Bean Appreciation Hour

I haven't been blogging much lately due to...well, life. But there are a few stories that I have been mentally archiving so I could someday retell them and relate how cool The Bean really is to me.

1. Wisdom of the blocks
When Henry was about 2 and a few months, he was playing with blocks kind of like the ones above, except his had even more colors like purple and green and black. He was sitting on the floor in the dining room working with them. At first he was making these sort of repetitive motifs with them. He would make one grouping that might be one red with two greens sideways, and a small blue with a large yellow on top, and then he would repeat that motif and make as many of those as the quantity of blocks would allow. I was amazed by this already and watched as he invented one motif after another and made copies. But I wasn't prepared for the most awesome part. His next project was to group them all into like colors, or as he called them "friends". He would pile up the reds and say, "There we go" triumphantly, and move on to the greens and so on. When he got to the end of his project, he realized that for whatever reason, he only had one orange block. He sat quietly for a moment, holding the single block in his hand and looking at all the other blocks with their "friends". He looked back at the orange, and then a tiny half smile slowly crept across his face, eventually becoming a full-tilt grin, at which point he said joyously to the orange block, "It's okay orange, you can be friends with everybody." He then proceeded to take one block from each of all the other color groups and attached them all together to the orange to form one big multicolored group. He seemed content with that and moved on to another project. I was floored yet again by his compassion and tendency to unite instead of divide, and I felt very lucky to be Henry's friend.
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2. Sacrificial Merry-Go-Round
When we were in Kansas City this last Christmas at Toys R' Us we got Henry the now famous drum kit. Since it was technically from Santa we had to find a way to weasel it into the car without Henry noticing. We decided that I would take him to look at one more section while Mama put it into the car and covered it up. After browsing around we went back to the front of the store to wait for Mama to come back, and here we found a merry-go-round much like the one above. Henry really likes to ride these. He asked if he could ride it and I said he couldn't today because I didn't have any money. "Pweeze, pwetty pweeeze Papa", he begged. I just apologized and told him again that I didn't have any money today. "Okay" he said, and stood patiently waiting for Mama. As we were waiting another kid zipped by him, hopped on, and giggled with glee as it spun to life with the drop of the parental quarter. He watched and didn't say anything. The next morning Henry came into our bed early and rolled around snuggling and telling us about his dreams like he loves to do. When I finally got up and started to get dressed he asked, "Where are you going Papa?" "To work" I said. "Why do you have to go to work?" he continued. "Because I have to make money so we can do fun stuff" I replied. "Oh" he said, and got quiet. I watched him thinking for a second and then stood up on the bed. "Papa", he began. "It's okay. I don't really want to ride those horses, so you can stay home with me today." It might have been one of the sweetest things I have ever seen or heard by a human being. He was willing to sacrifice something that he really loved, so that I would stay home and play with him. I have to say, I almost called in to work that day.
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3. Art
Henry takes his art very seriously. He is making so much of it now that we have created "Henry's Art Gallery" in the hallway on the way to his room. Here are pictures of the east and west wings of the gallery as well as a shot of him at work on the front porch. The medium is chalk on plywood. His pre-school teachers tell us that he often spends the most time of anyone in the class on his creations, paying meticulous attention to things like brush strokes, application of color, and glitter distribution. It is very impressive to see him at work. He draws people and animals now too, and he is becoming very interested in using his new scissors and glue stick. And I am happy to say that last week he decided to learn to write his name, so he will now be signing all his pieces.
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4. Music, Dance
The Bean is an avid music lover. Some of his favorites are Johnny Cash, Blitzen Trapper, Bloc Party, Enon, and Squirrel Nut Zippers. It is an amazing thing to watch his nightly improvisational dance moves . He really works up a sweat as he bounces on his matress we put out on the floor in the living room for safety/fun purposes, and is keen to watch himself in a full-length mirror while he wiggles. I think he is perfecting his techiniques. What is even more beautiful to me is his verbal description of how the music makes him feel, or what he believes it to be about. When he hears a sad song, he sometimes says, "Papa, this is a song about someone who can't find their friends and now they are sad to be alone." Or when he hears a song that has a gentle female vocalist he may say, "Papa, this song sounds like a sweet flower in the sun." Or when he hears some rock or hardcore he'll yell, "Papa! This song is about action! Yeah baby!" He also knows his favorite music extremely well. He tells me, "Okay papa, here is where the cymbals come in", and they do, right on key. Or he'll say, "Listen Papa. Now even the birds will start singing," as the female harmonies creep in behind the lead vocals. It's really fun for me to have a new participant in this kind of musical appreciation.
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5. Understanding
One of my favorite moments as a parent and witness to the Bean miracle is the joy of watching him try to describe something that is new to him in his own way. I am generally amazed by how accurate his descriptions are. The other day he was riding with me in the car when we drove by a house that still had Christmas lights up in the trees outside their home. As we slowly passed the house, the lights twinkled intermittenly as they were alternately exposed and hidden by branches and leaves. "See that Papa?" he said. "Yeah, I see it Henry" I said. "That is how my foot feels when it falls asleep." Yup. That's pretty much exactly how a blood-starved appendage feels. Amazing. All I could say was, "Yeah. That's right buddy. Mine too."
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Henry is at a really fun age for me. Spending time with him is one of the greatest joys of my life, and I can feel nothing but appreciation for the things he is teaching me about myself and the world, and the laughter that he brings into my life. There is no such thing as a recession or work politics or environmental woes or late bills in a house with a kid singing in the bathtub while he plays with his toys and yelling out, "Come in here everybody! I'm cooking up some bad soup made of boogers and dirty diapers!" Sweet!

