Happy Birthday Grandmother Lorene

Henry and I have had a busy weekend. My father came out from Georgia to help celebrate my grandmother's 93rd birthday. It was on Friday, but the family gathered for a party yesterday.
Henry enjoys running up to my aunt Betty Ann. She has spent a lot of time with babies and knows how to make them happy.
Henry also enjoyed looking out the window with my aunt Barbara Sue. He seemed a little overwhelmed with all the attention. He would say hi and bye to everyone, turn around in circles, and enjoy the laughter and claps that he got.

The place we have had the party at for the past five or six years closed, so we had to meet in another place. My grandmother is behind Henry, sitting by her cake. There were lots of other kids there Henry's age, but he didn't seem to feel very well so he just sat in his chair.
Henry enjoyed having his head scratched by Randi, my cousin's daughter. She has a baby girl who is a little younger than Henry.
After the party we went back to my grandmother's house. When she went to bed Henry got up in her chair and fell asleep.
Meanwhile back at my home my stepfather Harold had come up from San Antonio. The last time he was here Henry was a little skittish around him. This time he was very gregarious and enjoyed going around the barn with Harold, seeing the tractors and other equipment.
They also enjoyed playing peek a boo in the "big house". Henry and I live in what used to be the hired hand's house. I think the little house was built in 1915 and my uncle was one of the first occupants. It was moved by my grandparents in the 60s to its present location just a few feet from the big house. Since my mother and Harold have been in San Antonio since March I covered the furniture with sheets and don't go out there much. It is easier to take care of Henry in the more compact environment of the smaller house.

Oh and today was Henry's first visit to the dentist. I thought they would do something with his teeth--I added him to my dental insurance. But the dentist (a guy I went to high school with) said they don't typically see children until they are over 3. But they do let children sit in parents' laps, so Henry sat in my lap while I had my teeth cleaned. At first he was scared--he yelled when the woman took out the sharp picks and moved toward my open mouth. He lunged toward my face and tried to cover my mouth up. But by the end he had crawled up my stomach (the chair was reclined and I was in a prone position) and he peered into my mouth while she polished my teeth.

Weekend with Kevin and at Church Conference

We had a busy weekend, as I drove in to the metroplex area both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we drove in to spend time with Bao, Chris, and Kevin.
Kevin has an inflatable jumping castle. Henry enjoyed lodging the balls into the holes in the wall.
As always Henry is distracted by books. He loves books. I read him at least two or three every night. Then he takes the book and turns the pages while he jabbers away as if he is telling the story in his own language.
Kevin also has a fire engine. Henry loves cars. He likes to feel like he is driving--he sits in my lap in the car in parking lots and turns the wheel back and forth and reaches for all the knobs. He also likes to hold onto the wheel while we mow the grass.

He didn't drive the fire engine, just made the bells and whistles go off.
Kevin joined to show him how to operate the noise making parts of the engine.
Then they switched places with Kevin in the driver's seat.
On Sunday my church was having what is called Stake Conference. We had to meet in two sessions because there are ten wards (or congregations) and that is too many to fit in the building. Henry and I went to the afternoon session and then went to eat at Kelly and Kay's house. I have known Kelly since I was a freshman in college at the University of Dallas.
The meeting is two hours long. I sat with Henry in the main chapel for 45 minutes--on the very last row with many other children. Then he got restless and I walked around the building's hallways with him and finally sat in the Primary room. That is where the older children meet--ages 3 to 11. He continued to get restless until a few other children came in the room. He stayed in my lap but he seemed content to watch them play while I listened to the speakers on the intercom that was broadcast throughout the building.

Threats from a Lunatic!

The crackpots of the world are reaching even into our quiet country life in rural Texas. Yesterday as I was coincidentally having training in the library on how to handle an "active shooter" situation such as occurred at Virginia Tech, there was a bomb threat at the Wal Mart across the street from the children's center, necessitating a hasty evacuation.

This is a photo of the children's center. Wal Mart is the white building to the left of the SUV. Someone called and said they had planted a bomb in the store--customers and workers quickly vacated the building. The next thing that happened, four police officers came in the children's center and said everyone would have to leave the premises immediately. Workers grabbed the children and hastily left, and soon the bus that is used to transport our athletes arrived and took them to the student center.

