Charles is out of town this week. He is in Corpus Christi, which is where Hurricane Alex is going to hit in about 12hours. Luckily, he is coming home in 7 hours. He said that if the airport is closed then he will just make the 8 hour drive home. I am coming to understand that hurricane season is just another reason why life here feels like a different culture.
Here is another reason: it is hot. Really hot. People here don't even go swimming in the middle of the day... they go in the morning, or wait until evening.
These pictures of Henri in the pool are from a few months ago. I guess he would have been about 5 months old. Now he is moving around and he looks so much thinner to me! How can my baby already be losing his baby pudge? I don't like it, not one bit!
Why is he getting thinner and thinner? Well, getting all over the apartment pretty easily now... he is somewhere between army crawling and crawling. He gets up on his knees and rocks himself forward and then does a few army crawls. He loves crawling under the chairs and tables.
Also, he continues to get taller and taller.
Also, this is his usual feeling about food: there are too many other things to do, see, hammer and chew on... I mean, besides baby food.
I have resorted to sometimes turning on the TV to hold his attention while he eats. I only do this when I am really desperate. Is it okay if it is something really worthwhile, like "Peter Pan?" He should be learning songs like "I Gotta Crow," right? Actually, my new resolve is to just not fight him anymore. So, if he doesn't want to eat, then he doesn't have to eat. I stop worrying about his weight when I talk to my sister-in-law about my niece who is 2 1/2 and weighs three more pounds than Henri. I guess when they start worrying about Alta then I can wait another two years and start worrying about Henri.
We also continue to try and have fun adventures on the weekends when Charles is home. This is kind of a new "culture" type thing for me because growing up my dad worked six days a week and most holidays when we were home. When it wasn't the "busy season" (Spring) then he would take us up to Bear Lake all of the time. But when we were home, he was working. So, since Charles gets the weekends off it is fun to find stuff around where we are to do. We have taken a trip up to College Station to visit Texas A&M, gone to the Houston Zoo (which Henri didn't care about at all,) and lately, watched lots and lots of soccer. (I am still recovering from my disappointment with the US/ Ghana game.) We also stopped by the car show that is held every Saturday in the grocery store parking lot up the street. It is really a pretty intense car show. There are about 6 or 7 rows of the lot full of old vintage cars.
Here is Charles and our friend Matt enjoying sitting in a very expensive car
We kept teasing Charles about his outfit. It was super hot so he wanted to wear shorts, but he had gone golfing that morning and his arms were fried, so he wanted to wear long sleeves. He forgot to change before when went out into public.
Henri continues to be such a good little baby. He hardly ever cries and is so happy and fun. He is sleeping well... 11 hours at night and still takes three naps during the day. Because of that I am feeling good and that makes the momma happy too. Happy wife: happy life, right?
About Henri eating - I wouldn't worry too much. I found for my kids sometimes it would help if I put toys or their own spoon on the tray for them to play with, then I could shovel food into them pretty quick. Another trick I tried using was to put finger foods that were soft (like soggy cherrios) on the tray that they could pick up and eat themselves. Then I'd shovel the other stuff in between bites. I don't know what you've tried already, but I found those to be helpful. :) Love and miss you Em! You're doing great!
ReplyDeleteYup, sounds like your family's got it figured out with that last statement!!! Whenever I pass an empty apartment, I think of the Hopes that could be living there! I loved reading about your adventures, really fun post.
ReplyDeleteI hope Charles is safely home by now.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having lots of fun! Isn't that car show something else?! My dad thought he had died and gone to heaven when I took him to it.
I think it's perfectly ok to distract with TV or whatever while he eats- my sister-in-law had to do that for a long time or else her little girl wouldn't eat, she'd find her own distractions that usually did NOT involve food entering her mouth.