And a little overdue birthday fun

I made a wish. I wished that we would all be friends forever. -Henry

Post snowman-building

Rosy cheeks, stocking cap hair, and hot cocoa...leads to silliness.

SNOW!

We spent the morning digging the house out of the snow and attempting to build a snow man. Tomorrow....sledding....

Merry Christmas

H: Aunt Kelly has red hair. Gigi has silver hair. I have blond hair. And Grandpa has skin hair.

Mama dat ambleeance might be going to help someone with a heart attack. Their heart might be broken so they don't know how to love anymore.

H: What did I say when I came out of your tummy?
M: You couldn't talk yet. But you cried a lot.
H: Oh. Really? I think I was crying because it was comfy in there.

I was just looking at this picture of Papa. You know, the one where he thinks he is a superstar.-H

M: Henry why do you have your pants pulled down like that? I can see part of your bottom.
H: Because Mama, I am pretending that I am Papa.

M: Henry are you cheering for the guys in the white shirts or in the blue shirts?
H: Um, I think I am cheering for the guys in the black and white stripes.

Weeds

Are you ready for this? Because I'm not. But I learned over the past 4 years that you can't slow it down so you just have to try to pay attention and enjoy every day. So...our boy is almost 4. I'm a little sad about it because I have just LOVED 3. I could do 3 for years. 3 is good. I'll probably feel the same way about 4 when 5 comes, but for now I am just missing 3. Henry is tall! 89th percentile in height according to his check up today. In his typical style he answered all the nurses questions, sometimes a little too thoroughly. For example he showed her that he could hop on one foot. When asked if he could throw a ball he went into a 5 minute story about hitting a home run into the street earlier today. "Does he know 2 or 3 colors?" was met with Henry pointing out every color in the room (and it was a colorful room). She chuckled and said "Okay so he is definitely using 4-5 word sentences." Since we already had the swine flu there was no need for shots even though Henry was prepared for a flu shot. He told me in the car on the way to the doctors office- "Mama, "I would rather get a shot then have the flu." In the end we decided not to get the flu shot even though he really did have a compelling argument for it.

This week we also got a wonderful report from his teacher at parent teacher conferences this week. Henry is doing great. He is really growing confidence in his social life. He has several new friends- Murphy, Sophia, Charlie, Ruby and Oren and brings home piles of beautiful artwork every day.

This fall he is really interested in collecting fallen leaves (he refers to himself as a leaf fiend), reading, drawing pictures of machines, building machines around the house, riding his bike and pretending. We live in a magical world right now. Every day, every activity, involves some imaginary play. It is amazing to see how quickly and with such ease children are able to move into the imaginary world. How do we lose this as adults?

We are really looking forward to the holiday season. Hopefully we will get to spend it with some of you guys. Lots of love. :)

Make up trip to the zoo

We could not have asked for better zoo weather. Henry had a great time. He was supposed to go to the zoo with his Grandma and Grandpa Benda a couple of weeks ago but H1N1 kept us at home. We didn't make it to see everything at the zoo so when Grandpa Benda is here next spring we can go again. Only thing is, Henry wants to ride the train 15 times...so we'll have to get there early :)

Quick Gigi, drive fast to the bathroom. Grandpa has to pee so bad that I'm afraid he is going to wet MY pants.

Mama, I am going to put the phone down now and you can listen to me as I build a machine as big as the house.

M: Well Henry, it looks like it is just me and you for dinner tonight.
H: Oh Mama, can't we invite Grandpa Benda or Uncle John. Someone that is a little more interesting to me please.

Oh Mama. There's nothing better than love.

H: (to the pharmacist at Jayhawk Pharmacy) I do like to watch KU basketball. But...only on the big bed, in my comfy clothes, with a pizza and no underwear on.

And it begins

You know a costume is good when you want to wear it the next day :)

And then there is all that candy....

I think I like Halloween more than Christmas *

*we'll see if he feels that way after Christmas. :)

H: What is God, Mama?
M: Well, God is love, Baby. He is watching over all of us. Taking care of all the people and the animals and the Earth. He is all the love in the whole world.
H: So is the way I feel about Aunt Susie, God?
M: Yes, I think so.
H: Hummm. That's good. Mama?
M: Yes baby.
H: God sounds a lot like Santa Claus.

