Notes from the Crib

We have been so very busy for the last week and a half with so many activities and things to do for school. Lots of new pictures have been posted in Henry's Photos 2009 (October to December).

Back on Friday, November 20, we went to Adventureplex at Henry's request. Got some cute video of him jumping into the ball pit in the toddler area. He also decided it would be fun to go down the short slide onto of the large flat stuffed things (ladybug, turtle) they have in that area, as if they were a sled. He then one of the girls in the area started doing the same thing. Afterward we had lunch at Islands and Henry was actually pretty calm. He sat and colored and did the activities on the paper kids' menu along with Mummy. Then we did a little shopping at the attached Manhattan Village Mall, particularly in Pottery Barn Kids. Mummy got some Christmas-themed placemats with depictions of the 8 reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh. Mummy bought a set of eight Tone Bells for Henry that we had thought about buying the last time we shopped there. He had a good time playing those when we got home.

On Saturday, November 21, Mummy had her day long First Aid and CPR class with the American Red Cross. Daddy and Henry spent the day together. Henry had a make-up Funny Bugs Little Gym class to go to in the morning and after that they went to Red Lobster for lunch. Henry really likes those free biscuits that they serve as an appetizer. He also got to pet a lobster from the tank. They also went to the kite shop at Redondo Pier and bought a kite, then flew it at the beach.

Monday, November 23, was a ridiculously busy day. Mummy and Henry ran a bunch of errands, including stopping at the Children's Orchard and Payless Shoes to pull together an outfit for him to wear the next day for his school's Thanksgiving Celebration. In the afternoon, we met Lila and Finn at Kenneth Hahn park in Culver City for duck feeding and playing in the playgrounds. Like this picture, where you can see the chunk of bread that Henry has just tossed flying through the air.



Following the playdate, Henry had an audition up in Santa Monica. He already has a callback from that scheduled for tomorrow.

On Thursday, November 24, Henry had the Thanksgiving Celebration at del Sol. We decided he should wear a suit since he is British and the Brits tend to wear suits for these kinds of things. Or that he comes from a long line of musicians that wore suits for performing. Either one works. Yes, these trousers are a bit short; whoever owned them previously had hemmed them up. Didn't get to take them down until they got washed after Thanksgiving day, but at least the next time he wears them they will be the right length.



Mummy stayed at school to help with the decorations that morning. The celebrating started around 11:30, with the kids coming out of their classrooms to take part in the various activity centers that had been set up. These included cultural/historical board games, card games, games with marbles, and games with stones. There was also an apple peeling/coring station, a table for coloring mandalas, and an area for weaving strips of cloth through strings. Some extra ropes had been added to the playground equipment to make it more fun.



Most of the kids were dressed up in some sort of cultural dress, many as pilgrims, Native Americans or turn of the century immigrants. There was a fantastic feast of food, with families having brought in traditional recipes from the culture they were representing. All sorts of interesting and yummy dishes were on hand. After lunch the kids served desserts. Yummy shortbread cookies and some nice vanilla cake with sliced banana and whipped cream on top. Don't ask about the chocolate dipped crickets though! Henry nearly tried one having seen the chocolate part, but Mummy stopped him and pointed out that they were crickets. Then he had about 50 questions, including, "Why are they trying to trick us with those bugs?" Mummy sent him to Rick to get his questions answered.

After lunch there was a nice presentation of music from around the world including steel drums, Japanese stringed instruments, African drums, and Irish dancing. We were at school a bit longer than usual that day, so afterward Henry went to Little Gym for the Mini Jacks class, instead of the earlier Funny Bugs class.

On Wednesday, Mummy and Henry went to Disney's California Adventure and Disneyland. We saw Playhouse Disney Live on Stage and the Drawn to the Magic Show in California Adventure. We also played around in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area. Then we headed over to Disneyland where we went on King Arthur's Carousel. Then visited Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in Toontown and had the yummy turkey sandwich for lunch. Minnie Mouse is in her Christmas outfit, here with Henry.



Henry played briefly in Goofy's Clubhouse before we headed over to It's a Small World boat ride, which was fantastically decorated inside for Christmas. Then we almost caught the holiday parade but couldn't find a good spot to view it. Instead we headed over to Frontierland, during which Henry fell asleep in Bob. He slept for almost an hour and then we went on the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride, which stopped working just as we got off of it. Missed having photos with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore as they were about to go off duty when we arrived at the line. Instead, we headed back to Fantasyland and had dinner (an all right pepperoni pizza for Mummy and a turkey wrap for Henry, who ate only the tortilla part and a few bites of turkey). Great to see everything all decorated for Christmas. Then onto the Dumbo ride (ugh, why do we always seem to do that ride after eating?), the Casey Jr. Circus Train and for the first time, The Storybook Village boat ride (Henry has always been afraid of going through the whale's mouth at the start; Mummy was able to talk him through it in advance and he wasn't actually scared once we were doing it). We were going to finish up on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters only to get over there and discover the ride was closed. So back to Fantasyland for one last go on King Arthur's Carousel (Henry's favorite ride). Very exhausted Mummy at the end of the day. Henry wasn't too bad as we had Bob along this time, though we did leave pretty late (9:30pm) and he slept in the car on the way home. Henry took this nice photo of Mummy next to the Disneyland Christmas tree (that old jacket barely fits around the baby belly).



Thanksgiving was on Thursday. The morning was not so fun as Mummy wanted to cook and we were also trying to watch the parade and Henry wasn't really interested in either of those things, he just wanted to play with us, so was doing all sorts of things to get our attention. Eventually food was served and Henry ate a lot of corn on the cob and not much else.



In the afternoon, Daddy and Henry went to Gregg Parkette while Mummy collapsed and napped. We had a much nicer evening together, playing games.

On Friday, November 27, we all drove over to the Toyota garage (in two cars and Henry got to try out the new car seat in Daddy's car for the first time). Mummy's car was dropped off to get the windows tinted a bit darker. Have been wanting to do this since we bought the car, but didn't know where to go. Asked the Toyota garage in Culver City way back and they didn't do it and gave me the name of some garage in suburbia that would have been totally inconvenient. Happened to ask at the South Bay Toyota garage when having the car serviced recently and they did it, so hurrah, it is done and it is not quite so bright in the backseat now for Henry. After dropping the car off we let Henry play at a nearby park, then headed home to play. Picked up the car just before lunch. After lunch, Daddy got his haircut and Mummy and Henry played around on the guitar and the piano. Mummy taught Henry how to play a G Major scale on the piano, including the fingering (we had been playing a song in G major). Then when Daddy got home we played a really long game of Sorry, which Mummy was nearly going to win, but eventually Daddy did. We also all played Spanish bingo (first time for Daddy and he learned a few new words).

On Saturday we spent the morning playing at home. Ran a couple errands in the afternoon, including buying new (next size up) tap shoes for Henry. Then Crista and her sons John and Holden came over to play. Henry was kind of in a wild mood. They tried to play Sorry, but after about 10 minutes Henry upset the board. Eventually he and Holden went upstairs and had fun playing with Henry's kitchen and play food, while Crista and John played Chess with some advising from Daddy. Later Henry showed Holden how to play a G Major Scale on the piano, which was very cute.

Which brings us to today. This morning Daddy and Henry played on the computer a little bit. Then we went out to Franklin Park, followed by Norms for lunch. Henry ate a lot (for Henry), half of a huge pancake, most of his scrambled eggs, a whole sausage, and a few of Mummy's fries. Plus he drank nearly all of his milk. At home again, Daddy has also been starting to teach Henry a little bit of computer programming.

Henry was looking at the Baby Names book. He read out, "Casey." Mummy said, "I like Casey, but Daddy doesn't. Though I don't like Casey so much because it has become a girl's name." Without a pause, Henry responds, "And a cat's name," which makes Mummy laugh. There is a cat character named Casey in his Jump Start computer games.

Well, this past week Henry has had the most homework he has had since school started. They are working on a Living History project, which will culminate in the school Thanksgiving celebration next Tuesday. We have been gathering family photos and stories to take to school. Henry has been making drawings of our stories. Henry and Mummy also went on a field trip to the British Connection Store as something that connects with Daddy's cultural background. Bought some snacks and Ribena (blackcurrant drink). Henry really liked Ribena.

Not much to say about last Thursday, Henry had school and dance class. They did a few different things in dance class this week.

On Friday morning Henry and Mummy went to the Art Zone Open Studio together. We met with a few other moms and kids from del Sol. Henry spent most of his time in the dress up area (dressed up as Superman and then Snow White) and playing with goo. He didn't do any artwork at all.

Afterward we went to the library to return books and pick out a new batch. Henry's actually starting to get more actively involved in picking books to bring home. He also likes to type in a book title or subject on the computer himself and then go find the book in the library.

In the afternoon we watched the movie (we had from Netflix) "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" and also the short that was on the DVD called "A Day for Eeyore". He liked the movie but he thinks that movies are long. Hhe really enjoyed the short and watched that again on Saturday and Sunday, as well as an episode of My Friends Tigger and Pooh that was also an extra on the DVD.

On Saturday morning we went to book sales at both the Hermosa Beach Library and the Manhattan Beach Library. Henry didn't let us stay at the Hermosa place for very long, he seemed to object to the room the book sale was held in. He lasted a bit longer at Manhattan Beach. We found a few Clifford books, which Henry especially seems to like lately and also a few children's French word books. We didn't bring home nearly as many books as we usually do.

Following that we stopped off at Marine Park for the Moms Club meeting, which was being held on a Saturday to encourage the Dads to come along. Daddy watched Henry playing while Mummy got to chat and eat some lunch. Then we dropped Daddy off at the Belican Grill so he could have lunch with his former colleague Paul and Paul's wife Sandra.

In the afternoon we went to Toy's R Us to buy a birthday present for Jada. We managed to get through there without buying anything for Henry. We are now using the excuse that he needs to add things he wants to his Christmas list. Speaking of which, you can view Henry's Christmas Wish List on Amazon, and it has even been updated with some things he is asking for this year! Henry also made a birthday card and envelope for Jada that evening.

Sunday afternoon was the much awaited birthday party for Jada, one of the girls in Henry's class at del Sol. Henry seemed particularly excited to be going to this party. The party was held at Franklin Park, which has a newly made over playground. Jada's family had also hired a bouncy castle for the party and this was a huge hit with Henry. He spent time going back and forth between the playground and the bouncy castle. There were also small wooden boxes that the kids could paint and put stickers on. Henry just painted the cover of his and only added two stickers; as soon as he got it home he looked around for small things he could put in it as "treasure". Jada's dad, Gene, made balloon things for the kids. Henry got a balloon bee and a balloon dog.



There was a yummy spread of food, catered by Fresh Brothers. Henry was in the bouncy castle when it was announced that it was time for cake. He was the first one to get out of there. Then he ended up getting a huge piece of cake, which may have been meant for Jada, but got passed on to him. He ate all of it, apart from the bits that fell to the ground while he was eating.

