Henry's last swimming lesson (this summer)

Henry had his last lesson of the summer today. He wore his swim trunks from Vietnam--they probably won't fit him next summer. He has gotten much more at ease with being in the water. Last week when he started he clung to me--held on tightly to my hair or locked his arms around my neck. He gradually got where I could hold his legs out while he still held to my neck and he would kick. Today he put one arm over a floating noodle while I held onto the other hand. The instructor discouraged the use of life vests or other floatation devices so it was always just him and me in the water. Today for a final token they gave him a box of candy and a bottle of bubbles. The candy was a mixed treat--he managed to open it and eat a few as I was driving across the street to the children's center, but then he cried when I left it in the car (since we didn't have any for the other children). Then when I picked him up at 4:45 he ate the rest of the box and got really upset because there wasn't anymore.
I took this photo yesterday. It was the farthest I could get away from Henry. The pool has a beachlike ramp entrance--used by people in a plastic waterproof wheelchair and also useful for children who want to ease into the water. No place in the pool is over four feet deep so it was very easy for me to take Henry from one end to the other and not have to struggle to keep myself up, because I'm not a very good swimmer myself.
Henry got browner as the days went on but I stayed as white as a ghost. The lessons were from 9 to 9:45 in the morning so luckily we missed the grueling Texas summer heat. It has been up to 105 in the afternoon this week.
Yesterday when we got home Henry found this grasshopper on his slide. I saw him fiddling with something and I ran over because I thought it was bird dropping, since the slide is under a tree. I remember that we had fried grasshoppers when I was in Thailand, I'm not sure if it is also a delicacy in Vietnam.
This is the large stairway just outside my office at the library. There are two flights like this, and my office has windows and overlooks the stairwell. Henry likes to climb up and down--I always hold one hand and he holds onto the lowest bannister with the other hand. They are really big steps for a little boy and he goes all the way up or down.

I just bought Henry and me tickets for the Wiggles concert in Grand Prairie on Saturday. We'll be in the Dallas area for a house warming party anyway. I didn't realize the Wiggles were going to be here until three or four days ago, and I have been fiddling with the ticketmaster website trying to get good seats. I didn't want to go if we were going to have to sit on the back row. Finally I was able to get a confirmation for seats in the front section. I hope he enjoys the concert--it will be a long day for both of us.

Henry gets a haircut

On Friday I picked Henry up after I got my hair cut and took him in for a trim. He didn't sit in my lap this time, although I did hold onto him. He sat on a board put across the arms of the chair. He was relatively still throughout the process.
This is Henry in the "Relief Society Room"--the usually vacant room at church that has a speaker to the chapel. This is where I usually retreat to with him after twenty or thirty minutes. He wanders around the room while I try to pay attention to the speaker. After that he goes into the nursery and I think he participates in all the activities that the other children do.
Henry has an increasing personal library of books at home. I may end up donating most of them to the library where I work after he no longer is interested in them. For now he enjoys leafing through them and he brings the ones to me that he wants read to him.
Henry likes to make noises with his tongue. The speech therapist tells me it is a good thing and that I should encourage it and also imitate him. He continues to make more and more noise, babbling and yelling. He repeats words that I say, and he does connect them with what they mean. He will not for instance say dog or cat unless there is actually a dog or cat present that he can see.
This morning Henry was very eager to get in the car. He climbs very well and can almost get in by himself. He knows that he will get a bottle of milk for the 25 minute drive to campus.

Prayers for Brodie

I've felt that Henry had an ongoing connection to the children who were in the orphanage with him--Kevin and Sara who left the same day--Mia and Fayth who were adopted a month earlier, as well as two children who were still there when we left the orphanage last October. One has been named Brodie by his new parents. I remember him very well from the day I picked up Henry. The ongoing problems with Vietnam and the US have complicated the process--I pray and hope that a resolution can be found soon and that children such as Brodie who have been waiting for their homecoming will finally get to go home.

