Evening at the Transkis
(8/28/04, Santa Barbara) We spent an evening next door, joining in celebration of Aaron's 3rd-place triathlon finish. There were a lot of kids, and because the Transki's are in the middle of a renovation project, there were lots of shovels and dirt, which Henry couldn't pass up.

Admiring the Trains

(8/28/04, Santa Barbara) It must be genetic...little boys love trains. Henry saw one in the window of a hobby shop and spent quite a while checking out every engine and boxcar in the place.

Saturday Morning Pancakes
(8/28/04, Santa Barbara) Henry loves pancakes. He goes to sleep to the Curious George Makes Pancakes book and wakes up asking for them. When we go out for breakfast, he always orders--you guessed it--pancakes! This morning, he helped Jill make blueberry pancakes, getting a good laugh out of the smiling blueberry face.

Counting Techniques
(8/28/04, Santa Barbara) I've been fascinated by Henry's evolving counting skills. A few months ago he started to understand the idea of counting, and used the word "two" as his counting word. So to count to five, he would repeat his counting word five times, saying "two, two, two, two, TWO!". Then he learned the words "one" and three", but couldn't yet say "four" or "five". So to count to five he would say "one, two, three, one, TWO!", just repeating the 1-2-3 sequence as needed. Now he can count to twelve, but still has trouble with four and five and just mumbles those.

The Pitcher At Work

(8/26/04, Santa Barbara) Henry shows his stuff, pretending to pitch from a rock next to our driveway that looks remarkably like a pitcher's mound. He has a great release, and is showing himself to be right-handed.

(08/23/04, Santa Barbara)

First trip to the emergency room.

Henry shows off his "ouchie". He slipped in the shower on Monday morning, hitting his chin. After 2 1/2 hours in the emergency room, they swabbed it with an antiseptic and then applied superglue. The cut never bled much and it didn't seem to hurt him, but Jill and I were very worried.

Santa Barbara (8/21/04)

Saturday night beach cookout at Goleta Beach. Henry and Grace dance to the boom box, while Betty and Jill show off their pregant baby bellies. Pete and Mark man the grill, cooking steaks, chicken, corn, and bratz.

(8/19/04, Santa Barbara)

Hopscotch fun. Our friends Dee Anne (Henry's speech therapist) and Hillary join us for a Thursday night cookout. Hillary, a teacher, brings her bag of tricks, including this portable hopscotch. Henry was able to name a few of the numbers, and had fun shouting "in" on the narrow squares and "out" on the wide ones.

(8/19/04, Santa Barbara)
Henry put his pants on by himself today, for the first time. He sat on the floor, easily put first one leg and then the other into a pair of shorts, hopped up on his feet, and pulled up his pants. Like he'd done it a thousand times...

(8/15/04, Santa Barbara)
While getting ready for a swim, we took Henry's clothes off and let him pee in the grass (better there than in the pool) as he likes to do. This time, though, he stood next to a bush and was picking up his foot, repeatedly, before he peed. One time he almost fell over. As our dog, Case, walked by, it occured me that Henry had just seen Case lift his leg on the bush and he thought he was supposed to do the same. I said "Henry, people don't lift their legs, only dogs do that". He put down his foot, finished his business, and we got in the pool.

(8/14/04, Ojai, California)

Jill and Henry wave the flag, and enjoy the view, as we cruise Lake Casitas in our rented pontoon boat.

(8/11/04, Santa Barbara)

Always happy to help, and even happier to get wet, Henry manned the wheel brush this morning while I washed the rest of the car.

(8/11/04, Santa Barbara)

Henry loves to cook, and he spends a lot of time making pretend pies in the sandbox, rolling the sand flat with a stick and calling it dough. Today, Jill brought home some real pizza dough, and Henry had a great time rolling it out and adding sauce, cheese, and pepperoni for lunch.

(8/11/04, Santa Barbara)

Henry works with his speech therapist, Dee Anne Barker. She comes twice each week for an hour. They sit at the kitchen table and work the whole time. She brings bags full of toys, puzzles, and games, and has been a great friend to us in the last year.

(8/8/04, Santa Barbara)

Henry leads a parade around his room. The unusual uniform results from Henry's first attempt to dress himself.

(8/7/04, San Francisco)

Fog rolls across the bridge as we return from lunch in Tiburon with our friends, the Neal family, and a brief shopping/play stop in Mill Valley. The long drive home awaits...

(8/7/04, San Francisco)

Hide and Seek! Henry learns a new game, and the hotel room is the perfect place to play.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

We walk to the park atop Knob Hill for some fresh air before bedtime.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

After the game, Henry hits the showers. Actually, he took a bath and played with the "suds", then a shower to get clean.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

Top of the 8th, and Henry is tired. We decide to leave early, with the Giants down 2-1. We find out later that we missed quite a bit. The final score was Reds 12, Giants, 3.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

Henry waits patiently for a ball. After waiting with his glove up for more than an entire inning, he doesn't understand why no one has thrown to him.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

Pedro Feliz hits a grounder. Without Barry Bonds to watch (he was "resting" today), we paid more attention to the other players.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

Our seats are unbelievable. FC109, Row K, seats 5,6,7. We're just a few rows behind the Reds dugout. We can see and hear everything.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

Here we are at the game, Giants v. Reds. The weather is perfect, as is the company.

(8/5/04, San Francisco)

We ride the California Street cablecar from Nob Hill to the Ferry Building.

(8/4/04, San Francisco)

Henry, freshly showered in his Ritz-Carlton toddler-sized robe, finds something not to his liking with his room service dinner.

(8/4/04, San Francisco)

We're just beginning our trip to San Francisco. After driving up from Santa Barbara and checking into our hotel, we take a stroll to the top of Nob Hill, where Henry snaps this photo, his first-ever portrait, in the Top of the Mark bar atop the Mark Hopkins hotel.