Henry: 4 years old!

*Thanks for the picture Uncle Andrew!

4-year old highlights:

• In the last year Henry has done so.much.growing.up!  He is such a joy to be around.  Seriously, I love my boys, but the thing about both of them is that I like them too.  Henry is thoughtful, kind, funny, and conscientious.  He has a very tender heart and is bothered when he perceives things to be unfair.  I can't wait to see his qualities and characteristics develop as he gets older.  It is such a privilege to have a front row seat to his development :)
• Henry is still very interested in sports.  I think his favorite sport to play is baseball.  He loves to have us pitch to him as he hits ball after ball over the fence.  This summer he is playing t-ball for the first time and seems to be enjoying it so far.  He is not a fan of hitting the ball off the tee, but he's adjusting to the idea.  He loved playing baseball at his birthday party.
• Henry learned how to pump on the swings about a week before his fourth birthday!  I was talking to my friend Wendy at church and all of a sudden he started yelling, "Mom, I'm swinging myself, I'm swinging myself!" And he was, and it was awesome!  This is such a HUGE accomplishment!  I can't believe he doesn't need me to push him anymore!
• Henry still loves to play in his playgarden.  He can dig and water and drive his construction vehicles for hours out there.  It's so great to watch him play like this!  He also still loves to help me garden, which is fun for me too.
• Henry got a bike for his fourth birthday and he LOVES to ride it.  Our family walks have turned into family bike rides now, only the boys are the only ones on bikes.  Henry is on his bike, and Charlie rides on the hand-me-down tricycle from Elinor that we can push and steer him with.  It works out pretty well.  We've discovered that the best place for us to do our bike rides is around the park.  Lots of straight shots of sidewalk with no driveways to watch out for.
• Henry loves going to church.  Since he turned 4 he has graduated from nursery to sitting with us for the first part of the service and then attending children's church during the sermon.  He loves that he gets to go to church now.  He is very conscientious about going and always remembers to bring his Bible bag.  This week he even used some of his own money to put in the offering bag, which he was really proud of.  The only thing about this transition that he doesn't like is when the little kids have to join the big kids in children's church.  He gets pretty intimidated by the older kids, so I end up having to stay with him.
• On the church subject, I was SO PROUD of Henry at Cubbies this year.  He really understood the stories and was able to make lots of connections between the stories he heard at cubbies and the same Bible stories that we read at home.  He was also very good at memorizing his verses each week.  In fact, Henry could literally memorize his verses after hearing them once or twice.  I think memorization is going to come easily to him.  The only thing at Cubbies that he said he didn't like were the crafts.  (Whose child is he?! ;)
• Henry is a wonderful older brother to Charlie.  He gets frustrated and upset with him just like any brother would, but I would say that overall, he is very concerned about him.  For example, If Charlie is in the front yard and he is getting somewhat close to the street, Henry will run in front of him and grab him.  He is very encouraging of Charlie as well, and often gives him compliments on a job well done.  It's very sweet.  I often have to remind Henry that when Charlie copies him it is because he loves him, not to annoy him.  (As an oldest child I can relate to this concept :)
• Henry's currently loves watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates on netflix.  He also loves playing with all of his pirate toys.
• He also loves to swim with his lifejacket on.  I'm hoping he'll learn how to swim on his own this summer and won't need the lifejacket anymore, but we will see!
• Henry loves to eat fruit!  His favorites are pears, strawberries, and blueberries.  He also loves to eat yogurt and granola.  I make a lot of granola!  The vegetables he likes are raw carrots and cooked red bell pepper (although we still have to prompt him to eat them).  He likes most meat, but doesn't like rice or potatoes.  He's still a huge fan of his morning smoothies though!  He's been going strong with those since the day I weaned him at 14 months old!
• Henry still naps on my bed a few times per week.  If he takes a nap he won't be able to fall asleep until after 10:00, although we put him to bed much earlier than this.  I suppose some people would cut out naps altogether at this point, but a nap with a later bedtime is sort of working for us at this point, so we'll run with that as long as we can.
• A week or so after Henry turned four I took him to his 4-year old doctor's appointment and we made a date out of it by doing a number of fun things together: going to Barnes and Noble, eating at Moo Creamery, and going to Target to spend some of his birthday money.  We had THE BEST time together!  Henry tells anyone who will listen about our date and I can tell that he enjoyed the special one-on-one time he had with me.  That outing has been a good reminder to me that carving out special time with him is very important.  I've been using his yearly well visit appointments as special dates with him since he turned 2 and I will start to do the same with Charlie this year.  I need to remember to do it more often though.  It's good for both of us!
• Oh there is so much more to say about our Henry.  He is a complete joy.  Not perfect by any means (who is?) but such a sweet and delightful child.  I feel privileged to be his mother.  We love him SO MUCH!