The Choo Choo Birdhouse

Henry and I made our first birdhouse together last week and hung it up yesterday. I wanted to start building birdhouses for a few reasons. 1. I want to listen to them chirping and singing in the mornings outside my window on the weekends. 2. I feel like I need to replace the habitat they lost when I took down the birdhouses that the people left that lived here before us and when I repaired the eave that had birds living in it. 3. I wanted Henry and I to have a project together that he had a lot of say in how it came together so he could feel something going from an idea to reality under his own power. The shape of this birdhouse and the color scheme were totally his ideas.






The finished product: A psychedelic choo choo-shaped Ritz Carlton for our winged friends. The entrance is in the front of the boiler and they sort of hop through the foyer which leads to another hole where the main living area is in the cab part. New to the market, very sturdy, and very spacious. Amenities include an extended landing platform, air-tight waterproof insulation, and a smoke stack that holds birdseed.

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines

Henry had his first Valentines Day party today. We stayed up way too late last night making homemade valentines, but he got to practice using scissors and glue and his valentines turned out pretty great, so it was worth the effort. I love that he still sits on his feet like this.

Cousin Campbell (A few months late)

Ornery little boys

Laying down with Henry

Mama
Yes Henry
My babies are in my tummy tonight, just like when I was a baby in your tummy.
Okay Henry. Everybody needs to go to sleep.
Mama
Yes Henry
One of my babies is kicking and dancing just like I did when I was a baby in your tummy.
Okay baby. Stop playing with your buddies and go to sleep.
Mama
Yes
You make me happy and laugh when you toot in the car and Papa covers his nose with his shirt and opens the windows.
It makes me laugh too Henry. Okay. No more talking.
Mama
Uh-huh
Papa also makes me happy when he dances back and forth by the door while I play my drums.
I know Baby. Go to sleep.
Mama
Yes
What would happen if I took a star from the sky and put it in a box?
What do you think would happen?
I think it would light up the box like a lightbulb.
Me too. Goodnight.
Mama
Why aren’t you sleeping?
Mama
Yes Henry
I am a superstar at my school
Okay. I am going to go in the other room if you don’t lie quietly and sleep.
Mama.
No more talking Henry.
But Mama
Henry, I am serious. It is time to sleep.
But Mama
Yes
I pooped.

Boy

Baby

I found an old roll of film this weekend with had a couple of funny pictures of the Bean way back in 2007. Back when his hair was straight and he still had fat rolls on his arms and legs. Ahhh...

dance

all he needs is a cleared off mattress and some music. the double finger point is my favorite move.

Week 2

So many people have been asking about Henry's preschool and I have been very bad about responding to your emails...sorry guys. He does love it and there are a lot of ways that friends and family can get involved (including a 5K run in the spring...) and I promise to write you all back and give more details than I have given on the blog just for privacy sake.

