Verbal Diahrea Round 1: the Henry Edition

I set myself a goal of finishing my assignment (more on that another time) so that I would have enough time to blog tonight. There are SO MANY things I want to blog about. I feel as though I'm about to throw up incoherent words all over the screen because I just want to get my thoughts out as quickly as possible. There are some many things I haven't written about since the beginning of December: the baking business, Hope's first kindergarten concert, Emily's reading, Christmas, Henry, my class at Carleton (the aforementioned assignment) etc etc etc.

Most pressing: Henry. I haven't given an update on the wee man in a coon's age. A coon's age, I say! And he is so deserving.

The wee man turned seven months old on December 19 and here we are ten days away from him being 8 months old and narry a tooth in sight. He sure seems to be trying hard to get one through what with all the drool and chewing and intermittent screaming and grunting. Try as he might, nothing seems imminent. He is weighing in at about 25 pounds. My arms are well-sculpted to say the least. At least the left one. The right is as flabby as ever.



Henry's days go like this: wake around 7:30 or 8:00. Squeal with uncontrollable joy when I walk in the room (because he hasn't seen me in, like, two hours!). Get dressed, head towards door of his room, squirm and squeal with uncontrollable joy because he might spot one of his sisters (hopefully the one that allows him some breathing space, although the smothery one is okay too in small doses). Breakfast - normally a prune concoction in order to aid things as it were - covers face in as much food as possible. While eating breakfast, he routinely tips his head to the side (either one will do) in order to see around some invisible object in his way - extraordinarily cute. After breakfast - carpet play time also known as the time during which he is ignored so that I can eat my own breakfast, read the paper or clean up the kitchen (hah! good one... doesn't usually happen until at least 4:00 pm and where is that housekeeper I ordered!?). Soon after that, nap number one happens, preceded by a long drink at the mummy-fountain, after which I either take a quick shower or play a board game with Hope or bake with Hope or do something or other with Hope. Henry normally sleeps for two hours... I say 'normally' because the last two days he has been taking one-hour naps. Not what we're looking for. This means he has much less patience for the rest of the day for being ignored. Not so good when I have other people and things needing my attention. His afternoon is mainly a repeat of the morning including an afternoon nap but minus the breakfast. Rinse repeat is the way it goes until about supper when he gets much attention from his sisters, a full family meal followed by a bath with one of the two girls, naked playtime (if he's lucky) on the carpet of the girls' room and then bedtime around 7:30. At some point in the afternoon, while Hope and Emily are both at school, we do occasionally leave the house to do errands. That is the part of the day when senior citizens swoon over his cheeks and his name (everyone over 70 had a brother named Henry apparently) and his size. We like that part of the day mainly because we're outside of these four walls (although I do like our four walls). Henry loves errands - so much to take in and lots of chatting from me as I putter through stores or meet a friend for coffee.



In essence, I couldn't ask for an easier baby. He is sweet and loving and fun and laughs so easily and I could just eat him up. Especially his thighs. In fact, a few people could easily dine on those thighs. He has lots to go around.


Phew. Verbal diarhea Round 1 complete. Tune back here... possibly tomorrow... for the Christmas show. Eventually, hopefully by the end of this week, I'll be caught up at least as much as I can be after this much neglect.