When he got home he was still crazy from the sugar, but also looking tired from the bouncing. He was dancing around the room to the Orinocco Kid song (by the Wombles, of all things). After a bought of spinning he got it into his head that Daddy should play Super Mario Galaxy and he walked over to the entertainment center to get it out, when he lost his balance and fell into the handle on the entertainment center door. Ouch, big bruise and scratch on his face (just in time for school pictures, to be held on Tuesday).

Monday morning we went to Trader Joes and Henry picked out an Advent Calendar, which he is very eager to start opening in December. Then, Henry went to Spanish class, but was pretty wild in class and during the presentation afterward. Mummy nearly had to take him away before the end of class again.

In the afternoon we went to Anderson Park, which has also had a playground makeover. A nice structure for little kids there and a huge structure for older kids have been put in. Henry had fun climbing all around those (he really likes to climb up things, think he only went down a slide once). Also went on the swing and we left just as the nearby elementary school was letting out for the day.

Tuesday, back to school for school pictures. We'll see how those turn out. They also did a whole school picture. In the afternoon we tried the Mini Jacks class at Little Gym which is a bit later in the afternoon than Funny Bugs and is more sports focused. Right now that class is learning about American Football. They learned how to huddle, do a three-point stance, worked a little on catching a football, waiting for a call of "hike" before moving, and knocking over the opponents (padded foam cylinders). He seemed to have a good time, but not sure if he likes that more than Funny Bugs or not. Still trying to decide whether he will stay in Funny Bugs class or switch to Mini Jacks before the end of the semester. He will definitely be moving to Mini Jacks for the Spring semester.

After class we did our field trip to the British store, then came home to play together.

A few more pictures in Henry's Photos 2009 (October to December).

The game: each person takes it in turns to say something that rhymes. The first person who can't think of a rhyme loses.

(the rhyme is 'space')
Henry: Bass!
Daddy: Lace!
Henry: Nace!
Daddy: Nace? What's a nace?
Henry: A big wheelbarrow that you push; that's a nace.

...

(the rhyme is 'now')
Henry: Bough!
Daddy: Cow!
Henry: Shao!
Daddy: Shao? What's a Shao?
Henry: Um, it's a cow... that's only white.
Daddy: (shrug) Vow!
Henry: Jow!
Daddy: Jow? There's no such word. What's a jow, then?
Henry: It's a big foot. Your big feet, they're jows.
Daddy: ...

Been a while since posting what we have been up to and there has been a lot! Have to go all the way back to Halloween for this update.

On Halloween day we carved our pumpkin. Mummy drew the face on the pumpkin and Daddy did all the hard work of carving and scooping out the insides and attaching the ears to make it a "Mickey Mouse Jack O'Lantern". It actually turned out pretty well.



In the late afternoon Mummy and Henry (Buzz Lightyear) went to the Little Gym for their Halloween party. They had all sorts of little games set up in the gym, but the thing that Henry liked most was climbing the "Haunted Castle Wall".



In the evening Mummy and Henry went out trick or treating while Daddy stayed home to distribute candy. We only went to six neighboring houses, but that was enough. We visited the house around the block that had the huge purple blow-up spider on its roof. We had concocted all sorts of stories about that spider because after a big wind storm earlier in the week it had disappeared and we wondered if it blew away. Apparently it had blown down, but they had it back up on Halloween night. When we finished trick or treating, we posed for this picture on the front step. Mummy's starting to get a pumpkin belly, so Henry's little brother was a jack o'lantern.



Well, skip a few days now as we didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Then on Wednesday, November 4, after school and French class, Henry had an audition for Qualcomm.

On Thursday, November 5, Holden and Mia and mom Crista came to our house for a play date. Mia really liked Henry's giraffe bike and Holden liked Henry's orange garbage truck. We played outside for a while and also played with the multi-colored bears. We played for about two hours, but unfortunately when Holden and Mia had to leave Henry got upset and decided to start throwing bears around and at Mia.

On Friday, November 6, Henry had a callback for the Qualcomm commercial. Afterward we drove up to Van Nuys to renew Henry's work permit. Unfortunately, the whole building was closed due to government furloughs. That was really irritating, especially since the traffic was terrible on the way back and it took us an hour and a half to get home.

That evening Henry headed to Art Zone for "Parent's Night Out." While there he did a lot of painting projects and four cards of hand prints. In the meantime, no luxurious night out for Mummy and Daddy; we were at del Sol for parent/teacher conference with Cecilia and Janette. They seemed to be pleased with his reading ability and his grasp of music/songs performed in class. He has an "insatiable curiosity" about the world around him. He is really participating fully in projects now. He is also pretty friendly with all the teachers and always has to make sure he says good-bye to them. Unfortunately, he is also still pushing kids during the day and generally demonstrating aggressive (but not malicious) type behavior (throwing things, grabbing things, dumped pencil jar over a girl's head) when he does not like what is happening, is not feeling in control of a situation or is just trying to get someone's attention. He doesn't seem to understand that the other kids don't like these actions, and though he seems to think of it as a game, it is not something that is fun for them.

We spent most of the weekend pretty close to home. On Saturday we went to Fry's and finally bought a new digital camera. Now Mummy just needs to get into the habit of taking pictures again. We also stopped at Target to pick up some things and raided the dollar bins for fun things for Henry including a new 100 piece Santa with snowman puzzle and reindeer antlers (see below for the last photo from our old camera). In the afternoon Henry and Daddy went to Gregg Parkette.



On Sunday, Henry and Daddy went over to Townsend Parkette while Mummy did some grocery shopping. We met with Amelia (she cleans our friend Penny's house) and her daughter Fabiola just after lunch and they toured the house. We are going to hire Fabiola to clean the house once every two weeks. Hurrah! Then we headed over to Marshalls and Ross to see what we could find. Henry got a new pair of white tennis shoes, a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer shirt (with the Abominable Snowman on it -- from the stop motion film version) that has a red nose that blinks, and a small play tool set that makes noises. Daddy got a shirt and a hoodie and Mummy got a new pair of maternity jeans.

Along with some Christmas-themed purchases this weekend, Henry asked about how to play Jingle Bells on the piano, so we worked with him a little on playing the melody line of the chorus. Then Mummy played a lot of Christmas songs on the piano on Sunday night. Henry actually let Mummy play for about an hour while he and Daddy played some board games nearby. The baby was squirming and kicking a lot while the music was being played.

We got word that Henry booked back-up for the Qualcomm commercial, which means that he takes over if the principle kid can't film. So Monday we headed to Santa Monica for clothes fitting. Of course, that is not Henry's favorite thing to do (change in and out of a bunch of outfits in a short period of time) and he kept running in and out of the room. They did get to see five different combinations on him though. We went back up to Van Nuys and got the work permit sorted out this time. Then it took only 40 minutes to get back home this time as they have finally opened the new car pool lane heading south on the 405. YEAH! We carpooled from our entrance at Burbank all the way to our exit at Inglewood Blvd. That afternoon we made a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. It was kind of a mess as Mummy was letting Henry do some things. Oh well, it was still edible.

Tuesday we had the commercial shoot, which we were away for most of the day (it was out in Altadena). The principle boy, Jake, was excellent, so Henry didn't get to film. They did use Henry as a stand-in though (they put Henry in the position they want and then adjust lights and camera as needed, then bring Jake back in to film), so at least he saw some action and it wasn't all sitting around. Henry also had fun talking and playing with the set teacher, Abby, and some of the toys she had brought. Mummy thinks that part of why Henry got the job is that he was nearly exactly the same height and weight as Jake (there was less than half an inch and a pound between them), so perhaps they had the stand-in work in mind when they cast Henry. Henry also did a great job of being quiet while they were filming. He was conked out at the end of the day though and fell asleep on the drive home. He slept for two hours and Mummy tried to wake him up to eat something, but he was not interested, so Mummy let him sleep another two hours and then woke him up again and made him eat something. Plus then he had a little time with Daddy when he got home (he has been working late the last few weeks).

Mummy was very tired on Wednesday morning and totally missed that there was no school for Henry because of Veteran's Day. Yes, we got ready for school and pulled in to find the place closed and nobody there. Went to Polliwog Park across the street instead, but everything was wet from the dew (and there had been a lot of fog early in the morning). Mummy did have a towel, so we toweled off a swing and Henry enjoyed that. Henry got to watch a couple episodes of Dora at home while Mummy rested.

Henry had French class in the afternoon, during which Mummy stopped at Whole Foods to pick up a few things and got the car washed. She got back just in time to hear that Henry had been fighting with Peter (though could not get explanation out of Henry as to what that meant -- later he said that he was lying on top of him). Then when he saw Mummy he started going in and out of the room. Next he was throwing things in class and they sent him out of the room and Mummy decided to take him home (there was only 10 minutes left of class). Henry did not like that! There were a lot of tears. When we got home, Mummy put him in Bob and gave him a banana to eat (he had only eaten a little carton of banana yogurt at lunch and then said he didn't want anything else). He ate the whole banana in Bob. Then Mummy gave him some shredded oat cereal to crunch on. He had a few mouthfuls of that and then fell asleep while we were walking (and slept another three hours, during which Mummy had a nap too). Mummy is starting to think that some of Henry's behavior issues are related to not eating enough (he often does not eat anything when he is at school, but if he is at home he is saying he is hungry by 10:30am), and possibly not getting enough variety of food (too much carbs and diary and not enough fruit, vegetable and meat). At least he is starting to try one bite of food now rather than completely refusing it. So glad that he has started eating bananas again as they were off the menu for a long time. Hoping he will come back around to some of the other things he used to like to eat.

Perhaps you have noticed complete absence of blogging about the past two Mondays. On Monday, October 19, we had the 20 week ultrasound at Dr. Silverman's office (Henry came with us). The sonographer spent a lot of time doing all the measurements of the body (we got a 30 minute DVD of the scan). All the measurements were showing within a few days of 20 weeks (most of them slightly over). The heartbeat looked good and strong. We learned that Henry will be having a brother. Prior to this, Henry has been saying that he wanted a brother and particularly using he instead of she when talking about the baby. Now he says, "I wanted a sister, but I'm having a brother." Still, he has been very cute recently starting to kiss and hug Mummy's belly and saying he is kissing or hugging the baby. Mummy's belly seems to have gotten a lot bigger in the past couple weeks. We talk about "his brother" kicking and moving around inside Mummy. Henry talks about saving toys (a truck he doesn't play with much any more) and clothes (shoes that he has recently outgrown) for his brother now. Anyway, at the end of the measurement period the sonographer took a long time trying to get a good profile picture for us. Here it is.



The sonographer left the room to get Dr. Silverman and handed Mummy the picture. Mummy looked at it and handed it to Daddy. Mummy said something along the lines of this baby having a very recessed chin or big overbite. Daddy said, "All babies are like that." Mummy was thinking, "not that bad" and was already getting a bad feeling about things. Then Dr. Silverman came in and talked to us about the baby. The Dr. described the baby as having a very small underdeveloped chin. (The medical term for this is micrognathia.) Unfortunately, that can be a marker for all sorts of other genetic/chromosome problems. Also, there is a single umbilical artery instead of their being two. Often this can happen and their are no adverse effects, but in the case where something else is not quite right, it can signal further problems. We made an appointment with a genetic specialist, Dr. Krakow for the next week Monday.