I had one of my first official "parent of a school age child" moments on Tuesday when I had to call the school to tell them that Henry was sick and not coming to school. It was very funny to be the one calling in. I can't tell you the number of times I dreamed about being able to do that for myself in high school. My friends and I would call each other to practice our Mom's voices just in case we ever got up the courage to call in sick. I never did. Anyway. Everyone said "Oh he is going to get sick a lot when he starts because he has not spent much time around other kids” and we pooh-poohed saying that we would wash his hands a lot or claiming that all the green leafy veggies would protect him…One week in and he already has his first cold. It’s not a bad cold but I did spend most of the weekend on fever patrol (basically getting up every hour to check his forehead, decide that it is hot and then attempt to take his temperature without waking him and then waking him up and getting grumped at from the kid (and from the husband) then defending myself with claims that he had a high fever but then refusing to give him any medicine because I hate medicating him). The snot situation was so excessive on Tuesday that I decided he should not go to school. It was funny, I called the teacher and then Henry came over and grabbed the phone as said “Miss Murray (not his teachers name but the name of a teacher from one of his books) um yeah dis is Henry. I am sick on dis day and cannot come to school but I will come again on Saturday.” His teacher was a good sport about it. I think I’ll ask her tomorrow if that was the first time that a kid actually called himself in and then made arrangements to make up the day over the weekend :)

But the really great part about Henry missing school was that we got to spend Tuesday morning playing with his trains in the living room while watching the inauguration of our 44th president. Thrilling! I did learn that it is very hard to explain to a 3 year old why it is that you are crying because you are happy. Henry checked on me several times through out the morning “Is you sad Mama or is you happy? Do you need a hug? It’s okay Mama. Don’t be sad. Here you can nuzzle with puppy.”

Henry is asking so many questions these days, it is really fun and sometimes quite a challenge. Like a few weeks ago when he asked “Why do people eat animals?” To which I responded “Let’s ask Papa.” :) Yesterday morning he asked me what a buffalo looks like, what it means to eject something, what does the president do, why do babies live in the Mama’s tummy, why is it not good to stick your finger in your eye, what are belly buttons used for and how come birds fly south for the winter. Good stuff. Kids pick up on so much. But I have to say the best was this morning when I took Henry’s old car seat out of the car and replaced it with a new booster seat and Henry told us, without any prompting, “Now we can put dis old car seat here for my little brodder who is a baby.”

Week 1

Henry’s first week at preschool went really well. He has a couple minor issues regarding how to play with other kids. But his teachers tell us that he is a good listener so they think they he will learn those social skills quickly. He also had a little trouble with sitting still during circle time but, again, listened well and followed instructions when the teacher told him her expectations. On Thursday I came to pick him up and Miss Stephanie told me that Henry had some great dance moves. Apparently they were singing in circle time and Henry hopped up and said “you wanna see some moves? Yook at dis.” And then he proceeded to shake, kick and jump around like only a 3 year old boy can do. After the impromptu performance Miss Stephanie said “Henry you are a great dancer. You are funny too, making everyone laugh.” And Henry said “Yeah. I crack myself up.” His teacher described the kids in his class as “a gentle, mellow group” I am thinking that our little bean is going to shake things up a bit.

Bittersweet

Henry lost his pants in the parking lot of the grocery store yesterday. He was holding our hands, jumping up and down, and singing a make-up song about losing his pants as we hiked across the very busy parking lot in the freezing cold. When we got close to the street in front of the store I looked down to make sure I had a good grip on his hand and noticed that his pants were down to his ankles. I yanked up his pants and we all cracked up (along with the other 2 couples walking behind us).

He starts preschool on Tuesday. Wade attended our first official parent/teacher meeting last week. We felt very grown up and, for me at least, a little strange to be on this end of it. I still remember being the student discussed in those meetings. Plus I can't believe he is 3. Everyone tells you this, but you never really understand it until you go through it---they grow up so fast. I can't believe we have a school-age child among us. Wasn't he learning to hold his head up just last week or something? :)

His school is a community preschool with a lot of parental involvement. We get to spend one day each month in the classroom helping the teachers. We get to bring lots of snacks and participate in several fund raisers and serve on a committee. The school wants the parents to bring their own talents to the classroom so I am sure that Wade will spend some time with the kids and his guitar and I plan on making some tasty treats and doing some fun craft projects with the kids also. We are excited for Henry to make some friends and are hoping that we make some new friends also.

Henry's Nana will be happy to know that he put his birthday money to good use last weekend. We went to Build a Bear and Henry picked a light brown bear to build. He waited in line patiently to stuff his bear and then had a pretty good time picking out an outfit for his new bear. Aunt Susie bought him some checkered shoes and a guitar. Grandpa bought the bear some shorts. And, since this present was from Nana and Nana has been such a big support for Henry as he potty trained (she supplied all of his diapers for the first year of his life and then bought Henry his potty) we bought the bear a pair of big boy underpants to celebrate Henry's new, diaper free, life!

