. By the time we got home and got Henry to bed and got some dinner in ourselves i believe we went to bed exhausted.

Saturday we checked out a neighborhood a little bit north of us and sampled a new Lebanese restaurant (Semiramis) that was truly amazing. We were sad we live out of the delivery area but hopeful we'll make it up there again soon. Unfortunately Henry seems to have his food preferences narrowing rather than expanding at the moment. He will eat a few (or sometimes just one) bite of something and then will basically refuse all other food until yogurt or applesauce is offered. We're trying to figure out just how to get more protein in him and may need to schedule a 10 month weight check just to make sure we're not losing ground (although the small but present thigh rolls seem to mean we're moving in the right direction!)

Saturday evening we went over to our friends' place and all the kiddos played together in the evening and the three couples of us had a nice civilized dinner. It was a wonderful evening, not the least of which entailed Henry falling peacefully and effortlessly asleep in Tabitha and Cullen's bed. He didn't seem to have a problem falling back asleep once we made it home either so everyone came out of the evening happy-- except Henry when Helen was trying to eat his head (see picture.)

It was so funny to see Helen just getting all over the place. Henry didn't seem motivated-- just perplexed that someone his size could keep advancing on him so quickly.

Through a comedy of errors at work, our Physical Therapy appointment has been moved up to this Thursday. I'm happy that we were able to get it done sooner and so interested to see what they say. It was really interesting to be over watching Helen and Henry interact. Helen is about 2 months younger than Henry and just has that "get up and go" personality gene that Henry seems to be lacking. I thought it might be hard to see Helen so far "ahead" of Henry, but actually i think it was really good to get to spend the time observing. You just can't help but feel like they're very different little babies and doing things on their different little timetables. Henry's going to be fine-- even if takes some structured play to get there.

Finally today we had friends over for brunch with a side of Henry interaction. This afternoon Henry and i attended my friend Keeley's son Thomas' 1st birthday open house.

9 Months, 1 Week, 1 Day

Either Henry's tooth is finally pushing through a little more, or he is getting a second one right next to it. It's really hard to tell because he'll barely let me put my finger in his mouth, much less look in there. He did seem a bit fussy tonight but that might be because JT was making him really work at pulling up before he got to play with his table.

One thing he did tonight for the first time was pulled forwards. He was on his stomach and JT was holding a toy of his. He grabbed on to the toy and pulled himself forwards-- several times. I practicall shrieked because he's never pulled at all-- just pushed backwards. Of course it's a "baby-step" but in this case the cliche begs to be used.

The other day Henry played with his toy bin while i was working on dinner. He took every toy out of the bin and then turned it over and had a ball banging on it and making crazy faces-- documented above!

9 Months, 1 Week

Brenda was giving me a little news of Henry's day today and mentioned that she put him down on his stomach on one end of the room and he slowly but steadily made it all the way to the other end not too long after. He did something similar tonight while we were playing at home-- scoots right back almost under the couch if you'd let him.

We met with the therapy coordinator (yesterday actually) and we have a team coming out to assess Henry on Feb. 9th. A nutritionist, a developmental and physical therapist will all be visiting. Based on their visit and assessment, they'll decide if Henry qualifies for participation in the program. To "qualify" a child needs to have at least a 30% delay in one area. The major concern with Henry is his gross motor skills-- which of course you know. We're eager to meet with the team and hear what they have to say. If Henry is "accepted" the therapists will make a recommendation for the type and frequency of therapy he should undergo. Our coordinator also mentioned that the therapy can be done at Ms. Brenda's as well.

Of course first we have to see if he actually has a measurable delay, but i would think that if he does, after a few sessions at home i would like to have some at Brenda's so that she gets the benefit of knowing how to help motivate and move Henry along.

I'm not sure what to hope for-- that he does have a delay and gets some targeted assistance, or doesn't and just stumbles into some action on his own. So, we'll just wait and see what they say.

I was reading in my baby brain book last night about language development and she makes a comment about "if the first year is given to anxiety over physical developments than the second year is certainly full of worry about language development." Alas, always something new to worry over.

9 Months, 6 Days

So, cloth diapers. This is the deal-- disposables are expensive, and it's absolutely amazing how many you go through. I had heard that cloth diapers had changed a lot and thought i would investigate. I don't even want to know how many untold hours i've spent online in the past 4 days or so reading up on all the different options. Here's a quick overview in rank order from "easiest" to "most steps involved"-- although these are subjective assessments.