Next year, for Halloween, I think I'd like to be a fork-lift.

M: Henry quit rolling around and go to sleep.
H: I'm sorry Mama but you're just so cute I can't stand it.  I just like looking at you cuz you're so cute. I mean it Mama, I can't stand looking at you.

Mama, let's put a big shooter on my robot costume because, you know, I like to live close to danger.

M: Look Henry, we are wearing matching shirts. We look like twins.
H: Yes Mama, if I was soft and had stinky feet I would be just like you.

H: Papa says it's okay if I write on the wall just a tiny bit and Papa is the boss so we listen to him. That's what we do Mama, we listen to Papa. And Papa says it's okay to write on the wall. He weally does Mama. He weally does.

*Bang* H: Ouch. Bam
*Bang* H: Ouch. Bam
*Bang* H: Ouch. Bam
*Bang* H: Ouch. Bam
M: Henry what are you doing back there? Why are you saying Bam?
H: Banging my hand against the car. It hurts. I was going to say damn, but that's a bad word.
M: Thanks for not saying that Henry.
*Bang* H: Ouch. Bam!
*Bang* H: Damn (whisper)
M: Henry, you're not supposed to use that word.
H: I know. Sorry Santa.

H: Boogers and snot and eye boogers and stinky baby bottoms and poop and pee and... M: Henry what are you doing in there? H: Oh, just thinking about yucky stuff.

Quotes

I've been emailing myself Henry quotes for a while now and I just got to thinking that our blog friends might like to read them as well. I'll try to do a better job of keeping up with the blog now that Henry and I are feeling a little bit better. Enjoy.

SICK

That's how we spent the month of October and why we haven't had any updates for a while. I'm hoping he will be fully recovered by Saturday and I will have some fun Halloween pics to post. Hope you guys are doing well. Stay healthy!

Bean news

Henry grew ½ an inch this month. 2 ½ inches in the past year. His feet grew 3 sizes and his size 4T pj pants are fitting more like capri’s than full length pants. He is tall and skinny and his blond hair is slowly getting darker. He had a great summer at school but lately his good feelings about school seem to come and go. It’s a new class and most of the kids are younger than him. He helps the new kids understand what is expected of them at school, but good buddies are hard to find in this age group. Lots of parallel play. In spring he will move to the pre-kindergarten group which I think he will really enjoy. Today he didn’t want to go to school. He said that he needed the day off. I think that might have had to do with the fact that we were out last night until after his bed time so he didn’t get any at home time all day. He is a kid that really needs at home time. He’s a homebody, just like his parents. Last night we went to a restaurant opening for my cousin Shawn's new restaurant in Baldwin City. It was an adventure and Henry was up for it. He thrives on being in new places and seeing new things. His favorite part of the night was exploring the restaurant, inside and out. He ran around the building at least 15 times. He loves to wrestle and ride his bike. He loves being read to and can only last about a half an hour in front of the TV before he gets antsy and is ready to play. Which is okay with us, we don’t really like watching TV either. He seems to be getting a little pickier about his food but he will at least try anything that I put on his plate. He is counting down the days until his birthday and tells me that he cannot stop getting bigger and bigger and that he will snuggle with me until he is 10 and then after that I will only get hugs and kisses at night-night time. He has a lot to say on just about every topic and is very conversational, frequently inserting common phrases into his conversation, sometimes correctly and sometimes not . Yesterday we asked Grandma Ginny (Gigi) if she had any basil, which of course she did. Henry said to me “Oh that Gigi. She never fails me.” He knows how to write all of his letters and a few words. He is working on his numbers but gets stuck in the 20’s. He writes his numbers from right to left on the page, sometimes backwards. Over the long weekend we played some t-ball, practiced running the bases and throwing overhand. The rules of the game changed quickly with Henry explaining “Okay now Mama yoooou run to dis base and I will run to dat base and den we can jump 3 times and then I will throw the ball into dis cup and put the bat up in dis tree and then you get the bat and….” well you get the idea. He likes to be in charge. He remembers EVERYTHING but mostly just repeats the stuff you were hoping that he did not hear. He is going to be a robot for Halloween.

First day of school

Sunday Morning

Henry gets busy in jammies.

Kaiser in the sun.

When Aunt Lillie got Hitched...

