February 2012

This February has been unique in so many ways so far and filled with lots of excitement! We started the month by cutting out construction paper hearts to decorate the house for Valentine's Day and Henry is totally into it!! We're working on Valentine's Day cards and are loving talking about friends and family we're so fond of in the process- sharing the love is something Henry is really good at! We've had countless days in the last month or so of 50 degree temperatures and we've officially got the spring bug. We've pulled out new and old books about topics like love, like "The I Love You Book" by Todd Parr, books about spring, like "Planting a Rainbow" by Louis Ehlert and books about new family members like "I'm a Big Brother" by Joanna Cole to jump start conversations with Henry. There is anticipation in the air at our house for new things to come and we're embracing it!


With March Madness right around the corner, we had to visit "where basketball was born" and cheered for the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse for Aunt CoCo's birthday. We got a chance to catch up with friends (and had quite a fabulous time Miss Annie!), tracked down the mascot "Baby Jay" to say hello, wandered the stadium to listen to the band, look at all the banners and had unofficial races in the bleachers with cousin Leo and Finn! Always a great time:) Henry and Momma J also visited the Sprint Center downtown to see Elmo Live last month! Julie said Henry hardly sat down during the entire show and was dancing in the aisle all morning. Wish we had a video to share on that one, but we'll have to record his moves for a future post:)

Henry has continued his schedule with OT, PT speech and special instruction that started up again after the holidays and is doing great. He seems to really enjoy going to see Janet his OT, and is, of course, very motivated knowing that at the end of their sessions Janet lets him do work on her iPad (such a techy!). He is jumping ALL OVER now... over cracks in the sidewalk, the bridge at the playground, down stairs (step by step of course), in his bed (despite redirection) and is really progressing with help from his PT, Kathy, at school. Julie met with his special instructions teacher, Erika, this past week and though she is still getting to know him she seems to really have an understanding of Henry's strengths and needs already. Cindy, Henry's speech therapist, at school confirmed that he is now saying 5 word sentences, and really progressing. The other day Henry was saying something we initially could not understand, then... "Henry". Eventually we figured out he was saying "Me llamo Henry", which means "My name is Henry" in Spanish. We laughed that it took forever to figure out despite a combined 4 years of Spanish from Julie and my high school years to crack the code! I think we're in trouble when his classroom starts getting into more complex statements! The schedule seems to be working and the team really seems to be forming another great platform for Henry's growth- everything a parent could hope for!

We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of baby boy #2, though he seems to be very comfortable where he is at the moment due to Julie's wonderful care:) Henry loves to warm up the baby's car seat- I can so easily remember when he actually fit inside it! Please continue to keep us in your thoughts/prayers as we get closer to his arrival. Pictures and stories to come!

Much love,

Kate, Julie and Henry