Random Things

The big news of the week...Henry has discovered how to flush the toilet.

He was VERY excited by this. We are hoping the novelty wears off soon (luckily we have toilet lid locks in place so he has so far been unable to throw random things in and flush them down. I am sure that he will find a way to thwart the locks and this will soon happen, though)

In other news - Henry's other new favorite thing is repetitive reading of his favorite books. I read "Jamberry" FIFTEEN TIMES IN A ROW yesterday. He picks up the book and brings it over to you to show he wants it read. As soon as you complete the book and close it, he hands it right back to you (occasionally when you finish he will also begin crying until you start it again). I am starting to hallucinate Sandra Boynton books.

Here are some pictures of Henry and our friend Kate at the park the other day. The weather remains nice - today it is supposed to be mid-70s and sunny. Perfect sandbox weather.

Walking

I just had to post some more walking pictures of Henry. I think he is so stinking cute when he walks. He is getting a lot better, too! Today at the playground he was able to successfully manage his sneakers and going from surface to surface (pavement to wood chips, for example).

He is officially a toddler!!!

(some day I will get a good picture of him walking - maybe with his face actually showing - I promise)

Spring has sprung!

Today was our warmest day since the end of October - 70 degrees, sunny, light breeze....it was fabulous. Here are some photos of Henry enjoying the day:

In 39 Days...

In 39 Days I will walk 39 miles during my participation with the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer -Boston. I will be up and ready to go at U Mass Boston at 5:30 AM on Saturday, walk 26.2 miles that day, camp out in a tent that night, and walk 13.1 miles back on Sunday. I will be walking with over 3,000 other men and women who share the same commitment to help in the fight against breast cancer.

I am SO excited for this event, having seen the past 3 year's Walks from a logistical standpoint. I am also excited that I am going to be walking with my good friend Tiffany (another past Avon Walk colleague). Tiffany had her son - Henry David - 3 months ago, and the two of us make up TEAM HENRY! We want to make sure our Henrys don't ever need to go through the trauma of having one of us, or any other friend or family member, be diagnosed with this disease.

I STILL NEED HELP THOUGH! All walkers are required to raise a minimum of $1800 in order to participate. Thanks to so many generous friends and family I am now at $1,190!!!! Thank you SO much to everyone who has donated and supported me thus far.

I have $600 left to raise in the next 39 days! If you have not yet donated, please take a look at my Avon Walk page: http://www.tinyurl.com/2jvwy9

Donating is easy, and you will be making a giant impact in the fight against breast cancer.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of your support. Team Henry is off for a training walk now!

Big Boy Shoes

Due to Henry's stupendous achievements with walking these past few days, Mike and I decided to take him shopping for his first "real" shoes today. Being barefoot is obviously the best way for him to learn to walk, but since it is getting warmer (well, hopefully soon) it is only a matter of time before we are at the park or in the backyard and he will need shoes when walking around.




So, we fell for the hype and took him to Stride Rite to have him "professionally fitted" for his first pair of over-priced children's shoes.



Turns out Henry has big feet!! He currently measures at a 4.5 EXTRA wide! Where did those fat feet come from? I wear a narrow - I guess it is Mike's genes :)



Henry was very cooperative and impressed the sale-person by walking around the store right away in his first pair of sandals. His sneakers are a different story - he doesn't quite know what to think of them and tends to stand and stamp his feet a bit trying to figure out what the HECK are on his feet.



We got him two pairs - sneakers and some summer sandals. Very cute in my opinion:



When we got home we had him wear his sneakers for a while to try and get him used to them. He wasn't a huge fan so after an hour we gave in and took them off. The problem is, he then started playing with them and seems to have lost one of them already. I have no idea how this happened, but I really hope we find it soon!

Walking

So, we have been getting many questions about Henry's new-found walking skills and how he is coming along. As we know, he took his first independent steps a little over a month ago (2-3 steps from the coffee table to the couch). He has been cautiously improving his skills slowly but surely the past month. He was the same with crawling - it was a LONG process between his first crawling "steps" and actually motoring around the house.



At this point, I am fairly comfortable saying that we have an "official" walker! This is not to imply that he is the most stable of walkers (oh my, far from it), but he is now trying to walk instead of crawl probably 75% of the time. He can also now get into a standing position by himself (without pulling up to stand on furniture first) and take off. He has also started "walking" aimlessly - no toy or parent as his destination, but walking just to walk. Today was the first time he made it across the entire room without falling. I am guessing that walking will be his main form of transportation by his birthday (please don't hold me to that, though). Tomorrow we are taking him to Stride Rite to get him fitted for his first "real" shoes (his Converse are terribly cute, but may not be the best for new walkers).



Here are some pics of our little walker. Note the "Frankenstein" pose he likes to do to maintain his balance.







The pictures aren't so hot, but trust me that it is hard to get a good picture of this child walking!!

Happy Birthday!

Henry and I want to wish a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our favorite guy in the world. Mike is 32 today! He was also lucky enough to be able to cancel his most recent business trip, so he is here in town with us on his birthday.

Mike and I met a little over 10 years ago and were married almost 4 years ago. Last year he became a dad. Every year and every day we love him more.

So, happy birthday to the best husband and dad there is.

Lastly, because the Powells can't resist a lemon beehive cake - here is a shot of Mike's birthday cake that was whipped up last night :)