Henry is almost a year...and we missed the last two months

10 Months

11 Months

Dear Henry,

Well…we did it again. It’s completely our fault, and the only excuse we can come up with is…we’re tired. You’ve kept us very busy lately, which has been wonderful, but exhausting. And we figured that in the end, it was probably better to be spending time with you then to write a letter to your future self (do you see the guilt trip in there? You will when you get older). As you can see from the long list of things that have happened the last 2 months, it’s been pretty eventful.

1. We all got ill for most of the month of May. Mommy likes to refer to this time as the plague of 2011. It knocked all of us on our butts and gave us quite a scare. It was really just a bad virus and cold, but it happened to strike all 3 of us at the same time. We think we can trace it back to an Easter visit from the whole Quealy family, in which your Uncle Bobo, Uncle Jake, and Aunt Jo all had a touch of the cold. It then spread to you, and inevitably we caught it and shared in your misery together.
2. Your fever got so bad one night that we had to take you to the Emergency Room at 3am, which was the first time we’ve visited the ER since the night you were born. It was scary for all of us, but you were a champ. You didn’t get too fussy, even when they had to poke and prod you and even though it was the middle of the night. By the time we got there, your fever had gone down a little, but it was still in scary territory. The doctor told us you were going to be ok, but we still needed to keep an eye on you. That led to a series of doctor visits for the next two weeks to deal with a fever that just wouldn’t go away. In the end, the fever probably was as much a result from you getting your first tooth as it was from the virus.
3. You have teeth, lots of them (or just 4), and all of a sudden it seems. As mentioned in the previous point, you popped your first tooth while sick. This had to be just awful, and for that your parents are deeply sorry. If it’s any consolation, the following 3 did not seem nearly as bad. In fact, now that you have all four, you love to show them off by grinning at everyone you see and biting each cheerio in half before you chew them. You now have a mile wide smile that makes your eyes squint and your parents laugh like crazy. If you look at pictures of your dad when he was little, he smiled the same way all teeth and squinty eyes.
4. You’ve figured out how to crawl with proper coordination, meaning you no longer look like a seal flopping across the room. You still probably get around just a fast as you did before, but you do it with a little more grace and pizazz now. It was funny, the first time you crawled properly was when you were chasing the cats. Praline and Pistachio like to believe that they have something to do with your new trick, although they may be thinking twice now about teaching you to move so fast.
5. You are also standing up and cruising along just about every piece of furniture you can pull yourself up. It took you some time to build up the strength in your arms, with several falls and bumps along the way. But we let you practice in your crib a lot, and one day you just started pulling yourself up on the couch and didn’t look back. Now your favorite game to play is “kaboom”, in which you pull yourself up, let go and fall back on your bottom. You think it’s hilarious, except for the times you tip back just a little too far. You’ve even managed to stand on your own for a couple seconds before dropping and going Kaboom.
6. We’re sure that we’ve mentioned how you wiggle and dance to almost any music, but when combined with your newfound ability to stand, the wiggle has become even more adorable. You like to stand up against the cat gates and wiggle your butt from side to side, almost as a seductive dance to lure the cats closer so you can pounce. It rarely works, but you keep trying, and we love it. You even wiggle in our arms when you hear music, rocking from side to side in an attempt to get us to dance with you. Your Grandpa Jack has come up with a theme song for your dance, which you’ll have to ask him to sing for you someday.
7. You are eating all sorts of new foods. You are far more adventurous than your father was at this age or really well into his adulthood. Much to your Uncle Bobo’s disappointment, you love grapes. You could probably eat an entire bunch of them, and you like to shove more than one in your mouth to make your cheeks look like a chipmunks. You seem to enjoy most fruits. You like your carrots and squash, and were still working on potatoes and green beans, but you really dig fruit. We often have fresh watermelon, strawberries, apples, peaches, or pears reach for you for lunch and/or dinner, and you always greet your meal with a happy dance and an excited point to the bowl. We also have been serving you lots of pasta, bread, and cheese, and you seem to enjoy these as well.
8. You are babbling a lot, and we catch a word in there every so often, sometimes even in reference to the right target. You’ve said Mama and Dada a couple times when you’ve wanted our attention and we’re pretty sure you said “dog” in reference to Luna. Of course, it came out sounding a bit like an old guy from South Boston (a-dag), but it was close enough! Mostly, you’re grunting – a bit like a monkey – and pointing. We think this is your way of asking us the proper terms for things and one day you will surprise us by spouting off complete sentences as you narrate your day to us. If this doesn’t happen, that’s okay – we think the grunting is pretty hilarious, and we don’t mind if you keep it up for a bit longer.
9. Mommy and Daddy’s work schedule has gotten pretty hectic, which means we have needed someone to sit for you a couple days a week. Fortunately, we have had plenty of volunteers – your Nana likes to visit on Tuesdays, while Gigi takes over on Thursday, and Uncle Bobo shows up whenever we need him. Mommy was very worried about this transition, but it turns out that not only are you a happy baby with your parents, but you are a happy baby with all family members. This made mommy’s business trip at the end of June much easier. She and daddy went to New Orleans and you stayed with Nana and Grampa Jack for four whole days (they loved it!). Mommy and Daddy missed you terribly – the flight home was the longest flight ever, even though it was only two hours. When we got home, you gave us a big smile and proceeded to point and grunt, telling us everything you had done over the last few days. Mommy held you for a long time and then it was Daddy’s turn. It felt good to be back with our boy.
10. We got a big surprise the week before we left for New Orleans when your Aunt Jo went into labor. Your cousin, John Joseph, was born on Father’s Day, 2011, just about a month before your first birthday. We have hopes that you two little guys will be good friends, even though you might live far away. Mommy likes to call you the Country Mouse, and little John the City Mouse. We are sure you two will get into plenty of mischief and keep your parents busy. But since you are the older one, you have to remember to show JJ the ropes and make sure he doesn’t get hurt. It’s a big job, but we know you are up to it.