The Root of My Discipline Problem

I have found the root of my discipline problem. His name is Daddy. Adam tries to play that he is so tough and strict on Henry but his version of discipline is basically letting Henry do whatever he wants.

You may remember my problem of Henry standing in the bathtub. After discussing it with Adam it turns out that he has been letting Henry stand in the tub for weeks. When I asked why he does this despite the danger involved he replied, "Because he wants to and he screams if I don't let him." Hmm...I'll let you mull that one over for a while!

Starting Him Early

One important lesson I learned from my mom is the value of cheap child labor. I may have been the only child in my kindergarten class who knew how to make a hospital corner on a bed and scrub a toilet without a toilet brush. My brother, sister and I joke that we didn't have toys, we had chores.

Henry is obsessed with cleaning. Many a person has asked if I clean a lot because he is so obsessed with it. He is also very tidy and wipes up spills immediately. He freaks if he gets something on his clothing, has dirty hands or something is out of place. Which is all very amusing because neither Adam nor I are super duper neat freaks. Stop laughing Mother.

Anyway, I figure why let him pretend when he can do the real thing? I let him run the swiffer sweeper with the power on and have switched my cleaning solution to a kid friendly vinegar and water. Henry's favorite new game is washing the baseboards with his spray bottle. One day he did this for over an HOUR. This from the child with ants in his pants.

I thought you might enjoy these photos of Mr. Clean getting into his work.

Recent Pictures

Supervising the workers at the pick your own strawberry patch. His other duty was sampling the crops


Whenever I bend over now he hops onto my back. No idea where he picked this up


Henry's new stool. Also called Exhibit A on the case for First Time Parent Stupidity. Who in their right mind gives their child access to the countertops?

Pool Time!

Hooray! Our local pool is finally open. They leave it closed until the NYC public schools are out so that the kids don't cut class. We have been eagerly awaiting this day and were waiting when the gates opened despite the cloudy weather.

Henry remembered it as soon as we got there and was so excited to splash in the Olympic sized kiddie pool. The water was freezing and his lips were blue but I still had to drag him out of there. The funniest thing that happened was every time he got out of the pool his bathing suit would drip on his feet. He would look at me and say "pee-pee." Cracked me up every time.

Does this mean Henry is a greedy capitalist?

Not that I think that is a bad thing!

Due to lack of anything better to do today and crappy weather, I brought Henry to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. At first, he was nervous and wouldn't sit on anything that moved. Then, I took him over to the section that gives tickets as prizes. He caught on right away that the tickets were the exciting part and was SCREAMING and grabbing them as soon as they came out. The more tickets, the better. He would grab them and shove them into my purse. He then was running around trying to steal other people's tickets when they weren't looking. I even caught him circling one game looking for tickets left behind...I think I may have a shark on my hands!

Soup. It's What's For Dinner

Using the heat index, it has been 105 degrees in NYC this week. What have we had for dinner the past three nights? Hot, homemade soup. Mmm, doesn't that sound appealing?

We have made the discovery that Henry will eat vats of soup. Not only does he love the broth, but he will actually eat meat, vegetables and starch in the same meal. Most other meals he turns up his nose and asks to get out of his highchair. But, while eating soup he actually says "Mmmm" after every spoonful.

So far, we have had chicken noodle, beef vegetable and taco soup. I think tomorrow will be minestrone. Can't wait!

First Trip to the Bronx Zoo

We went to the Bronx Zoo a few weeks ago. I'm not even sure if we saw any animals. Henry was more interested in shoving rocks and leaves into his pockets and eating Adam's ice cream cone.

Here are some pictures from the day:

The Showdown

Today's score:

Henry: 1
Mom: 0

I put Henry in the bathtub tonight and he wouldn't sit down. I told him to sit down and he told me "No." I told him if he didn't sit down he was getting out of the tub. He looked at me and told me "No." I took him out of the tub, he picked up his dirty clothes and sat down on his bench. He then proceeded to start to put his shirt back on.

Since he was so dirty (He rubbed taco soup in his hair) I decided to give him one more chance. I said, "Henry if I put you back in the tub will you sit down?" He said "No." and I decided to plop him in there and quickly run a cloth through his hair. I dragged him back out and he picked up his clothes again, walked out and put them in the hamper.

Just when I think...

that Henry is a rational person and understands me he does something crazy. Today he stuck his hand in the toilet and drank a handful of the water. Ick.

Could it be love?

One of my favorite neighborhood friends just moved downtown with her husband and daughter. We were very sad to see them go but definitely plan on keeping in touch with them. When Henry and her daughter get together, the combination is always explosive. They are both big huggers that don't like to be hugged, they are both very physical and aggressive and love to run around. I can never tell if they love each other or hate each other but it is always fun.

The little girl's name is Devika and Henry refers to her as Day-Day. It is his only friend that he refers to by name. We were eating lunch yesterday and I mentioned Henry that we were going to see Devika after lunch. He immediately broke into a huge grin and shouted "Day Day!" He then said "Bye-Bye" and "Up" in quick succession and refused to eat anymore. I guess he was excited?

What a disaster!

Henry was a little crabby this morning and a bit warm, so I gave him some Motrin. He wouldn't really eat his breakfast but nothing really abnormal. I laid him down for his nap at 11am and the phone woke him 45 minutes later. He wouldn't go back to sleep so he was chilling on the couch. I noticed that he seemed a little warmer but it was too soon for more Motrin.

I had my NT scan scheduled for 1pm so we needed to get moving anyway. We were meeting Adam at the hospital which is about a 20 minute subway ride away. As soon as we left the house, Henry started crying which is pretty abnormal for him so I could tell he didn't feel well. About 10 minutes into the subway ride he started screaming. Screaming like he has not screamed since he was a colickly newborn. Nothing would soothe him, no pacifer, no water, no bouncing, no snack, no change in position.

I started to smell that unmistakable smell of impending vomit (cue the horror movie silent scream). He was sitting on my lap facing me and started to vomit over and over. He was covered and I am covered and we are stuck on the train. Finally we reach the station and I am carrying a hysterical Henry and we are both covered in vomit.

I frantically dial Adam and tell him not to go to the hospital and to meet me sooner. Henry was screaming so much I considered taking him to the ER. We meet, he cancels my appointment, I regroup and Henry and I get into a cab to go home. Of course I don't have a carseat with me so I am a nervous wreck the whole time. Poor baby was sick and feverish the rest of the day.