Destroying the crib ... part II

Destroying the crib ... part II
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

This is Daddy giving explicit instructions on how to reduce Henry's crib to kindling

Never (I mean never) expect to sleep in

Destroying the crib ... together
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Oh Patron Saint of Insomnia, in what way did we vex you? Was it our hubris in thinking that Henry was ready for a big boy bed? Was it our naive assumption that, since Henry got up early the day before and went to sleep late, we might be able to sleep in? Do you simply have it in for us since we're parents and you obviously don't like parents?

Please consider the destruction of Henry's crib as a peace offering. A token, really, of how much we are willing to do to garner your favor. Destroying a bed is the ultimate symbol of insomnia ... take this crib so that we can live (and by live I obviously mean sleep)!

Please consider last night our penance and let us go on our way. Please consider Henry's 2:30 AM nightmare and his subsequent wailing and inability to get to sleep. Please consider that, after all other techniques were used, we brought him into bed with us, ensuring that sound sleep would not be visiting either of us. Please consider Henry getting up at 6:00 in the morning, when both of us knew that he would not go back to sleep. Please consider all of this as you determine our fate! I know, I know ... we've had it easy the last year as Henry's been sleeping well. The simple fact is that we're not used to it anymore ... and Henry isn't taking naps all day, and if the dude is awake, he's running (and running and running).

If that isn't enough, then there's a fiver in my jeans on the dresser just for you.

Oh our glorious hammock!

Sarah's hammock
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

So, momma got a hammock for Mother's Day! Which means that Daddy got a hammock for Mother's Day! After poring over which hammock to buy (do I buy a brazilian? nicaraguan? mayan? **gulp** american rope? cotton? polyester? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!), I finally pulled the trigger on this Nicaraguan number.

I got the whole thing online (stand and all). I was a little nervous, but when it came, it all looked good. Then I went to the hardware store to get the lumber for the stand. After realizing how big a 10 foot treated 4 by 4 is, I started wondering again what I was getting into. This stand is 6 foot tall, 10 feet long, and is supported by two 4 foot legs as a base. It is ... gigundous. But it is glorious once you get in.

I left Sarah to take a nap as I went to get Henry from his. When I returned 20 minutes later, she was completely enveloped in it, cocoon style. Henry had absolutely no idea where she was, and she was in Thornburg sleep mode (if you don't know what that is, thank your lucky stars).

So I'm counting this in the "finally got her the right gift" pile.

Happy Mother's Day, mommy!

What a good lookin' family!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Mother's Day went off without too much collateral damage. There were reports of two toddlers running laps around Confluence Park in Downtown Columbus, but the authorities came up empty when they got to the scene. There was also some underage bike riding (isn't 22 months too young?) and a growling lion sighted (he's showing his teeth in this picture).

All in all, though ... another weekend successfully tamed!

Henry in his big boy bed!

Henry in his big boy bed!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

I know, I know ... he doesn't look too excited about this quite impressive milestone. That's just how he wakes up ... he gets it from his mother.

Over the weekend, we decided to have Henry try out his futon for naps, but keep the crib for night-night. He seemed pretty cool with it. The first day, he slept the normal nap time and we heard from him as soon as he woke up. Sunday, though, he took what I thought was a three hour nap. I'll never know for sure, though, because when I finally went up to wake him up, he was sitting down on the floor happily playing with his shoes. How didn't I hear him, you ask? Funny story, actually ...

I was getting the house ready for a cookout we were having with friends, so I was out doing yardwork. I had not planned on going in to get the monitor because I was just finishing up as Sarah left to do some teacher junk. At least she said it was teacher junk. Anyhoo, I was just putting all the gear away to start fixing the food when I noticed that my ... wedding ... ring ... was ... gone. PANIC! I looked around quickly to survey the scene, only to see a yard bag, filled with yard waste, staring ominously at me. It had to be in there. So I dumped the entire thing out again and starting wading, handful by handful, through ivy guts, plant clipping, myrtle shavings, dead leaves, and the bits of Christmas tree that must have fallen off on the way to the front curb (still there from January!). After searching through the WHOLE F'ING THING, I found my ring! I rejoiced, stapled the thing to my finger, cleaned up, and busted inside.

So anyhoo, Henry did great with the naps. Last night, to up the ante, he asked to sleep in the bed. So we tried it. After crossing our fingers, we awoke the next morning and Henry was good to go (except for the vacant expression and extreme displeasure at having his photo taken this early.

We'll see how it goes!

Henry, mess

Yogurt closeup
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry has been learning so much ... his vocabulary is skyrocketing, his dexterity and balance are crazy-improved ... but, alas, his messiness has not improved. Or you can say his ability to make a mess has also improved mightily. This face is the result of him literally painting himself with yogurt after he decided that he didn't want any more.