Henry: 3 1/2 years...

3 1/2 year highlights (or 3 years and 8 months, but who's counting?):
Where to start?  Hmmmm....

• One strength I have really noticed in Henry lately is his verbal communication.  He has a pretty expansive vocabulary for a 3-year old (well, at least I think he does :) and he is constantly incorporating large words that he hears us say into his conversations.  Not only does he have a pretty good command of language, but I've noticed that he can really use his words to bring joy to other people.  His words are usually very pleasant and he is very quick to offer compliments and words of thanks to people around him.  I wonder if this will continue to be a strength of his in the years to come?
• Henry still LOVES to play sports.  He loves nothing more than to have me go out into the backyard with him and throw him pitches (even though he tells me I'm not as good as daddy :)  He loves to go to the high school with John and he just generally loves to be active.  The thing about his interest in sports and outdoor activities is that most of them require the participation of another person, so I've noticed that sometimes he has a hard time figuring out ways to play by himself.
• Besides sports, Henry is still really into fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances.  This Christmas we worked on accumulating a town collection.  The boys got lots of vehicles, a parking garage from Grandma Gail and Grandpa Royce, and Grandpa Bob & Grandma Sharon built them a rescue center (basically a boy dollhouse).  I'm hoping all of these new toys will help Henry learn to how to engage in some good imaginative play (so far so good, I think).
• Henry absolutely LOVES going to Cubbies!  He was so sad that we had to take 3 weeks off for Christmas.  He is awesome at memorizing his verses (totally capitalizes on his verbal strengths), loves to sing the songs, and is generally eager and enthusiastic about all aspects of the evening.  Working in Cubbies with him has definitely been a highlight for me.  I love watching him bubble over with enthusiasm while he learns about Jesus!
• Besides Cubbies, he also loves going to Sunday School and Community Bible Study.  I think a structured learning environment is something that he really thrives in (totally his mother's son here!)
• Henry LOVES to read books!  He's gotten to the point now where he has a few memorized and he can "read" them to us!  So fun to listen to him read to me!
• Henry definitely wants to learn how to read.  He's starting to ask me questions like this, "Mom, what does 'zrw' spell?"  Obviously that's not a word, but he's really starting to latch onto the idea that a series of letters forms a word.  Reading will be here before we know it!
• Puzzles are a current interest of Henry's.  He's getting quite good at them too!  The Melissa and Doug floor puzzles are our favorites.
• We are currently working with Henry on obeying the first time using our jar system.  He is making progress, we think.  Hooray!
• Henry has been potty trained for over a year now, and now he is night potty trained too!  Yeah!!!!
• Henry loves to snack.  He tends to get very distracted at mealtimes and would rather talk or pass out napkins or get dropped silverware or get a towel to wipe up spills or do anything other than eat.  Consequently this leads to less mealtime eating and more snacking.  We are working on this.  Right now our current approach to curbing these shenanigans is to just put his plate full of food directly on the counter or in the fridge.  When he asks for a snack I give him his plate of food to finish before I will give him anything else.  At the next meal we start over.  I guess this approach is working out ok.  I'd prefer he just eat his meals in the first place though :)
• There is still lots more to say, but I think that's good for now.  I love watching Henry learn and grow.  He is such a delight.  Raising our Henry is a blessing!

on Henry (32 months)...

Just an update post about Henry. There are lots of things I want to remember about him at this age...

