Henry

Henry wants a pajama party every night, and tonight was no different. I was getting Pandora.com on the web and started chanting in some relatively vague, but familiar tune, "Let's get this party started", when I noticed that he was looking at me oddly. Like he was trying to put something together, or remember something. Then, he said, "No. I like it movin', movin'."

Then it was my turn to stare at him. Something in my head was being jogged. This sounded familiar. Not exactly right, but surely righter than what I was saying to the same tune. As I was lost in oblivion trying to recall something - anything - that likely would not be recalled, Henry informed me that he learned the song from the movie Madagascar - a movie I hadn't watched with him.

In no time we had the clip from the movie, and the song "I like to move it, move it" up on YouTube.
We watched and Henry looked at me and said, "That's how it goes, Mama."

Tidbits

1.
The other morning I went into the garage to get the "baby vroom vroom" (ie. dustbuster) and handed it to Henry who promptly flipped it on and shut the door between the house and the garage. I went to do something else when a quick shot of terror went through me as I stood there in my pj's and socked feet in a very cold garage and thought, "he could totally lock me out!"
He didn't, however, and so for that I am grateful, and I made a mental note to hide a key in the garage for the future. Cleaning turned out to be a bust though as while Henry and I sucked up hair and crumbs, Walter sat on the floor dumping out his milk. Oh well.

2.
Henry was chatting with Grandma Keane on the phone the other day and informed her that he has curly hair, Walter has curly hair, Daddy has curly hair, "but not Mama because she wears glasses".

3.
Henry was playing in the pantry the other day and had the vanilla and almond extracts side by side in the front. He informed me that they were getting married. I told him that they made a very nice couple.

4.
Henry received a Woody doll from his Aunts Rachel and Lisa. He has been in sheer heaven. One day after receiving it in the mail he asked, "Hey! Do you remember my Jessie doll?"

5.
I put conditioner in Henry's hair on a regular basis and comb it through because he has really dry hair in the winter. He enjoys this and wanted to put it in my hair the other day. So, he sprayed some in my hair and gently brushed my head. I told him that he was being very gentle and that I liked that.
"You're welcome." He replied.

5.5
The last time Henry had his hair cut I watched our stylist work her way into his cowlick that is utterly amazing. It's like this little swirl that branches out over the entirety of the back of his head. I said to our stylist, "That's quite a cowlick."
She stopped cutting, looked at me over his head, and very seriously said, "It's quite a cowlick."

A Conversation with Henry

While we drove to school this morning I told Henry that I signed him up for an indoor soccer class starting in April.
"What's that?" He asked. This is one of his favorite questions, often followed by, "How that happened?" It's curious and wonderful and exhausting.
"Soccer", I say. "You know soccer. Remember about a month ago you and Daddy and Walter attended one class, there were lots of kids and lots of balls, and you didn't really engage. Do you remember?" (Unfortunately due to his variety of illnesses, he never continued attending and we sort of gave up with the plan to start again in the spring term.)
"Uh huh."
"Did you like it?"
"Yes," he replies.
"Do you want to do it again?"
"No."
Great.

The Boys

Henry has been giving me kisses, which is wonderful, except for the fact that he has had strep... And what is funny about them is that he grabs my cheeks and lays a LONG kiss on my lips. It's cute, and I love these kisses - totally - and I hope that he learns a little about brevity as he gets older.

___

Tonight we had a grand dance party to all Abba music (**heaven!**) in the basement, and it was glorious. I took a break and when I returned Henry was on top of the train table and Walt was without his pants. Oh dear.

___

Henry stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my neck. "Do you have a penis?"
We've had this discussion before.
"No," I reply.
"Ohhh-" he says sounding sorry for me.
I try to explain to him that it's actually ok, I'm not broken up about it or anything.

___

I told Henry that he is a big boy today and he told me that he is "a little small" and that he doesn't want to be a big boy. "Why?" I ask.
He tells me that when he is big he can't see me, and that when he is big he will hold me like a baby, like how I hold Walter.
It made me cry.

Daylight Saving Time

Posted by Kevin.......

I always look forward to Daylight Saving Time (or as I like to call it "Day Light Savings Time").

For one thing, I get to travel in time. Which I don't do very often. Probably twice a year if I'm lucky.