AIOs: "All in One's." Like the name says, these are diapers and a leak-proof cover that are made together. It's just like a disposable in terms of putting it on and taking it off-- you reach for one item, put it on with velcro tabs and then wash the whole thing.

Pocket Diapers: These are similar to the AIOs in that there's a cover (most are made of fleece) and then you stuff it with the actual absorbent diaper part. This would require you to determine what to use as a stuffer and to stuff the diaper before putting it on.

Diaper Covers: If you don't get an AIO or a pocket diaper you then have to choose a diaper (discussed below) and something to cover it with. This is where things get interesting. You can buy covers that are a very-thin polyester kind of material that is like umbrella fabric (at least near as i can tell, if anyone scientifically minded would like to set me straight PUL stands for Polyurethane Laminate fabric.) Or, you can go with covers that are fleece, or for the gold standard in additional labor, you can go with wool covers that somehow have natural antibacterial components (i'm not making this up) but that you have to hand-wash and lanolize once a month.

Fitted/Contour Diapers: These are cloth diapers that look kind of like disposables, They are "fitted" or gathered around the legs. Some people really like them, others think they don't hold things in as well.

"Pre-folds": This is approaching the "old-style" of cloth diapering but with textile advances making things more convenient, cuter, and less bulky. You buy "pre-folded diapers" which are cloth diapers already folded to have the absorbent part in the middle and stitched. You can use them just folded and layed in a diaper cover or pinned using old-style pins or these cool elastic doo dads called "Snappis."

"Flats": These are the oldest of the old-style (except for the tie-dyed hemp options which smell particularly new age). They are just big pieces of gauzy fabric that you fold yourself to get the layers distributed with the most layers in the middle. Near as i can tell the only people that use these also do things like make their own baby food (J/K).

At this point i've bought a few things just to test this notion out. I purchased a package of pre-folds which are amazing rags if i don't wind up using them as diapers. I also bought two of the PUL diapers and a few of the AIOs. I'm going to test things out once they arrive and then decide whether we would switch to them entirely or just use them on the weekends when we're around home all the time.

All of this research has my brain spinning. Last night Henry slept but i didn't and all the time i was laying awake the aggressive brand-name of cloth diapers were running through my head and couldn't be stopped (HappyHeiny's anyone?)

9 Months, 5 Days

Although Henry seems at a stand-still regarding his major-milestones, it's really fun to watch all the less-heralded ones accumulate along the way. The past few days he's been using his hands more-- in addition to his improved finger dexterity, he's taken to making sweeping gestures with his arms.

It's strange and not how it's supposed to work (seriously my baby brain development books says it's just not possible) but for Henry his fine motor skills seem to develop before his gross motor skills. He can now pretty competently feed himself, can pick food out of his palms and skillfully guide it to his mouth, pick up a string, etc, but if he wants up for instance, he makes these very vague half-hearted attempts at raising his arms. When we walk down the hallway he holds his arm out like he's pointing the way but there's not as much intent as a pointed finger-- more an arm thrown in the general direction we're headed.

Strange kid.

Another topic. I'm seriously considering switching (or at least trial-running) cloth diapers. I don't have time tonight to give you the run-down on the amazingly complicated cloth diaper scene out there but i'm curious if anyone has any opinions to add. You have great experiences and want to share-- wonderful, you think i'm nuts-- fine too. I can't say i'll take your advice but i'm curious what reaction people have.

9 Months, 4 Days

I forgot to mention last night that the first part of the day felt like Henry's early days in several ways. In others it was a completely different ballgame.
a) the episode only lasted 4 hours
b) when we went outside he didn't scream the whole time he was in the stroller
c) when we came inside and he woke up while still in the stroller, i picked him, swayed a bit, SAT DOWN!, and proceeded to have him fall into a deep sleep on my chest for 10 minutes before i put him in the crib.

A, B, and C make for a completely different baby than the Mr. Fussypants that used to room here awhile back.

Alas, today was a quiet, non-newsy day. Thank Goodness.

Jeckyl and Hyde

JT and i sometimes talk about having another baby and i feel like i'm the one who has a clear memory of what taking care of newborn entailed while JT already looks back with rose-tinted glasses. Today was a rude reminder that even I've forgotten what it was really like-- the uncertainty, anxiety, lack of sleep, and the crying-- oh the crying. I can't explain it, but the first part of our day felt like Henry weeks 8-16. Somehow he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just stayed that way until i successfully sleep-wrangled him.

