Pappa and Jo

Henry now has names for his Grandma and Grampa Boucher. Grandma is 'Jo' for Grandma Jo (just like my Grandma Jo) and Grampa Frank is 'Papa.'

Henry is doing great down here in Arkansas - he is having a ball chasing around Sasha, and he went for a walk with us down to the lake where we got in a bit of trouble by getting Sasha dirty.

Mom and Meg are working on crosswords from the New York Times right now and Dad and I just played a bit of music, although I was out of tune. So, we're going to try it aqain tomorrow...

Henry is sleeping in his own bed. Grandma and Grampa bought a safety rack for the side of the bed and he hasn't fallen out yet - Henry can sleep in a grown up bed all by himself!

Second Accident of the Day.

On the way back from Marc's boss's Christmas Party, I hit a white rabbit crossing Hwy 51. This is the first live thing I have hit with a car.

Car Stop.

Yesterday the car stopped. The wheels (or transmission?) seized. We were turning onto Stevens St. coming back from dropping off Jared after Marc's hockey game in Eagle River. Previous to the stoppage, we had heard a big clunk approaching the stop lights by the hospital, as if we had run over a large dead body.

We were on our way to Northwoods Auto anyway, because the car was smelling really funny. I jumped out of the car and started running towards the shop, but a man with a dog pulled over and drove me there. Luckily, there was a tow truck there dropping off another car. I'm sure he had somewhere else to be, but he was nice enough to get our car, which was just down the street. He had to drag the car up without the wheels turning--by this time, there was a traffic jam and the police had arrive to direct traffic around us. It was much harder to get the car off the tow truck--they had to raise and lower the bed until it shimmied off the back.

As always happens when a car dies for good, we had just filled up the gas tank and gotten $850 worth of brake repair done.

More Library

The library is great for us because it is walking distance from our house and the employees are paid to be friendly.

First Outdoor Hockey of the Year

The night was warm, and Henry had a better time than this picture makes it look. He can stand on his skates alone....

Last day of Baby Story Time

Today was Henry's last day of baby story time. We are lucky enough to have 3 different age groups for story time in Rhinelander. 2-31/2 year olds get their own time, which includes a craft project. I really like baby story time because it's a small, intimate group where the parents get to sit and talk while the kids play for about 20 min., and stories, finger plays and lap games last about 15 min. I'd like to stay in the cozy confinds of baby story time, but I know I need to face the reality that Henry is a toddler and should learn to use sissors. Mrs. C. will still be the leader, and Henry likes her a lot.

The Word-splosion Continues

Henry now says daily:

Yeah (in a very non-committal voice)
Yes! Yes! (in a very Grandpa Mike type voice)
Bye
Bias (Thomas the Train)
Ho Ho Ho
please

New Words for Henry

As Henry approaches his second birthday, he is nearly at the point where he could mimic the words we ask him to say. If he chose to. His new words are:

House
Sit!
Hideing
Otter (from baby einstein movie)
duck
Jo(e) (as in Grandma Jo and Uncle Joe)
two (with fingers!)
the letter "O"--he can find it too!

Goggle Groovy

Here's some dancing...the music is Kirsty MacColl singing with the The Pogues. The lead singer for the Pogues has very bad teeth and sings with a hamster in his mouth. Kirsty MacColl, however, has some very clever music. She was killed while snorkeling in Mexico with her sons by a supermarket mogul who sped his boat into a restricted area....very strange.

Holiday Acres Mom's Night Out

Mom's Night out. I'the one wearing boots instead of High Heels. I look like Mel is trying to reel me in. Come on Meg, you can be friends with us!

"Juno" Teaches Empathy

Henry has been talking about the movie Juno ever since we watched it a few weeks ago. In particular, the scene where Juno learns her baby's adoptive parents are divorcing and Juno is crying in the car has stuck with Henry. If we hear a child crying in the store, or a see a picture of a sad person, Henry brings up the scene from the movie. Tonight, Sable's crying brought the scene to mind.

Sick

I feel sick.

Halloween

We went to the dentist for Halloween, then out to a cozy fish place in Port Washington with Sally and Dave. After that, we went for drinks up in West Bend for Renee's last day of work, slept over at Mark's, drove down to Milwaukee, flew kites, drank coffee, and toured Marc's lighthouse. Next, we went to Shay and Jo's house, played with the cat, and went for a walk to try to find a place for dinner. We got kicked out of the first place, and landed in a pizza place in the neighborhood. We didn't get kicked out of the pizza place. On the walk home, we checked out a CD store. Turned out the owner went to high school with Smart Dean--small world. That night we drove back to Ripon and hung out there for a bit on Sunday before driving back to Rhinelander. It was a busy weekend.