On Monday, October 26 we went in for another detailed ultrasound (this time, Henry had a long playdate at Kennedy's house). We met with the sonographer first and a good sign was that the body measurements showed another week of growth. Dr. Krakow came in and had a careful look too and she identified Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS). She thought she saw a small cleft palate, but she didn't seem 100% sure as these things are difficult to see, even with the 3D ultrasound. She also talked to us about Stickler Syndrome, which occurs in around 30% of people with PRS. She could not confirm or rule out Stickler Syndrome in this case. She did not seem as concerned about the single umbilical artery. We spent some time with a counselor at the end discussing our thoughts and various issues around the pregnancy.

So moving forward, we are learning as much as we can about PRS and trying to think about the things that we may be faced with when the baby is born (especially feeding, breathing, ear issues and treatments) and how to prepare for them as best we can. We are trying not to worry too much about any other development issues that could occur, because they may very well not occur, though we are also researching Stickler Syndrome as that seems the most likely of anything. Mummy will be meeting with the UCLA Midwives next week and hopefully can get further information and some contact names for people at UCLA that can help us once we deliver there (or perhaps in advance of delivery). UCLA is one of the best hospitals around, being the place that other hospitals (including the two that Mummy could have delivered at if she stuck with her OB) send any babies with major complications, so we are headed to the right place. It is likely that we will schedule a few more ultrasounds over the next four months to check on the baby's growth and development.

Other web sites with information about Pierre Robin Sequence are:

Children's Craniofacial Association This is a PDF.

Collaboration for Craniofacial Development and Disorders

Pierre Robin Network - more of a support group

Sites with information about Stickler Syndrome:

Stickler Syndrome explained by Seattle Children's Hospital

Stickler Involved People

Last week Thursday, Henry got to bring one of his books to Picnic Storytime at school. He chose, "Dear Fish". That day after class he went to Holden's house and played in the backyard.

Friday was a busy day. In the morning we drove out to Underwood Farms in Moorpark. We met up with our friends Rebecca and Layla there. They had fun in the bouncy castles, riding ponies, feeding animals, and climbing up the big haystack. Here they are helping each other down. Or really, Layla is helping Henry down.



We headed out to the pumpkin patch with a wagon and picked out some pumpkins. Then the kids rode the small electric train before it was time for Layla and Rebecca to head home. We didn't stay too much longer, just long enough to ride the ponies one more time.

In the afternoon we headed over to Gregg Parkette for the Moms Club Halloween Party. Henry wore his Buzz Lightyear outfit. Ding, ding, Buzz Lightyear coming through.



Saturday morning Henry did a make-up Spanish class with Ms. Karina as the teacher. Later that evening he was trying to send Mummy and Daddy out of the house so Ms. Karina could come over and play with him.

Immediately following class we went to the library so Henry could read to the Puppy Professors. This time he got to read to a black lab named Gina. He read "Hairy McClary from Donaldson's Diary", "Wiggle" (again), and "Best, Best Friends". Mummy helped Henry get settled in and watched him start reading Hairy McClary. It was so funny to see the trainer's jaw drop when Henry started rattling through the first page of the book, presumably at how well he was reading. Really glad they have this program at the library because he really likes reading to dogs, but is getting to the point at home that he doesn't want to read out loud to us much anymore. Sort of getting around that by asking him to read to the baby. The baby moves around the most when Henry and I have story time at night. In fact, the other night, Henry got to feel three big kicks. Daddy still hasn't felt anything yet.

In the afternoon, Henry and Mummy, somewhat crazily, waited in a drive-thru clinic car line for four hours to get the H1N1 vaccination injection. Henry was a star for staying in the car so long without too much complaining. We started out by eating lunch we had brought a long (we knew the line was long before getting there). Then Henry read through all the library books we had checked out, some of them twice. Daddy came after about 2 hours to bring us some more water and snacks (Henry seemed to be hungrier than he has ever been) and so Mummy could run out to use a port-a-potty at the nearby sports field. Then the line got considerably shorter as they finally decided to send people away that weren't in a priority group (Henry and I both are). When we finally got to the front of the line they said they had run out of vaccine but were getting more in 20 minutes. So we actually arranged to park our car and both Mummy and Henry had to answer the call of nature, thankfully in the clinic building this time. So relieved we both got our vaccines though. When we came home, Daddy and Henry ran around and played outside for a while.

Not much happened on Sunday. Mummy went for a run (well, it is definitely more like speed walking these days). Then we decided to go to Red Lobster for lunch, where we had really bad service (just being completely ignored). Waited for a long time to get the bill, even though Henry and Mummy left the table and went to hang out in the lobby (Henry was getting really antsy at the booth). He fell asleep on the way home so we had a little quiet time at the house in the afternoon. Mummy was trying hard to finish reading her book club book (came up 90 pages short in the end). Mummy had book club on Tuesday night.

Henry's dance class was cute on Thursday because they did a little tap routine to the Chipmunk's "Witch Doctor" song. Mostly involved bending at the knees, walking on heels, turning the fists over one another (sort of like ASL for bicycle), crouching down and popping up as their numbers in the line were called, and ending in a big stomping ball change.

Friday morning, Henry gets an extra day at school today because they are having their big Halloween party. He went as Woody, though his costume for this year is Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately, the Buzz costume zips up the back, which is not conducive to quick trips alone to the potty. He still looks super cute as Woody, though this is going to be the last year the shirt fits him. We slicked his hair down with gel too, so it is more like Woody's. Henry did mention that it would be funny if we made his hair brown. He also thinks that it is hysterical that he gets to be Woody this morning and then that this afternoon he is going to be Buzz Lightyear at Daddy's work Halloween party. His class has started a bakery project and they made Halloween sugar cookies this week to have (and share with the other classes) at the party today. In relation to that, on Tuesday morning his class took a field trip to a local bakery.

Love Southern California because there are so many things to do nearby without ever having to stay in a hotel.

On Friday, Mummy and Henry visited Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Arrived at the entrance to Disneyland around 9:30am. Took an old firetruck car from the top of the Main Street roundabout to the drop-off point near Fantasyland. Henry liked ringing the bell before we started our ride. Once in Fantasyland we rode on Henry's favorite ride, the King Arthur Carousel.



Then we headed back down Main Street, this time on the double-decker Omnibus. We got seats in the top front of the bus, which provided great views of Sleeping Beauty's Castle as well as the Main Street Buildings. Henry especially liked the Mickey Mouse Jack O'Lantern decoration at the top of Main Street and wants us to make our Halloween jack o'lantern look like that. Trying to figure out how might attach the two pumpkin "ears".



Then we headed over to California Adventure so we could catch the 10:30am showing of Playhouse Disney Live On Stage, which is the show that features Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and Tigger and Pooh. We got to sit in the middle of the room this time, the last two times we were way at the back. Henry was riveted the whole show. After the show we searched out a place to buy lunch and found that the bakery in the silver train cars near the front entrance sells the same yummy turkey sandwich that Mummy normally gets at Clarabelle's in Toontown. Henry had a blueberry muffin.

Right after we finished lunch we headed to the 12:10pm showing of the musical "Aladdin". We got in line pretty late so we ended up in the balcony, but were in the second row, so not too bad for seats up there. At least Henry could see the stage really well. The musical is pretty similar to the cartoon film version, apart from they do not have the character "Abu" the monkey and the Genie actually tells some jokes based on recent events in the news, which keeps all the adults amused. Henry thought the Cave of Wonders was pretty scary at the beginning and he thought Aladdin stayed trapped in there. He didn't quite understand that the Genie got Aladdin out of the cave and then that Aladdin was pretending to be Prince Ali Ababwa (until Mummy explained). Another highlight was when Jasmine and Aladdin sing "A Whole New World", which Henry knows pretty well, and they fly on a magic carpet over the audience and were right in front of us in the balcony area for some of the flight.

After Aladdin, we went on the Monster's Inc ride. Then we headed down to Toy Story Mania, where we had a long wait in line for the ride. It was getting pretty hot around that time (was in the 80s that day after days of being in the 70s). Henry did surprisingly well on shooting targets, scoring in the high 20,000s (for comparison, Mummy hit 69,000). Then Mummy really wanted to find a place to cool off and we decided to check out their baby care center. It was a nice quiet place with a few chairs to sit on, a changing table area, some high chairs and a curtained off nursing area. Henry wanted to lie down so the woman working there sent us next door to the First Aid station. They let us like down on one of the beds in the back and we rested for about 10 minutes. Then Henry headed out and started talking to the man working behind the desk, who was making cold water towels for paper to take to cool down. We spent about 20 minutes while Henry watched the towel-making process (basically cutting, folding and wetting thick paper towels and putting them into the bucket), talking to the man, pretending to be a chicken or a duck, and exploring the First Aid station. In fact, it was hard to get Henry to leave. Mummy asked the man if he had ever seen a kid before who didn't want to leave the First Aid Station. He remarked that in the four years that he had been working there, this was the first time.

Finally got Henry out of there, though Mummy was now feeling significantly refreshed from having been in some cooler air, with a wet towel wrapped around the wrist and sitting down for awhile. We went to A Bug's Life area and rode on the Caterpillar Train and Flik's Flyers. Finally time to head back to Disneyland. We got there just in time to catch the "Celebrate You" parade at the top of Main Street and found the smallest space to sneak into in the crowd lining the parade route. There was swing dance and carnival-themed dancing. Some of the costumed characters, like Pooh, Tigger, Donald, Daisy, and the Chipmunks were dancing in the show. There was one part where they passed out hand drums to the kids and Henry enjoyed playing along on the drum.

Next we headed to the Village Haus for dinner and Henry was fading fast. He nearly fell asleep in Mummy's arms when waiting in line to order food. However, once we sat down on a bench to eat, he was no longer interested in sleeping and was ready for some food. We shared a cheese pizza, which was actually pretty edible (and Henry actually ate a slice) and Mummy also had a side salad. Broke up our dinner twice for Mr. Henry to go use the potty.

Then time to ride the Dumbo ride and one more time on King Arthur's Carousel, before heading over to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Again a LONG wait in line. We actually had to break out of line for Henry to use the potty again, but luckily the people in back of us were kind enough to save our space and we got back just in time to re-join the queue before it headed indoors. Following the Astro Blasters ride we decided to end the day with a visit to the Enchanted Tiki Room, which was a nice place to relax and wind down. Sorry, not too many pictures from Disney as we spent so much time actually watching shows inside and the camera is just not working very well any more.

Saturday we headed down to San Diego to visit the Zoo as well as the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. First stop at the Zoo was the Children's Zoo (which we somehow completely missed when we last visited in January) and the new Fisher-Price Playground, which Henry had fun climbing around on. Then we had some lunch (chicken sandwich is not nice there). Next we took the Skyfari across the zoo to the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit. The best part of the exhibit was that we got to watch an elephant giving itself a bath/shower using a water fountain that was squirting out from a rock wall.



