overdoing it with the new camera -or- a beautiful day for a walk

Henry and I went for a walk last Saturday. I foolishly suggested a walk to the library. That was BEFORE I looked at the clock and looked at the library hours and realized that they were closing at 6 pm, or RIGHT NOW. Ooops.

Unlike his brother, Henry doesn't like to just go for a walk and look at stuff. He likes to have a destination to make the walk worth his while, and I guess that's understandable. So I suggested a trip to Starbucks. (The library and Starbucks are both at the farthest end of our street- about a half mile away.)

Once we started walking, Henry started repeating "it's a beautiful day for a walk!" I'm sure he was echoing something he'd heard me say before, but it was still appropriate. We talked about the leaves, the birds, the Halloween decorations, etc.

At Starbucks we ordered a crumbleberry coffee cake, an orange juice and a bottle of water. Henry wanted to eat there. I wanted to get everything to go. I am always trying to think ahead, and I was anticipating something that has happened before.

But he persuaded me to stay.

Henry ate the topping off first. With his fingers, of course.

Then the thing happened that I had anticipated: Henry asked for ANOTHER crumbleberry coffee cake. My way of dealing with this in the past has been to leave the store before he ate, and therefore avoid having to tell him "no" to the request of another. Either that or I have planned on buying 2 of the overpriced coffee cakes.

But this time I just told him "no. We're not getting another one." (I truly didn't have any more money, so it was easier to say. I'm a pushover.) He protested and went to the case and talked loudly about how he wanted another one. But he didn't throw a hairy tantrum like he would have when he was 4 or 5. He's growing up.

Tommy's been drinking out of a straw a lot lately. It reminded me that Henry was not able to drink from a straw until he was 4, and not until I asked his therapists to specifically work on it. Once they did work with him, he mastered the skill in no time. But it did not come naturally to him like it has to Thomas and most other children. So that's why I took the picture below of Henry drinking with a straw.

He was a little grumpy on the walk home, and asked me to carry him on my shoulders. Luckily I can still do that, and it was worth it to hear him say "it's a forest!" when we walked underneath the trees.