So after being at home for five days with a sick toddler (according to the CDC it is unlikely, though not impossible to get Hand Foot and Mouth disease more than once - this is the third time for Henry, so maybe it's a charm), I am looking for positive things to focus upon. Not feeling great combined with usual toddler behavior has produced a very cranky Henry and a just about as crabby Mommy.
So here are some more upbeat things to think about...
A list of Henry's current (at that means for the moment) favorites:
Cartoon:
Mickey's Choo-Choo (on Youtube, one of the first Mickey cartoons in black and white). I actually like these cartoons for the music and the low-tech but very creative appeal. Of course at some point we'll need to talk about gender roles and racial stereotypes, but for now, we both love them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvZdUlbTs6U
Books: The Bear's Picnic (a Bernstein Bears book).
Henry really enjoys getting books as gifts and last year his Grandma and Grandpa Kinney signed him up for a Scholastic BookClub. He especially likes the Bernstein Bears. The young bear is always "Henry Bear" and the adult male bear is usually "Pops". That would be really charming except that Pops is always making mistakes and getting himself into trouble. I think that Henry has a career in casting :)
When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really Angry by Molly Bang.
Thanks to our friend Susan for recommending this book about a little girl and how she works with her anger. It is a nightly read in our house and i do think is allowing Henry to think more concretely about alternatives to "bamming" when upset. Although his favorite part is still yelling "PA-BAM!!!" when Sophie slams the door. Oh well.
Hippo Hop by Christine Westcott
This is one of those 50 cent paperbacks i picked up at Goodwill one day just because i liked the jazz-scat like prose and the illustrations. Henry pulled it out of the pile a few days ago and started requesting it. It is really cute and introduced him to a few instruments (and animals) with which he was unfamiliar.
Favorite SongsWell i wish i could say that henry has been open to liking Mommy's music but so far no luck. Occasionally he'll like dancing to something upbeat like MIA or the Ting-Tings but mainly it's, "No music for Mommy, no music for Henry". I think the problem is twofold: I don't play enough of my own music around the house and i know every bleeding children's song by heart given a long history in Girl Scouts.
Now i'm glad to have that talent. I've shocked and amazed many a child by joining in on a song they thought only they, or their teachers, knew. I love singing with Henry and introducing songs from my childhood. I love that he knows more songs by heart than probably any other child in Seattle. BUT. There are only so many times you can sing "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" without wanting to rock in a corner.
A wonderful woman at work gave us a bunch of the Wee Sing books that she had sitting around from when her kids were younger and wanted to listen to something other than the Jonas Brothers and High School Musical 3. I know most of the songs in these books already which i made the mistake of demonstrating to Henry. So now at bedtime, his choice of "books" is to grab one of the Wee Sing songbooks and ask for unlimited renditions. We now have a "three songs you're out" rule at bedtime. I did order the CDs to accompany those books from the library in the hopes that he will just be happy to listen to them on his own. So far he prefers my singing. At least the kid knows talent. Here are some of the most requested (or those he sings on his own):
I've been working on the railroad (also on the Mickey Mouse Choo Choo episode)
Do your ears hang low (also because the ice cream truck in our neighborhood plays this one incessantly and at warp speed)
I stuck my head in a little skunk's hole (well which kid wouldn't like that - plus it's the theme of the Curious George Camps book)
Favorite Food
Well, he hasn't really wanted to eat much in the past five days. I freaked out today when he pulled off his pjs and i could count his ribs with the naked eye. One thing he will always eat though....
POPSICLES. We make them at home and also sometimes buy super yummy locally made ones at the Vietnamese market near our house. They are the Car-ems brand and have a coconut milk base and interesting flavors. He likes the tropical (pineapple/mango). They are decadent and have a lot of fat and fairly low sugar - perfect for a kid who won't eat much of anything else. Today we are going to buy some full fat icecream to supplement his diet. I wish I could do the same....
This afternoon Henry and I went outside to check on the garden. We discovered four ripe red strawberries on our plants (and many partially ripe ones I had to stop him from picking as well). Henry and I picked them, washed them and ate them. I explained that we would share them and that we would each eat two. Henry chose the two large ones and gave me the puny (though very delicious) ones. Then when my back was turned he ate one of mine as well.