He had a great time. And the best part? We threw away all of our bibs two months ago (check out the glop on his shirt) and the blue cartoon pipe-looking things behind his head are part of his placemat, which dad (in)conveniently forgot to put on the table. You can check out the rest of the Flickr gallery (click on the picture) to see how the table fared.

Instead of telling him no, I ran to get the camera! I'm sure that won't bite me in the ass in our very near future.

Great weekend

What a great weekend ... Henry learned how to plant flowers, turn on the hose, hit Teddy with a stick, and throw all the decorative rocks that are in our garden. Oh yeah, and break the glass spheres that are (were) in the garden.

And the big news: Henry has a play area in the back of the yard that (1) does not have a bunch of piles of yard waste that Daddy had neglected to deal with for three years and (2) is not overrun with ivy that, again, Daddy had neglected to deal with for three years. It is lined with pine bark nugget mulch, is surrounded by evergreens and has a Maple tree smack dab in the middle. We call it his "campgrounds", and his tent has already been set up. His tent has also been hastily taken down minutes before a spring deluge hit and blew over just about everything in the yard, including our patio table and anchored umbrella.

We also tested out the bike trailer ... Henry now has his pick of the buggy (his wagon), the 'troller (his original stroller), and the bike trailer whenever he wants to traipse around the neighborhood. He doesn't much like the trailer.

We'll have some pictures up anytime now. Like, at least before Winter.

Greetings from Florida!

Henry reaching
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry wanted to make sure you all knew that he went on vacation! Click on the picture to see this and all of the pictures from the vacation.

Henry's new car

0326070817
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

... with Elmo riding shotgun! Henry was laughing in his seat (which is in the backseat of the car) when we rolled up to day care. The minute I unbuckled him he shot across the console and ended up in the driver's seat. He worked the steering wheel, changed gears, checked out the parking break, mugged for this picture, and made sure that Elmo was sitting up straight. Like a good driver should.

But ... no seat belt! Luckily the car wasn't moving, the keys weren't in the ignition, the parking break was on, the driver's door was open, and Henry was content with all of it.

Next ... flying lessons!

Graduation!

M MJR MSR
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

It has taken a week, but things have finally cooled down enough to document the fateful day, March 18th, 2007, in which a degree a degree was conferred on me. Here's me with my Mommy and my Daddy. And that is the Horseshoe in the background (O-H!). Archie Griffin spoke at the gathering, and is slowly convincing me to give money to OSU as a proud alumnus.

We had a great breakfast, the ceremony went smoothly (albeit slowly) and then back home to hang with family and, of course, watch the NCAA tournament. Duh!

Unfortunately, Henry didn't have a good week following. He couldn't hold his ... uh ... raisins at the ceremony, and had all manners of gastrointestinal problems the following week. Poor kid! He was, as he always is, a trooper through all of it and barely complained although his tummy was in knots and his backside was in open mutiny against him.

Now I have to figure out what to do with my Degree!

Oh G'Dosh ... I Keezy!

Welcome to Henry's first phrase! As he was launching himself around his futon, which we've opened up into bed (in addition to his crib ... he calls the futon his "summer bed", much like our place is the Hamptons is our summer house), he overheard me once again saying ... OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE CRAZY! So he started repeating it over and over, but realized that I was talking to him, so he changed the pronouns accordingly.

Therefore .... "Oh g'dosh .... I keezy!"

He also seems to know the difference between crazy and silly. A quick dance or bopping his head side to side or sticking out his tongue ... silly. Trying to jump off the bed, or run through the jungle part of our backyard, or wrestle with Teddy ... crazy.

He is keezy.

Henry found his shadow!

... and, in an unrelated story, loves Cous Cous! First, the shadow. Henry started waving to ghosts about a week ago. He's just started waving to the air! After seeking paranormal assistance, and finding none, we realized that he was waving at his shadow. He waves like crazy, then says "Hi." There are a couple of really great place for shadow waving, and he has found just about all of them. He has also mastered this new word ... it comes out "Sahdow".

He is also stringing together sentences. As we rolled into the garage, Henry saw the Murano. He said ... "Mommy ... Hi ... that's your car-car". He also is routinely asking for "Ga-ga and Papa" and wants to call them on the phone. Then he plays shy, doesn't talk, hangs up on them, then looks at the phone and says "What happened? Ga-ga bye-bye?"

Crazy galoot ...

Einsteins to the rescue!