• Henry is pretty much fully potty-trained. He never has accidents during the day anymore. He did go for a long time without wetting the bed, but those days are over. He likes wearing undies to bed, so we let him and just take him to the bathroom before we go to bed (which has been pretty late due to basketball season). He still has accidents once-in-awhile though.
• On the bathroom subject, thankfully Henry has decided that he DOES NOT want us in the bathroom during his *ahem* extended visits. When we first started potty training he used to want me to sit right next to him in his little wooden chair and keep my arm around him while he went. I spent many days nursing Charlie in a toddler chair while Henry used the facilities. A very glamorous life I lead, I tell you!
• Henry is now pretty much sleeping the whole night in his bed. We went through a stage where he would crawl in bed with us every single night, but now he stays put in his bed, which is FANTASTIC!
• Henry is finally starting to fall asleep on his own. This boy has had a difficult time falling asleep since day one it seems. He has a very difficult time getting himself to relax enough to fall asleep. He just can't seem to wind down very well. But now, we've gotten him to the point where he can read until he falls asleep on his own, which is HUGE for us. Sometimes it takes him an hour or hour and half, but he can do it!
• Henry is still taking an 2-3 hour afternoon nap most days. The bad thing about this nap is that if Henry takes the nap then he won't fall asleep until 10:00ish which is pretty ridiculous sometimes. BUT, if he doesn't take the afternoon nap, then he is a huge grouch from 4:30-6:30pm (which is almost always when John has practice :( Although, without a nap, he usually falls asleep very easily at 7pm. I can't quite seem to get a good schedule with him in the sleeping department. Sometimes I think he needs a nap, othertimes I think he doesn't.
  
• Henry has developed a very irrational fear of the garbage truck. He is terrified of it really. And, unfortunately for him, our garbage truck picks up our trash twice/week. He starts screaming and crying and grabbing onto my leg the second he hears it. Someone suggested that maybe the garbage truck from Toy Story 3 scared him, which sounds reasonable.
• Henry still LOVES sports of all kinds. His eyes see sports references everywhere (just like his daddy's). When he eats raisins he arranges them into a football team, when he has apple slices he lines them up like a stadium and points out where the pitcher's mound is and where Matt Kemp plays, and when he sees any shirt that has blue cursive writing on the front he calls it a Dodger shirt.
  
• Henry also really loves playing with cars (especially the cars from the movie CARS). He lines them up, separates his cars into racing cars and the pit crew, he makes tents for them, puts them in their garage (a basket) and just generally carries them around the house all day long.
• Henry still loves smoothies. We have pretty much given him a smoothie upon waking up since I weaned him at 14 months.
  
• Other foods Henry likes: raisins, crackers, goldfish, "meat with bones" (ribs), taco soup, any dessert, yogurt, blueberries, granola, and applesauce.
• Henry loves to read the Arthur books, and the Berenstain Bears books. He also likes Curious George and books about trucks.
• When Henry talks about John he always refers to him as "my daddy"..."When is my daddy going to get home, mommy?" "Are we going to my daddy's game?" "Maybe my daddy can build a tent with me, mommy". It's very sweet.
• Henry loves to build tents with John. They build them on the floor in the "hamily room"or on our bed.
• Now that Charlie is more mobile, Henry is having some serious sharing issues. Anything that Charlie has, Henry wants (not baby toys, of course, but any of our communal toys). If Charlie has a block, then Henry wants to play with it, if Charlie has a matchbox car, then Henry wants that particular matchbox car. Good times.
• Henry is very tender hearted and has a very strong conscience. When he does something wrong he is oftentimes (not always, but often) very repentant. I feel like Henry places enough guilt on himself over his misdeeds that he doesn't really need John or I to really go on and on about his mistakes. He feels bad enough without that. We'll see if this continues. John and I both tend to be very hard on ourselves, so this may be the early manifestations of a similar trait, but we'll see.
• Henry's vocabulary is very sweet. He rarely uses contractions which makes his speech sound very grown up. He also still can't say his "g" sound so he calls Grandma and Grandpa, "damma" and "dampa". Cute!
• Henry is definitely in the question asking phase. My ears sort of hurt at the end of the day :)
• One thing about Henry is that he is a very good conversationalist. He will often ask me about my day and when John gets home from work or practice or a game, he will ask him how it went..."How was your practice, daddy?" is a common question. I hope we can continue to nurture this in him as it will serve him well in the future.
• Henry has quite a bit of confidence in the kitchen. I guess he's watched me enough to think he knows what he's doing. I've caught him cracking an egg on the counter (he even grabbed a bowl to put it in and everything!), using a teaspoon to dump salt (lots!) into my bread dough, and using my egg slicer to crack peanut shells (which was actually a clever use for it :).
• Henry loves his extended family so much. Great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins, he loves them all. He talks about each person at different times throughout our days and he has special memories with each person that he likes to bring up. He is one well loved little boy.
  
