I swear he is smarter than me.

I have been trying to put Henry to bed while his is still awake. He doesn't like this development very much. I lay him down, give him his little blanket (Gerry the Giraffe) and his pacifier. I turn on his mobile and leave the room.

He starts to whine when the mobile stops or when his pacifer falls out. Sometimes I even catch him pulling out the pacifier himself and throwing it in the crib. Still, I persevere and put it in his mouth and leave again.

Tonight I had been back in there 3 or 4 times already and he was showing no signs of drifting off. I looked for his pacifier and couldn't find it anywhere in the crib. He was starting to cry so I picked him up and went to the kitchen to get him a new one. I bent down to get a clean one from the dishwasher, popped it in his mouth and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Yup, he was gripping his missing pacifer in his little chubby hand.

My little Henry is very naughty!

So I guess American Idol is out?

Henry and I were laying on the bed this evening, winding him down towards sleep. I had just nursed him and his head was in my lap. He was sucking contentedly on his pacifer, and I was stroking his hair and forehead. His eyes were fluttering and I started to sing to him quietly. He looked straight at me and started giggling with the pacifier still in his mouth. Do you think he was commenting on my singing ability?

"You can't spoil a baby"

Baloney.

(Edited to add: Judging by the comment from my mother, I would like to clarify. I am not wanting to spoil Henry, I have already done so! I have heard over and over that "It is impossible to spoil a young baby." Based on the following evidence when Henry doesn't get his way: back arching, hitting, quivering lower lip, hip thrusting when strapped into anything, screeching cry I think we have proven that theory wrong! Oh no, I think I have a firecracker on my hands!)

It's 4am, do you know where your child is?

I know where Henry is...

He is in his room, playing on the floor. Yup, Mr. Morning Glory is awake and ready for the day!

My $84 Bowl of Soup

My friend Janice and her baby Charlotte meet me and Henry out somewhere about once per week. Today we met at the Time Warner Center which is NYC's version of a mall. It is very fancy and has lots of swanky stores and restaurants.

We hit the cafe at Whole Foods for a quick bite first. We had just sat down with our food and Henry started his campaign to get out of the stroller. I was reluctant because I was eating soup, but I gave in and picked him up. He squirms like crazy and it quickly became too difficult to keep him away from my water, my soup and and eat at the same time. I turned to put him back in his carriage and I heard Janice gasp.

I looked down and realized that Henry grabbed my bowl of soup on the way past and pulled it into my lap! After my initial horror passed I quickly checked him out to ensure that he was not burned. Don't worry, he is too quick to get hurt and only had a few drops on him. Now me on the other hand, that's a different story. The soup was Red Lentil Curry with Coconut Milk. I was covered in it from my waist to my shoes. It looked like I had vomited all over myself and the floor. I only had one little napkin so I had to swab myself down with a cloth diaper. Fiesty Henry was not taking being put back in the stroller lightly and was screaming his head off.

After cleaning up the wreckage, I attempted to eat what was left of my lunch when Henry decided he was now hungry. I had the distinct pleasure to get to nurse him right in the middle of the crowded cafeteria. For those of you who might be uncomfortable with nursing in public, believe me, it is usually the last thing the mother wants to be doing!

After this, I brought him to the bathroom to change his clothes. He hollered through this so when I was done I strapped him in the Baby Bjorn which usually calms him down. Since I didn't want to go home yet, I went to the cheapest store in this "mall" to buy pants to wear. J Crew is not usually known for their bargains, so I am now the proud owner of brown linen pants for the bargain price of $79.50. Very appropriate for 40 degree weather, don't you think?

I won't even go into the experience of trying on the pants while Henry proceeded to act like I was murdering him in the dressing room.

Ahh, the joys of motherhood.

P.S. After the little dressing room episode he proceeded to pass out for the next hour.

We have officially created a monster

We have been transitioning Henry to his crib over the past few weeks. He takes most of his naps there, and we put him to bed around 7pm in the crib as well. Since we are not ready to have him sleep in his room alone yet (we are wimps, I know) we bring him to bed with us around 11pm. I feed him and then change his diaper in the bed so that he doesn't wake up more than necessary. He goes right back to sleep.

Tonight, he woke up around 11pm but I knew he wasn't hungry because he ate about an hour earlier. I put his pacifier back in his mouth and walked out. He started his little sad, "Why are you ignoring me" cry that I can't resist. We played the pacifier game for about 5 minutes, but he wouldn't stop his little plea. I decided to do a little experiment. I picked him up, walked him into our room and laid him in the bed. Wouldn't you know he was asleep before his little head hit the Tempurpedic. We are in BIG trouble.

I wonder if Adam or I could fit in the crib.

Look at me, I'm swinging!

Who said sitting up was hard?

This one's for you Dr. Lewis

Henry was scolded at his 4 month appointment for not spending enough time on his tummy

I'm Crazy About Jumping!