I was called around 3 and told about what happened--the call started with "Henry is okay". I picked him up at 5 in the ballroom at the student center and he was just find. They said he enjoyed the ride over in the bus--it has really big windows like a nice tour bus, whereas in my car his seat sits so low he only sees the tops of trees and big trucks.
We got home and went about our normal routine--since it's rained the past three days I cut the grass for the first time in over a month. Henry doesn't know about the dangers of the world yet--he doesn't know that crackpots and crazies are out there trying to disrupt the rest of us who want to live in harmony by spewing their irrational hatred on society. Just like the training I had earlier in the day for dealing with an active shooter, this was another lesson that we all have to be ready to deal with the evil that is out in the world.

Related to that, yesterday I found one of those machines to hook up to the television to bleep out the profanity and obscenity. I'll be hooking it up to my television--it works with cable, DVDs and videotapes. For these very young years I want to do all I can to protect Henry from the ugliness that is out there.

Using Stat Counter to track readers of your blog

Recent Visitors to the Blog

Here is the recent activity from my blog broken down by country for the last 500 hits, as reported by http://www.statcounter.com/ .

Here is a partial view via screen capture of the recent activity on my blog broken down by city. I can click on the triangle to the left of each city name to "drill down" and see each individual IP address in that city as well as other information about the visitor.

There was a discussion earlier this week on one of the forms about tracking readers of a blog. I posted a comment and there were some followup questions to me by instant message and e-mail about how I did this. I thought I would post the information here for those who don't know.

Last October when I was in Vietnam waiting to pick up Henry I sensed that my blog was getting lots of hits, but I didn't know for sure. There was great interest in how the process was going and I read comments about how many blogs were being combed for information about the embassy personnel, the USCIS, and the DIA. I found a counter at http://www.statcounter.com/ and put it on my blog in the right margin. The chart above shows the hits in the first half of November--with 300 unique hits on 9 November. If I recall this was around the time I had my interview with Mary Ann Russell in Saigon--there was much interest with what was going on in other provinces and how she was dealing with it.

For a while I just tracked the numbers--then somebody showed me how to get more information on the Stat Counter website. By signing into my account I can see hits depicted in a bar graph spread out over whatever span of days I choose. Below is the last seven days.

I can also see what country these hits are coming from, as seen below.
There is further information that I can't copy and paste here because it is not an image format. For the last 500 hits (because I just have the free service) you can see each individual IP address that goes to the blog, what city they are from, when they signed on, how long they stay, and whether they found the blog by way of clicking on a link off some other site or doing a Google search. They call this feature "drilling down" because it gives you specific information about the persons visiting the site.

In this way I have been able to see when my blog has been mentioned and linked by somebody else and I have also been able to see what search terms were used by somebody who found my blog via a search engine. This has usually involved a search about a hotel I mentioned in Vietnam or some other tourist related thing.

With the IP address and city I can tell for instance when my mother in San Antonio or my father in Georgia (or any other relative or acquaintance) sign on to read about how Henry and me are doing. I can also see that others are following the blog in other states and countries--from France to Florida, Malaysia to Minnesota.

For instance a few months ago I noted on a French language forum that there was discussion about Vietnamese twins adopted by two families in the US. I posted to the forum that I was one of the families being discussed and gave my blog address. For some time after that I noted numerous hits to my blog from all over France.

The tracking device can be a useful tool in knowing how your blog is being used and by whom. I have found it beneficial in both this blog about my adoption of Henry and my other blogs--one about my work as a librarian and the other about my recollections of my family and growing up as well as current commentary unrelated to my raising of Henry.

I don't think Stat Counter is the only place that offers this service, and as I said I just have the free service. It keeps track of only the last 500 hits so I have to monitor it often if I want to see the individual identities of my visitors.

Visit to newborn Parker

We had a busy weekend. I had to take Friday off because the campus childcare place was closed to train their new people (they do that every semester). We went over to Texoma and visited my mother's cousin. She is in a care facility. Henry was very friendly with everyone there, and it housed people of all ages. There are also several dogs and cats and birds to help keep the residents company. It was a very bright and colorful place. We also visited my second cousin Rebecca and her new husband--hopefully we can go back when we have more time and check out their pool

On Saturday we drove down to my friends Buddy and Jennifer's house. Henry likes to play with their children--they are really patient and gentle with him. They had an large inflatable pool in the backyard--about the size of a bed and two feet deep. Henry wasn't very comfortable playing in it because I didn't get in with him, I tried to just monitor him by walking around the sides. I think next summer he will be more comfortable moving around in the water. I guess I want him to retain some of the reticent about water at least until he can swim really well.
My friends Chase and Jennifer's daughter Parker was born a week ago Friday--nine days old. Henry and I went to visit yesterday. It is exciting to see them start out their life as a family.

Henry wasn't entirely content to pose with Parker. I'm not sure if he knew that Parker is a little baby--he's never seen a baby that small before. He does know about other toddlers--because he throws a fit if I hold one.

