I can't thank people enough for all the LOVE Henry received on his birthday. Gifts and cards and phone calls...we save all of that stuff so that when he is older he will know what you guys did for him. Amazing!
Now.....this is a gift that we received last night from our good friends, and Henry's God parents, Jason and Mandy. They sent it from Denver. Henry was ecstatic. He would play a note and then cover his eyes and giggle and then play it again. It is such a wonderful and thoughtful gift and so true to them being amazing and dedicated musicians, really really wonderful. Now...I am not sure how long it will stay in this fantastic condition. I came in last night and he was playing it with his hands, and his foot...so we'll see. We will give it our best effort. Thank you guys! We love you all!

A few more birthday pics

Thanks to my sis

My little sister, Kelly, sent me this picture via camera phone this afternoon. The quality isn't great but I think the photograph is hilarious. Wanted to share.

Happy Birthday Henry

Thank you to everyone that came to his party, sent gifts, cards, emails, love....Henry had a great day. Here are a few photos of the train cake and our house before the big party. I will put the rest of the photos on our flickr account (just click on the link on the right hand side) and will probably have more photos in a couple of days when Susie downloads her photos from the day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Henry had a great day. He played with his Aunts and Uncle Ted all morning, took a nap and then it was back to Gigi and Grandpa's for more playing and some tasty dinner.
After Henry's nap, before we headed back to Gigi and Grandpa's house, Henry and I made place setting name tags for everyone.

He was very patient as I traced his hand and then was happy to attack the cut out with a glue stick. After it was sufficiently sticky he helped me sprinkle on the feathers.

Go play in the other room Bapa

Henry started playing by himself this week and I gotta tell ya, it's freaking me out a little. I was in the kitchen last night, fixing dinner and I saw Wade walk from Henry's room into the living room with one of Henry's favorite books and sit down in the big green chair.

What are you doing? I asked.
Henry kicked me out of his room. He gave me a book and said---Bapa go in other room and read by himself. Wade said.
I tip-toed through the kitchen and peaked into Henry's room. He was sitting on the floor in what we call the jello position....that way that only kids can sit, knees bent with his bottom on the floor and his legs on either side of him. Wade and I like to joke that Henry is made of jello...aka can get his arm stuck behind his back and it doesn't phase him...aka super flexible...Only those made of jello can comfortably sit in that position.

Anyway, we stood there for a second and watched him play with his rocket and then walked into the kitchen and stared at each other. He is playing by himself. We couldn't believe that after two years of spending every evening entertaining this tiny person that tonight for the first time he is in his room playing by himself! In the end we both agreed that it is very weird that Henry can play by himself. We continued to peek in on him every few minutes...okay seconds....and he was fine. It reminded me of when he first started sleeping in his own crib. It was less than 2 feet from my side of the bed but I still slept with a flashlight and woke up every 30 minutes to check on him and watch him breathe.

I'm not sure that I am ready for all these changes. Being two and playing by himself and having to sit in the no-no chair (yes, he has already had to sit there twice) and using the potty.....It's amazing how fast they grow, whether we are ready for it or not.

LOVES grapefruit

2 year check-up

Stats:
Weight-29 lbs. 8 oz 75th percentile
Height- 35.9 inches 78th percentile
Head circumference- 22 inches 98th percentile

No new teeth since his last appointment.

Looked great. She felt that the ridge on his forehead was less pronounced and told us that his fontanel was closed and that she expected for his ridge to continue to shrink over the next few years. He still has a big noggin but we aren't worried about it because he is the size of a 3 year old so it fits with the rest of his bone structure.

When she first came in the door Henry ran up to her with a toy that was not working, he said-
"This not working doctor bandarse. Needs new battery."
She giggled and said "So, he is talking really well, huh?"
After she checked his ears he wanted to check our ears. He looked at Mama's and said "Look great. Score 37 and 8." Then he checked Papa's ears and asked to see the doctor's ears. They both got a score of 37 and 8 as well.

Next appointment is in 6 months, at 2 1/2. Cross your fingers that we will be potty trained by then because if he is then he will get to start morning preschool at the community nursery school called Little Red School House. We are pretty sure that Henry will benefit from spending some time with other kids...and Gigi might like sleeping in a few days a week as well :)

Henry can get a little chatty on the way to Gigi's house

Henwe birtday soon Mama.
Have cake?
Cinnamon sugar cake.
Choo-choo cake.
Yellow balloons.
Annnnddd...candles.
Blow out candles.
WATCH OUT!
Be hot.
Don't touch it Mama.