It's no surprise to most that know him that Henry is a devout Little Einsteins fan. He sees his four favorite cartoon characters and starts jumping up and down. When he wakes up on weekends, we tell him that it's time and he starts saying "Einstein, Einstein". So much for our efforts to keep TV away from our infant and toddler son!

We love the show, too, as we are both total academic geeks and get into hearing Beethoven, seeing Leonardo paintings, and teaching our son about Diminuendos, Presto, and Accelerandos. By the way, for all of you that don't know and have children watching this show, it is slowly turning them into music aficionados. Of the classical variety.

Little did we know, though, that the Einsteins could save dinnertime! After trading out the high chair for a booster seat (at Henry's insisting), he lasted about three days until figuring out that he wanted to sit in the big boy chair. We relented for a couple meals, until he came much too close to taking a header off the side, straight to the ground (I think we wanted to reach for a butterfly, or the trash man, or Elmo, or some nitroglyceride ... I can't remember). So, back to the booster. We tried showing him that Elmo dug on the booster ... that worked for about three and a half seconds. Then Daddy had the great (dare I say brilliant?) idea to ask him if his seat belt is buckled (just like the Einsteins do in Rocket). Bingo! No tears, no two-year-old wiggle, just mealtime Henry. I must admit, there's still some food throwing, but Sarah has just about cured me of it.

Whew! Bring on the next (not-quite-so) crisis!

Oh $h!t

Alright, the bets are over. Money can change hands. The day has come. Henry has said his first swear word, and he did it by repeating me. I could have sworn that Sarah would have been the culprit (pun most certainly intended) but it was me.

As I was making my soon-to-be signature dish, ginger chicken stir fry, for dinner, Henry and I were playing in the kitchen. He is getting to be a great helper in the kitchen, stirring batter, putting ingredients in bowls, and sneaking little tastes of some of the more tasty foods that are destined for the meal (blueberries and other fruits are the usual larcenies). As I'm putting dinner on the table for the three of us, Sarah confirmed that the back gate was open, and Teddy was out running around the neighborhood. I had put the trash out earlier, and forgot to close the back gate.

As all of this was going through my head, two words slipped my lips: Oh Shit. It was quiet. It wasn't punctuated. But it was enough, because Henry has the interest and the vocal vocabulary to repeat anything and everything that is said. So, he started spouting off "Oh sihit, oh sihit" (his pronunciation, not mine). I grabbed my shoes and coat to go corral the black hairy greased lighting bullet that was traversing the neighborhood, Teddy faked me out and had raced around to the front of the house to be let in at the front door, and Henry was in the kitchen swearing.

So technically he didn't utter a swear word. But he was trying to. And he learned it by listening to me. Tragic.

Henry at school!

Today was Kaleidoscope, Columbus Alternative's open house for eighth graders, so Mommy was doing her best to tell all the kiddos that are making their decision of which high school to attend that they would like nothing more than to be Pegasuses. Rather, Pegasii? CAHSmic? Uh ... she wants them all to want to come to Columbus Alternative next year.

Henry wanted to get in on the fun, and cement himself as the real mascot of CAHS. He did just that, surprising Mommy and all the other teacher-heads (and principal-heads) by running down the hallways, cackling at the artwork, and trying to hack into every computer he saw.



Then he settled down with a good book (his trusty Dictionary!) and started studying for the SAT's. That kid's determined, I tell you what.



All the teachers ooh'ed and aah'ed at him. They all commented on how adorable he is. We're trying to keep this from going to his head, but I think we're too late. He knows just how cool he is ....

Snowy Bubs

Henry went out and played in the snow today. His first snowfall! I suppose you can point to last year, but I really don't think he appreciated the snow that we lugged him through, car carrier and all, last year. When he grows up, he can decide which was his "first" winter snow. Until then, we're going with this.

First, Mommy bundled the bubs up. He had on snow pants, snow boots, a winter jacket, a hat with chin strap, and mittens. He had some troubles walking even inside! Even harder was getting up after falling down (think of Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story ... "I can't get up! Ralphie, I can't get up!")

Then Henry and I got to work. First we had to laugh it up with the dog, Teddy, who thought this snowfall was brought to Columbus just for him. He was in heaven all day, which unfortunately meant that we had to dry the snow out of his golden retriever-like fur. For those of you not quite following, I'm still talking about the dog. Anyhoo, Henry dug watching the dog make a dog out of himself in the wintry conditions, and his cackles were contagious.

Then Henry insisted that I let him shovel the driveway. I tried to keep the shovel to myself, but we all know how insistent Henry's can be. He wrestled the shovel out of my hands, so I sulked inside to watch the Bears game as he finished the driveway and the sidewalk. The Bears won, by the way.