Swimming Lessons

We had a busy weekend. Henry and I got up early and drove over to my grandmother's house. She will soon celebrate her 93rd birthday. I always called her Grandmother or Grandmother Lorene, but I think Henry will call her Rene like my younger cousins. She takes care of my aunt's dog--a maltese named Jackson. At first Henry couldn't tell if Jackson was a cat or a dog because he is so small. He has finally settled on calling him a puppy.
After we went with Rene and my aunt to the obligatory fish restaurant we drove over to friends Stefanie, DJ and Blake's house to swim in their pool.
Blake is six months older than Henry--he comes from Guatemala. He is adept at using his legs to move around the pool while he stays afloat with inflatables on his arms. I am hoping that Henry and Blake will grow up to be friends--certainly they will as long as both families live in this area.
Henry has a good time playing with toys and sitting on the steps. He moved around the pool with me while I held him--clutching tightly to me. To give him something to hold onto I had to wear a shirt--although my hair also made an acceptable alternative for something easy to grip.
Henry kicks his feet when I ask him to, and he will also splash water with his hands. But he will not let go of me--his legs are wrapped around me except for the momentary kicks and his hands hold tightly to my shirt or hair. If he senses me trying to lessen the grip he panics.
That was good preparation for the real thing--yesterday Henry started swimming lessons at the campus recreation center. I pick him up at 8:45 from the children's center and take him across the street for 45 minutes in the pool. It's pretty much the same thing--clutch tightly to me and scream if there is even an insinuation that he is going to be asked to let go or do something on his own. Still he does enjoy moving up and down in the water (while I hold him) and he will even jump in the water from the side--as long as I am holding him the entire time. Two lessons down, six more to go--maybe he will feel more confident by the end of next week.

Yesterday Henry had his second year checkup at the pediatrician at Willow Bend Pediatrics. She said he has made very good progress. She noted that his head has increased markedly in size--I didn't really know that head size increases due partly to intellectual and social stimulation.
I enjoyed the look of concentration and delight that Henry showed while he was playing with the toy in the exam room.
Henry is such a delight to raise and be around. I especially enjoy his peals of laughter when I unexpectedly pick him up for the swim lessons--he isn't used to me being there in the middle of the day. He laughs loudly and clutches me and then turns to everyone and waves bye. It is also such a joy to be going through the grocery store with him sitting in a cart I am pushing, and all of a sudden he starts laughing and reaches out and hugs my stomach.
Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed with emotion, with happiness at how lucky I am to have Henry in my life. I remember back in November and December when I would get choked up in the hospital when he was sick. Now I get choked up from joy and the incredible blessing he is in my life.

A Welcomed Letter in the Mail!

Yesterday we got a letter in the mail that we have been waiting to receive for a long time--Henry's Texas birth certificate. Finally with all the crazy junk mail that comes through the post office (and usually goes straight to the trash for recycling) we got something worth reading!
I dressed Henry in his red, white, and blue patriotic colors to celebrate receiving his official documentation of name change, birth date, and parentage.
Henry will grow up as a proud Texan!

Mowing the grass

One of Henry's favorite presents he got for his birthday (from Tommy and Rachel) is a lawn mower that shoots out bubbles. He has figured out that you have to be going at a pretty brisk speed for at least three to five seconds before the bubbles start.
Henry is wearing the onesie that I had for him in Vietnam--except it hung down to his knees when he wore it over there. Now they barely fit but I am keeping them because they are good to sleep in. But soon I wil have to find larger loungewear for him.
It hasn't rained in a while so I have let the lawn go. I haven't mowed it since before we went to California. I've been a little afraid because I wonder if the ear infections we got got were caused in some part by the flying grass. But soon I will have to mow again--since Henry's mower is fun but does not actually cut any grass.
And anyway, Henry seems to be a little put off by the vastness of the lawn.

This past weekend we went to Kevin's second birthday party. It was in downtown Dallas--really nice with roast duck and pork and Vietnamese dishes. Kevin is so big now. It will be fun to watch them grow up so close to each other and sharing a similar background.

Feeding Frenzy

We have been going through lots of changes as far as Henry's eating is concerned. He weights 24.2 pounds now, and is 33 inches tall, so his nutrition intake is good. He was 17 pounds and 29 inches eight months ago. But he has stopped allowing me to feed him, he wants to use a spoon and feed himself. The food was still the soft mushy babyfood type stuff, and all went okay when he just got it on his hands. But he started smearing it on his face and the tray and the seat and his cup. Even that was tolerable, but in the past week he has also started smearing the food in his hair.
Last Saturday I made an enplanned visit to the grocery store to find non-mushy food that he wouldn't be as likely to make a mess out of. These macaroni and cheese wheels worked much better than the mashed up baby food macaroni and cheese. At least most of it went in his mouth and there wasn't as much to wipe in his hair.
It could also have helped that he wasn't sleepy, as he was in the first photo. When we get home there is a small window of time before he starts getting sleepy, and yet he is also incredibly hungry. I've found if he is sleepy when he tries to eat that is when the food winds up all over the place.
And just to show that he is cleaned up when I take him out, this photo was taken this morning on the way to the library.

