Babying around

This past week Henry and I have both been pretty sick--just a bad cold, and he got a new tooth. It broke through today, it's the third on his bottom gums and it's so cute. Between library trips and institute, grocery shopping and lunch bunch, I pretty much babied him around the house. We colored, watched Sesame Street DVDs, went for walks, read books, and played around. It has actually been pretty nice; he has been more cuddly and has napped a little more. But it didn't start out like that.

The first day he was sick, he woke up angry. It was early--6:30 a.m. I walked into his room first thing, and the crying, kicking, pushing, throwing the head back, etc. started. I braced myself and took a deep breath. We went down for breakfast and he didn't want to eat, or drink or be be held, or put down. The day continued on like that for FOUR HOURS!! I kept trying to put him back down in his crib to sleep but he would just cry and cry. By 12 noon I wanted to pull my hair out. I was starving so I just brought his sad body downstairs and put him in his high chair so I could eat and so I'd know he was okay. He just watched me, declining any offers for food, and so I told him we'd say a prayer. I prayed for him to be able to fall asleep so he'd feel better. One minute later he was asleep.
In his high chair! He NEVER does that. Ever. Well, that did it. That was the trick. A prayer! Why didn't I think of that sooner? I think he just didn't want to fall asleep alone, not feeling well and all. So I carried him up stairs and laid him down. Well, 30 minutes later he was up and miserable again. The poor kid.

The week continued a little bit like this but not as extreme, and now he seems to be alright. I think he has learned a lot, though, about taking care of babies. You see, he has a doll. A boy doll. My mother-in-law, the sweetest lady, even gave him (the doll) a haircut to make him look even more like a boy . . . even though he was a boy to begin with . . .

Anyway. He shows interest in the doll every once in a while, in addition to his admiration of trains and buses and planes and geese and the skateboarding youngsters, and this week he has paid much more attention to the baby boy.

Tonight he carried it around, rocked it, "fed" it, talked to it, and read to it for about 30 minutes! Then he laid it down in the corner. It was so cute. He only held it by the hair and pants a few times. It appears that all of the babying done this week has rubbed off on him.

Oh, he's such a joy.