Again, it was much hotter than we were expecting, so once we made our way around the very large elephant exhibit, we decided to head over to the Science Center. This seemed much better for Henry than the zoo as there was less walking involved and lots of interactive things for him to get his hands on. Played with all sorts of science things, some of which we had also seen recently at the Santa Ana Discovery Center. Mummy took some time to sit down and watch a video about the October sky at night while Daddy and Henry looked at exhibits. They spent a lot of time in the optical illusions area. Then we found the Kid City exhibit area for kids 5 and under. Henry had great fun playing with tubes that blow out air.



He also liked playing with the toy food and using the conveyer belts, that he could move by turning a wheel, as if they were conveyer belts at a grocery store. Before we left the center, Henry ate some raisin bran outside the cafe while we listened to four guys playing various percussion instruments (including playing the Super Mario theme song).

Sunday morning we headed to the Lakeshore Learning store to buy a birthday present for Finn. Of course, couldn't resist stocking up on things for Henry, especially after visiting the closeout section of the store. Got deals on the games Trouble and Sorry!, as well as a cute wooden animal croquet set, just because the boxes had been torn and slightly crushed. Also bought a Spin and Play Math game, Poppa's Pizza Topple (balance pizza toppings on a a pizza base being held on one finger by the chef), and an double-sided Anatomy puzzle made by Melissa and Doug.

In the late afternoon, Henry and Mummy headed to Art Zone for Finn's birthday party. Henry had fun painting a birdhouse and then deciding to paint his hands. Laura brought out some finger paints for him. He followed that by dressing up as Snow White.



He also played around with some clay briefly, but then it was time for dinner. Henry didn't eat much, clearly saving room for cake and ice cream. He shoveled his ice cream down. Here is a shot of some of our old friends from Culver City Moms Club sitting down waiting for cake: Finn, Merritt, Will (Declan was on the other side of the table), Henry, Dane, and Linnea.

Yes, finally, after months of almost no precipitation, it started raining yesterday and is still pouring today. Old sidewalk chalk drawings are being washed away, the air is being refreshed, our skylights are getting a good rinse, we brought out the old umbrella, and got Henry a new jacket to protect against the wetness.

Kind of a calmer week this past week for activities. Last week Wednesday while Henry was in French class, Mummy had a meeting with his del Sol teachers, Janette and Cecilia. They described how very rapidly Henry has moved through five stages at school. He started off the school year being very observant, but not very involved. He mostly only talked with the teachers and ignored the other kids. Then he went through of stage of testing the boundaries; finding out which places he could go in and school and which he couldn't. This seemed to coincide with a destructive phase in which Henry would knock down people block towers, domino structures or whatever they were building. After Henry had Visiting Bear at home, then he started to go to the daily morning meetings and participate more with the group. However, he was still in a phase where he wasn't sure how to communicate with the kids and so he was pushing kids in his class around (interesting, since Henry is the smallest one in class). The teachers said some of it seemed to be in the manner of "I'm not sure how to get your attention to play with me so I'll push you" and some of it seemed to be out of frustration in his effort to try to control a situation. This stage at school coincided with him pushing people in his other classes and it looks like the pushing decreased at school after Henry and Mummy had a thorough discussion at home about not pushing and decided on the rule that if he pushed in his other classes than Mummy would take him home. A few days after that talk he even came home from school one day and said, "I didn't push anyone today." For the past two weeks now he has been, for the most part, participating in the school projects. He especially got into the "Happy Happy" art project that they were doing following the trip to visit the "Happy Happy" exhibit at LACMA a few weeks ago. That was interesting to hear, because at home he doesn't seem to have a lot of patience for sitting down to do an art project or for drawing. The teachers have also been working with him on: how to communicate better with the other kids, getting him to join in in block building and waiting until everyone who is playing with the blocks is ready before knocking the tower over; learning the procedures for using the different activity centers at the school; getting him to try to ask other kids for help with things he is having trouble with rather than always asking the teachers; learning about being a friend and what that means. He also has been particularly enjoying a treasure hunt activity the class does (one person hides the treasure and the rest hunt for it) as well as "picnic storytime", where the kids get to eat something from their lunch while Cecilia or Janette read a book that one of the kids has brought in from home. We now sometimes have "picnic storytime" at home when Henry has a snack and then Mummy with read a library book.

After French class, we went to the library where Henry picked out a few books and Mummy picked out some books on the theme of "being a friend" to help him further understand friendship. While we were there Henry also read aloud most of the book, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout".

Thursday was really low key as Mummy was still having a bit of a sore throat and feeling extra tired. Mummy napped while Henry was at school! Just had the usual dance class in the afternoon.

Friday we were stuck at home waiting for a delivery of a five drawer dresser and nightstand made of Western Maple for Henry. These were ordered from the same place where we bought Henry's bed last year (and match the style of the bed frame). We decided to get Henry these new furniture pieces for his room and we moved the old changing table/dresser into Mummy and Daddy's room for use by the baby. We also got a new organic changing table pad to replace the old pad that we had, which was pretty thin and starting to rip. The new pad is contoured and about an inch thicker than the old one and fits nearly perfectly on top of the changing table/dresser. It almost makes Mummy excited to change the first diaper on it!

Anyway, while we were waiting for the delivery, Henry and Mummy played Monopoly for the first time. Henry really seemed to like it, but his strategy of buying every single property that he landed on swiftly led to a decrease in his cash (along with the repeated bad luck of being sent to jail), so that he couldn't even afford to pay the $50 to get out of jail and was forced to roll doubles for it. We learned that Monopoly is great for helping Henry to learn to add up the dice, use money, learn to read numbers in the hundreds (prices of property), learn about paying for things and making change, and learn about buying property and earning rent. We played another game over the weekend along with Daddy, which is actually still set up and we could go back to continue at anytime.Monopoly takes such a long time we only just got to the point where Daddy was buying the first hotels, Mummy is a railroad tycoon and Henry owns a lot of property again, but doesn't have much money and is having to mortgage property to the bank.

So, in the end our dresser and nightstand arrived around 11am and after opening it and checking that it was okay (it is great), we just were able to get out of the house in time to drive down to Irvine and have lunch with Daddy. BTW, the huge box the dresser came in has remained in the lounge this week for Henry to play in. Henry fell asleep on the way down, so Mummy phoned Daddy and had him come straight out to the car and we went to a small sandwich shop/bakery in a new by office development. Henry really enjoyed the chocolate chip cookie they gave him, which totally kept him from eating his toast.

That evening Henry and Mummy went to del Sol Family Night. There was Chili for dinner (made by the Voyager class) and Caesar Salad. Henry ate bread and cheese, but Mummy enjoyed the Chili with no adverse effects(!)and salad. Then we watched the unveiling presentation of the Explorers Happy Happy project. Each of the Explorers said four words of things that they thought embodied happiness. It seemed to be along the theme of 1. a place, 2. a person, 3., an activity, 4. a color. Each child would step to the front of the loft and Janette would whisper to them the words they had chosen earlier. Henry, however, was able to read his words straight from the paper. Not sure any of the other parents noticed that slight difference, but Mummy did. His words were: 1. Adventureplex, 2. Janette, 3. counting, 4. white. In fact he had two say it twice because the first time he said it all so quickly it was nearly unintelligible. The second time he said it much more clearly. Then they unveiled the Happy Happy project which was strings of colorful materials (some post-industrial waste -- plastic rings that came from making skateboard tires; painted parts of egg carton; colorful short plastic straw tubes), that were strung together and hung in columns around a PVC pipe frame. Each string being about 2 feet long. Apparently the kids had spent quite a lot of time developing their fine motor skills by stringing these things together.

Then the kids separated from the adults and played in the Investigators and Explorers room while the Adults went to the Voyagers room for a meeting discussing constructivism. The main topics of the night were the fixed vs. the growth mindset and discussion of the negative effects of praise. The first part of the evening we spent a lot of time discussing mindsets and the second half of the evening, there was a lot of discussion regarding this story, How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise. Mummy had already read the "How Not to Talk to Your Kids" article in February and since then has been particularly careful to not tell Henry that he is smart. The only problem is that so many other people tell Henry that he is smart! The other week he actually asked what smart meant.

Saturday morning we headed out to the South Coast Botanic Gardens thinking we were going to get in on the Children's Discovery Garden activities, only to learn they have been cancelled for the rest of the year. We wandered around the garden instead, but Henry seemed really tired and cranky and kept demanding to go on Daddy's shoulders. Henry's getting to be hard to carry on the shoulders for any period of time. Look at this big boy!



When we got home he continued in the same sort of mood, so decided to put him in Bob and take him for a walk (while Daddy cleaned up the 3rd garage space). Henry was asleep in about 5 minutes. He continued to sleep for a long time. He was still sleeping at dinnertime. We thought we'd try an experiment and just let him sleep and see what happened. Well he slept until 3am. Then he was up. He was hungry and wide awake. Mummy and Henry had some cereal together. Then we tried to go back to bed. Henry wanted to cuddle, so tried cuddling with Mummy in bed. He was probably close to falling asleep, but Mummy wasn't. Mummy said, "Maybe you would be more comfortable in your bed." Henry thought he would, so we switched to his bed. Mummy sang some songs, but he wasn't falling asleep. Mummy eventually gave up and about 5 am put Henry's lamp on in his room and said to him to read quietly and if he wanted anything to go wake up Daddy. Daddy's been spending some time sleeping in the guest room as Mummy's nights have been totally unpredictable with this pregnancy -- up and down a lot, sometimes wide awake in the night. Mummy got another hour and a half sleep that was sometimes interrupted by little feet running down the hall to the guest bedroom and then back to Henry's bedroom. He actually managed to be pretty quiet for a good hour (apart from the scampering back and forth). However, the next day, Mummy and Daddy had noticeably been sleep interrupted. Henry didn't seem as tired as you would think. He and Daddy went to Gregg Parkette in the morning. We played some more Monopoly. Henry was in bed and asleep by 7pm!

Monday was Spanish class, which went pretty well. After lunch Mummy and Henry went to Townsend Parkette with Henry riding the tricycle. We spent lots of time putting little wood chip slivers through the holes in the platforms of the equipment.

Daddy started teaching Henry how to play chess. He is learning how all the pieces move and actually describes it pretty well to Mummy who has forgotten how to play.

Tuesday, back to school (in a little bit of rain). Then Little Gym in the afternoon, where it was air track day and they did a lot of activities bouncing up and down on the air track. We had a quick stop at Trader Joe's on the way home. Henry also had Visiting Bear come home with him again.

Wednesday morning, absolutely pouring with rain, so that outer parts of the school where taped off with yellow plastic (looked like a crime scene!) and we even went in the teacher's entrance in the garage. Then Mummy went to the Catalina Coffee Company to chat with some of the other del Sol moms.

Thursday, October 1, school in the morning followed by a playdate at Holden's house. Henry, Holden and Camille had a great time playing mostly separately, but sometimes their paths crossed. It is always fun for Henry to play with someone else's toys, as they usually have different things than we do. In the meantime, Mummy got to talk with Crista and Holly.

