October came and went in a blur of visitors and therapy appointments. Henry continues to be seizure-free, and he is making slow, steady progress with his various therapies.
In physical therapy, we are focusing on rolling over. If we initiate the roll through his shoulders, he can complete it with his legs and vice versa. Now he just needs to figure out how, when, and why to initiate the roll.
We now feed him a small amount of meltable solids (aka cheese puffs) each day. The primary goal is to teach him to chew solids. Becoming an obedient consumer of corn-based foods is secondary.
Henry's neurosurgeon confirmed that he believes the shunt is now functioning properly. We will measure its progress with a fast MRI on November 11.
Dori and Nate spent a weekend with us. It was our first chilly weekend of the year, but that didn't stop us from exploring Millennium Park:
For children, the month of October is filled with the anticipation of Halloween. Although Henry does not yet know the sweet taste of candy, he had three Halloween costumes from which to choose.
The tiger costume was a little too scary. We wouldn't want to frighten the neigborhood:
He wore his bear costume to a Halloween party with his cousins:
But for Halloween day, we chose the cutest (most humiliating) costume we could find:
The highlight of our month was a trip to Pennsylvania. Here is Henry hanging out with his great grandmother, Grammy:
His aunt Talisa:
and his Pap:
Here he is practicing head control:
And enjoying the great outdoors with his dad:
Henry's friend Owen came for a visit earlier this month. They had a great time playing, and Owen got to practice being a bully by stealing Henry's pacifier.
Henry gets to see his Gramma Judy on most weekends:
And he always has fun hanging out with his cousins. Here they are gathered around the newest addition:
Some days, Henry gets to spend a few hours with his good friend Luan:
Finally, here are a couple of pictures of Henry fresh out of the shower:
