Snip Snip!

We took Henry to Cozy's Cuts for Kids today to get his first haircut. He did so well, he didn't cry at all. It helps that you get to pick a video as soon as you enter for his personal TV set, the store is covered in toys that you can buy and that he got to sit in a Jeep for his haircut.

Annie cut his hair, she was very sweet. She moved as fast as possible and kept plying him with toys. She even let him hold her squirt bottle with was very exciting for Aqua-Baby Henry.

Afterward they bag up his hair and give you a little certificate to take home.

Here are some before and after pictures of the big event. I can't believe what a little mop-top he had.

Two Small Steps!

Henry has been an expert cruiser for about two months now, but no independent walking. He walks his Fisher Price push car around the apartment and loves to push his stroller at the park. He will even walk just holding one of my fingers so I know he can do it.

Tonight Grandpa Joe and I coaxed him into taking a few steps a couple of times using my cell phone as bait. Henry clearly knew he was doing something exciting and hammed it up as usual. He would give a little squeal each time before he plopped down. He threw Adam a bone when he got home and demonstrated once for him too.

Very exciting!

Henry Appleseed

Henry joined his cousins Sydney, Reece and Ruby for his first apple-picking trip. Here are some cute shots from the day. Obviously this is a boy that enjoys a fresh apple. Notice Henry taking an emergency call on his "Apple Phone" in the group shot.

I like to call him "Coach"

Here is a photo summary of my recent exercise session. It quickly became clear that Henry was going to be involved whether I liked it or not. Since I couldn't beat him, I let him join in. When Adam woke from his nap he decided that the most helpful thing he could do would be to take photos and critique my workout.

Chop Buster

Henry and I have a little Kabuki dance that we perform every night at bedtime. Adam gives him a bath and puts him in his pajamas. I bring him into his room and we read some books. I use the term read very loosely as Henry is not a very attentive listener. Reading to him involves trying to rip the pages out of the book, crawl out of my lap and throw things off his bookshelf, hit me in the face with his pacifier and then throw the book on the floor.

Anyway, we all sat on the big bed (aka Henry's Bed) and looked at some books. Henry performed his normal tricks, I nursed him and gave him his pacifier. I brought him to his room and he proceeded to scream. I heard the normal thud of the pacifer being thrown out of his crib. Then more screaming. I gave him a few minutes like I normally do and went back in. I picked him up, calmed him down and put him back in his crib. More screaming.

Normally, our dance routine involves one more round of me holding him and singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in my off key voice and then he falls asleep. Not tonight apparently. He was very upset so I carried him back over to the chair to calm him down. He immediately closed his eyes and went to sleep. I stood up after about five minutes to move him to his crib. He cracked one eye open, spit his blue and yellow pacifer out of his mouth, grabbed it and threw it into his ball pit. The pit full of blue and yellow balls. He then had the nerve to start laughing.

I brought him into the living room and handed him to Adam. He was still giggling. The only thing Adam had to say is "He is definitely your son." What the heck is that supposed to mean?

Henry is a very lucky boy.

I am starting to be known around the neighborhood as the crazy mom. This could be interpreted as a good or bad thing. I got it into my head recently that Henry needed a ball pit in his room. This all stems from my guilt that I don't take him to Gymboree (because it is $38 per class!)

I have been thinking it through and talking about it to various people. My genius sister in law had the idea to use one of those six panel baby gates as the pit. That was all I needed. Luckily my sister had a gate to "loan" us (hehe she is never getting it back!) I ordered 400 pit balls and we were in business. I wanted to order 1000, but Adam thought that was "excessive." The first night he came home and saw it he said "I can't believe I am saying this, but that pit needs more balls." Off to Target I go for another 150!

Suffice it to say I have no trouble getting Henry's friends to come over to play.

Babies and Booze. The perfect combination.

September seems to be a big conference month in the insurance industry. Two times out of the past four years Adam has had a business trip that has fallen on my birthday. The first time I received a guilt induced trip to the spa for the entire day with Janice. Very nice.

This year I was annoyed to hear I was going to be home alone again on my birthday. My 35th to boot! Since it fell on a Wednesday I knew it would make it even more difficult to get someone from the non-retired world to come hang with me.

As soon as Adam told me he would be away my wheels started spinning. Who is always looking for something to do? Who is just as available to hang on a Wednesday as they are on a Saturday? Someone who is also home with a baby, that's who!

I have been talking about having a Babies and Booze Bash for ages. I decided that this was the perfect occasion and started dialing and emailing the local moms (and dads) that stay home in the neighborhood. Everyone that I spoke to was up for some fun.

Henry and I hosted the event last night and we had 21 parents and 16 babies. All of the babies were within 2 months of Henry (older or younger) so they had a great time. The first mom arrived at 3:40pm and the last left at 8pm, so I think it was a successful event! And, the Fed Ex guy came in the afternoon with my gift certificate from Adam and Henry to the spa. Excellent.

Hmm, do I talk on the phone THAT much?

Henry's favorite toy is the phone, hands down. The real working phone. The one with the no antenna because he throws it so often it broke off. If you ever call and I don't answer it is because Henry has hidden the phone somewhere where I cannot find it. Probably in the Diaper Genie.

He walks around the apartment with the phone against his ear and he says "Hewow"or "Herow" over and over. Sometimes it is just a grunt, sometimes he stresses the "O" sound. Sometimes he adds a few more grunts to indicate conversation, but he always throws a Da in there, for Dada of course.

If a phone is not available he will substitute something else. By not available I don't mean that someone is using it. If that is the case he will smile and bounce and look cute until you let him "talk." If that doesn't work the scowls and screams and cries. If a phone is not physically present, a plastic eggplant (from the kitchen at playgroup) or a small book will suffice.

