Changeable Weather

The weather has gone up and down lately. Friday I took off work because the children's center was close--and the temperature went up to 87. We sat outside on the porch and watched the birds fly around. Then Saturday night it started to get cold, and Sunday by noon it was around freezing.
These are photos of Henry that I took in church--in the small meeting room that I take refuge in with him when he gets too noisy to sit in the chapel.

Sometimes there are more people in the room, there is a speaker piping in sound from the chapel. But this last weekend we had it all to ourselves.

Henry has been eating a lot lately, and I think he weighs close to thirty pounds now. I have also weaned him off of having to go to bed with a bottle of milk. I got to thinking it is not good for his teeth to go to sleep with a mouth full of milk. Luckily he doesn't seem to mind it, and he is usually very eaget to go to bed. He still sleeps in a crib, though I have a bed ready to move him into.

Last night I weighed and measured Henry. He is 34 inches tall and weighs 27 pounds. On the Vietnamese growth chart that puts him at around the 60th percentile. When i got Henry at 16 months and just under 17 pounds back in October 2007 he was below the zero percentile.

Happy New Year!

Kevin and Henry playing in a school park last Saturday.

Today is my birthday. Taking a lead from Jack Benny, I'll just say it's the anniversary of my 39th birthday.

I was looking at Youtube and found some videos that a man posted from his trip to Vietnam. I watched them and they were very informative. They give a good overview of the type of thing I experienced when I was over there.

Saigon, Mekong Delta, and Cu Chi Tunnels:




Hanoi on a moped:

Merry Christmas!

Henry walking into the living room and seeing his presents. The first thing he saw and the thing that continues to be his favorite is the tricycle. It's sort of a Big Wheel knock off, with a theme from the "Cars" cartoon movie. His feet do not reach the pedals, even though I have put it at the lowest setting for the seat, but he can push himself around by pushing off with his feet on the floor. He likes to load the back up with various toys and propel himself around the house.

He also got a "Henry the Octopus" doll from the Wiggles show. It sings as Henry makes it dance.

Henry looks at his other presents. I finally found toy food to go with the toy kitchen, as well as toy pots & pans and toy dishes. I had to look hardest for the dishes--most were Disney princess theme.

Henry got a Wiggles poster. I haven't hung it in his room yet. He recognizes the characters and will point to the one whose name I call. Here he points to Jeff, the one that got me started with having him watch the show. I saw a Jeff doll in a store and bought it because I thought it would be fun for Henry to have an Asian doll (or is it an action figure?)

Henry didn't catch on to unwrapping presents--I had to help him with that.

Henry continues to play with cars and trucks with the most interest.

Henry likes the things on the toy kitchen that make noise, like the microwave and the faucet.

Later in the day Henry enjoyed watching a video in his room. He has just recently started being satisfied staying in his room by himself, playing or watching a video or both. It was also quite warm during the holidays--it got up to 76 on Christmas day.

In the evening Henry lined up all the cars he could find in the den.

It was a long day--Henry fell asleep while he was eating.

Christmas Eve-...

Henry tonight right before I put him to bed. I kept these snowman pajamas back for tonight. He doesn't know what is going on, although he does know we've stayed at home all this week. Now I have all his presents laid out in the living room and will just wait for the morning.

I've spent all this week off getting things organized. We've moved into the main house and there is so much to do, Even though we've only moved twenty feet from one house to the other I have been running back and forth getting things where I want them--which requires planning because I have to do it when Henry is asleep.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Henry's favorite toys continue to be books and cars. He enjoys looking at any kind of book or magazine--here he gets ready to look at "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

I keep books on the piano. Last week Henry started climbing his small recliner so that he could reach the books that had previously been out of his reach.

When he gets a book he likes to sit in his recliner and flip through it. He seems to enjoy this as much as he likes me actually reading the story to him.

This weekend the full moon was especially close to the earth and was large and visible at dusk and dawn as well as at night. Henry has discovered the moon and for the past two or three weeks it is the first thing he looks for when we go outside in the dark. We had his ECI evaluation last week and they asked me how his eyesite was--I used the example of him looking at the moon as evidence that he seems to be able to see at a distance. The above photo was taken in the morning--the moon was setting in the west as the sun was coming up behind us in the east. My camera cannot capture the beauty of the colors and light.

Henry wearing his Sunday best for church. Yesterday was unseasonable warm--it was as high as 80 in the mid afternoon. Then it started getting cold and the wind blew really hard last night, and it was 28 degrees when we got up this morning.

Christmas Parties

This week was the beginning of the campus party season. On Tuesday there was the President's party for the entire campus. Long and drawn out with lots of door prizes--I didn't get one this year. But it was held in the brand new student center and was in fact the first event to be held in the new building.

Then yesterday I had a whirlwind of three parties--first over to the children's center for a party with Henry, where I ended up staying for 45 minutes. It becomes an ordeal to leave him because he gets so upset. He is happy to get there in the morning but if I go during the day and do not take him with me he is very distressed. As always he prefers a routine and the routine he knows is that when I come I take him with me. So I ended up staying longer than planned. Four clarinet players from the music department came over and played Christmas songs, and at the end of their performance Henry finally crawled out of my lap and started playing with the other children so that I was able to leave with very little fanfare.

Then there was the party in the English department, which isn't one of my assigned areas but since I am working on a doctorate in that field I am connected. And finally the College of Education party, which is one of my assigned areas so making an appearrance was actually in line with my job.

Next week there are two more parties--College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Business. Then the week after the library is having two Christmas parties.

Meanwhile tonight Henry and I are dropping by church for a living creche exhibit and some songs by a female barbershop quartet called the Sweet Adelines and another church choir as well as our church choir. It will hopefully make for an interesting evening and get us in the spirit of the season.

Very Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for this year--Henry has brought such joy to my life. I still find it hard to believe that the dream I nurtured for several years came to fruition, and that things have developed so well. Henry is such a wonderful child--so good natured and loving and easy to raise.
We drove down to San Antonio and stayed at the campus of the University at Incarnate Word--my mother lives at the Village at Incarnate Word. This is Henry by the refurbished fountain in the courtyard.

Here is Henry on the balcony outside our room.

Henry inside our room.

Henry sitting on the balcony.

Henry eating in the cafeteria.

On the way back from Houston we stopped at the large Sam Houston statue. I have passed by it many times but never stopped. Behind it is a replica of the head--I suppose so people can get a closer view of the face. Henry was terrified of it. I tried to point out the nose and eyes and ears, but he wanted nothing to do with it at all.

That reaction was nothing compared to Henry's reaction to the full statue. He acted like he was seeing a monster. In fact later the lady at the gift shop said small children usually are afraid of the statue and call it the "white monster". Adding to the terror, the statue isn't far from the highway--Henry is afraid of moving cars unless I am holding him. He does not like to be down on the ground when cars are going by.

After Thanksgiving we drove to Houston to visit friends Robbin and her children Geordan and Annie Laurie. Henry got dressed up for church and also shows his new haircut. He is demonstrating the tiger move from the Wiggles song.

Here is Henry with his new haircut (we actually both got our hair cut by a Vietnamese lady in San Antonio who cuts my mother's hair). I miss Henry's long hair but it was getting harder to manage. Like mine it is unruly in the morning if washed the night before, and he also was prone to rubbing yogurt and other food in it.

Henry enjoys playing with my mother in her room in San Antonio.

We had a very good trip--made doubly enjoyable by the new GPS I bought so that we did not get lost. It took me on more than one off the beaten track routes that ended up cutting our travel time down.