Short Fuse

These last couple of weeks Henry has been lucky enough to have some fun events scheduled. The first event was Yo Gabba Gabba Live. We bought tickets to the show months in advance and Henry was so excited that it was finally time to see the show. Yo Gabba Gabba is all about fun music that gets kids to dance.

This picture above is right before the show. Henry is very excited and we had superb seats (first row on the balcony). Then..... the show started. I think they said something like, are you ready to have fun, or some other thing to get the crowd into the show. They repeated the phrase a couple times and then at the end there were two loud bangs and confetti. Well, we weren't expecting this. Suddenly Henry went from being super excited to being filled with fear. His whole body tensed up and started crying. I picked him up and tried to sooth him, but really it wasn't working. In between the acts, you could hear Henry crying. He probably cried for a good 5-10 minutes. On one hand, I am his mother and want to comfort him and make him feel better, but on the other had I have to teach him that some things are okay and are not harmful even if they are scary. Plus, we paid good money for this show and there was no way I was leaving just as it was starting.

So, eventually he stopped crying and had his hands over his ears and eyes closed and refused to watch. What is a parent to do? That's right, bribery. If he watched the show, he would get a little light up toy that you can see in the pictures above. It worked! After that he opened his eyes and then after intermission, he unplugged his ears. He never got out of his seat or danced, but he watched the rest of it. People have asked him about the show and he says at first it was scary and then okay.

This picture is taken during intermission when I got paged by a hospital. While waiting for the show to go on, I arranged to discharge a newborn with adequate follow up. Not bad, right?

So, then yesterday we went to the Buck O'Neil race. Henry has been asking and asking to run a race. Before I was pregnant we were doing more races and Henry loved it. I'm not running much anymore, except to chase my boy around the bases.

This little baseball field was constructed by the Negro League Baseball Museum. It's pretty cool and Henry loved it.

Unfortunately for us, he was running a little too fast around the field before the race and fell. He skinned his knee and hurt his hands a little. I've skinned my knee quite a few times, and they really can sting. After the stinging went away, so did his positive attitude. He didn't even want to run in the race anymore.

So, Jim pushed him most of the way. You can tell by this picture how excited he was about everything.  Aaron and I lagged behind Jim and Mary and turned around early to catch up with them. When we caught up with them Aaron took him out of the stroller and told him to run. He seemed excited and took off with Aaron. Then we applauded and he got very upset. Apparently, we weren't supposed to cheer him on. Who knew? He lost it again and refused to run. He walked a little, crying the whole time, and then finished the race in the stroller. I was very disappointed. He was so excited and I think the injury just ruined the whole event. Jim said something wise to me yesterday. He said that Henry is so advanced in many ways, but emotionally he's just a 4 year old. He's right, maybe my expectations are just too high. When he was little he was so sensitive to everything. I can't expect all that to disappear. It takes time. So for now I'll be grateful that we watched the whole Yo Gabba Gabba concert and that we all finished the race. With time, he'll get better, but no rush. He's just a 4 year old.