What We’ve Learned: Month 19
(A little late this month. Sorry.)
Henry does not eat fruit.
No strawberries or bananas or peaches. No apples or oranges or blueberries.
Every time a piece of fruit crosses his lips, he spits it out. He doesn’t even chew it! Just spits it right out.
It’s strange. Henry eats nearly anything and everything. (He calls out for sausage and cheese like they’re the only thing that could possibly satisfy his hunger.) But not fruit.
We’ve tried everything. I’ll take a bite of a strawberry, then Kristen will, and we’ll hand a piece to Henry. He’ll look at it then throw it on the ground. No matter how many “yummy” or “tasty” noises we make, he won’t buy it. We’ll try to hide fruit in oatmeal or in between bites of other things he likes, but he’s too smart for that and sees through our ruse.
We haven’t really pressed the issue. I mean, he eats enough, he’s not that picky otherwise. I suppose there are other ways that we can get him to eat fruit, but for now we’re going to wait it out.
This summer, as we head off to the local farmers markets, buying wonderful fruits (and vegetables), we’re hoping that he’ll change his ways. He needs more roughage.
So other than the fact that Henry is a strict meat and potatoes kind of fellow, what else have we learned this month?
We learned that Henry loves the stairs. While he’s still not an expert at it, he loves walking up the steps, holding on tightly to the banister with one hand and Kristen or my hand with his other. As we live on the top floor of a three-story house, there are a lot of opportunities for step time, and he’s getting much, much better. He’s not as good going down (he really doesn’t feel it necessary to look where he’s going), but he’s improving. The only thing getting in the way of superior stepping is the length (or lack there of) of his legs.
We learned that Henry loves hot dogs. Just days after the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a stern warning, Henry ate his first foot-long. (He ate the whole thing.) Always one to do the opposite of what the experts say, we still carefully cut up the hot dog into easily chewable pieces, gave him some macaroni and cheese for a bit of taste, and let him at it. For the next week, at every meal (breakfast included), he asked for a hot dog. This is a good sign that Henry will also enjoy apple pie and baseball.
We learned that Henry’s speech has really improved by leaps and bounds. He repeats words easily and has even started to string words together (“more hot dog” and “more hugs” and “again jump”). One of the things that kids Henry’s age get frustrated about is the inability to communicate — they know what they want, but just can’t get the words out. It’s happened a few times with Henry (when it does, he just runs through about 10 or 15 words, figuring one of them is the right one), but for the most part, he’s able to get the right word or two out. It’s really limited the number of temper tantrums he’s had.
We learned that the horrible 18-month-sleep-regression that Kristen and I were dreading has yet to show up. Henry has (well, except for last night) slept through the night consistently for more than 6 months, is still taking two 2-hour naps a day (how does he do that), and happily goes to sleep at 7 every evening. Most nights, in fact, after we give him hugs and sing some songs and talk about our day, when Kristen or I walk him over to his crib, he actually lunges for the thing. It’s like he can’t get his Elmo and stuffed animals into his arms fast enough so he can catch some z’s. Lucky us.
And we learned that Henry really loves music. Finding good kid’s music is not easy. A lot of it makes you want to put sticks into your ears (dirty, jagged sticks), and we’ve really searched to find things that not only he likes, but Kristen and I can tolerate. One of his favorites is Salsa for Kittens & Puppies and its terrifyingly catchy song “Meow, Hou-hou.” (Hou-hou is, I suppose, the Latin American way of saying “woof-woof”, because, according to the CD, that’s what all the little doggies say.) Henry will run around the house saying, “hou-how, meow,” until we turn it on for him. Another good CD is Animal Crackers by Wee Hairy Beasties. (My personal favorite is “Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel.”) He’s not much of a dancer (yet), but he’s a terrific listener.
And we learned that Henry really likes hugging. Still not a fan of smoochin’, Henry will now come running toward you, his arms held up high, a huge smile on his face, yelling “Hug! Hug!” and get a good grip around your neck or legs or whatever he can grab. It’s a really nice thing.
