A Little OCD

We are realizing more and more that Henry has a little OCD in him.  Three specific examples:

The other day our ottoman snagged our rug.  There was a small piece of fabric sticking up (about the size of half a dime).  Annie was holding Henry, but he noticed the snag and pointed at it.  Annie brushed it off and walked in the other room with him.  He wouldn't stop pointing and whining so she put him down and he ran over and pointed at the snag.  Annie went and got a pair of scissors and cut it off - Henry was content after that.

Henry loves shutting doors. At first, we thought it was just because he likes shutting them, but it is starting to look like he really doesn't like doors to be open. When we are upstairs, before we can come downstairs, he has to shut the fours doors that are up there first - and yes, he has to shut them - if I try to help he says no and tries to knock my hand away.

A week or so ago he was in his highchair; he was hungry, but just wouldn't eat and kept fussing and saying "down."  Finally, Annie set him down and he ran over the baby gate, which was open, and shut it.  After that, he ran back over to his highchair and ate.  The baby gate is not visible from his highchair, he just new it was open and couldn't eat until it was shut.

Yeah, definitely a little OCD.

A day full of memories

What a day today - it was full of memories.  We started by taking a family trip to the grocery store.  Any parent out there knows a trip to the grocery store can quickly become a nightmare and, for that reason, will do almost anything to entertain their kid.  Henry's entertainment of choice was eating little cheddar duck crackers out of his shoe.

One thing commonly used to keep Henry occupied at the grocery store is giving him pouches of fruit and veggies mixes that he can eat.  They have screw on tops, so when he's done eating he plays with them and screws the top on and off.  We ran out of pouches during a car ride, so we had to buy two in the store for him.  Toward the end of the grocery store trip he had eaten one pouch and (I thought) screwed the top back on.  I grabbed the pouch from him and, in an attempt to entertain him, shook it.  Well, he did not screw the top all they way back on, and I ended up spraying the remainder of his pouch all over myself.  And when I say all over myself, I mean all over - it was in a straight line from my feet to the top of my head. 

While Henry was napping, Annie and I were putting clothes away in our room.  Evelyn was on the bed and I leaned over and started talking and smiling at her.  She immediately started to smile and coo! It was the first time she consistently responded to me interacting with her!!

Henry is getting more mobile, and with that, comes more booboos.  It didn't take long for him to realize that when he hurt something we would kiss it.  He was running around our front room and there were some legos on the ground.  He stepped on one of them, fell, and started to cry and rub his foot.  I came over and kissed his foot - he immediately smiled and stood back up.  Standing there, he looked down, reached his foot out, gently touched it on a lego, then got a sad look on his face and lifted his foot up towards me.  I bent down and kissed his foot, so he repeated this with his other foot.  This went on about three more times.  And then again about an hour later.

The night ended with Henry reading Evelyn and Annie one of his favorite books, Miss Rumphius (but not before we put a pillow on his lap - he randomly can no longer read books without having a pillow on his lap) and him running laps in the back room.  He ran about 20 of these laps!

A great day!

Klackle Orchards

As this is Annie's last week of maternity leave we have tried to do as much as possible. It was somewhat sunny and in the forties so we decided to get outside and go to Klackle Orchards (http://www.klackleorchards.com). Henry had a blast. I highly recommend it. They have farm animals, a little town, bikes, a huge sandbox, tons of random farm equipment to climb on, a corn maze, tractor rides, some of the best apple cider and donuts I've had (yes, I did eat a donut) and a bunch more. It definitely has that small, country, ma and pa feel to it. Everyone is laid back and really nice. We will absolutely be making another trip back.

Totally worth it

I woke up with Henry a little after 7:00 this morning. We ate breakfast, and I wanted to clean up some things and get some chores done before Annie and Evelyn woke up; however, it was chilly this morning so I decided to start a fire - also, thought Annie would appreciate waking up to a crackling fire.  Henry loves making fires with me.  After I got it started and got some big logs on it Henry said, "wow" and sat down to watch the fire.  I sat down next to him and he proceeded to rest his head on me and we watched the fire together.  Yup, totally worth not getting some chores done this morning!

