On Henry (29 months)...

Henry is developing quite the personality, I just wanted to make note of a few things before I forget them...

• Henry LOVES sports. Right now he is starting to really enjoy playing/watching football. John plays with him on the floor in the family room and he thinks this is just about the best thing ever.
• Things Henry currently loves besides sports: CARS: the movie (He has named all of his matchbox cars after the characters in the movie), Veggie Tales, Toy Story, playdoh, all of his grandparents & aunts & uncles, dessert, puzzles, his little people farm set, coloring, stickers, and reading books.
• Henry loves to line things up...cars, animals, books, crayons, etc.
  
• Henry's current favorite book is the Berenstain Bears Play Ball.
• Henry loves to go out on the farm with his grandpas.
  
• Henry is about 85% potty-trained. We still have accidents once in awhile, but for the most part he stays dry. I still have to take him to the bathroom every hour or two, but he's getting better about telling me he needs to go. He pretty much stays dry at night, but we still put him in a diaper just in case.
• I'm starting to have Henry take his naps in the morning for 2 reasons: 1. This is when Charlie takes his long nap, so it means I can get Henry to sleep and have both boys asleep at once. 2. If Henry takes an afternoon nap he tends to have trouble falling asleep at night. A morning nap means he can go to bed earlier.
• Henry still ends up in our bed in the middle of the night. I know we should probably work on putting a stop to this, but quite frankly it isn't bothering John or I at this point, so we'll leave things be for awhile. As long as we're all getting sleep is all that matters.
• Yesterday Henry was playing with his farm set and he started putting his animals in "time out" (sitting them on his bed). I asked him why they were in time out and he shook his head, looked really sad, and said, "Bad choice." Apparently he's heard me say that once or twice ;)
• Henry is talking up a storm. There are very few words he won't say. Some of the cutest words he says are : "umpapa" (umpire), "Taya" boy (Charlie boy), 2-2 pitch, Bin Skuah (Vin Scully), "horner-nine" (49'ers), "Re-he" (referee). There are others, of course, but these are the ones I can think of right now.
• Henry loves to help me in the kitchen. He especially likes to help me make pizza, scones, granola, and smoothies. When it's time to put the pizza, scones, or granola in the oven, he always cries because he wants to eat everything "right now".
• Henry always refers to himself in the 3rd person ("no Hen-yeah like that", "Hen-yeah want that", "Hen-yeah help", etc.)
• Henry is having a really hard time with staying in the nursery at CBS, aerobics, and church. He starts crying and screaming, "I want my mom!". This has been sort of frustrating for me.
  
• Henry is a really great older brother. Yesterday he and Charlie were in the front room and I was in the kitchen washing a few dishes. I heard Henry say, "Uh oh, Taya-boy" and then heard him run into Charlie's room. I peaked into the front room to see that Charlie had spit up and Henry had run to get a burp rag so that he could wipe Charlie's mouth.
• From the stories I hear about John when he was younger, I think it's pretty clear that Henry is a lot like his dad. John was very passionate about the things he was interested in (although his interest in sports started a bit later, at this age he was interested in all things rodeo :). When John was into rodeo he only wanted to wear plaid button-down "western-style" shirts, and when he got into sports later on, he only wanted to wear shirts with numbers on them (like uniforms). I can totally see this in Henry :)
• One thing I'm already noticing about Henry is that he loves to interact with others through sports and games. When we are in a group of people he will often pull out all of his sports gear and start handing it out and telling people where to stand and what position they are playing. We might have a future coach on our hands :)
• Henry likes things to be just so. I have a feeling that when Charlie is old enough to start getting into Henry's things we are going to have some rough times. Henry does well with structure and order to be sure!
• Henry is such a fun boy to be around. He can be intense and particular, but it really adds to his overall charm and character, I think. He really brings a lot of joy and laughter to those around him. He certainly is a lot like his dad!

(Ok, so that was a lot more than a few things...oh well!)