Showing off my new skill at lunch with Mom and Dad

I now like to stick out my tongue all of the time!

Giving Wet Kisses

Hey, what am I doing in here in my pajamas?

Do you see how loooooooooooong I am getting?

Testing out my new carseat

Unadvertised Side Effect

They don't advertise this on the box! 75% of the time that I put Henry in his Exersaucer or Jumperoo, he poops. It seems to be inevitable. I think I am going to send them my Oxyclean bill, because when you combine exploding poop and jumping it is not a pretty sight.

Can someone buy this baby a watch?

Henry and I went to Target yesterday afternoon. It was too bright and noisy for him to take his regular nap there and he only slept for a few minutes in the car on the way home.

By the time I could get him to settle down for an afternoon nap it was 5pm. Henry made the executive decision that this was not a nap and that he was going to bed for the night. I'll let you take a guess at what time he woke up. 5am. Actually 4:45am, but who's counting.

Luckily I realized early in the evening what he was doing and went to bed at 9:15pm. Good thing I did because Henry was up and dressed for the day at 5:15am, jumping happily in his jumparoo.
It is now 10:18am, and my little morning boy has already eaten 3 times, is on his second nap, had two rounds of playtime, and gone for a walk with Dad to buy fruit and breakfast.

Oh, in case that is not enough accomplishments for his day, he also rolled from his stomach to his back this morning. Twice.

I am such a hypocrite.

Henry is watching TV right now. I put him in his bouncy seat and parked him in front of it. Right now, he is watching Arthur and seems to be enjoying it. Actually, he is staring at the ceiling light right now and laughing. I think someone slipped him some LSD.

He hasn't napped for more than a few minutes in days. He is awake during my shower again. He still wakes up a few time per night. When I go to bed, I can't sleep either. I was up until 1:30 last night, staring at the ceiling. He woke up again then to eat and then again at 4am, and was up for the day at 6am. He took a "nap" from 7:30- 8am. I think I gave birth to the spawn of the Energizer bunny.

I just wanted to eat a bowl a cereal.

Signed,

Sleep Deprived in NYC

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Well, I did a little too much bragging about Henry putting himself to sleep. The little bugger now refuses to nap! He slept for a total of about 40 minutes today, and frankly we are both fried! Not sure what to do, I sense there is some crying in someone's future!

Best Baby Ever!

Henry put himself to sleep tonight. In his crib!

We had a long day at Uncle Barry's house, and Henry didn't nap well. He was up until 8pm and had only a total of about 1.5 hours in naps all day. I laid him in his crib wide awake and put on his mobile. He played for a little, pulled off his socks, rolled over and went to sleep.

Not too bad despite all of our bad sleeping habits! What a good boy!

Crib Tales

Until a few days ago, Henry had not slept one wink in his crib. Ever. It served as a decorative object in his room, a waiting room for new clothes needing to be washed and a holder of the mobile. Mostly, I would lay him in the crib and turn on the mobile which made him go nuts. He would squeal and giggle and swat at the animals.

Anyway, he has gotten too big for his hammock. He likes to sleep on his side and that is not safe in that type of bed. When he spit out his pacifier, he would flail around looking for it, sending the hammock flying. Also, if he woke up and I didn't get to him fast enough he would propel himself backwards into the netting. So, I decided to start putting him into the crib for naps. The first day, I rocked him into a sleepy state and laid him down. His eyes sprung open and he took a look at his new surroundings. He gave me a genuinely confused look and then smiled. Kind of like, "I'm not sure what kind of game we are playing here, but I'll play along." I knew the mission was doomed when he started to swat at the animals, now wide awake. I picked him up and got him sleepy again. I laid him down and he slept for about 10 minutes. I heard a giggling noise from his room, and there he lay, wide awake and ready for more action.

What's new with Henry

Henry has found his feet and delights in grabbing them. I wish I was that flexible.

He has also found his voice and shreiks all day. He is quite a noisy little fella. I took him out to lunch yesterday to meet a new friend of mine, and of course he woke up as soon as I got my food. He is not a fan of sitting in his carriage if he is awake, so I put him on my lap. He was grabbing the food, napkins and silverware and generally wreaking havoc. I stood him up on my lap so he could look over my shoulder and he started to shreik at the top of his lungs. Not crying, just letting out whoops of energy. I would look at him and say, "Henry Richard, you'd better stop all of that yelling. You are going to get us thrown out of here!" This would send him into fits of giggles and he would scream some more.

He also likes to be carried in the Baby Bjorn facing forward. This allows him to socialize with the neighbors and the employees at the grocery store. He can really turn on the charm when he wants to.

He is also wearing size 12 month pajamas. The kid is huge.

Ahh, the joys of motherhood...

I hate to sterotype, but Henry is a typical boy. He hates to cuddle and loves to play airplane and be tossed around. This afternoon I was holding him over my head while I was laying down. He spit up directly in my face and hair. I saw it coming and couldn't dodge it! Gross.