A couple Henry anecdotes

Claire took Elleda to a sleep-over birthday party yesterday, so it was just the boys yesterday and this morning. Today I was telling Claire about Henry's accident yesterday where he said "I have to go potty" and then couldn't hold it and made a puddle on the carpet. Henry was in the other room, but was eavesdropping. He looked at me and said "You said 'Ugh.'". That cracked us both up. I wish we had it on video.

Henry and I have found a rather elaborate bedtime ritual. After reading him some stories (usually Claire reads to Elleda and Gabe separately), he says "I want to sleep in my Thomas bed" (meaning his Thomas the Tank Engine toddler bed). I tuck him in, and warn him that if he gets out of bed (he always does), I'll put him in his crib. (Which we're glad we've kept in his room. He either hasn't figured out how to climb out of it--or the thought just hasn't occurred to him.) I then sit down and wait outside his room for a couple minutes until he opens the door. Then I tell him he needs to go in his crib, and (usually) smell something and ask him if he has a "poopy". If he does (and he often does), I change his diaper and give him another chance in his toddler bed. Then I wait outside his room again until he opens the doors and I put him in his crib. Tonight though, he had another poopy diaper, and he got one more chance. (This wasn't the first time that's happened.) But even though I told reminded him (again) that he'll go in his crib if he gets up, he couldn't resist. He asked me "Where's Mommy?" and when I replied "She's downstairs." He said "You go downstairs with her!" He didn't want me waiting outside his door.

No poopy diaper the third time though. And after about 45 minutes I could finally go downstairs.

3 anecdotes

I found a piece of pink construction paper taped to the headboard of my bed the other day, with a heart shape cut out of it. Around the heart was written (in crayon) "Furr Dad love sekret Jild Fnd - I wot tll you Hoo mad this." [Translation: For Dad, love secret child friend. I won't tell you who made this.] (The J in "Jild" was backwards.) Elleda has been enjoying writing notes and in her journal she got from her tooth fairy "Trixie" after her second tooth fell out.

When we got back in the van to head home after Gabe's birthday party, Henry was singing (before we turned the music on) "Nothing's gonna change my world; Nothing's gonna change my world."--a line from the Beatles' "Across the Universe". I guess a song can get stuck in a two-year-old's head too. (That song has been in the news lately.)

I don't really have a cute anecdote about Gabe, but for several weeks I've been enjoying taking him out for breakfast on Friday mornings. That kid can eat! He'll eat his Mickey Mouse pancake, sausage and egg and then eat most of one of my pancakes. And he still has room for a donut if we have time. Claire and I have noticed that he has been acting out much less, and has been sharing and doing special favors for Henry and Elleda. Perhaps our "dates" have a little to do with that. Or perhaps he's maturing.

I've updated Flickr (and www.spitzer.us) with new photos.

First family bike ride

A couple weeks ago both Gabe and Elleda renewed their interest in their bikes. Actually, in addition to the larger bikes with training wheels that they each have, they both also have a smaller bike with no training wheels. Gabe gave his a shot back when he learned how to ride without training wheels, but he found the smaller, lighter bike harder to balance. (I see that I blogged about him wanting his training wheels back in May, so I don't think he's tried to ride without them since then.) However the idea got planted, we found ourselves taking those smaller bikes to the park.

For Gabe, learning to ride his bike again was just like riding a bike. Because he could easily put his feet on the ground while sitting on the bike, he could stop easily. That gave him his confidence back. But he still needed our help getting started.

Elleda didn't want our help, and didn't even want us to watch. So we watched out of the corner of our eyes. (She really did seem to have performance anxiety--she did better when she didn't think we were watching.) She was persistent. I think she figured out how to ride (for the first time, without training wheels), stop and start without help in less than an hour.

I think seeing Elleda figure it all out for herself gave Gabe some incentive. Gabe announced proudly this week when I got home from work that he could start by himself.