One experiment after another

Evelyn is a spitter upper. I think I have already washed more bibs and burp clothes in her first month than I did in the first year with Henry. We have tried almost everything we can think of to try and prevent it: waiting hours after she nurses before we move her, holding her in certain positions, Annie has changed her diet around, we propped up her crib mattress. Nothing seems to keep it from coming back up! Tonight, after waiting 2 hours after she nursed, we put her down in her crib and...spit up. So, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, we have a baby rocker thing that props her up at around a 20/30 degree angle. She slept for a while in it earlier today without any spit up. Here's hoping this experiment works! Which, after all, is what the majority of parenting is, one experiment after another. 

Swiping cards

Because Annie works at a college we get to eat in the dining hall. When you walk into the dining hall a worker swipes your ID card to let you in. Henry has always been fascinated by this, and has progressively gotten more and more involved with this process and with his favorite worker, Chris. First, Henry would point to Chris as soon as we got to the dining hall. Then, he would grab our ID cards, hand them to Chris, she would swipe them, he'd grab them and give them back to us. A few days ago, after we were in the dining hall and finished eating, Henry walked over to Chris and asked her "up please?"  So, she put Henry up in her chair, which was the highlight of his day. Today, Henry almost took over Chris' job. While we were still getting our food, Henry walked over to Chris, so she put him up on her lap. Students continued to come in, so Chris continued to swipe their IDs and, sure enough, Henry grabbed every ID card from Chris and handed it back to the student. He had everyone cracking up!

Quinoa and egg sandwich

This is one of my absolute favorite things to eat!  It has everything you want in a lunch. It's super quick and easy to make, doesn't have a lot of cleanup, and it is delicious!!

I toast a Qrunch quinoa burger and two pieces of multigrain bread, slice some white cheddar cheese (which Henry gets a few slices of - how do you say no to a toddler with outstretched arms repeatedly saying "cheese please"), fry an egg, and add some mustard! Yum yum!! One of the best things I've ever tasted - and all organic non gmo - can't beat it!

You don't need to add anything else to it. However, I have topped it with some sliced tomato, green pepper, mushrooms, and salsa before. That makes a little bit of a messy sandwich, but it's just sooooo goooood!

ESPN

Henry loves books. Every night to get ready for bed we have a pretty strict routine: bath sometime between 7:30-8:00, brush our teeth, get a chupete (pacifier) and manta (blanket), read some books, grab a drink of water, and in bed between 8:30-9:00. Well, Henry's choice of book to read tonight with Annie is pictured below...I'm so proud!

I was not expecting that

By now you grow accustomed to having surprises while changing diapers - thrashing feet and hands in poop (not mine own for anyone wondering), various colors and consistencies, the surprise bowl movement while the diaper is off. I recently had one surprise that I really did not see coming: it was a lazy day - it was around lunch time and Henry was still in his sleeper. I brought him upstairs to change his diaper. I take his sleeper off and drape it over his chair, but while I am moving it, I hear the loud thud of something falling out of his sleeper and hitting the floor. My immediate thought was, that sounded wooden - how hard is that poop?! Thankfully that was not the case. At some point during the day, Henry had unzipped his sleeper, stuffed a wooden train caboose puzzle piece in his sleeper, and zipped his sleeper back up. Of all the things to expect while changing a diaper, that was not one of them. 

Sapo

A park full of slides, swings, and all the climbing things you could want, dirt, leaves, and sticks. What does Henry want to do? Sit on the picnic table, drink from the water bottle, and creep on some women working out in the pavilion. Sapo!

He thinks he's the vacuum

Henry loves to help. It doesn't matter what it is, he wants to be right in the middle of it. One of the things he likes to help with the most is vacuuming. He can be anywhere in the house, but if he hears me say "vacuum" he runs to the closet and tries to turn the handle to open the closet door. After that, every step of the way he tries to help: plugging the vacuum in, turning it on, pushing it, grabbing and putting the extensions on the hose (which must immediately be followed by vacuuming his hair), taking the dust cup off and dumping it in the trash, putting the dust cup back on, turning the vacuum on and off and on and off and on and off and on, unplugging the vacuum, wrapping the cord back up, opening the closet, and putting the vacuum back in - this last step seems to cause some confusion though. After opening the closet, he would quickly run in. The first few times I stopped him because there are a lot a breakables in the closet, but then I noticed his hands were down at his sides so I thought I would wait the next time and see what happens. Sure enough, he thinks he's the vacuum - he walked in slowly and just stood where the vacuum used to be. He didn't move a muscle, just stood there. If my curiosity gets the best of me, maybe I will shut the door after he goes in next time...just to see what happens. 