One Fall Morning

This kid. I swear I'm not making this up

Henry was up early this morning. I brought him into bed with us so that we could squeeze a few more minutes of sleep out of him. He snuggled and pretended to sleep like he usually does when we bring him in our bed on Saturday morning (somehow he only wakes up early on the weekends) and Wade and I watched him and relaxed.

H-Hold hand Bapa?
Papa gives Henry his hand
H-Hold hand Mama?
Mama gives Henry her hand. He piles all of hands up on his tummy, puts Mama's hand in Papa's hand and puts his hand on top.
H-Ahh...
H-Love you Bapa
P-Love you Henry
H-Love you Mama
M-I love you Henry

I know it sounds made up but it's not. He is just the sweetest little guy.

Of course, he started saying no in response to every question, even when he really wants to say yes...so it isn't all cute stories, but moments like this morning make all the no's worth it.

Bad day

Last night in the bath Henry told me that he had a bad day. Here is how it went down

M: Henry please pick up your animals so that you can get out of the bath.
H: Nope
M: Henry it is time to get out of the bath. The water is almost gone and you are going to get cold.
H: Nope
M: Do you want Mama to help you pick up?
H: No Mama.
M: Okay, we will wait then until you are ready to pick them up and get out.
H: Sigh Bad day Mama.
M: What? Did you have a bad day?
H: Uh-huh, bad day.
M: Because you have to pick up your animals?
H: Yes Mama.
M: I am sorry that you are having a bad day.
He sits for a minute
H: Okay. Better. Better Mama.
He picks up his toys and tells me
H: No more bad day. Hug?
and hops out of the tub and I get a big (and wet) hug.

Fishy

Tonight in the tub Henry laid out on his tummy and told me that he was a mermaid.

"Henry mermaid Mama."

"Oh yes, I see, Henry is a mermaid. Beautiful. Good job baby."

"Look Mama, Henry fishy tail" and he reached his arm back and pointed to his bottom. "Fishy tail Mama. Right deir."

Feet in wind

Henry and I walked to the park yesterday afternoon. After some climbing and sliding we decided to do a little swinging. It was a perfect fall day-breezy and sunny and we could hear the leaves moving in the wind. Henry likes to swing next to his playmate and luckily there is usually big swings right next to the baby swings, so I always give him a good few pushes and then run over and hop on the grown-up swings for a minute or two and then run back over once he has slowed down and give him a few good pushes to get him started again. This time after I popped back over from my swing Henry told me "No shoes Mama. Henry shoes off." I took off his shoes and gave him a push. He straightened his legs, leaned his head back and flexed his feet so his toes were spread out as far as tiny toes can go. "Mmmmm, windy" he said. "Mama swing." So, I ran over to my swing but before I could get going he said "No shoes Mama." I kicked my shoes off, straightened my legs and spread out my toes as far as they would go. Henry grinned and nodded his head. "Mmmm wind Mama" he said, "bare feet in wind."

I highly recommend it.

Shades

Henry loves his pink shades....but he is willing to share them with Grandpa.

A few more patch pics

Little Boy

I took these photos last week. They are scanned in from my 35mm film, so they are a little grainy but I love them too much not to share on the bean blog. He is a little boy!

Some people like to give us a hard time about Henry not looking like his parents. Our response varies depending on how rude they are....but it always surprises me because to me it is easy to tell that this little boy is our kid. And these pictures are evidence of that fact. He is a perfect mixture of his Mama and Papa. In the last picture I think he is just the spitting image of Wade.

Advice

Henry has had quite a bit of advice for me this morning.

In the bath he told me- "Don dink da wader, Mama. Full of pee."

While changing his diaper he warned me- "Don touch the poo poo. Watch out."

At the store he suggested "Jut box? Open it? It okay. Give money and open it."

When saw some of the spooky Halloween items he told us "Buy it? Okay. Pooky. Henry like pooky. "

Video

I took 2 dozen photos this morning and every last one was blurry. The kid just moves too fast for our digital camera. So, rather than trying to slow him down (impossible) I decided to just take some videos. There is no sound and the quality isn't great because it is on our digital camera not our camcorder. But it is still fun.

Spin & Swing

The previous owners of our house tied a jump rope to a branch on the tree in our front yard and then tied a stick to the other end. I am not sure what they were using it for but Henry came up with his own way to use it.