Off

Gigi and Grandpa went on a 2 week vacation to Alaska earlier this month so Henry and I got to spend a lot of time together. We had big plans but we did not anticipate temperatures in the 90's so we didn't really get to do as much as we would have liked. We did plant some flowers-Ride bikes on chalk obstacle courses-

Make new crayons

And color with them in our underwear after getting very sweaty outside-
Read lots of books and make mountains with pillows and blankets on the sofa-

Paint-

And build enormous Lego machines. In fact, I was at work until 1:00 this afternoon and this is what I came home to- 2 boys playing with Lego's in their jammies. No lunch. No teeth brushing. Just Lego's.

Ornery

I have read "What to Expect the Toddler Years" front to back. So far it seems like Henry is about 6 months ahead of what they are describing in the book. Maybe this explains his sudden jump into "the ferocious fours". We are tackling something new almost every day. From lying to cursing to just general boundary testing. 6 months ago Henry would have starting crying if we walked into the street not holding hands, today on our way to get the mail I said "Slow down, don't step into that street until I am next to you holding your hand." And he literally stopped with his heel just barely on the edge of the sidewalk and grinned back at me with the most ornery look. Testing testing testing...
He stumps us with a question at least once a day. Like today- "Why is damn it a bad word?" "What makes a word bad?" "Who decides that it is bad?" And "Why can Papa say it and but not kids?" (I now understand the response "because I said so.") He also has us cracking up at least 5 times a day. And every time I think to myself "I have to remember that for the blog" and every time I forget. Sorry guys. If it is any consolation you are welcome to come over any time and experience the orneriness/funnies for yourself. Just be sure that you are well rested because this kid does not stop.

Fun around a gigantic art piece

*Henry's photo pose :)




This went on for 45 minutes. He found me and caught me within seconds every time. Quick little bean.

Fun in the country

More fun to come....

Recent pics

May

Aunt Susie and Uncle Ted visited this weekend. Henry was thrilled. We have been moving the magnet on his calendar in his room for the past two weeks, every day closer and closer to “Aunt Susie Day” and when the day of their arrival came last Thursday, Henry woke up at 4:30 in the morning to ask if he could move the magnet to “Aunt Susie Day”. He did and I am surprised he was able to fall back asleep.
They had a Mother’s Day celebration at Henry’s preschool on Thursday. The kids made apple muffins with smiley faces, daffodils made out of construction paper and those tiny cups that you fill with ketchup at fast food restaurants, and garden stones that they decorated with shiny rocks and tiny shells. When I arrived the kids were playing downstairs. I pulled out my camera and took a photo of the spread on the table-muffins, apples, carrots, celery, handmade flowers and fresh flowers. The schoolhouse is really only 2 rooms. The upstairs room is full of light; windows cover 3 of the 4 walls. I moved into a sunny spot and waited for the kids. I love this school. After a minute or two, I heard the kids stomping up the steps. They ran into the room, stood on the circle rug and were led by the teachers in a messy and slightly distracted version of “You are my Sunshine”. After that it was time for snack. Henry and I sat inside and talked, mostly about Aunt Susie’s visit. She was going to pick him up from school and Henry was excited. Once we finished our snacks we headed outside to play for a while. Henry played in the sand with two other truck and sand loving boys. The boys played pretty well together until another kid came around and started dumping the truck every time that Henry would fill it up. This was not the game that he had been playing and I think it bothered Henry that this boy was dumping his sand but he didn’t cry or scream or grab the truck, he just said “No Max, I want to fill it all the way up. Please don’t dump it.” And when Max continued to dump it Henry looked at me, rolled his eyes, raised up his shoulders and smiled an “Oh well” smile. We moved on to the slide and had a great time. I was proud of him for handling it so well. For a kid that has very little experience playing with other kids he was very patient and easy going about Max’s behavior. And he moved on easily when it wasn’t working. (Although he mentioned last night that Max is very naughty and shouldn’t be allowed to go to school, so it obviously stuck with him a little bit.) Henry tells me almost every morning on the way to school “Going to school is going to be sad because I will miss you and I don’t know how to play with the other kids.” When I drop him off he mostly just hangs around the teachers. I am not sure what to do to get him to interact more with the other kids. He seems to do well with 4 and 5 year olds but he cannot move to the 4-5 year old class until next year. I hope we can find a friend for him soon, I think that it will make all the difference.

Aunt Susie and Uncle Ted arrived to pick Henry up from school about a half an hour later. Henry was so funny. He covered his mouth, jumped up and down, stomped his feet and did not make a sound. I haven’t seen him that excited to see someone. She beat Santa and the Easter Bunny. Aunt Susie is very special to Henry. They became very close when she lived with my parents while her hubby was in Iraq. She moved to Rhode Island in January and Henry has been missing her ever since. We spent a lot of time over the weekend with Aunt Susie….and Henry didn’t really want anything to do with anyone else. This morning he told me “I wish Aunt Susie could stay at Gigi and Grandpa’s house again for days and days and days.” I agree. We all miss her.

On Saturday we all met up at Henry’s school for the Family Fun Walk- 5/10K Benefit Run. It was what I like to describe as “Co-op crazy”—all the makings of an official event but with the chaos of a family reunion. We basically waited an hour to walk around the block with about 100 other families, ate some pancakes and watched the kids play. They had live music and the weather was perfect. My favorite part of the day was pushing Henry on the tire swing. He leaned back and closed his eyes. I remember doing that exact same thing as a kid. I told Wade that we need to put in a tire swing at our house. One that is sturdy enough for both kids and grownups :) Henry picked out an enormous yellow t-shirt at the run and he has worn it almost every day since.
We have a lot coming up in the next few weeks. A vacation. A wedding. Summer school. I’ll try to do a better job of blogging.

Happy Mother's Day

Two weeks ago Henry loved preschool. Now he cries and clings to me until I peel him off and hand him to the teacher. I don't get it.

More to come...

Washed Away

We are all feeling better now. We all lost a little weight from not eating much for a few days, but Henry is making up for lost time. This kid has not stopped eating for the last four days. He is eating every 2 hours at this point. All day long. He is breaking his personal records for food consumption left and right. He had 4 adult-sized pancakes, two pieces of fake bacon, three strawberries, a half a grapefruit and a glass of juice for breakfast...and was hungry way before lunch. We are going through fruit, granola bars, and goldfish crackers like they're going out of style. He now even has an AFTER dinner snack before bed. We are getting a glimpse of what our lives are going to be like in about eleven years.

As to his ongoing discourse on life and nature with us, he most recently talked to Laura about the thunderstorm last night.

Henry - Mama, do you remember that storm last night?
Mama - Uh huh.

H - Well, there was big normal thunder and damper thunder.
M - What do you mean?

H - Some was big and some was damper.
M - Oh. (still not getting it) Okay sugarbear.

Then Mama remembered what Henry knows of pianos...and their pedals. There are three. One is for softening, one for muting, and one (perhaps his favorite?) for damping or sustaining. Although he isn't quite accurate, Henry believes the one for damping makes the sound of the piano more quiet. Henry was once again using his vocabulary in new and inventive ways, this time to describe the difference between soft thunder and loud thunder.

Or maybe he really meant that some thunder lasts longer than others...hmmm. We'll never know.

Sick Quote

We have all been really sick the last few days. Just imagine all the worst parts about having a stomach virus and then multiply it times three. It's pretty pathetic. But just now, another little grain of wisdom seeped out of our lethargic little bean. While laying on the couch he gave a big sigh, looked up at the ceiling, and whispered: "Life really comes to order."

I'm not really sure what that means...to me or to him...but it sure sounded right at the time.

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...