Go West, my son

Henry and I have been spending lots of time in the (not so) wild West-- Western Massachusetts, that is-- with more to come in the following weeks. On Tuesday we visited my parents in Pittsfield, and Henry charmed his grandparents and great-grandparents with his newly developing skills and emerging personality. After a little sleepover at the grandparents', Henry and I returned home on Wednesday afternoon. My time back at home was limited, as I hit the road again on Friday for my sister's special pre-wedding girls' night (low key bachelorette type event). Brian and I had been anticipating and preparing for this overnight for quite some time, mainly by attempting to introduce the bottle to Henry and have him take it from Brian reliably. While we never quite managed to feel confident with the bottle arrangement, the time had come for this new momma to spend her first night away from the other members of the little g-unit. And wonder of wonders, the boys survived. Henry did take some of the bottle from Brian, went to bed and slept relatively soundly, and was all smiles when he was hanging out with Brian upon my arrival back home. Back home at 8:10 am, because when I called Brian to check in at 7 Henry was crying and Brian said he hadn't slept last night. I think they were both exaggerating for effect, to lure me home earlier. Exaggeration or not, it sounded like the boys had a good night, and I did too. It was great to see the blushing bride-to-be looking gorgeous at her final dress fitting, and to enjoy a dinner and drinks out. The entire g unit is looking forward to some time in the Berkshires next week for the Fourth of July holiday and then the big wedding festivities the following weekend.

When I returned home on Saturday morning, Henry and Brian were looking particularly cute playing on the floor together. Or maybe I just thought they looked even cuter since I'd missed them being away the previous night. You can judge for yourselves...






















Infant development being the crazy fast phenomenon that it is, Henry acquired a new skill while I was gone for a mere 15 hours. During that time he rolled over from his back to his belly for the first time. It wasn't long, however, before I was able to catch him in action myself. Well, it wasn't long before I witnessed the evidence, anyhow. When Brian and I briefly left Henry on his play mat to go grab our dinner plates Saturday night Henry he was on his back, and two minutes later when we returned he was contentedly playing on his belly. This was only the beginning. Every time that we look away now Henry manages to maneuver himself somewhere different. Partly via the rolling, partly via some rudimentary creeping (proto-crawling, as Brian calls it). Clearly, we can't leave him alone for long now because he'll manage to find his way to something potentially dangerous. I thought we had some time remaining before he became mobile, but it seems that even though he isn't crawling, Henry needs to be monitored constantly now. He also enjoys standing up, with assistance of course. These events grouped together strike me with fear (and excitement) that we'll be chasing after a little running Henry before we know it. Especially since Henry is already a very determined boy. His creeping/rolling/maneuvering is often driven by the fact that he sees a toy he wants, and then figures out a way to reach it. Brian and I are going to have our hands full, I think!