Friday, October 2 (Happy Birthday Uncle John), Henry and Mummy went to an Open Studio session at the Art Zone and once again met with Crista, Holden and Mia; Holly and Camille; and also Kathi, Kennedy and Finley. Henry enjoyed playing at the Art Zone. Didn't do any painting, though did put things into one block of clay. He also spent some time at the goo table. For the most part, he was in the play area, doing a lot of dress-up.

After Art Zone we went home and made Blueberry Muffins together. Cheated a little because we used a box mix, but Henry enjoyed it nonetheless.

That afternoon we headed to Yak Academy to do a Spanish make-up class, since he missed Monday because of his cold. Ms. Karina was the teacher and they studied parts of the body, but used a monster's body instead of a person.

On Saturday, the family headed down to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. We got a good deal on admission as on the first Saturday of the month anyone with a Bank of America card (Mummy and Daddy) get in free, plus we got ten percent off Henry's ticket with our AAA membership card.

We've got a new photo album started on flickr, Henry's Photos 2009 (October to December). Unfortunately we do not have that many new photos in there, as the camera is really not working well anymore. Must get a new one soon. It will no longer auto focus when we are indoors, which means all photos inside must be taken without using a flash and thus are generally out of focus and look fuzzy. Also, the shutter is no longer opening and closing properly.

Anyway, the science center was fun. Some things Henry liked included: the water vapor tornado; water vortex; sand and water table demonstrating erosion; a beach ball held in the air by air blowing on it; a harp that he could play by breaking a laser beam of light; a "Dia de los Muertes" 3-D maze; skeleton bones laid out on a table that he could examine; a Rube Goldberg machine that you could feed ping pong balls into and then manipulate a few things to make them get to the bottom; and a gravity well with ping pong balls. He did not like being in the hurricane chamber very much as it was too loud and he did not lying on the bed of nails as he said it was "too pokey". Here he is playing the harp, which he went back to a few times.



In the evening we all watched Monsters, Inc. together. Henry asked a lot of questions while it was playing. A few days later he decided that he was Sully and Mummy was Boo. Henry kept having Mummy say, "Kitty, kitty, kitty," and then Henry would reply very seriously, "Kitty has to go," which is a line from the end of the movie.

On Sunday we drove up to Santa Barbara to view the zoo. Unfortunately it was a rather windy day that day (a slightly chilly wind coming off the ocean, which we were right next to). It was so windy that leaves were blowing off the trees and dust was blowing out from some of the exhibits that had sandy ground. Mummy even had to put some eye drops into Henry's eyes at one point to clear some dirt out of them that was irritating him. We did enjoy looking at the animals, particularly the penguins, when we first arrived. We took a trip around the zoo on the train; here is a photo of us waiting to roll.



Lunch at the zoo was not very good, cannot recommend eating there. We actually did most of our looking around the zoo after lunch. Henry liked running around the little play area they have there, though they don't have much for climbing structures. Mostly everyone is sliding down an astroturf hill on pieces of cardboard and lunch trays. Toward the end of our visit we found the "Ewwww!" creepy crawlies exhibit area, which Henry loved. He almost seemed to love it more because things like giant centipedes give Mummy the creepy crawlies.

After a brief stop at a nearby park that was deemed to sandy to stay at (and limited parking available), we headed over to Alameda park. This is the park we went to last time we were in Santa Barbara which has the huge wooden "castle" built up and lots of things to climb and play on. We met our friends Rebecca, Bill and Layla there. Mummy and Rebecca got to chat while the Dads and kids played. It is always nice to chat with Rebecca as she is one of the few moms we know who also has an extremely smart and active child. Also, Henry and Layla seem to get along very well together every time they meet, even though they only get to see each other about once a month. In fact, Henry probably gets along better with Layla than any other kid we know right now. Here is a cute picture of Layla feeding Henry.



On Monday, Henry turned "three and a half" years old. Henry had Spanish in the morning with Ms. Blanca. They seemed to have a really great time in that class, where they were learning about emotions. It was the first time in a while that Henry learned almost a completely new set of vocabulary. He amazed Ms. Blanca by starting to spell "sorprendido" for her. After class she asked Mummy, "How does he does it? How does he just spell words like that?" Well, mostly Henry spells things phonetically, which actually with Spanish is usually fairly easy to do. It was interesting the other day, we wrote a note to Daddy in which Mummy made Henry do all the spelling. He had trouble with the words, "hope", "have" and "love" because of the E at the end.

After class we went to Fort Lots of Fun with Kathi, Kennedy and Finley as Kennedy is also in Henry's Spanish class. Henry found a small blue football someone had left at the park and he had fun playing with that, though unfortunately there was a constant battle between he and Finley for who got the football. Eventually Finley was distracted by the rocking turtle and horse to ride on, so Henry and Kennedy played a game of hide and seek using the football as the thing that was hidden and sought.

Tuesday was a pretty straightforward day, with school in the morning and Little Gym in the afternoon. It was backwards day at Little Gym, so they did a few things backwards. At the end the parents were invited in to play a game with the kids, "What Time is It Mr. Fox?", which Henry loved. When we got home we put together a couple new 100 piece animal puzzles Mummy had got from the dollar bins at Target that morning. Henry skipped his nap yesterday but was asleep by 8:30pm, hurrah!

In the last week, Henry's music of choice in the car has been the Meet Me in Uptown album (swing) by the Mighty Blue Kings. He likes the songs "Jumpin' at the Green Mill", "Buzz Buzz Buzz" and "Pink Cadillac" (probably not the version of Pink Cadillac that you know), but his favorite is "Rag Mop" to which he sings along for the whole song and sometimes does his own improvised singing during the instrumental section. He makes us put that song on every time we are in the car; no matter where the CD is starting, we have to switch to "Rag Mop" first.

Also, we have noticed something slightly amazing that Henry is doing, which is memorizing CD numbers. For the CDs that he listens to in the car, he know which songs correspond to which track numbers. He knows them out of order too. For example, Mummy has put in the Disney Modern Classics CD and when it is just starting, he's commented, "I don't like the, 'dah-dah-dah-dah' part on track 14, let's skip that song." He doesn't like the beginning to the song "One Jump Ahead" from Aladdin as he thinks it sounds like something scary is coming (can't remember if he said it was a giant, a beast or an ogre). You can ask him what are the track numbers to different songs on his Rock CD that Daddy made and he can name them all.

The other night Henry was flipping through the Baby Names book and decided to read some names out that he found. "Let's call the baby, Siran." "Let's call the baby, Fury (which he pronounced as furry)." "Let's call the baby, Sky." Sorry, don't think so Henry.

Well, it has been a tough week for Henry as he has started showing signs that he is having trouble adjusting to school. Good-byes at school have become longer and more drawn out. He seems to be doing all sorts of things that they don't want him to do as he explores the boundaries at school, but also just does things as he thinks of them and doesn't even realize that he might not be allowed to do them. He's been acting out in other activities that we do, starting to push kids his own size (where previously he would only push smaller kids). This has now led to the rule that if he pushes anybody at any of his classes, we leave. We had no problems at Little Gym on Tuesday, but it is going to be hard to deal with Henry the day that Mummy does need to pull him from a class.

There have been a few bright spots in the last week, so we'll stick to the highlights and not list everything we have done. On Friday night was the del Sol potluck dinner and presentations (songs, poems, skits) at Wilderness Park. Mummy, Daddy and Henry sang, "I've Been Working on the Railroad," while Mummy played along on the guitar. We were the second family to perform that evening. We used the microphones to introduce ourselves and Henry unexpectedly got on one of the mics and said, "Henry, Henry, Henry, Mummy, Mummy, Mummy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Guitar, guitar, guitar. Lollipop drum. The train is coming!" and a few other things. He was hilarious. Then he launched into "I've Been Working on the Railroad" on his own before Mummy could start playing the guitar. As a result the first verse of singing by Henry was in a totally different key, but once Mummy joined in singing the second verse, he got on track and we actually sounded really good (and in tune!) for the rest of the song. The audience even clapped along. We also enjoyed watching the rest of the presentations though Henry was getting tired toward the end.

The next morning we went to the Redondo Public Library and Henry chose some books to read to the "Puppy Professors". The dogs he read to were named Phoebe and Fallon. He read "Wiggle" and "Bark, George!" and possibly a couple others. Mummy and Daddy weren't allowed to stay in the room, so we just saw what books he started and finished with. The goal is to allow the kids to read to the dogs, who are non-critical listeners. The owner of the dogs was very impressed with Henry's reading. Here is Henry reading "Bark, George!" to the dogs. Henry also got to give them treats and pet them.



Later in the day it emerged that Henry had a cold, with a pretty runny nose. We spent most of Sunday doing puzzles at home as Henry is back on a puzzle kick.

Monday Henry was getting better, less runny nose, but a lot of coughing in the morning so Mummy decided to keep him home from Spanish to spare the other kids. He did go to an audition in the afternoon for a TV soap opera that is on one of the main networks, actually located on the TV studio lot. So that was kind of interesting for Mummy. It was also the first audition where Henry had to learn lines in advance. He had 5 lines. In the audition he said he remembered all but the last one (which the was the hardest one to remember as it came after a high five and the introduction of a third person to the scene). Otherwise it sounded like he did pretty well. It was one of the shortest auditions he had in a while, in and out of the room in about a minute. Of course, Mummy never thinks he will get these parts. This time, the call was for 3 to 5 year olds and it seems it would be more likely to go to a 4 or 5 year old. Also, if they are trying to fit Henry into a family, it is always more difficult to fit in a red-haired kid. Anyway, it was a neat experience. Henry even had lots of fun with learning the lines in advance as he got to practice the scene with both Mummy and Daddy.


On Wednesday at school, just as Mummy was entering the gate to pick Henry up she heard a wail that could only be Henry. He was outside without shoes on (the kids hardly ever wear shoes at the school as they do lots of water activities and playing in sand with water). Anyway, he had stepped on a bee. Not sure if he did it on purpose or accident or if the bee was even alive at the time, but he managed to have the stinger come off and poke ever so slightly into his foot. He hollered at the top of his lungs for a few minutes and wouldn't even let Mummy look at his foot. Eventually he calmed down enough to be reasoned with and Mummy took the stinger out of the bottom of his foot and applied some Neosporin. Many of the girls from school were crowded around looking very concerned. Wednesday night, Mummy and Daddy had to go to del Sol for an Explorers' Parents Night. Ms. Karina came over to watch Henry again. He did a lot of puzzles with her as well as playing with his multi-colored bears, measuring cups and scales.

Couldn't resist also adding this video of Henry's puppet show at the "Puppet Tree" at El Dorado Nature Center. He says, "Hello, I am a skunk and this is my house. It's a kind of tree house that's (made?). Ok. Good-bye. This is rickety. My pet. This is my pet. Hello, I am a wolf. Did you know that I have a tree house? Did you know that? [Daddy says, "No."] Well I know that because I saw that on my computer. I took a picture of it when I was here. Ok. Good-bye."

