May 24, 2000 - Wednesday
I was thinking today, in the midst of several brief auto excursions, how awkward it would be if Harry got bored with being in the car this week. These car trips to various places are at the core of my strategy for distracting Harry, particularly because of the inclement weather. Our time in the car is almost always short, 10-15 minutes or less, but today we took eight little trips. Most of the time Harry just sits there, either looking out the window - very cute - or gnawing on his jacket, seat belt, fingers, shirt, or socks, which is less cute, and I can only hope his good-natured car behavior lasts.

Harry has luckily taken a great interest in the cat this week, offering yet another distraction for the next few days. Almost every time he's seen the cat coming round lately he's started to laugh. Then, when it gets close, he goes between laughing and trying to reach out and touch it, or grab it. There's no doubt he'd try to stick the cat, or a piece of the cat, in his mouth if he could get close enough. Fortunately for the cat, Harry's not very quick nor strong yet and I can usually position him at just about arms' length. He'll often close his fist, but he'll generally get only the scruff of the neck or other loose skin, so the cat mostly thinks it's fine. Every now and then the cat will turn an askance look in Harry's direction, but rarely has he fled, yet!

This week as also been a bonanza for Harry's rediscovery of the "razz," but now it's the particularly wet kind that sprays saliva drops on his cheeks and gets a steady stream of spit running down his chin. It's hard to know whether that's more annoying than his new discovery and experimentation with the light "cough." I am fairly confident now that there is nothing in his throat, nor does he have a dry mouth, and that he's just playing with noises. Of course, I can't complain. There are a lot worse things that he could be doing during this our big we together.


Comments, opinions?