• There's more to say, but I'll stop for now. Raising Henry is a delight. I can't wait to see what God will do with the gifts and talents and interests that he has given him :)
  

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!)

Henry's 2-year stats...

Height: 35 1/2" (John was 37")
Weight: 30lbs. (John was 31 1/2lbs.)

Henry is in the 75-90th percentile in both categories. Not that anyone really cares besides his mother (and maybe his grandmothers :)

The picture above was taken on Henry's birthday. We made sugar cookies together. He spent most of his time rolling his dough into "snakes" and making hissing sounds as he did it. It was fun...and messy.

23 months...

23-month highlights:

• Henry is becoming much more conversational lately. He still doesn't use too many words at this point, but he understands everything we say.
• Henry has added the words "no" and "bob" (for Grandpa Bob) to his vocabulary. He is also making attempts at saying the words "hay" (ha) and "apple" (ap) He likes to watch Baby Einstein Farm videos, so he hears these words there.
• Henry is beginning to tease. I will say something like "Give mama a kiss" and he will look at me and say "no" and then laugh. He thinks he's hilarious.
• The other day my leg was hurting, so I told Henry that I couldn't pick him up. He immediately walked over to my leg and gave it a big kiss.
• Tractors, construction vehicles, buses, cows, and horses are still favorites of Henry's. He is very lucky that both of his grandpas are farmers and can provide him with an endless supply of tractor visits, rides, and free John Deere calendars/magazines.
• Large white vans are also a hit with Henry because he sees John driving his tennis boys to matches in them.
  
• Now that basketball season is over and it is staying lighter longer, John will often take Henry for scooter rides around the neighborhood after tennis practice. Henry loves this!
• Henry's sleep has been rather consistent lately. Sleeping through the night for the most part and napping on my bed for a consistent 2 hours or so everyday. He rarely sleeps well on vacation, though.
• Henry loves strawberries...and dessert :) Lately he's been eating cooked carrots too, which is great. He also still likes to eat yogurt, granola, applesauce, raisins, and meat.
  
• Henry likes to wear anything that John wears. He loves to wear blue and gold and is particularly fond of khaki pants. He also likes to wear shirts with numbers on them and always points to the number and says, "Dada, baba" because the boys on John's team all wear uniforms with numbers on them.
• Henry likes to say "uh oh" when he discovers that something is out of place. For example, if we are cleaning up and he notices that my shoes are out, he will pick them up and say "uh oh" and then run them to their home. He likes his toys to be in their designated buckets and is fairly particular about his things.
• Henry picks up on things quickly. We usually only have to tell him something once, and he understands and responds (when he wants to, of course).
• Playing outside with daddy is one of his favorite things.
• Henry loves to rub my belly and give kisses to the baby. We talk about the baby often and hopefully he's making some sense of it all. We'll see in June.
  
• Henry's a delight (especially when he's well fed and well rested :)
  

22 months...

22-month highlights:

• We've begun potty training. Henry is very interested in all things toilet related and has no problem going to the bathroom on the toilet, so I figured I'd give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, oh well.
• Henry naps on my bed now, no more walks in the stroller to fall asleep! Yeah! I give him juice, then we read a few books on my bed, then I lay with him until he falls asleep. This is actually working out quite well since I'm usually in need of a rest too. Not sure what will happen when the baby comes, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
• Night time sleeping is, as usual, continually puzzling & usually frustrating. After a string of horrible nights, Henry has been sleeping through the night for the past week or so (yeah!) Despite the progress on sleeping through the night, all of a sudden he is having difficulty falling asleep in the crib by himself. Lots of tears on his part & frustration on ours. Hopefully we'll get this all figured out, but I'm not going to hold my breath. If there's anything predictable about Henry's sleeping habits it's how unpredictable they can be.
• Henry has become very interested in vehicles lately. He loves tractors, construction vehicles, fire trucks, etc. He has recently become interested in moving his matchbox cars into his room to plan with them on his ikea playmat.
  