Now, for your enjoyment, a YouTube video of Henry in ballet class. This is taken from outside the classroom, so you can hear other Moms talking in the lobby. One actually talks about Henry and says, "He is so cute. Perfect form. He loves it." Mummy laughs at the improvised alternating arms at the end.

Ok, we haven't had an update on what we are doing since Henry's first day of school, which was nearly two weeks ago!

Here's the break down going back to Thursday, September 10, Henry's second day of school and his first Ballet/Tap class of the school year at the Hermosa School of Dance location. Dance class was a struggle as there was a new teacher and a new location, he might as well have been doing a completely new activity. He was in and out of the classroom several times and at the end of class wouldn't leave the classroom. Then he pushed a baby (about a year old) who was toddling around in the classroom waiting for her older sister to start the next class (because he didn't want any babies being in the classroom). That baby cried the whole time we were getting ready to leave and the mother was giving us nasty looks. Ugh.

On the Friday we went to Ralph's and Mummy got her flu vaccination. Got it early this year as last year we managed to get the flu at the end of September.

On Saturday, Mummy and Henry went to the South Coast Botanic Garden for the spider-themed children's program. Henry made a frame for a spider to build a web in and he potted two spider plants. Also played at the well as usual and we walked down to the lake to see the ducks. In the meantime, Daddy went to the book sale at the Culver City Library, but didn't find much. In the afternoon, Henry and Daddy played together at home while Mummy went to the Manhattan Beach Library book sale and bought quite a few things for Henry and also a baby name book that was revised this year, so amazingly up-to-date.

On Sunday, Henry had his first school field trip, which was to LACMA to see the HappyHappy exhibit. We headed up a little early and visited the Page Museum and the tar pits, before having lunch at an Italian restaurant. Then joined up with the school group to view HappyHappy, a walk through exhibit of hanging columns of colorful plastic containers. We also added one of Henry's snack bowls to the public fence version of HappyHappy. In the evening we watched the women's final of the US Open.



On Monday, September 14, Henry had his first Spanish class of the fall term. He again had some trouble focusing in class, mostly because there were some changes going on. First off, Early Birds has officially changed its name to Yak Academy, so there was a big Yak Academy banner hanging over the Early Birds sign outside and there were changes in the decorations inside. They moved the shoe rack and changed the position of one of the benches. Because they've started up their morning preschool, they have tried to create a separate space in the lobby by putting colorful blocks to partially block access to the back three rooms. Of course Henry has to knock them all over and apparently most of the kids that come in under the age of 2 do the same thing. Ms. Blanca told Mummy that throughout class Henry was asking about different changes to the set up in the lobby. He also came out of class a few times, one time because Ms. Blanca sent him out for getting out the Legos and dumping them all over the floor in the middle of class (and generally not paying attention). They were reviewing shapes which Henry knows really well. She had the basic ones out for the new kids to learn and had hidden the more difficult ones under her folder, but Henry was not to be fooled. He asked, "What are those shapes under the folder?" Well, those were the ones for Henry to learn (diamond, hexagon, octagon) while the rest of the kids were learning circle, triangle and square.

Mummy tried to watch the men's final of the U.S. Open on Monday afternoon, but was constantly having Henry try to get her attention. When the match finished Mummy decided Henry needed to get to the park to work off some energy, so off we went to Gregg Parkette with Henry on his tricycle. We ran into our neighbors, Paul, Gisella and Logan when we got there. Henry and Gisella took turns riding his tricycle around the park. Henry's getting pretty good at the steering now. We are starting to wonder when it will be time to get a bike with training wheels, though the question remains of where he can really ride it.

On Tuesday, Henry was back to school again for the morning and had Little Gym in the afternoon. School again on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, Mummy has already forgotten most of the interesting anecdotes from these early school day experiences. He did come up with a "French pronunciation" for Jason's name when he Mummy told him there wasn't really a French equivalent name of Jason. Instead of pronouncing it "Jay-sun", he decided it should be pronounced "Jaa-sohn". We haven't told Jason about it yet. Tuesday afternoon Henry got to bring home Visiting Bear for an overnight visit. Then the next day Henry had homework! He had to draw a picture of Visiting Bear's visit and we had to write about what they did (Henry dictated and Mummy wrote). We also included some quotes about Visiting Bear that happened while he was here.



Wednesday we were irritated to have French class cancelled on us because of Yak Academy having added an additional Chinese class on Wednesday afternoons, which meant that they had 5 classes in one time slot and only 4 rooms. Unfortunately as the French class had the least number of students we got dropped. We will be trying for an earlier time slot this week. Instead we went to the library to check out a new set of books. Henry actually picked out about half of them himself before he settled in to reading all the board books. Mummy told him that when the baby comes he can help pick out the board books that we take home to read to the baby and he really liked that. He claims the baby will really like the Maisy books, which are the ones he likes to read.

Thursday morning, school again, with dance in the afternoon. Dance class went much better this time around. Henry only came out of the class once and did really well in the class. It is interesting to watch him dance. He usually does what the teacher asks, but sometimes he adds an embellishment during the move or adds a few steps at the end and he seems to anticipate moves that they repeat in class so that he is the first one off the mark. Mummy got some pictures and video of him in class. He's so flexible!




Friday morning, by Henry's choice, we went to La Romeria Park and by Mummy's choice, we went to Islands for lunch.

Saturday morning the whole family headed out to El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach. Henry really enjoyed looking at the live insects, the display of antlers, and the touch screen computer program about different animals that was in the Nature Center.



We also walked on the one mile trail, which was really enjoyable. We did stop a few times for breaks to look at things and to rest. Henry walked the whole thing though he was really requesting to be carried a lot toward the end. We are trying to cut back on the amount that we carry him so that he gets used to not being carried (so hopefully by the time the baby is around we will hardly need to carry him except maybe from the car to his bed when he falls asleep in the car). Speaking of the baby, here are Henry and Mummy on the trail and your first view of the baby bump.



Anyway, we made up little games to try to distract him from being carried, like searching for the trail numbers; taking small, big, fast, slow steps; and using a walking stick. He also had fun putting on a puppet show in the "Puppet Tree" just before we left.



Sunday we didn't really do to much. Mummy had a headache from Saturday night on through Sunday morning and slept poorly during the night. Instead of her morning run, she went back to bed. Daddy blew up the rainbow pool for Henry and he splashed around for about an hour in the morning. In the afternoon, Henry got on his trike and headed to Gregg Parkette with Daddy while Mummy stayed home and rested some more in between handling loads of laundry.

Monday the 21st (the last day of summer) and Henry had Spanish class. He did a bit better in class, though he had a hard time saying good-bye to Mummy as she headed off to get the car washed while he was in class. It was another review week of mostly colors and some numbers, so don't think that held a lot of interest for Henry, but he did really well in class until he learned Mummy was back in the lobby. Then he came out of class about three times (once because he fell over and hit his head). Anyway, we found out another del Sol student, Kennedy is in Henry's Spanish class along with him and Michael. There are a few other kids in the class too: Audrey, Chloe, and Wyatt. After class Mummy was asking Henry the names of everyone in his Spanish class and he mentioned Wyatt. Then he said, "Like Whyatt on SuperWhy. Except he doesn't have a mask or boots. And he doesn't fly around."

In the afternoon we went to Henry's new pediatrician. YAY! Mummy was very happy with this new office and the new Doctor. There were lots of different toys and books in the lobby as well as a flat screen TV (they started up a DVD when we got there, but we only got to see the previews). In fact, they called Henry in before Mummy even finished the paperwork. He got weighed...he was 31.8 lbs on the scale there (at home he usually weighs 29 or 30 something, but he isn't wearing shoes). Then they led him to his exam room which was very nicely painted in a firefighter theme and had a firefighter truck exam table! Dr. Bayan was friendly and personable. He talked with Mummy a little about their practice and got some background information on the pregnancy with Henry, his birth and his general health up to this point. He performed an exam, checking Henry's eyes, ears, nose and mouth. He let Henry put his finger over the exam light which made the end of his finger look red, which Henry thought was cool and asked to do it repeatedly throughout the exam. Henry also pulled about three yards with of paper out of the roll they use to cover the exam table. He was very active and talkative when the Doctor was in the room. He told him all about how he fell and hurt his neck on Sunday, so Dr. Bayan checked that. He asked Henry if he knew what a stethoscope was and Henry told him the name of it and then went on about how he has a pretend one. Then Henry also talked about his pretend reflex hammer. Dr. Bayan asked if Henry would like to be his Doctor when he grew up and Henry said yes. Then Dr. Bayan left and the nurse came in to give Henry his flu vaccination (the main reason that we were there). Henry did not get upset at all, but asked "Why do you have to poke my leg?" Earlier in the car we were having a conversation about visiting the doctor and Mummy said that we needed to go so Henry could get his flu injection, to which Henry replied, "I like injections."

We spent the rest of the day doing puzzles. Henry did five 50 piece puzzles, almost all of them completely on his own. Then we did a 60 piece puzzle together and we started a 100 piece puzzle, which we didn't do too much of because Daddy came home (think Daddy ended up doing most of that one).

Mummy knew Tuesday morning was going to be tough when Henry woke up stating that he didn't want to go to school, that he hated school, that he hated the way the school was built, he didn't like the balls in the parachute game, and that he wanted to go the Little Gym in the morning instead of going to school. (Yesterday when we talked about school he said he liked everything about it and couldn't think of anything he didn't like. He even said the part he didn't like was "when you come back", i.e., when Mummy picks him up to take him home.) Then he got very upset when Mummy wouldn't turn on the TV at breakfast time. At least we got ready in the morning and left the house at a decent time. On the way in the car, Henry said, "Don't stop at school, just drive by. Drive to the Adventureplex." Then when we got to school there were no spaces in the parking lot for dropping off, so we had to go around the block and park on a side street and walk there, which meant we had all of 3 minutes at school together before their morning meeting was to start. Henry got interested in doing some puzzle pattern things, but then when we had to say good-bye he used all of his delaying tactics. Eventually, Janette came out to assist us and Mummy had to just go while Henry was crying (with Janette to take care of him and some of his classmates around for support too, but still it is hard).

So, Henry's recently started listening to some Disney CDs we have and we watched the Mary Poppins movie about a month ago (which he was itchy scratchy about). Anyway, he quite likes the song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and can sing the chorus. Yesterday he was trying to sing the verses, so I got the music book out to let him read what they were. Have not said anything about the grammar in the song, but have been waiting to see when it would come up and it did yesterday. After reading the first verse of the song, Henry says, "Why does it say 'Me father gave me nose a tweak?' It should say, 'my'."

Wish they would give us some advance warning when they are going to divert the shuttle to land at Edwards AFB in California. About 10 minutes ago the sonic boom from the shuttle coming in made Mummy leap out of her chair. It sounded like something had fallen on the house or else we were about to start a big earthquake.

Last Sunday Mummy, Daddy and Henry headed to the California Science Center. We spent some time following Henry around looking at the exhibits in the transportation and building area.Henry and Daddy also liked talking through the big tube.