I wasn't sure his hello was that clear to people other than me and thought I might be imagining it. We were at breakfast this morning and our waitress didn't speak English. I know this because she brought us just one scrambled egg platter instead of the two that I ordered (Henry is a little piggy, he gets his own meal. And eats then entire thing) But as she was clearing the dishes Henry put a sugar packet up to his ear and took a call. She looked right at him in surprise and said "Hello!" right back.

Adventures in Night Weaning

I am going to stop nursing Henry when he hits one year old and transition him to milk. Since he still wakes at night to eat I realized that we need to get much more serious about stopping this or else I am going to be trudging to the kitchen for glasses of milk.

Here is a recount of our (my) progress the other night:

• Henry went to bed at 8:15pm
• Woke at 12:30am. I tried to get him back to sleep but he wouldn't cooperate (standing in his crib, throwing his pacifier, crying, crawling around like a monkey) so I nursed him hoping to then eliminate the later feeding.
• Put him back in his crib and he woke at 4:15am. Ignored him for about 20 minutes while he was off and on talking.
• He started again at 4:40am. Picked him up, calmed him, put him back down. He would not lay down and was standing and spitting his pacifier over the crib rail at me. What a comedian. Try for about 10 more minutes and he won't go back to sleep.
• Bring him to bed with me thinking he will maybe go to sleep there. Nope. Sitting up banging me on the chest indicating that he wanted to eat. Very subtle. Standing over Adam, hitting him with his pacifier saying"Hi". Trying to climb the headboard.
• I try to hold him in the nursing position like they say to do but not feed him. No go. He would get sleepy but not shut his eyes.
• Give him some of my water from the bedside glass. He was blowing bubbles in it like a motorboat. My pajamas are now wet from his spitting water at me and giggling.
• Finally around 5:20am Adam is begging me to just get it over with and feed him. I cave and we were all back to sleep in about 5 minutes.

No wonder people nurse kids until they are 2.

Caught Red Handed!

I have been finding mysterious items in our hamper recently and was started to seriously doubt my housekeeping ability. Pieces of toilet paper, unused baby wipes and lots of pacifiers. I apprehended the culprit yesterday, none other than Master Henry Richard. He is finally tall enough to stand and open the hamper without mashing his fingers in the lid. He likes to hide things for me to find when I am doing the laundry.

The Motherhood Diet

As I was sitting at the table eating plum skins today for breakfast I realized that my life had hit a new culinary low. Before the 9 month puke fest that is also known as my pregnancy began I had a great food life. Adam and I would eat out 5 nights per week at Manhattan's finest restaurants. It was so much fun and I can still remember some of the great meals.

Now, my diet pretty much consists of eating Henry's scraps. Before you start sending me checks, we do have the money for me to purchase real adult food. It just seems that feeding myself has become secondary to catering to Henry's various whims.

Take this morning for example. I don't wake up until Henry does, so I am on the go from the minute I open my eyes. I nurse him, change his diaper and then he plays for a few minutes. I put him in his highchair while I make his breakfast and he snacks on a few cheerios. Depending on his mood, he may or may not eat what I offer him. Recently he seems to be averse to eating white foods. Last week, no oatmeal or spoons. The week before? Cheese was king.

I am racing around the kitchen trying to get things in front of him before he explodes from being strapped down. I mixed his oatmeal into some yogurt because he won't eat it otherwise and he needs the iron. He took about 4 bites before clamping his mouth shut. So, I peeled him a plum. As he was eating that I was absentmindedly spooning baby oatmeal-yogurt into my mouth. As I was rinsing his dishes I realized that I was eating the skins from his plum. Now, we had a whole bowl of fruit sitting on the counter. Why didn't I eat something that still had actual fruit in the skin? Who knows, motherhood has made me nuts. I guess I was hungry.

I also eat lots of Gerber puffs, cheerios, cheese cubes and grape quarters. I am biting those into smaller pieces and feeding Henry at the same time. He is a bottomless pit for 1/4 sized grapes, but I am the one with the stomach ache. I realized how low I had sank recently when I realized that I was eating off of a padded baby spoon at a restaurant recently.

Sharing is Caring

Henry is so sweet, he loves to share his food with me. Since he almost refuses to be fed off of a spoon, his hands are usually covered in some sort of goo. Part baby spit, part fruit juice with a little Cherrio added in there for crunch.

I hate to discourage his generosity, so I always pretend to take a bite at first. Being the smarty pants that he is, he knows that this is not the real deal. He continues to offer it until I finally take a bite of whatever he is offering. Cheese that has been squished and warmed in his chubby little hand is a personal favorite.

It thrills him to no end when he finally gets you to take the bait and he then continues to offer. The game is not complete until he has his entire hand shoved in my mouth and he rakes his little razor nails across the roof of my mouth.

Help! My Baby is a Brute!

Henry may have the face of an angel, but he has a little devilish streak! He has always been a little rough. He loves to swing his chubby little arm and hit me or Adam in the face. He bites me now all of the time.

But, the big problem is at playgroup. We have one at our house every week with 9 other babies. Henry greets each baby with his "bear cub swat" right in the face. Or, he grabs their face in both of his hands. Last week he even conked another baby in the head with a toy. Forget the hair pulling. Invariably at least one babies is in tears due to Henry's reign of terror.

I have tried the "gentle, gentle" approach and it doesn't work. I usually try to divert him when I see him winding up or remove him after he has struck. It is getting a little embarrassing since he is now known for his affectionate gestures. Help!!!