Normally after he's finished nursing in the morning he starts babbling and playfully reaching for JT and i. This morning he immediately started a full-scale assault that involved violent protestations. After a bit JT got up with him and he was okay, but particularly fussy. About 15 minutes later when i made it out to the living room he was in full-fuss mode. I picked him up and tried to engage him in different things and nothing really worked. He just seemed exhausted and unhappy. By 10 i decided it was time for a nap and i nursed him again and put him in the crib. Over an hour later, he fell asleep-- for 10 minutes. At that point we decided to get him up and just go about our business like in the old sleep training days. Henry would have no part of anything we tried to do and just cried and cried. Finally i decided to put him in the stroller and go for a walk to the drugstore. Thankfully he responded to the outdoors and did quiet down. He also fell asleep. The several inches of slush made a long walk difficult, but i did my best to help him sleep about 45 minutes. When we came home i carried his stroller up the stairs and just put him in his room. He didn't stay asleep but i did manage to transition him to the crib when he woke up without too many secret handshakes-- and then he slept almost 3 hours.

Voila, our happy baby was back. I've wondered it before, but today's experience really had me thinking all of H's colic was due to lack of sleep. Problem is, i'm not sure what we could have done differently to help him get more sleep. Thankfully he went to bed easily, and we'll just hope he sleeps well tonight.

9 Months, 3 Days

Sorry, i didn't post for any profound reason-- i just had the quilting group over and then really had to make some progress on our finances. Before you knew it, it was midnight and time for this mama to hit the sheets.

Today Brenda said Henry was really trying to move forward when he was on his stomach. We didn't witness that at home, but we're certainly glad he's moving in the right direction. We picked Henry up from Ms. Brenda's a little early and then headed over to a new Japanese/Sushi place that is really close to daycare. It was nice to try it but i believe we've both given it a thumbs down. They didn't have highchairs and while the deep padded banquets lining one wall let Henry sit and chill on his own, they were white so we most definitely were not planning to fee him while we were out. Besides the child-unfriendly features, the food was just eh, and too expensive for such a middling rating. Henry was amazing while we were out and managed to perfect "finding" the toy when you hide it under a cloth, which we've been working on with him. He also has gotten quite adept at lunging rapidly at his meltable stars but then slowing his hand down just as he approaches so that he delicately picks the little morsel up.

He has also discovered that if he picked something up and it didn't make it to his mouth, it's most likely still in his palm. There's not end of serious faces to be made when he's exploring his open palm with the opposite hand.

Brenda said he took three naps today but he was still in full-force yawn mode while we were at dinner. So, after we got home and played for just a few minutes it was off to have a small portion of cajun turkey (! don't ask, JT's in charge of his meat selections) and then to bed.

Two nights this week Henry has awoken at 4:30 or so and i hear him kind of talking/low-grade fussing to himself. When i go in to check on him he's flipped over on his back completely awake and kinda playing with his stuffed animals-- but not in a happy way. Last night i picked him up to see if he was running a temp or anything and then he became inconsolable. It's so strange. It seems like he's fussing because he's awake and wants to be with someone but then when you actually pick him up he gets very, very upset. Hopefully he'll sleep soundly tonight but if not i think i'm just going to have to trust he's okay unless he's really hollering.

I don't have any new pictures to share so i'm posting another "signature" i use on my message board. It's a "cartoonish" one for winter!

9 Months, 1 Day

Henry's cold is sounding absolutely terrible. He has this horrible hacking cough. We're keeping a close eye on it but right now i think it's just a chest cold. He doesn't seem too affected by it, but gets run-down much more easily and hasn't been sleeping nearly as well as usual.

Today there is not much to report. Henry was in good spirits when he was awake but, at least at home, he wasn't particularly motivated to try something challenging like pulling up. We played for awhile on the floor and he was happy to spend some time in JT and i's lap. After dinner we skipped the bath and headed straight to bed for Mr. sleepyhead.

All the 8 month and Christmas pictures are up on yahoo.

9 Months

Henry ushered in his 9 months with the progress of his first tooth, increased mobility (albeit of a backwards nature), and his first attempts at pulling-up unassisted. I borrowed Carys' Leap Pad table. It has all kinds of lights and music that is activated by various buttons and doo-dads. Henry loves to stand-up and lean against it and play-- i.e. we gave him a taste of what fun lies above. When he sits in front of it now, he'll grab up and try with all his might to pull to a standing position. He can't quite make it on his own but he really, really tries. I usually help him out at the very end when he starts heading in the wrong direction. He's so overjoyed to be standing up with the toys that he just beams.