Back home in Texas

We had a great time in California. This is the photo the child care took so that they would know me when I came in the afternoon to pick up Henry. He did well after the first day, and seemed to be a hit with the other children, most of whom were older than him.
Finally after two nights the hotel gave me a crib--but they only had a bottom sheet for it and there was no extra bedding. I had to take the spread off my bed and put it in the crib. Henry never spent a full night in the crib (unlike at home, where he happily goes to bed and doesn't want out until the next morning). But I slept a lot easier when he was there and I didn't have to worry about him rolling out on the floor.
We met up with Gary and Sue and their daughter Sara. Henry and Sara as well as Kevin were picked up the same day from the orphanage. It was interesting and fun to see Henry interact again with Sara, and it was good to see Gary and Sue (http://www.macklisfamily.blogspot.com/) . We spent a lot of time together during those frantic first days when we were all new parents.

We went out to Knotts Berry Farm. There were half a dozen or so rides that were suitable for Henry and Sara. In this ride they are on a box car. We didn't realize until they were on the ride that it is not machine run--they have to propel themselves by pumping the handle back and forth. Luckily a park attendant was on hand to scoot them around the track, otherwise we would have been there all day.

Henry and Sara were a little frightened after this ride started, but they never cried. I could just tell on their faces that they were wondering what was happening.
We got stuck on this school bus ride. It was just the five of us on the ride and when it reached the top we just stopped. It took ten or twenty seconds to realize this was not part of the ride. I think we were up there fifteen minutes--it certainly felt longer. Sara was okay, but Henry started crying and sweating and thrashing around. I was worried it would taint the rest of the afternoon for him, but he calmed down and enjoyed the rest of the time in the park.

I am really glad we had a chance to see each other--it was lucky that Henry and I were in the LA area the same time as Gary and Sue and Sara. I think the children went through a very formative experience together in the orphanage, and certainly I felt bonded to Gary and Sue as we went through our experience as first time parents together.

Then it was back to the conference. I took Henry with me the last day. Here we are in front of the convention center.

A wide variety of vendors and other entities associated with the library business were plying their trade on the floor--there were hundreds of them. I took Henry on the floor and had the added benefit of being able to hook my bags over the stroller as I picked up free merchandise--most wheeled carrying devices are not allowed on the floor.
The last day before we went to the airport we took a taxi up to California State University at Fullerton to meet Dr. Nancy Segal. She is in charge of the twin studies program there that we are participating in with Ben and his parents Joe and Katie (http://psych.fullerton.edu/nsegal/).
The study we are involved in looks at twins raised apart. I am interested in participating in the study not only for the important research data that may result but mainly to get guidance on how to raise Henry in conjunction with the unexpected circumstance of his having an identical twin living as part of another family.
Just today I availed myself of our own counseling department here on my campus. I wanted to get information about possible attachment problems. I don't think Henry exhibits any signs of that but I do think I should be aware of what to look for. He had a difficult start in life and I want to make sure he has the best possible life.

This was driven home to me on the way home from the airport night before last. After a tiring flight the car had a front tire blowout on the 635 loop north of Dallas. Luckily I never felt like I was losing control of the car, but I did have to pull over in heavy 9 pm traffic and change the tire. First I had to figure out how to get the jack out from under the driver's seat--I've done it before but never in the dark in such heavy traffic, and never with a baby in the car. I was thinking what would happen to Henry if I were to get hit, and I was even more careful about how I approached the situation. Just two or three years ago a drunk Dallas Cowboy football player was driving home and swerved onto the shoulder, killing two good Samartans who had stopped to change a flat. His only recollection the next morning was that he had "run over some trash". This kept flashing through my mind as I struggle to get the jack out, since I was standing on the traffic side of the car. I felt a little safer once I was changing the tire, which luckily was on the passenger side. But it still impressed me that I have to be very careful about everything I do because Henry depends on me now, and I am so lucky to have him in my life.

I should point out--I'm feeling my own limits which is what brought on these musings. I strained my foot somehow while I was frantically changing the tire two nights ago--and yesterday I went through the day limping around with the assistance of my grandmother's cane. Today both Henry and I saw the same doctor for ear aches. I thought they were related to the same malady, brought on by mowing the lawn last week. But they are two separate issues, possibly exacerbated by the flight to and back from California. I got ear drops and Henry got antibiotics. He hasn't run a fever and I think he would have been okay without a visit to the doctor--certainly he was worse in California and I treated him with decongestant and some homeopathic over the counter ear drops. But I decided today I didn't want to go through a three day holiday weekend with the possibility that either one of us could get sick.