Had lunch from the Taco Bell Express in the cafeteria. Then we did both of the two Discovery Centers, which were pretty crowded, so both of them had time limits of 20 minutes each. Henry especially liked doing puzzles in the second center and zipped through seven career-themed puzzles (about 12 pieces each) in the allotted time. Then we headed to the Air and Space building and Henry particularly enjoyed visiting the helicopter. He started getting tired after that, so we headed home and he slept in the car.

On Monday, Daddy was off work for Labor Day, so we took the tricycle over to Gregg Parkette. Henry and Daddy played and Daddy had to do a lot of lifting of Henry up to the high bars. Mummy relaxed most of the time.

Tuesday morning we were at Beverly Parkette for the last of the Moms Club playgroups for us for a while as Henry has school or classes when they usually meet.

Then on to del Sol for Henry to explore his new school for the first time. He had to visit all of the animals there: turtles, rats, fish and tarantula. He enjoyed playing around in both the Explorer classroom and the Investigators room, where he really liked the musical instruments. Also, Giselle had taken the tarantula out and he got to touch it. We were just saying good-bye to everyone, when Mummy realized Henry hadn't been introduced to Rick. Mummy had Henry ask about the snake, so Rick took Henry into the Voyagers classroom and brought out the boa constrictor. That was a highlight for Henry, he got very excited by that, especially when the snake curled its tail around his wrist. Here's a guideline on the classrooms and teachers:

3 to 5 year olds are Explorers and teachers are Janette and Cecilia
5 to 7 year olds are Discovers and the teacher is Suzanne
7 to 9 year olds are Investigators and the teacher is Giselle
9 to 12 year olds are Voyagers and the teacher (and head of the school) is Rick
There is one room in the school for each group. Henry has 15 kids in his class.
There are two teachers in the "outdoor classroom", i.e., outside, and they are Tara and Jason.

Tuesday afternoon was Little Gym class, which is being led by a new teacher Desiree. Henry pushed the foam circle thing while Hayley was lying in it (she should have been crawling through it) and she fell out. Hayley was very angry at Henry after that and after collecting hugs from her Mom, went back into the classroom and gave Henry an absolutely scathing look. Henry seemed oblivious.

Wednesday was Henry's first day of school. Very exciting. Here is the before picture. We are just about ready to leave and Henry is saying, "del Sol" here instead of "cheese".



When we arrived at school we found places for all of our things. Henry put his lunch away. We dropped off the earthquake kit. He got a plastic box to put in his own cubby space, which we put his extra clothes into. We dropped off his "Me Book" (his first homework) which was a binder we put together with pictures of him, Mummy and Daddy, extended family members, our house and his bedroom. Mummy did most of it, making a selection of recent photos for Henry then to further narrow down for the book. Henry provided captions for some of the pictures. For one picture of himself (a headshot) he wanted to say, "I love myself!" but Mummy thought that would seem self indulgent to someone else looking at it and changed it to something more modest. Henry had no problems saying good-bye to Mummy. He was quite eager to get into the classroom, possibly to play with some tangram shapes that were out. Little did Mummy know how quickly Henry would need his change of clothes. They had a water table project out and when Mummy picked Henry up his first set of clothes were soaked and the trousers he had changed into were practically soaked too. Mummy snapped this photo of Henry and Tara after walking through the gate of the schoolyard at pick-up time, before Henry knew Mummy was there. His socks were soaked and muddy too (not sure why he hadn't taken them off).



It was very difficult getting Henry to leave school. He decided he wanted to take the book "Pete's a Pizza" home, so we went into the classroom to get it. Then he also decided he wanted to bring "Where's Waldo" home. Mummy could hardly get him to leave the classroom. We finally had to leave as it was time for the kids that stay for the afternoon to come back into class.

So we went to Target in the afternoon and Mummy bought him another pair of water clogs for wearing at school. Today he went to school with those on and no socks. He had a little bit more trouble saying good-bye this time, but mainly in the trying to keep Mummy from leaving. "I have to tell you something," and also, "I have to show you something." Finally, Janette came and helped out by talking about all the songs there were going to be singing during the morning meeting.

Also at Target yesterday, Mummy bought the new The Beatles Rock Band game and controllers for the Wii. We played it a bit last night and Henry even sang along on the chorus of "Yellow Submarine". He made Daddy play it this morning while Mummy went out for her run. When she came home, the game was off and Daddy had been giving Henry his bath, but from upstairs she could hear Henry singing the chorus of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Mummy is happy. Mummy has been trying to introduce Henry to some Beatles music, but when it is time to put a CD on, Henry always wants to have his choice on, so Mummy has only been able to play the albums on a rare occasion. However, Henry likes the whole Guitar Hero/Rock Band video game thing so much, we will be able to introduce him to The Beatles music this way.

On Wednesday morning we got out early and headed to Disneyland, arriving at the parking lot just as the park was opening. We had put off going the week before when the high there was supposed to be 94F. Well, the high for this Wednesday was to be 92F. Oh well, it was the last time we were going to be able to get out there before school started. We hadn't been all summer because our passes (the cheapest ones that can be bought, had block out dates for most of the summer). Also, we thought there might be fewer people at the park that day (and we were right) as many of the area schools had their first day on Wednesday. There are a few pictures in Henry's Photos 2009 (July to September).

Anyway, it is still amazing how every trip we make to Disney is different. Of course, we always do some of Henry's favorite things. We started off at the King Arthur carousel in Fantasyland, which seems to be Henry's favorite ride. Asked him where he would like to go after that and he decided on "It's a Small World." Amazingly there was no queue for the ride at all. We had to wait all of about 10 seconds for the people in front of us to load onto their boat and then we were on the next boat.

Then Henry wanted to go see Mickey and Minnie so we walked over to Toontown. Yes, walked. Mummy decided to do the day without Bob along and Henry was amazing. He walked everywhere and only asked to be picked up once, when we were waiting in line for Minnie. Then it turned out that he really was just hungry and he ate a cereal bar. The heat of the day really became noticeable when we were in Toontown. That area always seems hot, so we were thankful to visit Mickey Mouse's house which had the air conditioning on blast. Mickey was actually at the front of his house instead of hidden away in a back room. Mummy took the opportunity to get in the picture this time, which a Cast Member took for us. Mummy didn't complain when Henry wanted to stop and watch a cartoon on Mickey's TV because it was so cool inside.



Then we climbed up Chip 'N' Dale's Treehouse, which we hadn't done before (but we hadn't missed much). Then over to Clarabelle's to get the yummy turkey sandwich. Also got a toddler yummy mac and cheese pack for Henry. He ate some of the applesauce, but only one macaroni noodle as he doesn't like mac and cheese with really cheesy, thick sauce (Mummy ate it though). He shared a bit of Mummy's sandwich instead and glugged down his milk, as usual. Still couldn't convince him to go on the Roger Rabbit ride, which we have never been on. Instead we road the Disneyland train over to Tomorrowland. Henry decided he wanted to go on the Finding Nemo Submarine Ride. We had only been on it before at night, so it was nice to see the first part of it in the daylight. It is really well done, but Henry had a hard time seeing out of his window while sitting in his seat. He ended up in Mummy's lap for most of the ride. That ride probably had the longest wait of any that we went on. We probably were in line for a good 20 minutes. Here's a cute picture of Henry, who climbed up onto these rocks, while we were waiting.



Next we went on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride. Again, we practically walked right onto the ride, almost no line at all. Henry did well, scoring 8000 points, which isn't a lot really, but considering he had to hold his laser up over the top of the car, which was about level with the top of his head, he did great. We were getting hot again after Buzz Lightyear (or really we had gotten hot standing in the submarines line) and decided to go to the "Carousel of Progress -- Innoventions" exhibit (another thing we hadn't seen). Henry wasn't really interested in the talks that were given or waiting for doors to open, but when the carousel turned to show people in a game room, he was ready to play. There were two things inside he really liked: playing the "Ribbons" game using a touch screen table and the Disklavier, which showed someone playing a song on a screen ("A Whole New World") and the keys of the piano next two it played automatically. He was really fascinated by that.



In fact, he was so intent on the piano and also making up his own tunes that when some lady walked by us she said, "The next Mozart." Mummy let Henry fiddle around in the House of the Future part of Innoventions exhibit as long as he liked because it was cold in there. Actually we finally left because Mummy was getting too cold, with goosebumps and hair standing up on the arms.

Back into the sauna of the outdoors, we walked across to Adventureland and visited the Enchanted Tiki Room. We hadn't done this before either and were lucky enough to arrive just as the doors were opening for the next show. Henry enjoyed the singing birds and flowers, though to Mummy's eyes the whole show/room seemed kitsch and outdated. However, it gave Henry a chance to rest and lean against Mummy while he enjoyed the show. Plus, the place was air conditioned, but not to the extent of turning us into icicles.

Showed Henry the Disney map and asked him where he would like to go next and he decided he wanted to go on the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Ride. That was a long walk! We did stop briefly in New Orleans Square to hear the last song the jazz band was playing and for Henry to collect some Mardi Gras beads. Then went on the Pooh ride...once again, just about walked straight on. Next, Henry actually got to meet Pooh, Rabbit and Tigger, who we hadn't seen there before.



After standing in line to wait for photos we were hot again and Henry was getting hungry. Mummy tried to get Henry to go into the Haunted Mansion but when he asked what it was, don't think he was happy when Mummy described it as being dark and scary. We peeked in the door and when he confirmed that it was dark, he definitely was not going in. He says he'll go in when he's maybe 7 or 8.

Instead we searched for a place that had ice cream, finally ending up at the Golden Horseshoe and sharing a hot fudge sundae. We arrived in the middle of the performance, in which an audience member they pulled up on stage sang the beginning of "A Whole New World" so well she could have been Princess Jasmine and Mummy wondered if she was a plant. We sat at a table in the balcony to eat our ice cream, right below the blowing AC, so that by the time we were done, Henry was shivering and Mummy was freezing too.

Back into the heat and we headed to Fantasyland so Henry could go on the Dumbo, The Flying Elephant ride. By this time, Mummy was feeling ready to go home. We did the carousel one more time and just before it started Mummy told Henry this was the last ride and then we were heading for the gift shop and home. Didn't find what we wanted at the gift shop, but Henry got a set of Toy Story 2 figures to play with. Of course, Henry fell asleep on the way home. We arrived back home around 6:30pm after a full day of fun and very hot and cold temperatures!

Busy! As usual. Saturday, August 28 was Henry's last day of Saturday classes. Mummy ended up taking him to French and Little Gym classes. Daddy went to Henry's school for a back-to-school clean up day. He helped sort jeans for a charity drive they are doing and then got to power wash various things outside.

Sunday morning we stopped at a garage sale down the street being held by a woman who is running a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (money from the garage sale was to be donated). We found of bunch of children's books in really good condition for Henry (and his sibling to be). The best find was a Buzz Lightyear costume. Just the week before Mummy had asked Henry what he wanted to be for Halloween this year and he said Buzz Lightyear. Here he is wearing it later that evening. He had to put it on over the next couple days too.



