More Henry Stories

As many of you know, Henry regrettably still insists on taking a bottle when the fluid involved is milk - juice, water, and tea he can handle with a sippie or an open container, but he is stubborn about his milk intake. We have implemented a new plan in an effort to gradually wean him off the bottle - he must take a few sips of milk from a cup before we give him a bottle (I started this and am beginning to question the logic). Anyway, he plays the game and after a few minutes of teasing and drawing it out will eventually sip from the cup 2 or 3 times, and then immediately says "boo-bawl now", asking for the bottle. It's pretty cute, and very clear that he understands the system, but doesn't seem to be having any effect yet. We'll see how it turns out - we might have to force him into a cold turkey withdrawal, which will likely cause more damage to our eardrums than front row seats for The Who.

I'd also like to relate another bottle exchange we've had recently. One day while retrieving him a bottle of milk, I asked him what he would like me to put in the bottle, just because I wanted to hear him say "Milk please". Instead, his response was "Jelly beans!" I made a mental note to myself to explore the vast, untapped jellybean juice market.

"Jelly beans!" is starting to become a more common cry for Henry these days, and has even been his response to the question "What would you like for breakfast, Henry?" We started giving him 2-3 jellybeans in exchange for his cooperation with dirty diaper changes - this has proven to be a very effective anti-wriggle tool and has saved us alot of trouble. As you have heard, however, it has also opened the Jelly Belly floodgates. Last weekend, Henry fell off our living room chair during one of his trademark descents from standing on the headrest looking out the window - he usually flops back on the seat, but this time his momentum bounced him off the seat and onto the floor. Fortunately my father rushed to his aid with a handful of 10 or more jellybeans to comfort him. Needless to say, the next time he bumped his head, he cried for exactly one second and then requested jellybeans. I was a little worried that he might start running into walls or flinging himself off furniture, but so far my fears have been unfounded. He appears to be satisfied enough with the occasional treat of 2 jellybeans.

-Dan