Let's see, what other Henry tid-bits do I have to share? He loves his drums. He is able to thump out the rhythms of a few of his favorite songs and can hit his snare drum so hard that it makes my ears ring. :) He has started describing music by how it makes him feel. He'll say "This is song is sad" or "This song makes me feel frustrated". He still spends some time nearly every day building and playing with his train set. Mostly finding new and more elaborate ways for the trains to crash into each other. In fact he just made a crash and is right now telling me that the crash is called "Dump truck all the sudden smashing the bumper of a blue train." Then he says "Yook at dis crash, Mama. Do you want to see dis?" I better go have a look. It sounds serious.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Henry is hard to catch these days. He is a blurr in almost every photo I take. And he looks way too much like a little boy. (If you don't believe me scroll down to the last picture in this group. Be prepared.) I tried really hard to capture his excitment and joy this Christmas in a photograph and I couldn't get one. But he had a great Christmas. I hope you all did as well. Happy 2009! Santa brought a CD player for Henry. Henry loves music and he also loves books on CD.

And he loves sweets :)

Santa also brought a drum kit . Yes it is loud and yes we are crazy. But he loves it.

Guys

Wade and Henry spend every Friday morning together. At any given time while I am at work I can look at the clock and predict what they are doing. First they sleep in. Wade’s memories of being woken up as a teenager make it difficult for him to wake Henry . Then they lie around in bed together and “wake up slowly”. Finally, when someone’s stomach growls loud enough for the other one to hear it OR Henry says that he is ready for “beckfest” they get up. The go out to breakfast at the same place every week. The wait staff know them and when/if I go in with them on another day they say to me “Oh you’re Henry’s Mom?” Then they take the recycling to the recycling center. Henry loves to help. Then they go to the library. Then they come home and read their library books 3 or 4 times and play until Kelly comes to babysit. I love sitting at my desk imaging my two guys spending the morning together. And I love reading the library books with Henry each night, and him telling me the stories behind them. “We picked dis one Mama because the cat wears shoes. We picked dis one because the choo-choo train goes in the snow.”

Last night we were reading a library book and we were at the page where you have to pick which items Dora needs to give her puppy a bath. Henry quickly pointed out the soap and the towel. “Great job” I said and started to turn the page. “And dis one too Mama.” He points at a book. “If it is a book that goes in the water like my fish book.” “Okay.” I say. “And dis one.” He points to a banana. “If she gets hungry.” “Sure. That would work.” I say. “And dis one” he points at an umbrella “If she is taking a shower”.

Dr Appointment

Henry has his "well baby check" today. He is great. She asked me questions like "can he use 3 word sentences? and "can he count to 3?" and "does he know at least one color?" by then Henry piped in and said "I know lots of colors-my favorites are pink and green."

Height- 39.6 inches (90th percentile)
Weight- 35.8 pounds (80th percentile)
Chattiness- 100th percentile :)

We got his paperwork for preschool because now that he has this down, he can start school in the spring! We are so excited for him.

A few more birthday moments

It's a done deal

We are even venturing out of the house in big boy underpants these days.

ER visit # 2

We made our second trip in 3 years to the ER yesterday. Henry spiked a 102 fever (according to my, apparently, crappy ear thermometer that is currently in with Henry's play doctors kit) and started complaining about pain in his abdomen. His mood changed so quickly from running and playing to asking if he could just lay down on the floor right here and take a little nap, that Wade and I grabbed him and sped to the ER. We were happy to learn that the appendix is on the right side (Henry's pain was on the left and yes I have been studying biology for years and probably should have known that but it was a very stressful situation...and besides my degree is in Ecology..not human biology...anyway...). He looked terrible at the hospital but by the time the doctor got there he was talking a little more and his eyes were more than half way open so we started to relax a bit. The doctor looked him over and said he thought that he might have a virus and to give him ibuprofen and keep an eye on him. His temperature at the hospital was only 99.7, so that is why the ear thermometer is now a toy. Today he has been pretty normal. Susie came over and he spent about 5 minutes walking in circles around her and talking non-stop so we are thinking that he is feeling a little better.
Let's just do a quick round up of medical situation that made Henry's parents want to start drinking-

Choking when he was 1 day old- All the doctors on the peds floor
Head CT- Children's Mercy Hospital visit
Split open forehead- ER visit
Removal of stitches- Doctor's visit
Ringworm on his head- Doctor's visit
Chipped tooth- Dentist visit
Possible ruptured appendix on the left side of his body, a medical first but completely plausible in the mind of a frantic parent- ER visit

Also, 2 "grab the kid and run to the car" near ER visits involving a possibly broken wrist and tooth through the lip.