Sunday we went to see the Charlotte Diamond concert at the South Coast Botanic Gardens. It was sweltering hot (as it has been all week), even though the concert started at 5:30pm. We got there pretty late so were sat at the back of the lawn, but Daddy was smart enough to bring an umbrella to block the sun. Henry enjoyed the music, especially the songs he recognized. Unfortunately she didn't sing anything in French, but she did do the English versions of a few of the songs he knows in French, so that was fun for him. Toward the end of the concert he and Daddy played with some bubbles. Our friends Laura, Sarah and Christopher were there so Mummy and Henry talked with them a bit after the concert. Henry sang "La Belle Pieuvre". Then Henry enjoyed playing in the Children's Garden, while Daddy talked to a former work colleague that we ran into. Here is Henry watching the concert while Daddy relaxes in the background.



Monday we actually took it easy for the day. Mummy cleaned up the house and Henry spent the day playing with various toys and getting to watch too much TV. Following our Buzz Lightyear costume purchase, he watched Toy Story 2.

Tuesday we went to an Open Studio at Art Zone and we met up with a couple Moms and their kids who are going to del Sol. Holly was there with her daughters Natalie (a Discoverer) and Camille (who will be an Explorer with Henry). Crista was there with her sons John (a Discoverer) and Holden (who will be an Explorer with Henry and also was born in April 2006) and her 14 month old daughter Mia. Henry wasn't too interested in the other kids, but he sure had a lot of fun playing at Art Zone with Mummy.

In the afternoon he went to his first Little Gym class of the fall semester. There are currently only 2 other kids enrolled in the class. One girl, Hayley was in Henry's Food Fun class this summer, so Mummy chatted with her Mom, Heather for most of the class. The other girl, Lauren was actually in the Superbeasts class that Mummy did with Henry back in February/March. Henry did fantastic in the class. He does so much better when there are fewer people in the room, though we do hope the class adds a few more kids.

That night, Henry was so excited to have Ms. Karina (one of the Early Birds Spanish teachers) come babysit for him while Mummy and Daddy went to a meeting at del Sol for the Explorer parents. He spent all of the time while she was here showing her all of his different toys.

Wednesday was a big day out for Mummy and Henry as we went to Disneyland. It was extremely hot out there so we kept alternating between doing something outside and then something inside. Sometimes we would stay inside so long that we were actually freezing and having goosebumps from the cranked up air conditioning. More about Disney in a separate post.

On Thursday morning Henry went to Hype Studios for a drop-in ballet/tap class, only we got there 10 minutes late because we left a little late and then there were some traffic issues because there was an accident just off one of the roads we wanted to take. Unfortunately they did tap first, so Henry only got about 5 minutes of tap in before they switched to ballet. Still he seemed to pay pretty good attention in class. Afterward was another story though. Couldn't get him to leave the dance room, then he was determined to take one of the class teddy bears upstairs. Finally let him do that and then we could leave.

Drove down to Irvine to have lunch with Daddy at his office, see his office and meet some of his coworkers. Henry enjoyed that, but he wanted to play with all of the memorabilia that Daddy had lined up on his bookshelf, especially the zerg creep,

Friday morning we went to Trader Joe's for some shopping. Then we went to Seaside Lagoon and met up with some of our old Culver City Moms Club friends (there was a great turnout). Henry had a fun time playing in the water and throwing things into the water (sand, pebbles, other people's toys). Unfortunately at the end he got on someone's blown up kickboard type thing and then slipped off of it into the water and swallowed quite a lot of water before he found his feet. He was pretty upset by that. We also lost our shovel. We spent just over three hours there though, so he got pretty well worn out and fell asleep on the way home.

Friday, August 21 Henry was at Spanish class again, this time Ms. Blanca was taking over from an absent Ms. Marysol. Henry had a great time in class with Ms. Blanca. He is looking forward to having his Spanish classes with her again in the autumn.

Daddy spent all of Friday and most of Saturday at Blizzcon. He bought back a couple of baby murlocs that Henry likes, "Murky and Lurky."

As Daddy was at his convention, Mummy took Henry to his classes on Saturday morning. He did really well at French class, impressing Ms. Joelle by telling her what some other sea creatures not on the vocabulary list are called in French. Daddy had asked his French colleague at work to tell him what manatee, eel, seaweed and sea urchin were. Henry told all of those to Ms. Joelle.

At Little Gym the theme was "ninjas" and Henry learned how to be "stealthy". He spent the next couple days trying to "sneak up" on Mummy and Daddy.

After lunch we headed to the Chalk Festival at the Redondo Pier. A lot of people had planned their designs ahead of time and made some fantastic drawings. Not us. Henry started off by drawing some blue wavy lines for water. Mummy added a few more and then drew things as requested, starting with a giant squid, then also a crab, a sea lion, and a sea star.



We had fun, but it was pretty hot. We enjoyed looking at the other drawings and saw book club member Penny and her daughter Nell there. They had done a cute drawing of an Amazon River Dolphin playing in a ball pit (unknown to us, the theme was "Dol-fun").

Sunday afternoon was busy with a meeting of the del Sol Explorer class (the school class Henry is going into) at Manhattan Heights Park. We met some of the other parents and kids that will be in Henry's class and Henry got to meet his two classroom teachers, Cecilia and Janette. We received all of Henry's school information earlier in the week and found out that his first day of school is on Wednesday, September 9. We have a bunch of different school meetings and events in the first two months of school.

Immediately following that we headed to the Little Gym for their "Back to School" party. Henry enjoyed doing some different Little Gym activities with the group and showing off his skills to Mummy and Daddy. He got at little pull string bag and water bottle both emblazoned with the Little Gym logo.



Monday was another busy day. Henry was at the Little Gym (3 days in a row!) camp, where the theme was Dinosaurs and Dragons. Mummy took the opportunity while he was away to fill in all the necessary school paperwork. In the late afternoon he went to make-up class (in advance) for Spanish with Ms. Karina. He was tired and had some trouble focusing in class. He came out once to see Mummy for a break from class. It was the last Spanish class of the summer, so a few weeks off before he starts up with his Spanish class again. That evening Mummy went to Moms Club Book Club where we discussed the book "When We Were Orphans." Next up is a book called "Franklin Flyer", which Mummy was amused because her elementary school sporting teams were called the "Franklin Flyers".

Tuesday morning we took the tricycle over to Townsend Parkette. Henry played for a while and then announced loudly he needed the potty. Mummy knew she should have had him go before we left the house. Luckily Connor's mom (we had seen Connor at the park a few times before) offered for us to go to their house (only three houses down from the park), so luckily no problem! After an early lunch we went to Target so Mummy could shop for things for Henry's earthquake survival box that he needs to have for school. Henry slept in the cart the whole time.

After dropping that stuff at home, Henry was determined we should go to the Adventureplex. So after stopping at his pediatrician's office to pick up a form that he needed filled out for school, we headed over there. He played there for about an hour and a half. Had some trouble with a big kid pushing him out of the way and some girl telling him, "Get out of the way baby," to which he responded, "I'm not a baby" and held his ground. Good for him. Poor Henry. He's getting underestimated sometimes because of his size. Then he opens his mouth and people find they have to revise their impression of him.

We ran two more errands after that! To REI to get a space blanket to go into the earthquake kit and to Trader Joe's to pick up some food (and some freeze-dried fruit for the kit).

Wednesday we really had wanted to go to Disneyland as we are no longer on blackout dates on our passes, but a heatwave has set in, so we are going to shoot for sometime next week instead. Hopefully it will be at least a little cooler by then and maybe somewhat less crowded as at least a few of the area schools start next week.

Instead we went to the Redondo library. Henry chose to renew a few of the books he really liked and we picked out a set of new books. We actually managed to be there when they had their 3 and 4 year old story time. So Henry attended story time at the Redondo Library for the first time. He told Mummy that they read three different stories and he liked the one about animals "down in the jungle". They also sang Old MacDonald Had a Farm at the end and the kids pretended to be the animals. He had a good time.

On Thursday morning Henry had some work to do! He booked a job just off of his headshot (no audition). Ok, it was a small print job and he only got a $25 Toys R Us gift certificate for it. Can't really tell too many details about it as this stuff is under non-disclosure, but he got to play with a toy and have his picture taken and then later he got to play in a kiddie pool and have his picture taken. Couldn't get him out of the pool, finally had to just lift him out! He had a great time. As it was really hot, we just spent the rest of the day at home. Played with Henry and he did some watercolor painting too. He was looking really tired and Mummy was tired, but it is getting hard to get him to nap in his bed, so at about 6pm, Mummy said, "Let's just sit down and watch a nature DVD." Popped in an episode of "Planet Earth" and Henry was asleep on the couch in about 15 minutes. Mummy carried him upstairs and he slept until 3am, when he called out to Mummy, who put his sheet back over him and he slept until 6am!

Friday morning we took Henry to Art Zone camp, with the theme "Super Science Spectacular". They are also tie-dyeing T-shirts today. In the meantime, Mummy (and Daddy) headed up to Westwood to see Dr. Pushkin (the baby is at 12 weeks). Mummy got to have another ultrasound of the baby and everything looks great! The baby was wiggling around and kicking Mummy. Mummy has been thinking for the last week that she has been feeling some little kicks (well, more like being tickled gently from inside), mostly when lying down just before bed. Mummy thought it was maybe a little early for feeling that (she felt Henry around 14 weeks). Well, the baby did one big kick that we saw on the screen which corresponded with a light push that Mummy actually felt in her abdomen! So yes, Mummy is actually feeling the baby already, if ever so slightly. This time it is much clearer and the parts of the baby are easier to recognize. The baby is lying on its back with the head on the left, arm going straight across the middle of the picture, looking like it is pointing.



Henry's been playing around on the piano a lot, especially in the concert magic mode. Sometimes we find songs he knows in music books and he plays the melody on the piano by Mummy pointing at the notes on the staff and saying the name, and Henry finds the note on the piano. He has recently played "Did You Ever See A Lassie" and "My Bonnie" this way. It is not a very smooth way of playing (the rhythm is usually slightly off), but he is starting to get the idea of how to play, learning where notes are on the keyboard, and is actually beginning to get the hang of using different fingers to play different notes, rather than just using the pointer. He also likes to put "Anchors Aweigh" on in the Concert Magic Demo mode. Then he has Mummy repeat him, one word at a time: "If Gene Kelly were here and Frank Sinatra and Jose Iturbi, I would put on 'Anchors Aweigh!'" This has happened multiple times. Then he'll add something like, "They'll be so happy to hear that because they love that song."

Mummy is being exhausted by Henry's barrage of questions. He seems to ask why after every other sentence in a conversation. He also asks what words mean and is beginning to ask about concepts that are hard to explain. When looking at the music for "My Bonnie", he read a verse that says, "I dreamt that My Bonnie was dead." So Mummy got asked, "What is dead?" Followed by, "What happens when people die? Do we throw them in the garbage?" That was probably making a comparison to squishing silverfish found in the house and throwing the dead silverfish/the tissue into the garbage. Also, he was asking about "laws". Mummy used the example of people stealing things and mistakenly included the word justice in the description. "What's justice?" Yikes. Mummy just stops talking sometimes!