(A little known irony about time travel is I'm usually too busy to do it. You have to plan your trip and inspect the time machine, then fuel it up, change into your "period" attire.....I mean WHO has time for all that?)

So thank you Benjamin Franklin, who first suggested Daylight Saving Time in 1784.....along with a new special type of stove that burns stuff and not your home, the wonderful metal pole stuck on your house THAT ATTRACTS LIGHTNING, and the now ubiquitous "Jar on the Kitchen Counter Full of Pennies".

Tonight, I get to pass instantly one hour into the future. "O' the amazing things I shall see!"

My wish is that the hour of sleep lost will be worth the adventure into mankind's destiny.

Actually, I'm at work. Which means I lose an hour of pay.

Crap.

CURSE YOU Benjamin. No "penny saved" can make up for the "dollars lost" as I suffer for your short sightedness.

Perhaps if you had some kind of special eye glasses........hmmm?

Rough night

Rough night last night, had to break from sleeping to get Hen milk, listen to him slurp that up all the while hoping it doesn't wake up Walt (in same room as us), then deal with his wanting juice, then moved into his room in a flap and a fury just so we could guarantee to not wake Walt, then read a book, then he crashed, and I lay awake in a twin bed with him fuming at the Montessori for making my kid sick every darn time he attends school...

But this morning a little better - see? Sleep is restorative... Henry is feeling slightly better and I figure the good news is that I didn't have 2 kids yacking last night. So, it could've been worse.

The real reason time out's don't work

We do time out's. I guess a lot of folks find that they don't really work, and I'm not convinced that they do indeed work, but I find that they give us all a time out - as the name suggests - and I think that in and of itself is ok.

However, Henry was extremely agitated and upset when he went into time out tonight - as is usually the case otherwise the time out probably wouldn't be necessary - and the next thing I knew was that he had vomited all over the place. We've been so sick on such a regular basis that it's hard to know these days what's "normal" sickness and Henry working himself up - which he occasionally tends to do, and then he gags.

I find all of this charming. At risk of sounding like I totally don't care, which of course, couldn't be further from the truth - all this yacking makes me crazy. I'm afraid that while I am up to most challenges, those that include vomit sort of grate on me. I have little tolerance for this as it tends to make me sick too. And what also is beginning to get to me is what is initiating all these time outs and that is Henry being too hard on Walter. I'm wearing pretty thin regarding this issue.

Henry. Sick Again.

I picked Henry up from school and he was warm and somewhat colorless. On the way home he told me he is sick.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing," he replies.
"Honey, are you sick?"
"No,"
"Do you feel like you need to throw up?"
"Maybe not," he reports unconvincingly.
NOnonononono not in my car, I think.
"I want to go home." He says.
Yep.
At home:
"Does your tummy hurt?"
"Don't ask me that."
"Ok," I say.
"Don't put your eyes on me. Don't see me."
Oh for crying out loud.

Walter's Appetite

As some of you already know, Walter likes risotto - and who can blame him? One of our favorite recipes is wild mushroom risotto which is to die for and really one should make a vat of it and just settle right down with a big spoon... Well, upon learning that this was a favorite, and because that particular vat was for me, I made him some lovely salmon tomato risotto with cheese sauce which he seems to think came straight from heaven above. When I gave him his first spoonful the other day one eyebrow went straight up and it was a decidedly different response than when given something more mundane like cawliflower, potato and cheese... I'll make him some mushroom risotto next week - which calls for the crazy expensive truffle oil, and which I wouldn't probably have if I hadn't been given it as a gift, but which also makes the dish phenomenal. Until then, it's the other stuff, but don't be fooled, it's pretty darn good too, and it's going down.

Very Important

Walter shows mild interest in Henry's new doll, and usually only engages with it when Henry dangles her in front of him. As he yanks the doll out of reach, Henry clearly, firmly, and loudly reminds Walter the following on a regular basis:
"Jesse is not your toy!"
"Jesse is a big boy toy, not yours!"

The Boys

Henry is very good at watching Walter, constantly alerting us to anything he is doing that might be construed as dangerous, wrong, or in any way intrusive to Henry's way of life. In an attempt to stop Walter, redirect him, or "encourage" him to follow Henry's direction, Henry is all too quick to grab a leg and start pulling. Or an article of clothing. It's not really that uncommon these days to see Henry walking down the hallway stooped over with Walter's legs in hand, Walter's head up and looking around as he passes by.