Henry Turns THR3E!!

The ol' addage "no news is good news" has certainly been Hankster's motto these days. Sometimes the days of constant and repetitive hospital stays seems like eons ago. And then sometimes, they are crystal clear like yesterday... BUT NOT LATELY!!!!

The fact of the matter is... Henry hasn't been 'sick' and/or hospitalized for SIX WHOLE MONTHS! This might be a new record! Sure FEELS like it! Yes, i knock wood constantly. Go ahead and knock some too if you'd like, can't hurt.

Henry has made the most noticeable and dynamic progress, globally, in this past year. He learned how to sit up, spin in circles, spin-roll-scooch, and now CRAWL, chronologically. He is pulling to standing all the time. I would not be surprised if he makes big strides in the standing/walking-along-furniture realm this coming year. And just two days ago, he impressed and shocked the hell out of ALL of T4 by standing at the bottom of the stairs and slowly and meticulously, over the span of about 5 min, crawled up 5 STAIRS! That's a step a minute! He rested his head in between the last two - that's hard work, yo!

I do feel in my heart of hearts that he will indeed WALK someday. I have zero expectations on WHEN, but given his progress, i think it will be sooner than later.

Henry is also doing quite well in the "eating" department. He is constantly trying new foods. The consistency is that of a fine meat sauce (in fact, he happens to really LIKE spaghetti meat sauce). Baby food, stages 1 and 2, seems to be too fine, at this point, which is good news! That all said, small amounts is the key. He still very much gets his entire nutrition from his g-tube, and most likely will for years. But i'm also willing to guess perhaps not FOREVER. I'm hopeful, at least.

Some of the foods Henry enjoys: applesauce and chewing on apple wedges, watermelon, spaghetti sauce, pears, bean salad (mushed), mushed banana... and probably a few more i'm missing. I gotta say here, the gals at his daycare have been EXEMPLARY in trying new foods with Henry and not being afraid of his delays in that department. "Can't hurt to try!" they say, and i agree whole heartedly. They've only received THUMBS-UP in the 'Let's Try New Foods' dept.

Henry loves music! He gets quite excited with his entire body! By that, i mean he starts jumping, flapping his arms, and yelling. Sometimes he does a Stevie Wonder-like swaying, and always smiling or even singing along. He has mastered humming The Alphabet Song, the Itsy Bitsy Spider (and even motions with his hands/fingers to it) and simply MELTS when i sing "On Top of Spaghetti," which i've tweaked to say, "... all covered with cheese... I lost my poor HENRRRYYYY... when somebody sneezed." His eyes light up and the smile is immediate.

Needless to say, [and it's been said many times]: Henry is easily the happiest kid i know. I've probably typed the same thing about Sam and Thom "back in the day." Not so much these days, with those two nutcases... (ha!)

But Hank - steady as rain. He doesn't like when Beegsley barks so loudly all of a sudden, but then again - WHO DOES!? Damn dog. He also doesn't like it when voices are raised. If yelling is happening, Henry is upset, and either yelling TOO, or crying. If laughter is happening, Henry is joining in with his giggles from wherever he is, too. It's precious.

I don't know what the future holds for Hank. Healthwise, he's steady, with no surgeries planned. An appointment is to be made with Pulmonology for a follow-up to "see where things are at." Come to think of it - at the time i type this - i should make an appt to get a chest xray, since this is the healthiest and clearest he's been in a long while. They need an accurate baseline to assess...

Henry is loved by so many people, many of whom i don't think i've even MET: this blog has traveled in ways I'm not entirely aware of. But i do know that his every day encounters, the people who care for him, love him emmensely. I don't think it's possible for him to go a few hours without getting kisses and hugs.

For the heck of it, i've provided a link to the first significant blog entry introducing Henry Darwin to the world, typed during the wee hours in the Ronald McDonald House of Philadelphia...

... oh how very far we've come, my sweetie pie...