I do remember and I hope I always will

I cannot sing, it is a fact that I have been able to come to grips with over the years. I am great in cars with the windows down, or in the shower, but other than that it is a disaster. In addition to not being able to carry a tune, I have what Wade kindly refers to as a "stage voice". In other words I have no volume control...it is one level and that level is extra loud. Considering these two facts one might surmise that I am not the person to call on when a lullaby is required. But, in my house, I am the go-to-gal for night-night time, so I had a choice-Make every ear in the house ring with an off-tune version of "I Will Always Love You" or find another way to send my son off to la-la land with the sound of my voice. I chose the latter. Sometimes I hum, which seems a little less like I am torturing the boy. Other times I will tell him about all the people (or things) he knows that are also going night-night. It goes something like this "Mama nigh-nigh. Papa nigh-nigh. Choo-choo nigh-nigh." Today we tried something new, and I am pretty sure that it might be his favorite so far.

See, we have made several attempts at a nap this afternoon. The first time we were in the rocker I started talking with Henry about all the fun things he did this morning. I said "Remember the green choo-choo train and the library with the books and all the other kids that were reading stories too?" He seemed to settle down and relax a little so I keep going. After going back and forth from the rocking chair to Henry's bed three times..let me just interject, yes, I know that I should let him put himself to sleep and I do that most of the time but I can't stand leaving him in there when he is red faced, yelling Mama and covered in sweat. Besides, come to my house, and walk into a room with a sweet little baby who has spent the last 5 minutes collecting all the animals and the eight blankets in his bed and is now standing on the edge of his bed, arms so full of blankets that you can only see a few blond curls on the top and his tiny little toes on bottom, saying "Mama? Wock-by? Pees wock-by." over and over again and let's see how stone faced you are. Anyway, we are in the rocker for the third time in 10 minutes and I am not saying a word this time because I have figured that it was all my chatting earlier that has kept him up and Henry starts talking. He turns his face right next to mine and says "Member green choo-choo Mama? Member books? Member Ray-Ray and vroom-vroom? Member Henry dive? Member Papa? Member chalk? Member dance? Member wock-by Mama?"

Even more

My mom called me to tell me that Henry said a 3 word sentence today. They were playing hide and seek and he couldn't find her. He said "Where Gigi hiding?" We have seen glimpses of this over the past month with three, four or even five words sentences every now and then, but they have always been more observational than conversational. A few weeks ago he saw a cat walking under a tree and said "Meow walking unden tree." But it has been just recently that he seems to be actually talking to us.
Today he told me "Lay down Mama. Go nigh-nigh." I laid on the floor. "Cuse me" he said. I gave Wade a look, "what does that mean?" I asked. "Cuse me" Henry says again. Wade gets it, "I think its excuse me." I roll out of his way and he walks past me. "Tank you" he says. "Blue berry Papa?" He pops a blue berry in his mouth and walks back over to me. "Cuse me Mama." I roll. "Tank you."

Okay, the thank you we understand but excuse me? This is new. Must have been with the Aunts over the weekend or Gigi.

A conversation

M-"Henry look at those beads. How many are there?"

H-"Two"

M-"Good job! Let's count them. Ready?"

H-He points "One and" points to the other "one."

M-"One and one? But you forgot two."

H-He points again "Two and two."

M-"What? Now you forgot one."

H-He points yet again "Two and one."

M-"Close but this time you went backwards."

H-"Beep beep beep..."

An Annie or Yoga

Henry got to spend the weekend with his aunts. It was a beautiful thing.

Wookin on it

One of Henry's favorite things to do is work on his cars. He will flip his truck over and run over to the drawer with all our tools and say "nail?" All tools are nails.

Little Scientist

5 minutes. An entire roll of paper towels.

hug eh-buddy

-Grandpa Benda came up to play with Henry today. He calls Wade "Wado" and so it just makes sense that Henry would be "Henry-o". This nickname really stuck with Henry. He called himself Henry-o and talked about Branpa Benya the whole ride home. He would look out the window and say "henwe-o" and smile and say "branpa benya" and smile. Henry loves his grandparents, that is obvious.