It is moments like these that leave me feeling certain that Henry will be an only child :)
*Just kidding Mom. And Emily.

The real Santa Claus

We had our first run in with Santa Claus at the grocery store last week and I have been reluctant to write about it because I just don't know if I can accurately describe the joy on my son's face in a story. But I am going to try because it was his first encounter with Santa and that deserves documentation.
We stopped in the card section and picked up a singing Christmas card. Singing cards have been the best thing to happen to our grocery store trips since the days when a cheerio sanck was enough of a bribe to buy us 30 minutes of speed shopping. So he picked out his card and we headed to the produce section. I am pretty sure that the other shoppers that evening thought that either our cart was playing "Frosty the snowman" or that I had a really festive ring tone because just strolling along we were getting a lot of strange looks...but anyway, we grabbed the card and went on our way. We passed an isle and Henry gasps and yells "SANTA CLAUS". I figured it was a figurine or one of those big blow up numbers so I said "No Henry is it just a pretend Santa." "NO Mama. Dat was the REAL Santa Claus." I backed up and sure enough, there was Santa picking up some nacho cheese Doritos. He must have just finished his photo-ops and decided to pick up a few things before he headed home. Santa gave us a small wave and continued to shop. I panicked. How was I going to explain that, yes, that was Santa but, no, we cannot talk to him because he is off the clock? So, I said "Oh, it looks like he is busy buying some food for his reindeer that are parked outside and hungry." And I walked very quickly to the other side of the produce section and tried to distract Henry. "Mama." Henry whispered shyly "Santa is standing behind you." And then there he was. He asked Henry his name and how old he was and what he wanted for Christmas. Henry was shy at first. He said his name and age very quietly. When Santa asked what he wants for Christmas he said "Geotrackdigger" very quickly. Santa couldn't understand him so I started to explain what a geo track is and then realized that was totally unnecessary when he nodded his head at me like "Lady, I don't really need to know what the kid wants." Duh! Anyway, Santa gave Henry a small candy cane and continued shopping and Henry was so excited. He moved between sitting with his mouth wide open and giggling while saying "Santa gave me dis candy cane Mama." The funny part to me...well there were 2 funny parts. First was the other shoppers in the store. Everyone stopped to watch Henry interact with Santa. Everyone was smiling and one guy, probably in his 20's, gave Henry the thumbs up. The other funny thing was that Santa smelled like cigarettes and alcohol and was just a tiny bit creepy...something that friends of mine have said about their experiences with grocery store Santa's but that I had never experienced first hand because we didn't visit Santa when I was a kid. It didn't bother Henry though. He has been talking about it ever since.

Moon

"Hello Moon. How ya doing up there just hanging in the sky? You ever have a dream that a rocket ship crashed into you? If you do I will come up there in a machine and give you a hug and you will feel better." "Come on Mama. Wave to it."

Learning

Two weeks ago I walked into Henry's room to find him watching Wade rake leaves through his window. He was chuckling to himself and then said "Bapa. I see you bottom." I peaked out the window. Sure enough, it was a classic case of plumbers crack. A couple of days later I asked Henry to pick up his train. "Okay Mama," he said, "but I will do it like Papa." And he yanked down his pants, turned around and starting picking up his toys with his tiny bottom hanging half way out.

Kids have this amazing ability to A) observe the world around them and B) remember every single detail. We are already getting corrected when we read his books that he got for his birthday, 2 days ago- "No Mama it's Brother not Bother." And Henry's ability to remember the beats and harmonies from music that he has only heard once or twice totally amazes me. He is singing songs from albums he has heard once or twice. Lyrics that Wade and I don't even recognize. He seems to be a very musical kid. Several weeks ago he placed all the containers in his room upside down on his tool bench, hooked his shakers and tambourines on to the plastic hooks on the wall, pulled up a bucket for a seat and started drumming on his home-made drum kit.