You get to decide for yourself if I'm kidding. What is assuredly true is that we had a good time with the snow, and have decided that it is time for spring. On with the thawing, the pretty-pretties (that's flowers for you lay people), the ducks, and all that Easter hullabaloo! Oh yeah, and Daddy's Graduation (March 18th ... apply directly to your head ... March 18th ... apply directly to your head)

Nice hands, Henry, nice hands!

Henry is finally figuring out that if he doesn't pull Teddy's and Simon's fur, then they will hang out with him. Well, they'll hang out with him for a little while, then will get freaked out and run away. Henry has lured Simon, the cat, to him by casting a "fishing pole" with a stuffed animal fish on the end ... Simon can't resist it. Sometimes, though, Henry forgets that it's the stuffed fish that Simon's after, and instead assumes that it's the stick that's in his hands. So he runs after the cat bopping him on the head. Again, this game doesn't last too long ...

Winter has finally arrived, so both animals are trapped in the house when Henry decides to play. Teddy is pretty cool with everything until Henry breaks out out of his push cars. Henry cackles and runs through the house, transforming our house into an Indy street course. Tires squealing and dogs running for cover, Henry will go lap after lap through the house, or around our kitchen island, or do a kind of figure eight that encompasses both loops. It may just be his favorite game. It's certainly not Teddy's.

Henry's Journey

Henry the Big Boy

Man, is Henry getting to be grown up! Every morning, we get up and Daddy tries to convince the boy that, not to worry, that breakfast is waiting at school (daycare) and that he doesn't need a Mah-Me-NAH (banana) before he goes. Daddy is successful about half the time. If Henry is persuasive enough, then we all sit around the table and Henry sits in his new booster chair in front of his Superman placemat. Oh yes, the high chair is gone and the morning starts in big-boy land.

After the breakfast decision, Henry gets amped to see the car-CAR. Sometimes he dances down the hall and waits at the top of the stairs leading to the side door. We bound down the stairs and he peeks out the doorway, where his eyes get large and he starts bellowing "Car-CAAAAR, Car-CAAAR!" and running straight at the Honda. He crashes into the back bumper, starts smacking it and laughing, and waits for Daddy to put him in. That picture is of him carrying Daddy's lunch to the car-CAR. It slowed him down, but only a bit. I call the picture "I'm off to work, Dad!" He carried it from our living room out to the car. I had to snap the pic on my phone, so it's not that great (but funny!).

Winter hasn't really hit yet, so there are plenty of puddles to splash in ... we'll see what Henry thinks about his first snow fall (if it ever comes).

Daddy is Done!

Let's clarify, though ... Daddy is not done being a Daddy. I am, though, finished with my Master's Thesis, which means I am set for graduation from The Ohio State University in March. I will pay no more fees, I will study no more, I will write not another page of another paper in the quest for my degree ... I AM DONE!

This came at no small emotional cost. My expectations on what this process was like were way out of whack. I thought the paper was basically written 3 weeks ago (well before the January 2nd deadline), but I was really wrong. So I decided to spend my two weeks of vacation locked in a room on campus writing, analyzing data, revising, conferring, getting frustrated, then back for some more.

The paper has gone through 3 wholesale transformations. I literally had to gut it and start over. My frustration peaked on New Year's Day, the day before my defense, when I sent Henry and Sarah off to watch the Rose Bowl at Grandma's house while I sat in my cave and tried to finish. I may have been even more frustrated than the Wolverines fans that had to watch their team get picked apart by the accursed USC Trojans. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't very happen with my University or anything associated with it at that moment. I envisioned myself walking up to my defense committee and saying that I was pretty sure that the only thing that I respected at OSU was the football team. It sucked.

Shanny Fanny (that's really his name ... no, really) called and we talked about his Master's process, and how it's a learning experience, and how I was going to get through it. That helped. My brother had also called earlier in the process, so I knew I wasn't totally alone in this I HATE MY MASTER'S experience.

When I woke up on January 2nd to defend, I was barely keeping it together. The goal: get through my defense meeting, pass it, get my changes into the University, and have them accept it before the 5:00 deadline.

The committee grilled me, but when it was over they passed me! We shook hands, they congratulated me, and I turned my attention to the University requirements. I cracked open the 24-page Guidelines document and the 18-page Examples document, and got to work.

I turned my Thesis in at 3:30 PM. An hour and a half before the deadline. They accepted it!

My commencement will be on Sunday, March 18th. I am very excited to receive my diploma, which already has an OSU diploma frame waiting for it, thanks to my very intelligent and clever wife.

When I got home, Sarah greeted me with an O-H!

Grinning ear to ear, I responded in the only appropriate fashion ... I-O! Then I hugged the crap out of her.