I got a call from the Physical Therapy coordinator and she will be coming out next week to meet with me and hear my concerns (and the Pediatrician's) and figure out what kind of therapy Henry might need. I could certainly be off base here, but i have this sneaking feeling that by the time the therapists actually come out to see him he'll be moving right along the gross motor-skills check-list he's currently behind on.

38 Weeks, 1 Day

I've been losing count of how many weeks old Henry is-- clearly months are a better guide at this point. Still, i thought i would get our count back on track.

Our entire family enjoyed Martin Luther King Jr. day today. JT and i were both off work and Henry's daycare was closed. We had a nice leisurely breakfast this morning (pastries from our favorite local bakery!) and then we went downtown to do a little shopping with some of the Christmas money we received. Henry was all eyes as usual and managed to charm quite a few saleswomen as we shopped.

When we got home he took another mondo nap and then we played and worked some more on those all-important crawling and pulling-up skills. Although we're not moving at light-speed on the motor skills side of things-- Henry has made large strides in terms of eating. Essentially he's eating table food now. Our Pediatrician gave us the go-ahead to feed him tomatoes, which essentially made it possible to have him eat what we eat. He's been enjoying some black beans and rice and plantains and tonight had a meal of spinach and cheese tortellini. Tomorrow night we're making butternut squash risotto and that's something that he'll definitely be able to eat. As an appetizer tonight we had some olive bread and a tomato dipping sauce. I didn't give him any of the sauce (because we were on the couch) but he gobbled the olive bread right down.

His tooth is definitely working it's way through but it's still just a tiny nubbin-- who knows until it's really up and visible in pictures!

8 Months, 29 Days

Henry loves being upside down now. He often lunges backwards while you're holding him to get in position and he likes nothing better than to be tipped backwards. It makes him grin from ear to ear and giggle a bit. He also seems to be into messing with his sense of balance because he will shake his head from side to side somewhat forcefully and clearly thinks this is no amount of good fun.

We had both of our playgroups this weekend-- neighborhood one on Friday night and church one on Saturday morning. It's really nice to have those check-ins with other parents every so often and to see such a range of babies at all different stages. I love watching Henry at these get-togethers because he just can't stop being interested in everyone else. If they get close enough he'll reach out and grab them but usually he's content to just play with his toys and keep a close eye on all the action.

His sleeping hasn't been all that great lately-- not sure if it's the tooth or the cold but either way he's crying right now so i'm off to figure out what to do.

8 Months, 27 Days-- little bitty tooth

I know we've cried wolf many, many times before, but i'm pretty sure this time Henry really is getting his first tooth. It all makes sense now. Two days ago he was out of the blue having a hard time falling asleep and waking up more frequently and unhappy. He just seemed uncomfortable and we assumed it was because of his stuffy nose.

Today when i picked him up, Brenda said he had a tooth. At first i didn't think much of it because she's been caught in the "must be teething" trap with us before. She said that she kept feeling resistance on the spoon when she was feeding him and that he was getting a tooth. He wouldn't let us look at it tonight so i didn't get visual confirmation but i did get my finger in there and there is something sharp (not just hard gums which is what i've felt before) in the bottom middle. Hopefully we'll have some kind of pictoral evidence down the road, but for now you have to take my word for it.

PT

...as in Physical therapy, or as our Pediatrician said, Henry's Physical Trainer. Hmm, i'm going to use this post to sort out how i feel about today's 9 month check-up and our PT referral.

First the facts. Thankfully Henry's back in the clear with his weight. He's no mega-baby but he is growing steadily on his curve which is the important thing.

He's about a week shy of his 9 month birthday, but he had his Pediatrician check-up today. We had been a little curious about his development. He scoots backwards and pivots on his stomach but he doesn't get up on all fours, crawl, pull-up, or heaven forbid-- cruise. He also doesn't wave bye-bye, say mama and dada and mean it, or any number of other amazing things his contemporaries seem to do these days. He is the happiest most calm baby ever, amazing at engaging even non-baby types, and a wonderful sleeper and eater, that said he's got his work cut out for him.

The Pediatrician suggested we have a consult with the PT because he's behind in his gross motor skills. She said that since he was nutritionally lagging for awhile, his muscles were a bit behind on their development and that the PT could give us specific exercises to do with him.

