Month Thirteen

Dear Henry,

I turned away from the calendar for a moment and now you are thirteen months old. Whoever wrote the idiom "time flies when you're having fun" clearly didn't have children. Time doesn't just fly, it hops on a jet and goes supersonic when you have kids. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that about half the time I don't even know what day it is - your dad being home on the weekends helps me reorient myself. But this isn't about me, it's about you.
My goodness, how you have grown this past month. First and foremost, you are walking. Although, really, we should call it stepping. You take a few steps, realize you can get where you need to faster by crawling, and drop to your knees. You are also honing your climbing skills. You'll climb anything - coffee table, bed, couch, the beer chair on the patio, your music cube. And you've revamped your dismount so it's really a much safer deal for you. In the past, you'd get down from whatever you climbed up on by throwing your hands out in front of you, putting your head down, and letting gravity works its magic. Now you've learned to turn around and go feet first. Particularly on the bed you start this process way too early so you end up scooting backwards forever before you hit the edge but I'm certain you'll correct this soon. For now, I enjoy watching your backwards wiggle. I can't decide which of the following two skills I am most pleased with but you are starting to sign (woohoo!) and you are enjoying books (yippee!). We started reading to you in utero, your pops and I are both avid readers, and shortly after you were born we would read books while we laid on the floor next to you. My how far we've come, little man. Now, you can go and select a book - Go Dogs. Go! is your current favorite - bring it to us, sit down to listen, turn the pages, and point out various things you recognize. (In this case, dogs, cars, and birds.) And signing, we started signing to you around your sixth month on the planet. (Early, I know, but I figured it couldn't hurt.) I was a little dismayed when I heard some of your peers were signing but you hadn't yet made any attempt. And then one day you did. I do think it rather unfortunate that so many of the beginning signs that are useful all point to the head in some fashion (mom, dad, eat, drink, apple, etc.) but I figure it'll be easier once we get used to your version of the signs we teach you. One of my favorite moments of late came when we were walking through the parking lot at the hospital and you were yelling "Cah! Cah! Cah!" and pointing in every direction because, hey, you were surrounded by cars. It was awesome. You have the same reaction to balls. Just this morning I took you to OMSI and we got to spend some time playing in the sand area. We eventually left the sand and while we were getting your socks and shoes on a ball rolled past that someone had accidentally kicked in our direction. That was all it took to lose your focus. With a "bah" you struggled down and went to capture the ball. Oh, but speaking of socks, you understand that socks go on your feet yet have quite a time trying to put them on yourself. You also get that shirts go up and over your head and that your belly is hidden underneath your clothes. (Not surprisingly, you also get that my boobs are hidden under my clothes. And now, you aren't afraid to go and get them when you are thirsty for some milks. I find this endearing but that's because so far we've managed to keep you from doing this outside the home.)Perhaps the only not nice thing to report is that you are still neutropenic. We just don't know where your neutrophils are going, squirt. But we're on it and will get this figured out just as soon as we can. We recently met with your doctors and are going forward with more tests. Thankfully, you don't have to do the bi-weekly blood draws. Although, you are a super champ when it comes to getting your blood drawn. The folks in the phlebotomy lab like you because you don't wiggle too much and it has been awhile since you cried when stuck. They even talked about taking a video of you that they could show to the bigger kids who made a big fuss about needles. (Sissies.) One of your doctors said, and I quote, that you were "the best baby ever" when it came to being examined. You sit patiently and watch quietly, which is important because they need to listen to make sure you ticker is still tocking and your lungs aren't leaking air.You love to sit on the dog's bed, sort of semi-positioned on the dog. And you like to pet the kitties - you are very gentle. Sometimes you go to bed easily, others not so much. You enjoy bathtime. You like bubbles and giving floozles. You are ticklish and giggly. You had your first haircut and your second Halloween. Sometimes you just want to hang out and play on the bed with both of your parents. We're just grateful we get to be your mom and pops.

Love,
Mom