• Henry continues to love animals and refers to them all by the sound they make, not their name.
• Henry loves his scooter! He likes to ride to see his cousins Charlotte, Laurel, & Elinor, as well as to the high school.
• Showers are pretty much Henry's favorite thing right now. This is convenient since he keeps pooping in the tub...
• Henry likes to wear any article of clothing with balls on it or anything that resembles daddy's attire.
  
• Many trains pass through our town every day, which, of course, delights Henry to no end. when he hears a train he always says, "G.G., Drew, & Olive" because these are the people he knows who ride the train. (Although Aunt Denise & Uncle Andrew's dog, Olive, has never ridden the train...)
• Henry has a hard time sharing his toys at home. He is able to play well with others in neutral territory, but here at home...bad news. He throws full blown tantrums when other kids are over and play with his toys. It doesn't matter what toy it is, if they have it, he wants it.
• Henry likes to eat: applesauce, raisins, crackers, meat, smoothies, juice, peanut butter, dessert, fruit, pizza, & thick soups & stews.
• Henry distinguishes everything in our house as either "mama's" or "dada's". For example, he points to the broom and says "mama", he points to the eggs and says "dada" (John makes eggs every morning). Anything with a ball on it belongs to "dada" and anything related to cooking, cleaning, & sewing is attributed to "mama".
  
• Henry is delightful, but he can throw a mean tantrum when things don't go his way. Thankfully he usually breaks down at home, rather than in public.
• I can't believe Henry is almost 2! How did that happen?
  

21 months...

21-month highlights:

• Henry has recently become interested in having me (& John sometimes too) kiss his injuries. It's amazing how quickly he bounces back from a rather rough fall after a few strategically placed kisses. I won't lie...I'm a pretty big fan of this new development :)
• Henry's 2 favorite things are balls and animals. He seems to prefer the animals in books and on the computer to the ones he sees in real life, but that's ok.
  
• Cows are still his favorite animal, but he loves to make lots of different animal sounds: dog, cat, cow, horse, lion, tiger, donkey, rooster, sheep, and pig are some of his current favorite sounds to make.
• Henry seems to be doing better in the nursery at church lately. One of the reasons might be that he has discovered the nursery's selection of animal books. He loves to have the Jr. High girls that help in the nursery read books with him and then impresses them with his animal sounds.
• Henry loves juice! We try to limit him to a couple of cups per day, but boy does he love it! I think he would consume all of his calories in liquid form if we would let him.
• Henry's current favorite things to eat are: granola, raisins, most fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, most meat, peanut butter, pretzels, crackers, marshmallows (from Grandpa Bob & Grandma Sharon), and Grandpa Royce's (chocolate) smoothies.
• Henry dislikes eggs, beans, and most vegetables, but we're working on it.
• I wouldn't say that Henry is a very big eater. He loves to snack (just like his dad) but he rarely eats tons at mealtime. When he is in a new setting he eats even less than he usually does because he is too busy watching what's going on around him.
• I have been working on trying to get Henry to take his naps on my bed without walking him to sleep in the stroller. Some days I have great success with this, and other days, not so much. I'm hoping this will help him transition into a big boy bed and will also help facilitate a little less labor intensive nap routine. We'll see.
• Henry hasn't been sleeping through the night lately. Bummer. He usually wakes sometime between 3 and 4 and ends up sleeping with us until we get up in the morning. To be honest, I feel like we have a few big transitions coming up for him (move to a big boy bed, potty training, & a new sibling to boot) so I haven't bothered to work on breaking this waking up in the middle of the night habit. That will come later.
• Henry seems to have become very aware of the state of his diaper. If it is wet or dirty, he will often come to me and point to his diaper. After our bathroom remodel is done, we plan to begin the initial stages of potty training.
• John and I are both so impressed with how well Henry is finally settling into his nighttime routine. This consists of: bath, brush teeth, pj's, books, pray, rock & sing. We are finally to the point where we can lay Henry down fully awake and he will be able to fall asleep on his own. It's taken awhile to get to this point, but I find that between John, Henry, and I, slow transitions seem to really work for us. Whether this is the case for baby #2 remains to be seen.
• Henry is so very helpful. He is really good at picking up his toys when he is asked. The nursery lady at church even commented to me about how good he is with clean-up time. She said she usually has to force the older kids to help, but Henry helps as soon as she starts to clean. (Obviously this is music to his mother's ears :)
• Henry is a very observant child. In any new situation he likes to hang back and watch what's going on before he participates.
  
