Henry on the phone

This morning Henry snapped open Daddy's old cell phone like a pro, and held it to his ear as he said, "Lo." Then he proceeded to chatter, stopping for short breaks, in high pitched squeals and low and high inflections.

All the while he walked around the living room gesturing.

Not Weaned Yet

Henry had a busy day as we visited with my best friend from high school, and then he conked out in the car on the way home. When we got home, it was dinner time, but he was way too tired to eat, and way too cranky for bed quite yet, so we snuggled down to a bunch of books and milk.

Just the ticket.

When Henry is nursing, he takes breaks occasionally, but gets frustrated when I "put things away". So, tonight certainly being no exception, he cried out, "no - arghh!", when I was buttoning up, and when I responded accordingly to his needs, he threw his arms up in the air and fell onto me with a "ah-loooo!!!", and a big smile on his face.

Sadly, no longer alone...

I am no longer alone, alas. I am working and listening to Kevin talk to Henry in the bathroom. Here is an account:
Daddy: Remember what I asked you to do? I asked you not to touch the toilet. And not to touch the "urine stream", as enticing as that is.

I get a kick out of this childrearing gig.

Peace and ...

Ahhhh, I am all alone in the house.
I can hear the wind blowing, the coffee pot making its little ticking noises, the jackhammer down the street.... But, otherwise, it is all quiet in the house on ______ - and did I mention,
I AM ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know what to do with myself.
It's so marvelous.
Henry is out with Daddy poking around doing things, as he likes to do, and I have the place to myself!
Hee hee hee ha ha!

Magnets from Heaven

I am in the midst of preparing to move my downtown office, changing my address with insurance agencies that just recently realized that I am no longer with the group that I quit in May of 2008, and creating new and improved paperwork and marketing tools. So, my brochure has my own art on it, as does my new and beautious card, and I wanted magnets that were a copy of my card. Well, the printer that I use doesn't do magnets, but they work with a company that does and the guy I am working with emailed me and informed me that the company's minimum order would be 1000 magnets, for $200.

Northfield is small. Rice County is small. 1000 magnets is a whole lot of magnet. I wrote him back and informed him that in fact, 900 magnets was more than I intended ever to own, and reported that I could use them only if I were to fly over Rice Co and drop them from a plane.

Hanging out downtown with our boy

Posted by Kevin......

Henry and I were headed to Goodbye Blue Monday.

It looked like rain, but then the sun came out! He decided to run around Bridge Square.

Posted by Stace.....

My son is sitting here quietly with a tennis shoe of Daddy's on either side of him. He has a shoelace in each hand and is inserting the end of each shoelace into his ears. He does this from time to time. I wonder what frequency he is getting?

The hot July day in Minnesota, 2009

Posted by Stace.....

Henry, Summer 2009

Posted by Stace.....









Henry couldn't easily reach the ground in the car that Nanna and Grampie had for him, but he was in heaven to play with it anyhow. He went on his second boat trip - and had a great time. And, he saw his first elephant - one just about his size...

Please is not tangible

Posted by Stace.....

I am teaching Henry the word "please". It's rather tricky, because he can't see "please". He can, however, sign it, and it's an easy sign. But darned if he understands why he has to use it, and when.

In fact, he doesn't have to use it because reaching and grunting gets him all that he desires. And Mama and Dada are all too happy to grab everything he might be pointing at to ask if that is the desired object - and in the process introducing many new objects for future desires... But now we are encouraging this "please" business and Henry is OVER it. Despite knowing the sign, and being able to do it on command, he fussed/cried today as I held the object of that moment's desire out of reach and asked him to say "please". Dada and I even role-played it for him, acting as though we were so happy to receive the object in question - which we got upon using the magic word. It went over like a lead balloon.

Then Dada broke down and moved Henry's hand for him (and I was relieved, quite frankly). Happy upon receiving his object, Henry was all too happy to sign "please".

Chili in July

Posted by Stace.....

Kev has informed me that experts report that this will be the first year of "no summer". It hasn't been bad, in fact, overall when it's not gray, it has been pretty nice. But mostly it has been gray. Today, well, this afternoon, was the first non-gray this week.

We ate chili last night and it warmed our cockles. There I sat, the first day of July, in my fleece jacket, eating chili. Good, gluten free chili.