My leg is stuck

Reason why my son is crying: He thought it would be fun to stick his leg in between the baby gate posts. It was not. 

Maybe it will be fun the second time? Nope, it's even worse the second time. 

DIY Baby Gate Cover

This DIY project was born out of pure necessity. Every time I would leave Henry behind the baby gate he would squeeze his leg between the bars. At first it was fine, he could pull his leg back and forth and have fun with it. However, as he grew the squeeze became tighter and tighter. Eventually, his leg got too big to pull back out of the gate, and he got stuck. 

So, after a day or so of brainstorming, I figured an ordinary, white shower curtain would work pretty well to wrap around the baby gate. It matched the color of the gate, and would be durable enough to withstand the pulling and biting that I'm sure Henry would bring down upon it. All it took was folding the curtain in thirds, duct taping one edge to the outside pole, wrapping the curtain around the gate, and duct taping the curtain edge down. In the end, the curtain cost $2.00 and I had the duct tape already, of course. Might not look the best, but it's better than having to grease down an irate baby to try and force his leg out from between baby gate bars, or having to cut him out!

It's too quiet

While getting dinner ready in the kitchen, Henry was in the other room playing (out of my line of sight). Suddenly, that gut feeling hit me - it's too quiet in that other room! Sure enough, Henry got a hold of a box of Kleenex and pulled them all out of the box. As soon as he saw that I saw him he started to blow his nose on as many Kleenex as he could, as if to say, I was using them all, not just playing with them! 

I'm sure you were Henry...

How do I get out of here?!

Reason why my son is crying: He squeezed himself behind the chair and can't get out!

Dinner Party

Off to a dinner party at the VonKaenel homestead!

Today's highlights

Had pandora playing and Henry kept wanting to step on my feet and have me "dance" around, especially when Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody" came on. 

Several times throughout the day Henry desperately wanted me to sit down so he could back up, sit on my lap or on the floor in front of me and play with whatever toy he had in his hands. 

We went to the store and Henry figured out how to say "I know", which he said the entire walk through the parking lot. Still don't know what it was that he knew. 

After getting home from the store, Henry couldn't walk inside before he said "goodbye" to an earwig crawling on the ground. 

Henry had diarrhea twice. The second time was around 7:00pm. He also developed a bad diaper rash which was really bothering him, so he and I took about a 30 minute bath which consisted mostly of Henry spraying the shower head up into the air and laughing or spraying himself in the face or the shower wall. 

Evelyn slept a lot, spit up a couple times, and is making eye contact and moving her head from side to side. 

Ended the day by holding Evelyn while Annie read Curious George and Go Dog Go to Henry. She put him to bed around 8:30 and is now cleaning up dinner. We will probably follow within an hour. It's a great Friday!

An early end

What does it mean when you are up north at a restaurant with a toddler that is super fussy and wont sit still because they had a bad night sleep, and all day has been showing signs of having another bad night?  You get a vacation that ends a day early with mommy and daddy struggling to stay awake on a 2+ hour drive home late at night.  I think everyone enjoyed sleeping in their own bed last night!

You aren't a parent of a toddler until you have some outing/vacation end early due to screaming and crying...

Something for the kid and dad to love

Henry and Evelyn didn't get the memo that we are up north and suppose to be on a mini vacation. After midnight, Evelyn woke up about every 1.5 hours to nurse. Henry wouldn't go back to sleep in the pack and play so a midnight fort/bed was constructed for daddy and him. Lack of sleep is never fun, but fort building and snuggling with Henry is always a blast! Something for the kid and dad in me to love!

His calling to the track

While out at a middle school football game this evening: fans are either up in the stands or leaning up against the fence watching. Henry, however, is about fifteen meters back from the fence standing on the long jump runway looking longingly at the sand pit. He already feels his calling to the track!

You can't snuggle without me

After driving up to Frankfort, Evelyn and I were trying to take a quick nap. 

Henry would not allow that. He can't stand Evelyn snuggling with mommy or daddy without muscling his way in. 

And eventually taking her chupete (pacifier) and replacing it with his finger.