• Henry seems to be very intuitive. He notices when the corners of my kitchen rugs get flipped over and always makes sure to flip them back to their proper place. He has also been known to run ahead of me while I vacuum and pick up his toys before I get to them. I never ask, he just seems to know what to do and does it. I hope we can really nurture this characteristic in him because it is really quite charming.
• Henry has seen his share of timeouts & spanks, but overall he is such a delight! We love our Henry :)
  

20 months...

20-month highlights:
This was a big month for Henry! I feel like he grew up so much in the past 30 days...

• I think Henry has finally figured out how to sleep through the night! Woohoo!!!! I think he slept through the night every night this month. And not only did he sleep through the night, but he's been going to bed around 8ish and sleeping in until 7:30ish. Oh my goodness, I am one spoiled mama :) I realize that Henry may regress, but right now, John and I are loving this new sleeping pattern!
• Henry is still taking his afternoon naps at 1:00 in the stroller. It's the only way I can get any sort of consistent nap out of him. I walk him to sleep and then push the stroller into his bedroom. He usually sleeps for about 1 1/2 hours (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less). These walks are good for both of us, and I have a feeling that I will look back and remember this phase with great fondness.
• Henry always sleeps with his basketball. He takes it with him in the stroller on our afternoon nap walks, and he holds it when we put him into the crib at night. He likes to sleep on his stomach with one arm over the top of the ball. I seriously wonder if this ball has contributed to Henry's recent sleep improvements.
• Henry's love of sports & balls is really quite amazing to me. I mean, I figured there would be a good chance that our children would enjoy sports, but I did not realize how soon this obsession could start! Henry is truly happiest when he is outside, or in the gym, with a ball in his hands.
  
• Henry can now shoot baskets on our plastic hoop and make them with regularity. He used to have to stand on the top of his play structure to get the ball through the hoop, but now he can actually stand on the ground and throw it up and make it. John is pretty proud.
• Henry can now do defensive slides (thanks for the instruction, Aunt Denise), shoot a set basketball shot with pretty darn good form, and come close to doing a somersault (thanks Grandpa Royce).
• Henry received some great new toys for Christmas that he loves! They include: lots of balls, duplo, a wooden train set, the Little People farm, a scooter, and a Berenstain Bears ball DVD (among other things).
  
• Henry has added some new words to his repetoire! He has learned how to say animal sounds: horse, pig, cow, bear, dog, cat. He can now also say "juice", which is so cute! Even though he doesn't use a lot of words yet, Henry understands pretty much everything we say. There isn't much that he doesn't pick up on.
  
• Henry loves to eat yogurt and granola, nuts, Wheat Thins crackers, applesauce, meat, most fruit, animal crackers, pizza, and ice cream! He still isn't too fond of veggies, although he still gets spinach in his smoothies. He also loves to drink juice.
• Henry is a really great helper. He always helps me pick up his toys, and he likes to follow me around the house and do the jobs that I am doing. He takes clothes out of the laundry basket and "folds" them and stacks them on top of each other, he pulls clothes off of the hangers and puts them into our dresser drawers, he sweeps, he dries dishes, he empties the dishwasher of his plates, bowls, and utensils, and he helps me cook. I love it when he helps me.
• In the past few months, Henry has had a big problem with hitting, but for whatever reason, he hasn't had any hitting episodes this month.
• Henry is getting to be quite bossy and assertive. He may not have a lot of words, but if he wants us to do something he will simply push us towards whatever he wants and not stop until he gets what he wants. Which, of course, doesn't always happen.
  
• Henry says please and thank you by looking up and saying "mama" or "dada" in a sweet and quiet voice.
• Henry is such an enjoyable child. He is sensitive,smart, focused, and funny (sounds a lot like his daddy!). We love having him in our family.
  

19 months...

Henry looking quite like an athlete...