Moim

Today, we had Ana, Brad and Baby Darwin over for lunch. This was Henry's first major exposure to a newborn baby. The only time he touched the baby, he petted it gently like he pets Sable. He was mostly impressed by the baby's outfit that included little bear ears on the feet. Henry only threw a ball at the baby's head twice. When I asked Henry if he would like to show his toy to the baby he said, clearly and defiantly, "No! Moim!"

New Words for Henry

Henry's new words for the week are: House, Deer, Bear, "There it is," neigh, and (sadly) mine(sounds like moim). I liked Henry more before he could proclaim his selfishness.

Rocking the Thomas Track

I made this awesome layout last night. Never mind that Henry has OCCD--Obsessive Compulsive Choo Choo Disorder.

First Snow of 2008

We woke up to snow this morning. I'm pretty sure Henry is saying "snow," but you never can tell. We were also late again to Library Story Time, so I set back our clocks a bit--I hope this helps. Our library story time is a pretty good group and I enjoy the adults that come. It's noontime and it's still snowing!

Grocery Shopping

Today, while Henry was helping me shop with his "cart junior" at Trig's, he started contemplating items on the shelf, then selecting what he'd like. Of course this makes perfect sense. He selected an apple-crisp topping from the fruit department that I just made for dinner.

My Baby

Henry is really opening up at Music Garden. The past 2 or three weeks, he's sought out the hands of little girls for Ring Around the Rosie, he's the first one to help fold up the blanket after story time, and he sometimes will even go up to get an instrument from Amanda (if I trick him by asking to get one for me.) Also, he has a laughing fit at Library story time every time Denise pulls something quickly off the felt board. It's a riot. We've been having a good time with our new friends Charlotte and Jared from the Y. Overall, our social scene is looking pretty good lately.

Though we do want Henry to talk eventually, it really freaks me out now that he says, " I did it!" All the time. Pretty much for everything he accomplishes. Fitting in a puzzle piece, peeing on the floor, or kissing the dog. I'm shocked every time I hear it.

War Against My Kitchen Tile

Here is the tile on our kitchen counter. At first glance, one thinks, "Oh, how...Aztec?" Then, oh, I like the way the tile is darker inside the textured areas." Then..."Oh, I see, that darker area is a nasty buildup of dirt and slime." .

Pulp Fiction in my Kitchen

I grabbed a leftover jar of spaghetti sauce by the lid for lunch today, and the thing dropped to the floor with a bang and explosion reminiscent of that scene in the car in Pulp Fiction. The dog was covered, my face was covered, the door, wall, ceiling, floor was covered. Sable happily cleaned much of it, but the ceiling remains a bit orange and I can see a few onions stuck to the patio door. Fun stuff.

Intelligence Report

Henry has made visible his growing smarts lately. Opposites are a big game this week. "Stop (whispered)--Go (shouted)" is most popular, followed by "Up---Down." He sings a pretty good nonsense version of Twinkle Twinkle and is liking the ABC song as well. Henry also clearly said "house" yesterday, though I'm not sure I believe it. There is another phrase I don't understand that he says all the time, "neh nets." I really can't put context clues together for this one.

I just put in an order for some pocket diapers this week, so we are going to dabble in some actual cloth diapering. I know this is a bit late in the game, with potty training right around the corner, and no more children on the horizon. But maybe I can convince one of my siblings to take them for their babies. In the much, much distant future.

Anyone know how to hook up the water hose to the back of the refrigerator?

Henry also can blow bath water bubbles now without getting a nose full of water.
I'm really happy I figured out how to post as myself to this blog. Not that I don't enjoy pretending to be Marc, but I'm sure some of what I right wouldn't make any sense in Marc's voice.

Rhinelander Postal Public Service

I just found out today that Rhinelander postal carriers don't come to your house to pick up mail unless you are receiving mail. I'm pretty astounded by this. I'm pretty sure that everywhere else I've lived, this was not the case.

Nay Nay Datch

Henry had a great time hanging out with Mark and Renee this weekend. It was sad for Henry to see them go. After they left, he took a nap and when I went to get him when he woke up, his first words were 'Nay Nay Datch' which means Renee's Truck. I don't know what she did to him, but she cast a spell over this boy. However, now we have some nice new photos of her to put in his bedroom.