So Saturday I took down Claire's bike from the garage roof and re-inflated the tires, and went out and bought a WeeRide seat for Henry and mounted on my bike. After everyone awoke from their naps we went for our first family bike ride. We were pretty ambitious: we rode probably a little more than a mile to the local Jamba Juice. The kids did great--no complaining, they stopped and walked their bikes across the street and through a busy parking lot, and (aside from the parking lot) they rode all the way there and back. I was especially impressed with Elleda--she's now quite confident on her little bike. I even saw her ride right off a curb.

Unconditional Love

I just listened to another excellent episode of This American Life. In Act Two, "Dave Royko talks about the decision he and his wife faced about their autustic son's future..." which got me thinking about our short-lived fears about Henry.

It's been only a little over a month since I wrote "The flood gates are opening", and those gates have been opening ever wider since. We've lost count of how many words Henry uses on his own (and he will repeat very many other words after hearing Claire or I, or even Elleda or Gabe say it). And he has begun to say a few two-word sentences, like "Bye-bye Mama" or "Hi Dada".

We are so very lucky.

The flood gates are opening

You may be aware that Claire and I have been concerned that Henry hasn't started talking. Well, I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore. (We'll have to find something else to worry about.) In less than one week, he has said these words for the first time:

• bye-bye
• please
• hot
• up
• open
• car
• why (he was imitating Gabe when he said that one)

I'm sure I've forgotten a few.

Claire and I can't get over how cute he sounds. He's always been a babbler, but it's lovely to hear him say real words.

Henry's catchphrase

I wrote the following in an email to a friend, and thought it worth posting...

Henry can say "Uh oh!" (when he's in the mood), but while he babbles almost constantly, it's almost always the same thing: "wha-jeez-dyatch" (or something like that). He makes it work for him; we've thought he was saying "What is that?" and "Me touch that." I'm told the crossing guard at Elleda's & Gabe's preschool was convinced he said "What's up Dennis?" He reminds me of Elleda, who babbled past the age of two, and then skipped the one and two word stages and switched very quickly to complex sentences.

Henry is starting to understand too. He's very happy to bring things to Mommy, Daddy, Elleda or Gabe. And he certainly understands what items belong to which of us--he'll decide to bring Elleda her teddy bear, or Gabe his blanket, or Claire her shoe. (He very proudly brought me one shoe yesterday as we were getting ready to go out to the park.)

A Weekend Surprise

Not a weekend goes by where--after spending some sustained "quality time" with the kids--I'm not surprised by something they do. This last weekend the surprise that stands out in my memory occurred Friday evening, when Claire and I took the kids to the park. Elleda chose to bring the tricycle with extra wide wheels. It's very stable and so she feels confident going quite fast. Gabe wanted his "Razor" (scooter--more on that below), and I took one too so I could keep up. Elleda and Gabe had a couple races, and Elleda kept winning. (It didn't hurt that she kept giving herself a head-start before yelling "Go!") Gabe was getting frustrated, and Elleda noticed. So she let Gabe get a head-start and held herself back and let Gabe win, and called him the champion. I thought that was very generous (and shrewd), especially for a little girl who has a few months to go yet before she's five (and who also doesn't like to lose).

I've seen Elleda be that giving with Gabe before, and I've been a little concerned that she does it only to appease him (and prevent a row). But this time I felt she genuinely wanted to make him feel better, and realized that was more important to her than winning.

Sunday evening we all went "around the loop". Claire pushed Henry in his little "coupe-car", Elleda rode her two-wheeler (with training wheels), I grabbed a scooter (again) and Gabe got started on his bike (with no training wheels). (I think Claire talked them into riding their bikes. Gabe was a little reluctant and asked for his training wheels. We, of course, reminded him that he doesn't need them anymore.) Claire got Gabe started and he went about 10 feet (with me right behind trying to be ready) before stopping so suddenly that I bumped into him a little and couldn't catch him in my surprise. He fell to the side but was fine. But that was enough with his bike. Claire and I tried to talk him back on, but his mind was made up. Claire, Henry and Elleda kept going, and (after trying in vain to get him to jump on his bike and catch up) we went through the back gate and returned his bike to the garage and grabbed a scooter for him. There's no sense forcing Gabe--not that I could anyway--and we have to remember that he is only three. Then we took a short-cut through the neighborhood and caught up with the rest halfway around. We had a pleasant time finishing the loop. Elleda was quite confident on her bike.

