We have all kinds of conversations, comments, and expressions around our home that we have never had before.

Henry loves his 2 small erupting teeth, so much so that he often spirals into periods where his tongue happily traces and hovers on top of them. He's excited about the new sensation in his mouth. As a father I get to watch my son stick his tongue out at his parents for 10 minutes at a crack. He may or may not make gurgling noises also. He's happy and engaged so we're happy ourselves.

Always The Supervisor, Hank loves nothing more than monitoring what is going on in the house. If mom's washing dishes or making dinner, that is where the attention goes. If dad is moving around the kitchen or dining room, the world must stop (bottle, toys, etc.) so the super's eyes can trace and follow daddy across the room. All of this happens silently with great attention. This often means that one of us holds Henry as he sits on the counter and observes the activity. Out of this came a new phrase that none of us took to be out of the ordinary. "Somebody took a dump on the counter." We all know that when you get busy and excited on a specific task, things catch up on you. The Supervisor is often a red faced charmer!

A charmer that loves his chocolate chip pancakes.



He's very able to spin and drag himself around a 4 foot radius, but he has yet to put together full blown crawling. No matter, because he is able to stand fairly well. We may drift straight past crawling and sprint towards walking.



It all often ends the same way, in naps near the fireplace as the Alaskan springtime remains elusive.

While the days grow longer and the sun shines across warmer temperatures here in Anchorage, we unfortunately succumbed to a bunker mentality this week. We all have colds of varying degrees and one of us has 2 teeth struggling to sprout from the lower gum. Henry fusses intermittently over the tooth discomfort and generally weathers the congestion and runny nose like a champ. He's a pill at times, but certainly could be much worse. As to where the cold came from, that is a chicken or the egg question with an answer lost to the ages. We're all a bit under the weather but seem to be turning the corner. With some additional sleep for the adults this weekend and some Pedialyte for Henry, we should be on the road to sunnier days before we know it.

Before this sluggish week we visited JC Penney for some professional photographs of 'ol Hank. He smiled when encouraged and had a great time studying the dressed and stressed families cluttered throughout the waiting area. He is truly The Supervisor. Along with the prints we ordered, we were able to leave with a CD containing the image below, making it extremely easy and cheap for us to run off some copies at Costco ourselves. If you'd like a picture of Henry doing his Spanky from Our Gang impersonation, please let us know via email. We'll happily get one in the mail for you.

When Lora generously brought me a Badgers cap during her Alaskan vacation, I don't believe she knew she was really bringing a gift for Henry. I know he enjoys exploring the texture and shape of the hat, but I believe the strong colors are what really are at play. If I'm wearing one of my other caps, he will barely acknowledge their existence. When the Wisconsin hat is on, he only has eyes for it. The closer I hold him, the grabbier the hands become as they reach for the brim. The best toys we have around here have very little correlation to price or size. Our all star toy lineup consists of Wisconsin hats, sale papers, magazines, corrugated coffee holders, brushes, and sweatshirt pull strings (not to mention Daddy's eyeglasses). Thus far we do not seem to be raising an aristocrat.



He's been in a surprisingly good mood these past few days given his situation. His first tooth is poking out of the bottom of his mouth, and it has been been accompanied by a cold, some congestion, and lots of napping. We've heard teething horror stories, but so far Henry is yet again being kind to us. He takes a little longer to finish his bottle, but he eases into naps much quicker. A fair trade.

Grammy Turek just wrapped up her Iditarod visit and is back in the warm, snowless Midwest. Here in Alaska we are 6 inches away from having the snowiest Anchorage winter on record, which means a great deal. When you're breaking snow records in Alaska, you're breaking real records.

The weather over the last week was pleasantly in the teens and twenties and the sun did come out at times. Henry was bundled up properly and as parents we knew he would be safely warm, but we also knew that all of this has nothing to do with his mood. That's entirely up to Henry. He expectedly fussed while we applied vaseline and suntan lotion to his exposed skin (cheeks and nose), but beyond that he was an absolute champion. He was content to look around frozen Willow Lake, be passed around and held towards the mushing dogs, and even doze off in someone's arms. We had expected to take him home early  from the Iditarod restart, but that was never an issue. What a champion.

Speaking of Iditarod, there are a ridiculous amount of pictures on our flickr page.



In the last few days Henry has keyed on the repetition of the phrase "Da. Da" and even "Dad. Dad." It's all extremely exciting and heartwarming, though there is a hitch. He aims these sounds at women, particularly cousin Lesley. For his actual father, he repeats, "Doug." Yep, I'm Doug.

The Iditarod is this weekend and Grammy Turek is here helping out, enjoying the event, and keeping Hank giggling. Last weekend we geared up Henry for winter backpacking and took a spin around the bog in hopes of troubleshooting anything unexpected before his excursions to the Iditarod festivities. It all went well, though we'll need to adjust the hand and foot warmth. Easy. One truth we discovered is that he can very easily sleep while in the backpack, which is a plus. We'll see how long he lasts Sunday in Willow.



Henry is ready to be sent to Indiana, Coloma, or Sheridan, as he must have overheard our chatter about summer and fall trips. He's ready to be shipped out now.