Drumroll, please...

Yesterday's little riddle has surely been on your minds for the past twenty-four hours or so, right? You've surely been just dying to know the origin of Henry's mysterious yellow splotches. Well, the wait is over. The answer is...

Pollen. You see, the pollen from the flowers on the mantel had dripped onto Henry's playmat, thus spreading all over his little noggin when he rolled around on the mat.

Below are some non-pollinated photos and video from our lovely weekend.

What the heck is that?

As a child, I was once found wearing a guilty/disgusted look on my face, with offending white paint dripping out of my mouth onto my nice new shoes. Or so I'm told. I don't actually remember the event, but it does sound like something I would do. After all, my interest in food/drink had to begin sometime, why not in those early days? Alas, the paint was not milk as I had imagined it to be, in the brief moment of time when I was left alone and apparently ran over to take a big gulp.

This is only one among my long list of childhood incidents and accidents, much like the lists of so many other children who somehow manage to reach adulthood intact and relatively unscathed. However, having been a curious, active child myself, I fear that I'm owed my own curious, active child. One who likes to investigate (and taste) everything in sight. I can just picture Henry in my place, sampling milky white paint. He already shows signs of such burgeoning interest and initiative, even with his current range of relatively limited mobility. Given these conditions, I'm guessing that there will be plenty of fodder for a recurring "What the heck is that?" feature on this blog. My inspiration for this feature began with a befuddling moment this morning. Here's the scenario in this, my first "What the heck is that?" post:

Brian and I were eating breakfast, when Brian asked me what the yellow spots were on Henry's head. I hadn't noticed any yellow spots earlier, so I took a closer look. Sure enough, the back of Henry's head and the upper part of his neck were covered in bright yellow splotches. I had a few initial ideas of what it might be. Here are some clues and circumstances. One of these clues resulted in the ultimate answer to the question of "What the heck is that?"

• Henry had been playing in his Jumperoo. The Jumperoo was in the dining room. Brian and I had eaten hot dogs for lunch yesterday while Henry played in his Jumperoo.
• Henry had been playing on his playmat. The playmat had been sitting on the tiles of the fireplace. The mantel on the fireplace held candles, sea shells, a vase with flowers, and a clock.
• Henry had been crawling around on the floor in the living room. Brian often uses highlighter markers in the living room to track his coin collecting. The highlighter sometimes winds up on the lower shelf of the coffee table.
• Henry spent some time outdoors yesterday on a blanket and crawling a bit in the grass.
• Yesterday Henry ate carrots/applesauce for lunch, and banana/oatmeal for dinner. His favorite foods also include sweet potato and butternut squash.
• Brian's white t-shirt also bore traces of yellow.
  

So, do you think you know what the heck those yellow splotches were? Feel free to comment with your guesses. The answer will be posted in a separate entry tomorrow.

Please note that Henry is A-Okay. The yellow splotches are nothing to worry about.

Who is Henry: Part II

Still can't get enough of the littlest member of the g-unit? Here's some more to know and love about our little fellow...

Last week I was looking though one of my favorite baby books, Brazelton's "Touchpoints of Development," marvelling at the fact that we're now in the Six to Seven Months chapter. Brazelton cites some existing guidelines for assessing temperament in babies at approximately this age. The nine elements and my perhaps pseudo-professional assessments (as a social worker) of Henry are:

Activity Level: High! High! HIGH!
Distractibility: What did you say? I was focused on my writing...Low. Henry's a pretty focused young 'un.
Persistence: May as well have a onesie reading "Persistence Pays Off" (like momma had a t-shirt with the saying from high school xc running)
Approach-Withdrawal (how does he handle new and stressful situations): Has tended more toward the Approach end of things, but I see slightly more withdrawal the more he edges toward separation anxiety.
Adaptability: Generally pretty adaptable.
Regularity: Huh? What's that?
Sensory Threshold: Can you say, easily overstimulated?!?!?!!
Mood: Primarily positive. :)

Here are some more pictorial representations of the many faceted Henry.


Silly Henry. Or is it Hungry Henry?
Persistent Henry. He WILL crawl.

Serious Henry. Contemplating the grounds at Tower Hill Botanic Gardens:

Who is Henry Shaun Gemborys, anyway?

With every day, I feel like I get to know my son a little better. His personality traits gradually reveal themselves, and he becomes more and more of a little person. And then again, there are those times when I feel like I have no idea just who this little person is. For example, take Henry's sense of humor. Most anything can make Henry smile. He's generally a smiley guy. But laughing is another story altogether. For the past few months we've eeked out quick giggles here and there, but have yet to achieve predictable laughter. In fact, Henry's sense of humor is a big mystery to me. I could spend hours making what I think are silly faces and sounds intended to get a giggle out of our guy, with no result. But today, when he dropped a toy I smiled and said "oops!" and got a hearty round of laughs. Before I knew it Henry was cracking up. Over an oops?

Here are some other facts about Henry, subject to change at any moment:

His likes include...

• Travel (preferably short car rides and long walks)
• Electronics and gadgets (cords, remote controls, and cells phones especially)
  
• Culinary adventures (except for peas, those were soundly rejected)
• Exercise (rolling, crawling, and scooching)
  
• Literature (Henry's taste in books: the chewier the better.)
• Miscellaneous odds and ends such as mirrors, the color red, and anything he can fit in his mouth
  

His dislikes include...

• Waiting. For anything. But especially for food.
• Sleeping. As described in a previous post, naps are for babies, and Henry does not think he's a baby. Sleep=torture.
• Loud, sudden noises (espeically his dad's sneezes)
• Tin foil. Strange, but true.
  

Here is a photo of Henry in his gangsta persona, saying "peace out, yo."

And here he is charming his momma, as usual.

A walk down memory lane

This past week has afforded me several opportunities for taking a little stroll down memory lane, in both a literal and figurative manner. Last week I found myself sidelined from running, yet again. Moreover, I was sidelined from doing basically anything involving moving the lower half of my body. Which is an unfortunate turn of events when you have a five-month old who likes to move all over the place. Without belaboring the point, I've been in a lot of pain due to what appears to be a complication that I experienced during pregnancy and has cropped up again. Basically my pubic bone is destabilized and not lining up properly, causing normally simple movements to be pretty darn painful. So, last week Henry and I stuck close to home for most days. But toward the end of the week as I became slightly more mobile, I took Henry out for a few walks in the morning. The route that we walked was the same loop I took him on during his first weeks and months with us. And walking that same route with Henry brought back a flood of memories, reflections, and then/now comparisons.
It's a short, but sweet walk. Short out of necessity, sweet for all that it did and does signify. The distance was important right after Henry was born, because I was almost always afraid that he would grow unhappy and require a speedy return home for some pressing need...food, diaper change, cuddling, who knew? This did happen several times when he was tiny. The walk back home always felt almost unbearable, listening to Henry cry for some reason that was mysterious to me. I was also hesitant to venture far from home in those days after having a Cesaerean section, as I was recovering from the surgery. Between then and now, Henry and I have grown comfortable walking further and further from home, and walking has become a very enjoyable activity for the two of us. I'm completely recovered from the C-section, and just need to kick this little bone issue that's hampering my now. Henry rarely becomes upset during walks, and if he does, I'm much more able to read what his need might be.
The walk includes one very critical stop: Dunkin' Donuts. In the initial days with our little buddy, lack of sleep necessitated frequent caffeine fixes. I've since transitioned from requiring caffeine fixes to enjoying decaf, since I typically (knock on wood) manage to get a decent, or at least sufficient, night of sleep. Simply walking into a coffee shop was also a small triumph for me after Henry was first born. Successful public outings were a rarity, and a treat. Now it's par for the course, and I rarely experience the presence of anxiety at the thought of taking him anywhere with me.
Our walks together also signified other small ways that I attempted to take care of myself with a new baby. Maybe it sounds counterintuitive, but walking provided respite and rest for me. It was a time when Henry was more likely than normal to be content, and napping peacefully. This meant I had my hands free (or, one hand free) to drink some water, eat a piece of fruit, and talk on the phone. And it was quiet. Yes, quiet. No crying baby. And I was free. No baby attached to me. Each time I went out with Henry, I did those simple things--every day acts that I couldn't seem to accomplish within the four walls of our home alone with Henry. Again, these are now mundane activities that don't require the effort of leaving the house with Henry in his stroller in order to achieve success...success at eating, drinking, and having an adult conversation.
While there are many wonderful aspects to those newborn days, I have to say, Henry is a lot more fun now. See below for just how much fun he is to feed.

The little guy desperately wants to feed himself, so mealtime becomes quite a messy affair.

Henry also has more fun with his little buddies. This weekend we had a barbeque with babies (plus moms and dads) that Henry and I first met when he was just five weeks old. Several months later, and the babies aren't so little anymore. We silly mommas attempted to take an updated photo of all the babes hanging out together on the ground. This was a lot easier a few months ago, when no one was rolling, creeping, or crawling with such enthusiasm. This time, we could hardly keep them still! And, they were not to happy about being asked to pose. Someday it will be pretty amusing to watch the kiddos grow at these get togethers. The first photo below is from May, the second was from this Sunday.

Five months, first foods, and on all fours

Henry turned five months old this weekend, and with every day he amazes us more and more with his developments. As I've written before, Henry has commenced with the adult business of eating solid foods. Mushy, liquid-like "solid" foods, but still. His favorite remains bananas, but he also enjoys carrots, sweet potatoes, rice cereal, and pears. Tomorrow we're going to try mixing in some zucchini with his sweet potatoes. And I think apples will probably follow shortly. True to his food attitude thus far, Henry hasn't rejected anything, and eagerly takes more until all of the food is gone.

Henry's new diet appears to be helping him build some strong muscles. While he's already been pretty adept at getting around, the past few days Henry has begun to edge even closer to crawling. He's practicing balancing on all fours, and can sustain this position for a good chunk of time before wobbling over onto his side. Undettered after losing his balance, Henry simply rolls back over and continues on his merry way. Our little explorer is on the move! Good thing we've made some progress in our work on Henry's playroom. Brian has applied several coats of paint. Next on the list we'll be finishing the trim, buying a futon (the space will double as a guest room) and area rug, and moving in all the toys. In the meantime, I think some child-proofing is in order. How time flies! It seems like just yesterday that Henry was an immobile little bundle. Now he's a mover, shaker, and dino wrestler. See below, as he attacks Steggy, his stuffed stegosaurus. Poor Steggy, he didn't see it coming.

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