Since I haven't posted in a while, I should write something about Henry. He's a happy little guy, who especially loves it when his brother and sister play with him. (They're both very good with him.) He doesn't walk around like he's expecting to fall anymore--he's practiced enough that he can do it without thinking. Now he's starting to run a little bit.

Aside from drippy noses, they've all been quite healthy for a good stretch now. I hope we can keep that going through the summer.

Henry is walking now

On Friday Henry started to spend more time walking--just in time for our first camping trip of the year on the weekend. (He walked around inside the tent-trailer and around the campsight--we have to watch him even more carefully now.)

Over the last couple days he's spent more time walking than crawling. Claire dropped him off at work this afternoon (while she took the kids swimming) and I let him wander around the office--he spent the whole time walking. He's still quite tentative; he waddles along with his feet wide apart. (We've got to get it on video.)

But I guess it's official: he's a toddler now.

I survived the weekend

Claire met a friend in San Francisco last Saturday morning, and came back Sunday evening--so it was just me and the kids all weekend. This was my first time I did this with all three kids. Claire last took a weekend "off" sometime before Henry was born. But it was easier this time.

Elleda is quite eager to please and so for the most part she was no trouble. And Gabe was surprisingly on his best behavior most of the time. (I say surprisingly because most of the time Gabe's nature is to push the boundaries unless they're made very clear and he has no choice.) Sunday afternoon he came upstairs with me (while Elleda played with the computer and Henry napped) and helped me tidy up. He even picked up the whole wagon-load of Mega Bloks without even having to be asked.

And one of the sweetest moments all weekend was after Gabe accidentally hurt Henry and then (with minimal prompting) cheered him up by playing "catch" with him for several minutes with their Dora ball. Henry ate it up (as he always does when he gets any attention from his brother or sister); he let out a big laugh every time Gabe gently tossed the ball to him and then would eagerly throw it back for more.

Bedtimes--which used to be the hardest part of being on my own with the kids--have gotten much easier with all three.

So that leaves mealtimes. Henry is at the age where he just can't resist throwing everything off of his tray, so we're constantly looking for new ways to distract him while we feed him. And Gabe and Elleda just can't sit still and eat. But even if they did all co-operate, I continue to have a deep dislike of preparing meals. But I had no choice, and I managed just fine.

It was interesting observing Elleda over the weekend. I can see a lot of myself in her. Several times she just needed to be by herself. And (also just like me) she likes to stay indoors. When Gabe was anxious to go to the park (and Henry was awake so we were ready) Elleda would invent a new game (or even let Gabe decide what to play) in order to distract him.

One other moment that stands out in my mind was Saturday afternoon while Henry napped (but after Gabe and Elleda awoke from brief naps), we curled up together on the couch and watched The Incredibles. What a great movie. I enjoyed it as much as the first time. It was over the kids' heads, but it was fun to try to explain it to them. It certainly kept their attention.

Henry is teething

I wrote Sunday that Henry usually sleeps through the night. Of course, he hasn't slept through the night once since then. (It took me three tries to get him back to sleep this morning when he woke up at 4 o'clock.) He's got a couple molars pushing their way through his gums--I'll bet that hurts, poor little guy.

Henry will be walking soon (I think)

I've been telling everyone that Henry has had the skills to walk for some time now, but he just hasn't seem interested. Late last week he started walking a little bit as his idea (rather than because Claire or I coaxed him into it) and every day now he does it more and more. I think he's getting really close to the point where he gives up on crawling.

I need to keep the video camera handy. I haven't used it much lately, I guess because we always have our hands full with three kids (and Claire's little Sony digicam is so handy).