During the weekend, we had a great time, and we were able to catch an old time baseball game in which they played with the old rules. It was a lot of fun. The umpire was a real character. St. Croix ended up winning by one run in the 9th inning. I would love to try to play by those rules sometime - it really was special. Apparently there are two teams in the Milwaukee area, so the next time we are down there we'll try to catch them!

Yes, this is a Snowmobile on a Lake, Folks

Aaron is also Manly

Aaron is Superfast and Tough

Just look at that tight turn. Woah.

Aaron has Long Legs

Goofing Around (more waiting)

Waiting for Aaron to Race

Start Your Engines

World Series of Watercross 2008

HFM disease

After getting back from Madison on Friday, Henry came down with a fever in the middle of the night. All day Saturday he was limp and completely exhausted with a lowish fever around 101 degrees. He recovered a bit Sunday, but broke out with the characteristic rash for hand, foot and mouth disease around noontime today. It's been going around at the YMCA since June and it was inevitable. It actually wasn't as bad as I'd feared; at least there was no puke. It was mostly a friendly reminder to wash our hands more often.

What Henry Says

I'm not sure if the words a baby chooses to learn reflect what's important to them, or just what letter combinations are easy to say. It's mostly likely a combination of both. Here is a list of Henry's words, mostly in chronological order:

doggie, dada, hat, hot, fish, teeth, shoes, turtle, "cheese fish",cho-cho, Nay Nay (Renee),ouch, boo-boo, oh-oh, mama, cat, moon.

words he stopped saying:

eyes, light, "I got it"

sounds effects he has made:

dog, bird, car, police car/fire engine, snake, bee, elephant, owl, train, airplane, cat.

Henry goes boating

Here's some photos of Henry's first time in a rowboat. We went fishing the week after this and he had a great time. I'm already looking forward to going back!

Johnny Logan - Really!

We really miss Paul being in Wausau. This was one of his last days in WI and we went to a Wausau Woodchucks game and had a blast. This photo shows Henry, Paul, Meg, Marc and Johnny Logan just after he signed a baseball for Henry. Johnny Logan was a REALLY nice guy.

The Truth Must Be Told

Take a look at this video - ever since Henry learned how to say 'Momma' yesterday it has been his favorite word. However, when Meg was trying to get Henry to say that he loved her most, the truth really came out! Enjoy - although this is a big file, so please be patient...

Momma!

Tonight Henry said 'Momma' and pointed to Meg. It was great. He was very happy about his new word and he said it several times and started running back and forth between us as we asked where Momma was. Needless to say Meg was quite pleased. He's been saying 'Dada' and 'Doggie' for quite a while now, and it's nice to know he can say all our names!

Unfortunately, he fell on the concrete yesterday and bit his lip pretty hard and tonight Meg is trying to clean it with hydrogen peroxide, but he's being a good boy and letting her clean it.

Time to brush teeth and go to bed!

Fishing!

We all went fishing this last week. It was Henry's first time. We bought him a pole of his own and some worms. Dad even got a fishing license. The people in the store thought we were entertaining. Luckily, we didn't catch anything. Cathi has let us use the rowboat at her house in Lake Tomahawk, and it's a great thing to do during the week after work. Thanks Cathi!

Not feeling well

Tonight Henry is unable to sleep. He went to bed over 1/2 hour ago but kept on crying. We took him out of bed and now he is watching the Brewers game with his Mom and Dad.

Uncle Aaron's Day

The family went down to Ripon for Uncle Aaron's confirmation. About 5 minutes into the ceremony Henry got fussy so he and his Dad walked around Ripon and looked at the stores. It was a lot of fun. We waved at the old ladies in the retirement home and saw some new stores including a new hobby shop!




Today Henry went disc golfing and decided it would be fun to sit in the rough and look at the flowers. It was a beautiful day to look at the bugs - as long as he didn't get any ticks...

Being a Dad

Today both Meg and Henry were sick. Meg was so sick she spent almost the entire day in bed, so I was the sole parent for Henry and Sable. Meg usually puts Henry to bed, but tonight after I fed him his dinner - jello, graham crackers, pretzels and a banana I read him some books and put him in his crib where he read by himself for awhile before going to bed. We had a nice relaxing family day and I hope Meg gets enough rest so she can go back to being a wonderful Mom tomorrow since I have to go to work!

First Entry

Welcome to Henry's web page. There haven't been any new words today, but we'll put them up as they come. Right now, he pretty much says Dada, Doggie, Hat, Hot, Light and shoes. He can also say Turtle.