He's also supposed to move to a sippy cup by 1 year so we came home and planned to structure the rest of the day around crawling and pulling-up practice and sippy cup etiquette. Instead the day was amazingly warm for Chicago in winter so we took a long walk and worked on all his homework a bit later. Amazingly he seemed to figure the sippy cup out pretty well tonight. I used the one without a valve so Henry was fairly wet at the end of the experiment. If he seems to remember how to operate the cup i'll move him to one of the valve ones that's harder to get liquid out of but also has handles.

The Ped. gave us a questionnaire we're to fill out when Henry is 10 months old about various developmental milestones-- gross and fine motor, social, communication, and problem-solving. While he can do a few in each category already, he can barely do any gross motor skills and can do all the fine motor skills. This led us to a fun conversation trying to guess what he could be when he grew up with excellent fine motor skills and terrible gross motor skills. Right now i'm going with decorative wood carver, but we're open to suggestions.

8 Months, 25 Days

Well Henry definitely has a cold. He's been waking up more frequently than normal the past couple of nights and tonight he's crying as i write this. He fell asleep easily at 7 but has been crying a bit off an on for about 15 minutes now. I gave him some tylenol and rocked him for a bit and he calmed down but then when he went back in his crib he just isn't happy.

Really, this is nothing, but when Henry goes through a stint of being just a little "off" his happy contented self nowadays it brings back just how hard and exhausting those first three months were for us. I know i wasn't posting everyday then but Henry cried and fussed quite a bit. I feel a bit bad because while other mothers remember infancy with rose-tinted glasses, mine seem to have taken an opaque black tint. I think i remember everything much worse than it actually was. Either way, having a baby crying for what feels like a good portion of the day is hard. Now at least he's about 1000x easier to soothe and he sleeps-- both in the plus column for us.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that now that he's asleep he stays asleep.

8 Months, 24 Days

You've got to check out www.babylegs.net! I bought some baby legs or leg warmers for Henry a little while ago. They really help protect his little legs from the cold Chicago winter. When you pick Henry up his pants ride up and expose this calf skin that just gets so extremely cold and red. His baby legs solve the problem wonderfully! They help pad his knees a bit now that he's trying to move around more.

No crawling yet-- not even hands and knees. He's getting very good and spinning and moving backwards but hasn't figured out how to move forward. He is getting pretty good at getting into things even though he's not really mobile. I think it's his way of easing us into the next phase of babyhood.

In anticipation, we went ahead and lowered his crib over the weekend. If he's sitting on your leg he'll pull up to his toy table. He'll do it a few times in a row and then if you try to sit him back down he will refuse to bend his legs. You can tell that pulling up absolutely tires him out.

8 Months, 23 Days Old

When i picked Henry up from Brenda's today she said he was never in a better mood. He was giggling and babbling all day. She also said that when he was in his bouncy seat sitting next to his friend about the same age, they were holding hands for a bit. I can only imagine how cute that must have been.

I got Henry ready for bed and then JT took over while i headed to ballet tonight. Unfortunately Henry had a rough time actually falling asleep tonight. He cried off and on for awhile and seemed to get more upset when JT went in to comfort him. He's got a bit of a stuffy nose again so perhaps he was feeling under the weather. Hopefully now that he fell asleep he'll actually sleep all night.

Henry has been going through a bit of an experimental tongue phase. He has been making all kinds of funny noises and contortions with it-- JT captured it pretty well in this picture.

8 Months, 22 Days Old

We went to our favorite Indian restaurant last night with friends and Henry had a pretty good time but wasn't such a fan of the Indian food. I was trying to be careful of what i fed him but i think he got something a bit too spicy. He didn't make any outward reaction but i looked over and a tear was rolling down his cheek. After just a few more bites (of just plain rice) he pretty much clammed up for the night. So next time we'll have to move a bit more slowly. We got home and him in bed a bit late (9 pm) so he spent a good deal of the day catching up on sleep.

As mentioned a few days ago Henry made out quite well at Christmas. Friends and family provided a good mix of clothes, and TOYS! Today's picture shows Henry among the mass of all the toys when we got home. I grouped all of the toys into like groups (loud toys, soft toys, teethers, pull toys, etc.) and divided them among three bins. Now we're working on rotating the bins so we only play with one subsection at a time. A new thing i'm trying to turn into habit is the toy clean-up period at the end of each play session. This consists of me picking everything up and putting it in the plastic container while Henry watches and i talk up the clean-up. I'll just have to seek out some kind of catchy tune to go with it and hopefully we'll have the makings of a routine.