Mama fixing Henry up.
Henry styling.
Henry and the bride.
Family.
Little monkeys (cousin Campbell and Henry).
Whoosh!

Starting up

We have a busy week ahead of us with school starting and visits from Aunt Annie, Aunt Susie and Uncle Ted. Henry is excited. Last week Susie got a phone call from him. This is how it went-

S- "When I come to visit you can show me your new bike and all your legos"

H- "And we have a surprise when you visit, a surprise made by a secret but I can't tell you"

S- "Henry, that ...is going to drive me crazy!"

H- "Ahh that's the magic of life....."

Wade had a bike built for him at the Recyclery, a bike shop here in town that sells used bikes. For months he has been wanting to transition to riding his bike as his main form of transportation but his old cruiser was just not a good commuter bike. This one that he has designed is a perfect fit and he found a bike trailer for Henry at the bike shop as well. So the ride to school in the mornings will be all Papa power from now on (at least until it snows)
Laurie starts school next Monday. The class should be easy (compared to Organic Chem last semester everything seems easy). She has a couple other projects going on right now as well which we will be sure to keep you guys up to date on when they happen.
We're ready for fall-no mosquitoes, cool breezes, falling leaves...hope you are doing well.

B is for Big Boy

Legos and other bits

I was telling a friend the other day that the blog has become really difficult to keep up these days. Not that there isn't a lot of good stories to share but because Henry is just changing so fast and doing so many new things every day, it is just not easy to keep track of it all. What I can tell you is that his OBSESSION with legos continues on. He is so good at it too. He makes the most elaborate machines and it is really fun to watch him figure it out.

He had a very good summer at school. He made several new friends. One little girl, named Arwin, befriended Henry from the start and kind of showed him the ropes in terms of imaginary play. Arwin loves to play house. One day I picked him up from school and asked "What did you do today?" "Oh, just played house with Arwin." Henry said. "Oh. Were you the Papa?" I asked. "No," said Henry "I'm the dog. I'm always the dog." And sure enough every time I picked him up from then on he was barking around the play house with Arwin.

He is very interested in reading and loves to try to sound out words. Reading bed time stories has become a very time consuming activity. But he seems to be catching on. He is writing very well. All of his pictures from school come home with his name nicely written in the corner. On the last day of summer school the kids brought in shirts to tye-dye. Henry loved it. His teacher said he spent the most time of all the kids carefully squeezing the dye on to his shirt. He is the same way with painting. He will spend 30 minutes working on one painting.

One of my favorite Henry stories happened last night. Papa was sitting at the table talking about work or something and he said "I am just not patient enough." Henry put down his fork and climbed over the chair on to Papa's lap and said "I think you is great Papa." and gave him a big hug. It was very sweet.

Our amazing friends (and Henry's God parents) Jason and Mandy were up last week and they got to spend a lot of time with Henry. As I mentioned in my post a few days ago, we are considering a move to Colorado. The move would partly be to be closer to them and to Wade's Dad. But also there are so great opportunities for both Wade and I as far as additional schooling is concerned in that area and it would be a fun adventure. The move will not happen for at least a year if not 2 so for now it is just a fun dream. We'll be sure to keep you guys posted.

That's all I can think of for now. Henry is asleep and Wade is out with friends so I think I am going to curl up with my book and enjoy the quiet. Hope your having a great weekend.

Weekend

Jason and Mandy were in town last weekend and they might have convinced us to move to Colorado. We'll see....

Helping with dinner

“Mama, cooking dinner is hard work. We should stop and get a drink. It’s important to stay hydrated.”

The beach

Classic

I feel like I have seen a picture like this one 100 times. And sadly, it is the only one we have of Henry in this tux at Lilly's wedding 2 weeks ago. Right after this picture was taken our camera batteries died and the wedding started. So any family members with pictures from the weekend please send them our way. We would love to have a photo of our boy in his penguin suit. Which reminds me of a funny story. We told Henry when Lilly first asked him to be a ring bearer that he was going to get to wear a tux- a penguin suit. He was fitted for the tux, no problems, no questions asked. Then, as he and I waited at the end of the isle at the rehearsal, Henry looked up at me with a very serious and concerned look on his face and asked "Mama. Am I going to be able to see out of my penguin suit?"