And to demonstrate his athletic prowess...Henry shows me he can jump off of the bottom step:




19-month highlights:

• I'd say Henry slept through the night about 50% of the time this last month. A marked improvement from pretty much never during the month of October :) Henry's sleep habits continue to be very fragile. They are easily bothered by the slightest of things: a runny nose, a trip out of town, a scrape or bruise, bad day, etc. Each time his sleep schedule is disrupted, it takes us a good 3 or 4 night to get him back on track. Constant maintenance.
• Henry continues to take his nap at 1:00 in the stroller. I'm really enjoying this crisp afternoon weather we've been having.
• Henry literally says the word "bah-bah" 1,000 times per day! It's his favorite word. He likes to say "mama" and "dada" a lot too, but "bah-bah" is by far his favorite. Other words he says: "ot" (hot), "uh-oh", "boo" (moo), "vroom-vroom" (for any vehicle).
• When Henry wants something I always tell him to say "Please, mama." Obviously, for a boy of so few words, "please" isn't going to happen for awhile, but, whenever he wants something he will look at me, then look up, and say "mama" very slowly, which means "please" to him. It's really quite sweet.
• Henry now bows his head while we pray. So cute. He still holds our hands (or anyone else's hands) while praying as well.
• Balls are this boy's best friend! He almost always has a ball in his hands when we leave the house. Up until this week it was always a basketball, but Aunt Jill and Uncle Jay loaned him a football this weekend, and Henry has hardly been able to let go of it. (Notice the pictures above).
• Henry loves to go to the gym with his daddy. Sometimes John will take him to the first part of practice while I clean up dinner, and then I will go pick him up. He loves this special time with his daddy.
• Henry has discovered Toy Story...and loves it!
• Puzzles have started to have some appeal to Henry lately. He is really quite good at matching the pieces to their proper place (i.e. matching the puzzle piece image to the puzzle board image) but he isn't very good at twisting the pieces around to actually make them fit in their home. That will come though.
• Henry has really started to become a little show off. Some of his favorite people to show off for: His grandparents, aunts & uncles, and the girls on John's tennis team :) He has also become quite friendly to those we see regularly at church.
• Henry still loves the nursery at aerobics, but the church nursery and Bible Study nursery aren't so much his favorite.
  
• Henry has a problem with hitting. He is disciplined most often for this offense.
• Currently Henry enjoys eating: raisins (his ultimate favorite), smoothies, juice (mostly watered down), crackers, apples (and most any fruit), cereal, granola, yogurt, meat (most any kind), bread (although it is rapidly losing it's appeal), and pasta. He just doesn't really care for vegetables, despite my best efforts. Thankfully, he gets lots of spinach in his smoothies.
• Henry loves to do dishes (i.e. play in the water at the sink)
  
• We are very much enjoying Henry at this age. I love to watch his skills develop, and I especially love to watch his admiration for his daddy grow each day.
  

18 months...

Now that October is over, I have finally found the time to post Henry's 18-month update. The pictures are in the front yard rather than the back because we had to replace a sewage line and have a 3-foot deep trench bisecting our back lawn.






18-month highlights:

• Now that Henry has passed his pennies he is much happier. I didn't realize how malcontent he was prior to this, but after those pennies made their appearance I had my happy boy back.
• Henry slept horribly this past month due to his pennies (at least that's what I think) so we are working on getting him back to sleeping through the night. We're finally down to one wake-up per night, usually between 3:00 and 4:00, rather than multiple wake-ups at 12:00, 1:00, 3:00, and possibly 4:00 too.
• Henry takes all of his naps in the stroller. I fought this for a long time, but finally gave in. A 2-3 hour nap in the stroller sure beats a 45-minute nap in the crib.
• Henry isn't fond of the church nursery these days. He seems to do ok in the CBS nursery and the aerobics nursery though.
  
• Henry loves his daddy. Today he woke up from his nap, brought me my phone, opened it, and said "dada" over and over again. Obviously telling me that he wanted access to his dad.
• Henry loves books. His current favorite is Old McDonald Had a Farm.
• Henry isn't much of a veggie eater (much to his mother's chagrin). He still likes smoothies, meat, bread, and fruit.
• John does Henry's bath & bedtime routine every night. Once basketball practice is in full swing these duties will belong to me.
• Henry's current favorite toys are blocks, dump trucks, books, and outside toys in general.
• Henry loves all of his grandparents & great-grandparents. When I tell him we are going to visit to them he usually squeals and runs for the door.
• Henry is making me laugh a lot lately. He's a pretty funny kid.
  
• At Henry's 18-month check-up he weighed 27 lbs. 11 oz. (70th percentile) & was 34" long (90th percentile).
• We love our boy.