This week is Congenital Heart Defect awareness week and I'd like to do my (small) part in raising awareness. CHD is the #1 birth defect in America and yet I had rarely even heard of it before Henry's diagnosis. Every day roughly 105 infants are born with CHD and my hope is that awareness, adequate prenatal and newborn testing identify and treat these children for hope of long healthy lives. Want more information about CHD and ways to increase awareness, go to The Children's Heart Foundation. And now, back to Henry (who is exercising his daredevil tricks and in big trouble in this picture- ha!)...
Henry is sleeping (dare I say it!) wonderfully after using the controversial "Ferber method" (a.k.a. "crying it out") last month. He seems to be responding well to his routine which happily allows some momma downtime for us in the evenings and more sleep for everyone (yeah!). Though, when I say routine I feel like I should preface that with a warning of what is "routine" seems to be a moving target with toddlers. With every new trick-there is a midnight "recap" of his skills (ex- Henry professing A, A, A, A or EIEIO at midnight). But these changes and accomplishments are definitely celebrated... even at midnight:)
Henry is a now 17lbs 13oz and 29 1/2 inches, approximately 20% in height and head circumference and not quite on the charts for weight... but gaining! Our dietitian with First Steps has been tracking Henry's weight/height/head circumference since he was a month old and, though at turtle pace, our man is gaining! Slow and steady wins the race, eh?! She tracks these numbers on the growth chart and showed us this month that Henry's growth trajectory is not plateauing, but continuing up. So great news! Our dietitian has waged an intervention for us this month (notice I said us, not Henry:). Apparently it's not just the infants who need help with the transition from bottle to sippy cup and from baby foods to big-people foods... mommas need prompting too:) It's all about change these days, but we know he's ready for more independence with the sippy cup and more table food equals more calories. SOO, after discovering Henry wanted nothing to do with straight milk in a sippy cup (really anything but water!) we started on the "slow and steady" track and with drops of milk in water in our sippy cup (a suggestion from our wonderful OT, Sherry!) and are now almost at half and half. So far so good! Henry is loving different foods with the most recent favorites including pastas, granola bars, crackers and of course the fruits and veggies. Grandma Simpson has also helped with making Henry some heart shaped gingerbread cookies for Valentine's Day... which turns Henry into the Cookie Monster (growls and all!) as he gets so excited for them!!! I've snuck several of those and of course they're fabulous and made with heaps of love!!
Henry has two new teeth peeking out on top... totalling four now! He wouldn't let me brush up there for a while and was a acting a little more cranky/drooly than usual so we knew their arrival was right around the corner. He's getting the hang of the tooth brush, though loves to chew more than brush at this point. Another addition to the "to do list" is taking Henry for his first dental appointment to keep those pearly whites healthy! Henry has started a Kindermusik class with Julie and Aunt Colleen and Leo on Friday mornings and we think he's really enjoying it. So far he nods his head to the music on the CDs they provided and can bang out sounds on his Henry-sized drums! If not a musical career, we're hoping he's at least going to have more rhythm than his Momma-K:)
We cheered for the lady Jayhawks one weekend last month in Lawrence with Uncle Bob, Aunt Colleen and cousin Leo thanks to our friend Annie who had some extra tickets. KU was triumphant in the Borderwar and handily beat MU! Henry was interested in all the action during the first half, then discovered Allenfieldhouse has one million stairs to climb! Second half was pretty much composed of stair climbing (with sanitizing wipes in hand)! Thank goodness there is even a great view from the top of the stadium! We've snuck out for a few walks when the weather has cooperated and Henry now loves to climb the stairs of the playgrounds and, of course, swing. I think it is going to be a blast this spring watching him play! And, I think our stroller is going to clock some miles on it traveling to all the playgrounds around us:)
Hope all of your Valentine's Days are full of love and chocolate! I sure hope mine is (hint hint)!
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