Henry's new car

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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!

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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.

DC: Day 1

We got into DC last Wednesday, and Bubs got to take his first cab ride! He wasn't impressed. We got to the hotel room, he immediately found the toilet paper in the bathroom, and TP'ed our room. Shockingly, our Marriott wasn't toddler-proof.

We got up the next morning, got Mommy situated for her conference, and went to the National Gallery for the day. We started at the modern art statue garden. Henry bounced, ran, scooted, and fell amongst works by Roy Lichtenstein, Anthony Calder, and Juan Miro. Again, he wasn't impressed, but the garden was really impressive. They also had a Metro stop from Paris that was used erected for the World's Fair at the turn of the century (the one 106 years ago).

We continued on to the "classic" section of the Gallery. We saw Leonardo's Ginevra, which is quite striking, and the only Da Vinci painting outside of Europe (or so some teacher-head told me). Just after seeing it, though, Henry decided to take a header on a fountain, split his chin, and start bleeding pretty heavily. So, Dad is whisking a howling, bleeding Bubba through the National Gallery to get him outside and assess the damage. What a time for a first major injury! We decided that it didn't need stitches (how the heck would we get to an ER, anyway? What an adventure that would have been ...), and we put a Band-aid on. Which was torn off within an hour. So ... Band-Aid #2. That one lasted about 26.3 seconds. We found a CVS in the evening, and bought some liquid bandage. Voila!

Anyhoo, after about 10 minutes, Henry had completely forgotten about his spill, so we moved over to the Modern building. Very cool. We saw some Warhols, another Lichtenstein (an Ohioan and OSU alum, by the way), and some very cool murals. Again, Bubs wasn't very impressed. He did really like the I.M. Pei fountain that was installed next to the food court and gift shop. It was basically a waterfall that started at ground level and ran against the large window/skylight of the building.

Then, dinner and SLEEP. Both very necessary.

Big week for Bubs

Even though Mom and Dad totally flaked on Thanksgiving Day and forgot the camera at home, we have plenty of great Henry pictures for the weekend. Just one short day later, Henry spent Black Friday hanging out at the zoo with his cousins Asia and Tenzin. They saw the lights (of which Henry said "Wooooow"), they pet some goats, and they saw a serious amount of fish.

We also found the newly reconditioned carousel that was built in 1906 or 1857 or 1356 or something like that. It's old, OK? Tenzin had skedaddled by the time we found the wooden horsies, but he was indeed a trouper.

Then we went to dinner, and the babes found a driving video game. The pictures are, indeed, classic. "You work the shifty guy and I'll turn the turny guy!" Such teamwork.

Next installment: Washington, DC!

What a day! What a game! Go Bucks!

Sarah and I both got the best birthday present possible this weekend. We hung out all day with Brutus Buckeye, our Bucks hung on to beat that Team Up North (if you don't know who that is, I'm not tellin' you), and we had an absolute blast hanging out, yelling ourselves hoarse in the 'Shoe, and watching the sea of humanity descend on the field after the game was over. What a game!



All the buses were full trying to get down to campus, so we walked about 2/3 of the way with Brutus (aka Chris Williams). Along the way, Brutus had to get some cash for the bus (just in case we ever caught one) and made sure that he was available for the adoring fans that honked at him all the way down High St. Brutus got a little frisky and started pounding on store windows and scaring (I mean pumping up) the folks inside with his outpouring of Buckeye pride. When we got to campus, the pandemonium only increased. Every third person we ran across (and there were about 400,000 there) made sure to high-five Brutus. He had his picture taken about every 25 seconds. It was a trip. We made our way to the tailgates, had some grub (Brutus gets hungry!), and forged our way to the 'Shoe. We had to part ways with Brutus, because he didn't have a ticket. Ironic, I know. We found out later that he found an viewing angle from outside the stadium that he could see into the stadium and watch the Jumbotron erected above the South Stands. His radio provided the sound accompaniment. We caught up with him, watched all the crazies scurry from the stadium with clumps of "sacred turf" in their hands, waited for a bus, and were whisked back home.

Henry hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Thornburg (and the assorted dozen other people that happened by) to watch the game. We had all intentions to pick him up that night, but after being on our feet for 12 hours, getting home at 10:00 PM, and knowing that the traffic wasn't about to let up, we fell over, slept in, and had a sleepy Sunday morning. Again, what a great birthday!

Mood swings

Ah, Henry is finding the shock and awe qualities of the toddler tantrum. A tantalizing temptation, to be sure. Truly trying. Kind of funny. He had a positively traumatic 45 minutes last night, where he kicked on the ground, punched Simon, and really was beside himself.

But then the clouds cleared, and we had one of the most fun evenings we've ever had. A full tummy has a powerful way to cure what ails you, I guess.

He's learned to put away some of his toys, he's building with blocks (kind of), and he gets really excited and happy about just about anything. Oh yeah, and check out his stylin' duds.

The Poop Parade is over!!!

Henry's digestive system, as an homage to his new cousin Tenzin, has decided to revert to its newborn behavior and Henry has been in a constant state of poopfulness for about a week. He was pooping about four times a day. Unfortunately, neither his parents nor his backside could keep up with this, and he has had a nasty diaper rash. I overheard him talking to one of the other kids in daycare: " ... yeah, I got it over in 'Nam ... nasty spell over there".

There has been a myriad of products sprinkled, spread, and otherwise applied to Henry's butt. Boudreax's Butt Paste, a mix of Aquaphor and Maalox (don't laugh, it works) and corn starch have been the hands down favorites. This routine and the obvious pain Henry has been in has overshadowed the unbelievable strides Henry is making ... he's putting his shoes (and ours!) away, his learning to eat with a spoon and fork, he's learning his body parts (eyes, ears, hair, nose, and tummy are all in the repertoire) and he is a wicked good dancer.

Now the Poop Parade is over and we can focus on all that great stuff.

Trick or Treat!

Who is, in true Alabaman vernacular, "as cute as a lil ole bug's ear"? Why, Henry, of course. Duh. Our little bug went to two three houses, collected a coloring book, a 100 Grand bar, and a lot of "oh, isn't he just adorable".

We agree.

His cousin Tenzin went as a pumpkin, although we all thought we would do great as Henry's sidekick inside his bug-themed trick or treat bag. Oh well! The Thornburgs descended on 37 W. Kenworth and we had a really great time just hanging out and playing with the babies (er, I mean, one big boy and one baby ... sorry Henry).

Henry Jammin'

The little man can move, can't he? He took top honors at Stephanie (Still) and Kevin Stockton's wedding last weekend. More pictures will be coming. Henry's Dad posted an honorable mention in the dancing category as well. It's tough seeing a son best his old man, but I have a feeling like I need to start getting used to it. Or I have to buy some prosthetic cheeks!

(BLOG) RED

Hey, I'm trying something new. I am quite interested in this whole (PRODUCT) RED movement, where the stuff we buy contributes money to worthy causes. This is the thing you've heard of with Bono moving everything from shoes to iPods. Their blog and Tenzin's blog will automatically update (over there on the left) if you want the skinny.

--The Editor