New swim duds

Eight months

Henry is eight months old (plus a week, if we're being specific). How did that happen?

Eight things about Henry at eight months:

• He still doesn't have any teeth. Once in a while we'll think he's definitely teething, and maybe he is, but so far he has nothing to show for it.
• His weight gain has slowed a bit, as our pediatrician assured us it would. Last week he weighed in at 24.5 pounds. That's still above the 95th percentile, for those of you keeping track at home. Some of his 12-18 month clothes are starting to get snug.
• He's eating two meals a day of solids now, breakfast and dinner. For breakfast he usually has some variation of what we're having - maybe some egg yolk, yogurt, or fruit. Today he had whole milk yogurt, mango chunks, avocado and a few blueberries. Dinner is usually some pureed veggies. I made him some turkey pureed with carrots and avocados, which he seems to like.
  
• He likes sitting on the front porch. We usually go out there for a while after breakfast.
  
• If he fusses in the car, a rousing round of "Wheels on the Bus" (or its alternate version, "Waves on the Beach") is almost guaranteed to cheer him up.
  
• We've become regulars at baby lap-sit at the public library. At first he was sort of bewildered at all the singing and all the babies, but now he "sings" along and claps his hands, and smiles at the other kids.
  
• He's not quite crawling yet. He can roll around the house, and has lately started using his feet to pivot around while sitting up. He's really close to getting on all fours - he'll rock forward while sitting up but can't quite get all the way there yet.
  
• Things that we can count on to make him laugh: tickling, the dog, peek-a-boo (with mama or papa, with strangers it can be sort of scary), fake sneezing, splashing in the tub, the line in "Waves on the Beach" where the crabs go pinch, pinch, pinch, belly and neck zerberts (coined by The Cosby Show, who knew?).
  

First Pirates game ends with a win!

I'm not sure how they pulled it out, but the second-to-worst Buccos beat the Astros (and a decent pitcher in Roy Oswalt) with 19 hits and a superb performance from Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm, who threw a complete game shutout. Before you get too excited, though, the Pirates are dead last in their division and will certainly end the season still perched in that position.

For us, it was still a chance to get out and enjoy the (hot) weather and expose young Henry to our national past time. He was a real trooper, even though we kept him from being able to take a real afternoon nap. In many ways, he does better when there's excitement and stimulation rather than just staring at his two boring parents all day long. We got some discounted tickets to some club level seats, which was the best decision we could have made (thanks to Val). We received not even a free hot dog for these seats, but they permitted us access to a large indoor air conditioned area and a place to roam to keep Henry happy.

We had fun, the Bucs won and the sun shined all day. Hope everyone else had a good weekend! Now, if only the Pirates could win about 36 straight games...

My virus has a first name...

It's roseola! Henry's fever was gone by Thursday, and then Friday he woke up with this rash. He'd never had a rash before, and he hadn't eaten anything new recently, so we were pretty sure the rash was related to the fever. A quick trip to the doctor confirmed what we suspected - roseola. He's feeling much better now, though I think he's starting to have some teething pain. Poor guy!

Poor little bunny

Henry has come down with his first fever (except for the little one he got after his first vaccinations). I took him to the doctor today, where I was assured that his ears and throat look perfect and it must be a viral thing that just needs to work itself out. He has remained in pretty good spirits, though he's obviously not feeling like himself. Lots of nursing, lots of sleeping, and a little acetaminophen when he gets really hot, and hopefully it'll break in a day or so. Guess we should feel lucky that it took him this long to get sick for the first time.

Then and now

What a difference five months makes!

Rolling - Act III

As active as Henry is now when we put him on the floor, we got the idea to take a bunch of video and speed it up so you could see the rest of the world staying still while he cavorts back and forth. We've watched it a time or two and, without fail, the part at 1:26 of his mouth and orange donut in hand moving at rapid speed makes us laugh every time. (You're not allowed to fast forward to that point!) Tunes courtesy of Jack Johnson and his Curious George album, which both parents and kids can get behind. Hope everyone had a great 4th!