May we always have a roof above us, food before us, and love between us.
-Kelly family blessing, 2008

The Lip

Poor kid. He had a little bit of a rough week last week. It started with a visit to the doctor because of a rash on his head and then he hit is mouth on a toy the next day which chipped his front tooth and split his lip. So now he has a chipped tooth to go with the scar on his forehead. But, I am pretty sure his birthday party erased the memories all the trauma from the week. A big Thank You to everyone that came to celebrate with us.

Birthday Song

This is a very short video that I didn't even realize I was taking while we sang Henry Happy Birthday. It isn't much but you can hear his little voice singing along (if you can drown my voice out), see his happy face and watch him get dangerously close to hurting himself. Which, frankly, after the week we have had, I am surprised that he didn't. :)

Birthday Bean

Henry is 3! He has been looking forward to his birthday for weeks. On his birthday morning he came in our bedroom and woke us up saying "I woked up and turned 3 and now it is my birthday. Can I have cake?" Later on in the day he asked me if his feet had gotten bigger now that he is 3 and he also used being 3 as an excuse for not giving Mama the snuggles she usually gets before bed. I'll post more pictures soon.

More October

Making dog treats

That's the one!

Grandpa

Meeting a baby donkey

Playing with Bagel

Shaving

Sick of painting just on paper

Aunt Suz

Glow in the dark jammies

Funny

Aunt Susie called today to tell me about something Henry said yesterday while she was helping him use the potty-

Aunt Susie: Henry I’m so proud of you for pooping in the potty.
Henry: Aunt Susie I am so proud of you for watching me.

October

Jason & Mandy

Apple cider slushes and Jason and Mandy-a perfect day for Henry (and us too).

Last night after dinner we went out on a search for a new park. We went to an elementary school on the west side of town with a map of the United States painted on the parking lot. We spent a while showing Henry all the places that his family and friends live. Then we headed around to the back of the school to the playground. It was quite a walk from the parking lot to the playground. I pointed the slides out to Henry. He said "That is far away. I can't go very fast I only have 2 foots not 4 foots."
When we headed back to the car we stopped again at the United States map and Henry proceeded to show us where he lives. Where Nana lives. Where Jason and Mandy live. Where Gramma Alee lives. Where Aunt Annie lives. And Florida.

We were looking over a few pictures of birthday cake possibilities for Henry this evening. He picked a train cake again, this time in the snow. I said "Okay Hanky, that is the one we'll have on your birthday." He said "But Mama when I eat too much of that cake I will get sick. And then I will be big and round like a ball."

Working...almost a little too well

We were just about to give up on Henry ever using the potty when my friend Elizabeth suggested that we try m&m's. It was the only bribe that worked for her when she was potty training her daughter. Generally I am not a fan of giving sugar to an already high energy little person, but we were desperate so we gave it a try and it worked immediately. He has been in his big boy underpants ever since. 1 m&m for a pee. 3 for a poop. Why this was not suggested in any of the 20 parenting books that I own is a mystery to me. Thank God for the advice of other Mom's. There is a problem though. Henry loves getting m&m's so much that he has been walking around with a glass of water since 8 am yesterday morning. He has two tiny sips, says "I think it's ready" and then runs to the bathroom. Even with the trips to the bathroom every 3 minutes we are all thrilled to see him use the potty. And it is fun to see him so proud of himself. Next stop....preschool!

Little Boy

We are fielding a lot of questions these days

Papa, do cats like cheese?

Mama, why is the moon out in the morning?

Papa, how do they get the raisin in the yogurt?

Riding the train

We took the advice of several friends and brought Henry to ride on the Midland Train this weekend. Before the train left the kids were given some time to explore. There was a red caboose, two passenger cars, an outdoor car with benches for passengers and a orange engine. The train was slow. We went about 11 miles one way and it took over a half hour. Our destination was Norwood, which it turns out, it just a small area of the woods that has been cleared out, mowed and given a name.

Henry was excited. He was focused and very concerned that we find a seat and sit down so that the train did not leave without us. He made a half-hearted attempt at exploring the caboose but his mind was preoccupied with finding our seats. In the green car. Once we got in our seats Henry sat very still and held on to his ticket to give to the conductor. Gigi and Grandpa came along and Henry was glued to Grandpa's side most of the way out. He got a little bit more adventurous on the way back and by the time we returned he was running up and down the train car, leaving my stomach in knots, but having a pretty good time.