Alarm Clock

It's a rare occasion when we really use our alarm clock these days. If anything, JT sets his for 6 and then snoozes until Henry gets us up. Often this happens before we've even gone through a complete snooze cycle. Neither alarm was set this morning(Henry's been up quite early the past few days) but lo and behold i didn't stir until JT leapt out of bed shortly after 8. He went in to Henry's room where Henry was laying on his back playing with his stuffed Ralph. He did this quite a bit while we were on vacation so we're hoping it means he's back to well-rested status. We're also hoping he continues the snooze fest over the weekend!

While at Oma and Opa's house, Henry enjoyed getting friendly with the doggy-- Coby. By all accounts Coby was really missing Henry after our departure. Henry seems to be making do with the kitties who seem more and more comfortable in his presence.

8 Months, 19 Days Old

We experienced the flipside of Henry's rough Tuesday bedtime last night. He fell asleep frightfully easily at 7 but was then awake off an on starting at 4 until i got him up to eat at 6. He definitely seemed tired by the time i took him to Brenda's but he had more spunk than the day before and after some good long naps there he seemed his usual perky self when i picked him up this afternoon. Hopefully tonight will be back to normal-- easy to bed, lateish to rise.

Our retrospective of Christmas break includes Henry's first visit to a big pool. Although he had a soak in a wading pool back in July, this was his first experience with water that wasn't warmed directly to his specifications. We marked the occasion with tons of pictures but Henry was kind of "eh" about the whole thing. His reaction made me feel less guilty about missing the registration deadline for the shrimp and kippers swimming class at the Y. I think we'll just plan to wait until the inia class next session.

8 Months, 18 Days Old

I mentioned that Henry is starting to move around quite a bit more. He routinely moves from sitting on to his stomach and is getting to be pretty pro at scooching backwards on his belly. He goes after toys and the cats more but he can basically only spin and move backwards. He was really trying to pull forward to get some toys today but so far he hasn't made any progress.

Henry is also eating more and more solid foods now. While in DC he had his first dim sum with the gang (documented above.) He had gluten, strips of bean curd, chicken, and 1000 layer pancake. We're headed to our favorite Indian restaurant this weekend so now it's time for his first taste of saag paneer and dal mukni (yum!)

Henry did fine at Brenda's today but mostly took long naps. This morning when i dropped him off he was practically catatonic. After i posted last night about how we had such a smooth trip, Henry woke up screaming off and on until about 9:30. At first i thought he might be hungry because he didn't eat that much in the evening. But then he really truly sounded mad when i would go in to check on him. Once i left him alone he fell asleep in just a few minutes on his own. He slept through the night but got up early (about 3 hours shy of his necessary 12 hours a night,) hence his long naps at Brenda's. He went to sleep promptly at 7 tonight so hopefully he'll be more rested and lively for Brenda tomorrow.

Hiatus ended...

Sorry for the prolonged hiatus. I hadn't planned to not post much of anything while i was gone. I optimistically brought along my photo drive so that i could post and load photos daily. Somehow that didn't happen, and instead we had a nice long vacation. In fact it was a day longer than planned as we were unable to get back to Chicago yesterday afternoon and wound up taking an early flight this morning.

We're home and trying to get things in order so we can all get back into our work routines tomorrow morning. Of course i'll be making up for all the pictures i haven't posted this past week and catching you up on Henry and his new accomplishments.

After my last trip with Henry i waxed poetic about travel with a baby and how it was the intangibles rather than the packing that had proved difficult. This trip turned that essay on its head. Heading out we were packed so lightly that we walked to pick up Henry at daycare and hopped on the subway to the airport. Coming home we had to get JT and all the bags situated in a cab and then Henry and i took the El (we didn't bring a carseat). You'll see dramatic pictures over the next several days, but suffice to say we all (especially Henry) made out quite well this Christmas.

The intangibles (which for us means sleep) went pitch perfect. Henry slept 12 hours at night (usually without a peep) and took 2 1.5-2 hour naps a day. He was on a really predictable schedule too, which made coordinating with friends that much easier.

Henry spent a lot of time playing on his stomach and seems to have finally gotten to a point that he doesn't mind it so much. He's also started to move quite a bit more. He's not up on all fours and rocking yet, but he pushes himself backwards and turns himself around pretty well now. He's also been trying to get his legs underneath his body by hitching one leg up to his side. Today i saw him move rather gracefully from a sitting to a belly-lying position. I think this is important for two reasons: he can get out of a sitting position by a method other than just falling forward on his face and, he actually wants to leave the sitting position and get to his belly. He got gobs of great toys that i think help keep him entertained.