On Henry at 3...

I just wanted to write down a few things that I want to remember about Henry as he turns 3...

• Henry is a very thoughtful boy.  When he does something he is pretty intentional about why he's doing it.  For example, every night when we brush Henry's teeth before bed, he wants to turn on "quiet water" not "loud water".  This means that he wants the water to just trickle out of the spout.  Why?  Because he doesn't want the "loud water" to wake up Charlie.
• Henry is very observant.  When he is in a new situation he just sits back and takes everything in.  I noticed when I looked back through our Disneyland pictures that Henry rarely had a big smile on his face.  It wasn't because he wasn't having a good time.  He definitely was.  He just always seemed to have his "I'm still figuring this all out" look on his face most of the time.
• Henry continues to LOVE sports.  He loves to dress up like Dodger Matt Kemp, he loves to hit baseballs in the backyard (he's really good!), and he loves to just generally be involved with sports in any way that he can.
• I see Henry's creativity come alive the most when it comes to sports.  He can set up a baseball field and organize a group of people into two teams and tell them where to stand and what to do and how to play.  His mind is always turning when he's playing games.  He is happiest the longest when he is playing sports.  The problem with this is that he often needs people to play WITH him.
• He still loves to play with his CARS2 cars.  He calls all of the World Grande Prix race cars his "bad cars."  Not sure why they are bad, but he says they are, so we'll go with it.
• His favorite show is Busytown Mysteries on PBS kids.
• His current favorite books are the Richard Scarry Busytown books.  He also still likes the Bearenstain Bears and Curious George.
• I'd say at 2 1/2 is when Henry finally found his sleeping stride.  He started sleeping through the night in his own bed all night, he was finally able to fall asleep on his own in his big boy bed by reading himself to sleep, and he was even able to fall asleep on his own for naps.  HUGE accomplishments in the sleep department.
• Henry asks alot of questions.  Sometimes my ears hurt a bit from all of the questions he asks, but I like talking with him, it gives me a sense of what's going on in his mind.  
• Henry can recognize all of his letters and can count to 10.  He can count higher than that, but sometimes he sort of starts counting out of order :)
• Henry loves to sing!  He sings songs all day long.  The songs he hears the most are kids worship songs that he has learned while at Bible Study and Sunday School.  I love to hear him worshipping as we go about our day.  When he walk to church he often sings "Go Tell it on the Mountain" which I can't help but think is his own little witness.  Other songs he sings are: The Hippopotamus Song", "Our God is an Awesome God", "Jesus Loves Me", and (of course) "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
• Henry is a good big brother to Charlie.  He certainly has his moments, but overall, I'd say he is very caring.  He is very conscientious about trying not to leave his small toys on the floor and he has even made progress in not reacting so angrily when Charlie grabs his books or toys (I know these struggles will likely be revisited, but, for now, things are going rather smoothly, I'd say :)
• Henry is fully potty-trained.  I can't even remember the last accident he had.  He sleeps through the night without accidents too!  It's so great!
• Henry's vocabulary is quite expansive.  The other day he told me he was "exhausted" and "needed a nap" (And for a Wiebe boy to demand a nap is quite a celebratory occasion let me tell you :)  He picks up on words that we say and likes to repeat them to us in his conversation.
• Cute things Henry says: "I'm "told" (cold), "Soothe-me" = smoothie,  "Ta-we" = Charlie, "Damma" and "Dampa", If you ask him what my name is he says "Kakie" and for John he says "Don" (although randomly a few months ago, John walked into the room and he said, "Hey Donny! (Johnny)" It was absolutely hilarious!)
• I could go on and on (and on and on) but I'll stop for now.  Raising Henry is an absolute joy.  I love to think about what he might be like as an adult one day.  I wonder if his interest in sports will stay with him for his entire life like it has with his daddy.  I wonder if he'll always love books like he does now.  I pray that he will continue to be kind and thoughtful, but most importantly, as he grows older and learns new things every day, we pray that he will come to know God personally.  For everything else pales in comparison to this.
• We love you, Henry!