I had never held a baby so small before. It is nice to have friends who have young children for Henry to grow up with--both the friends I have had for some time and new friends I have met through the adoption experience.
Last night Henry was having a good time splashing in the water while he took his bath.
He doesn't want his head in the water but he likes to splash water up onto his face.
Henry is such a good baby. He is so easy to love and take care of. I enjoy every day so much more because of him--watching his excitement when he sees me when I go into his room in the morning or when I'm pushing him around in a shopping cart and he reaches out and hugs me.

Librarian Conference in Second Life

A break from reality--yesterday several of the reference librarians at my library participated in a virtual conference in Second Life. We had to develop avatars and go through an orientation to learn how to move and interact within the virtual world environment. This was a regular conference--$95 participation fee and there must have been at least fifty librarians there.
We were scheduled just like a regular conference.
Following the opening remarks we broke into groups and went to different locations for book discussions. My group discussed "The Grapes of Wrath". There were fifteen to twenty in the group, sitting in a room surrounded by displays about the depression and John Steinbeck.

Then we went on assigned field trips to sites that are devoted to literature and historical sites relevant to literature.

This is the keynote address--the author of several books about Second Life. She talked about how to build things, how to make money (real money, not juse Second Life Linden Dollars), and the future of Second Life and virtual reality. This was followed by a panel discussion in which six people talked about how to apply Second Life to educational purposes.

The Second Life conference was a very interesting experience. I can see many ways we could use it to enhance our patrons' use of the library, but it is going to take lots of time to learn if we are to create our own content. For now there are plenty of sites already constructed that could be useful.

Wiggles Concert

Yesterday we drove into Dallas for a house warming party at friends Lynn and Warner's house. Then we made our way to Grand Prairie for the Wiggles concert. I was worried about how Henry would respond. I wanted him to enjoy it but since he's never been to anything like this other than church (where he gets restless) I wasn't sure what would happen. Happily he responded quite well--one isn't expected to sit and be quiet like church so it was well suited for him.
We were on the 15th row stage right. The opening number was Big Red Car--they didn't have much room to maneuver on the stage. The crowd cheered with Sam pulled a cowboy hat out from the back.
Henry started out looking around before the show started, waving at the people in the audience and watching the lights flash on the screen. When the music started and the dancers came out he stood up in my lap and hopped up and down, waving his hands wildly, calling out to the stage, mumbling the words. When they said do something like put your hand on your head, he did it.
It's amazing to me that the men in the group are as agile as they are. The band was formed in 1991. Sam who is Greg's replacement is only 30, but Anthony is 45, Murray is 48, and Jeff is 55. They jumped around, walked on their hands, all while they were singing.

This is the Humpty Dumpty routine. The name of the show was Pop Go the Wiggles.
The lady behind us took a photo of Henry and myself. It was hard to get a good photo of Henry because while he really seemed to love the show he would not get out of my lap--wouldn't stand up by himself and wouldn't sit in another seat (and I had to buy him his own seat).
As we were leaving the parking lot Henry played with his Jeff Wiggle doll--press his stomach and he sings. This is the thing that brought the Wiggles onto my radar of awareness. Jeff is Chinese Australian and I thought it would nice to buy for Henry when I saw it. I had been wanting to get him some kind of doll figure, but not a traditional doll.
Now he loves to play with him, hugging him and looking at his face, pressing him to make him sing.

I am really glad now that we went to the concert. I didn't find out about it until last week and Iw as able to get fairly good seats. He didn't go through the joy of anticipation that he will in the future for such events, but this was a good beginning.

On the way back from Grand Prairie we stopped at the University of Dallas in Irving, where I used to go go school many years ago. Henry posed by the bell tower.

As we went to the base of the tower Henry looked up to the top.
I enjoy the Gerard Manley Hopkins bit of poetry from Pied Beauty on the placque--

• All things counter, original, spare, strange;
• Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
• With swift, slow; sweet sour; adazzle, dim;
• He fathers forth whose beauty is past change:
• Praise him.

Yesterday Henry took the keys and played with them while I was resting on the couch. Then it got time to leave for church and I hunted and hunted for them. I asked him where he put the keys--he thought about it.
He thought some more--he was really trying to remember what he did with them.

Finally he held his hands out with the palms up--the gesture for "I don't know". I gave up on going to church when I remembered the dirty clothes hamper that he likes to put things in. That is where I found them. Henry was playing around the clothes hamper, which is what jogged my mind to look in there. Perhaps he recalled where he had put them and was indicating that to me.