-Henry gives lots of hugs. Lately when he gives hugs he wants to include everyone in the room. He walks over to one person gives them a hug and says "hug? eh-buddy" and who can say no? We've gotten up to a 6 person group hug so far.

-He is really talking now-a-days. In the car this morning we saw a train, cars stacked up on top of each other, on a track that goes over one of the streets to our house. Henry said "Mama! Choo-choo train!" "Mama! Dow-bu decker." "Unden choo-choo." "Maybe."
Translation-double decker train and we are going to drive under it. The maybe part he doesn't really understand. On the way home we will say something like "Maybe we'll see a train" and now every time we see a train Henry will say "maybe".

-During Henry's bath tonight I peeked around the corner to say something to Wade and when I looked back at the tub Henry was playing with his hippo and rhino. He had one in each hand, they were walking along the edge of the tub and he was making little noises. Wade came around the corner and we watched our little boy play with his toys. The rhino started to walk away from the hippo and Henry said in a high voice "Bye bye". Then he looked up and saw us watching him. He smiled, held up both animals and said "Hippos? One, two." I have to say to that besides hearing his heartbeat for the first time, feeling him kick for the first time and holding him for the first time, watching him develop an imagination is one of the most amazing experiences. I just remember when he didn't even know how to use his arms and fingers and there is his, playing with his animals. It is so beautiful.

-We watch a lot of trains. Henry loves it. Many of the trains have graffiti on the sides. Wade and I are both big fans of graffiti. We say "Look Henry, art." So today, when a car covered in graffiti passed us on the way to Gigi's Henry yelled "Mama! Choo-choo art!"

At Gigi's this week

In a bucket part 2 (although he doesn't fit quite as well these days).

Oh yeah......

I just found this picture of Henry and it reminded me, first of all, of the days when he used to smile for photos and, second of all, of the days when he only had two teeth. Now he has 16. (You can really see them here and here)

Sleep

Weee-ewww

We bought Henry a fireman's hat last weekend that has a flashing red light on the front and makes the sound of a siren. Henry feels that the hat is really only useful with the siren and light on, at all times.

Yes, we are crazy.

Is it that obvious?

“Heer” Henry says as he turns his head sideways and points to my nose.

“Hear?” I ask. “We hear with our ears.” I tell him and turn my head so he can see my ears.

“No he-er” he says, and he turns my head back so that I am facing him, scoots very close to my face, looks sideways up my nose, and jams his finger into the tip of my nose.

“Baby, no, we hear with our ears.” I say and I move his hand off of my nose and put it on his ear.

“NOSE HAIR” he yells and shoves his finger right up my nose.

Who goes there?

Okay that was cheesy, it's late, I'm tired and I have been a posting machine for the past hour so things are getting a little silly around here.

Henry loves to work the gate.

A welcome surprise

One of the perks of buying an old house (rather than one that was just built) is watching what pops up out of the ground as the seasons change. We had sunflowers last month, this month we have lilies. Lots of them.

One of the reasons why I love my husband

Not only does he help the guys that he is paying to landscape the yard, he sits and takes a break with them. Now the rest of the posts are in reverse order, the first one you should read is the first one I posted today. So scroll down to the first post of the day, otherwise it doesn't make any sense....or at least that is what my test group (husband) tells me. And don't peek at the pictures as you scroll...squint your eyes or something.

Ewww dirt three minutes later

After the quickest bath ever and the squirmiest jammies putting on ever and the fussiest teeth brushing...ever....

Ewww dirt one minute later

Pre-bath escape #2
Yay, Papa is here. Papa save me from the bath. How I can I be expected to bathe with all this dirt?

Ewww dirt, later that evening

Pre-bath escape...
Well, at least I can get a cute photo of him....Henry, come here and say cheese.
Thank you son.

Ewww dirt

We had some landscaping done this past weekend and Henry was gripped. He is obsessed with all things dirty right now. He will spend the whole time at the park wiping the sand off of the equipment. He will stop in his tracks while on a walk to check the bottom of his feet for dirt. He says "Ewww dirt". The day that I took these photos, the first day the guys were out working on our lawn, Henry ran over to the window, his arm outstretched and his finger pointing and said "Mama.....DIRRRRRTEEEE".


I took the opportunity to capture a few photos of him when he was, for once, not squirming all over the place.