15 Months

Henry is 15 months old today -- and very much turning into a busy little boy. He gets up around 7 each morning, takes a 2-3 hour nap and then goes to bed between 7 and 7:30. His favorite person is most definitely Jack, unless Nathan is around, and then Daddy wins every time.

Here are some of his favorites right now.

Food: Any and all fruits, but he would pick blueberries above everything else. He also really likes grapes, bananas and pears. He loves Kix and I let him try Chocolate Cheerios the other day, and he really likes those too. He also tries to drink my orange juice every morning. He is good about trying new things; just yesterday he gobbled up a ton of lasagna. However, he is not loyal to the food already in his mouth if I give him something that looks better to him. He'll just open his mouth and spit out everything to make room for the new food!

Toys: He loves stacking blocks and knocking them down, or filling up containers and dumping them out. I gave him poker chips and an old puffs container a week or so ago and he played with them for 20 minutes, filling it up and dumping them out. Also loves the ball tower with a hammer Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Anthony got him for Christmas. And the cuttable food and the play vacuum.

Books: Little People lift the flap books, Spot books, nursery rhymes, A You're Adorable, Baby Bible Sing and Pray. We read a lot because he doesn't like to drink his milk unless we are reading books in the dining room. So that means we read about 50 minutes to an hour every day! He figured out pretty quickly that if he drinks his milk slowly he gets to read more books.

Outside: He loves being outside. He walks around dragging the golf bag behind him. Or he wants to ride on the tractor or swing on the swing set. Some of the saddest moments in his little life have been when Jack's been outside playing and Henry has had to stay inside with me.

His personality is shining through more and more. He's very easy going when things are going his way... but he will let you know if he's unhappy about something!

First Haircut

Where did my baby go? He got his first haircut at Harvey's today and now he looks like a little boy. Rob cut his hair because Harvey was busy cutting someone else's hair and I knew Henry would not want to wait. The whole haircut took about 10 minutes. He cried and tried to get out of the chair for the first 5 or so, and then just sat there for the remainder.

When he was done, he got down and gave Rob a high five. Then he had to go make friends with Harvey's grandkids -- they are probably 8 or 9 years old. He gave them high fives and gave the little girl a hug. Next he charmed Susie, Harvey's wife. He sat on her lap in the chair and gave her hugs. Then he was ready to leave. He waved to everyone and walked to the door and looked at me, like he was just waiting for me to come so he could go home. He got an official first haircut certificate and an envelope with his baby hair in it. He does look pretty cute, but he sure doesn't look like a baby anymore.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack’s big day started early this morning… he woke up at 4:00 a.m. wondering if it was time for his birthday yet. He finally went back to sleep and got up around 8:15. He couldn’t wait to open presents, so we did that while the cinnamon rolls baked. His scooter was definitely the hit of his birthday presents. After presents, we put a candle in his cinnamon roll and sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He also got to drink chocolate milk! I think that’s the first time he’s ever had chocolate milk with a meal at our house.

Next, we went bowling. Jack has been once before with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill and he was very excited to go again. Nathan won, then Jack and then me. Henry watched from his stroller, and was quite content.

Our only mishap came near the end of the game, when Jack ventured onto the lane and promptly wiped out. His feet came out from under him, he landed on his bottom and then bonked his head on the ground. Lots of crying followed, but he recovered in time to finish the game. Prior to his fall, he was dancing all over the place and having a great time. Whenever I would ask him to smile for me he would turn around and shake his booty at me. Thank you Aunt Lindsay for teaching him that so long ago. He is a professional booty shaker.

After that, we were off to Cracker Barrel for a pancake lunch. The waiters sang to him and he got a sundae. For naptime, he got to watch Kung Fu Panda 2 on the couch on the basement, another first. Then it was outside for more scooter riding and fun with the neighbor kids. Per the birthday boy’s request, Nathan grilled hotdogs on the campfire for supper. Then it was off to bed. Tomorrow he gets to have a birthday celebration at school.

I can’t believe he’s four! Here are pictures from his previous birthdays:

Three

Two

One

Brand New

Birthday Fun Begins–Coco Key

This year, Jack requested his birthday party at Coco Key again with his best buddies Ben and Sam. We went last Thursday and all of the boys declared it was “the best day ever.” Here are Nathan and the boys getting ready to get in the water.

Jack’s favorite thing this year was the “raging river,” which is really the lazy river. The water was just shallow enough that the boys could touch easily and the current pushed them along pretty quickly. They did many, many laps of the raging river and could have gone on much longer.

The waterslides were a hit again. They are now big enough to go by themselves and we could stand at the bottom and watch. Every once in a while Jack would ask me to go with him, but I had to run to keep up with him and then he would launch himself into the waterslide without a second thought for Mommy. This is a picture on one of the baby slides. We didn’t get any pictures on the big slides.

He has been requesting a moose themed party for a couple of months now, so the moose fun began at Coco Key and will continue at his family party. We made moose cupcakes and moose munch for treats.

What a fun, and tiring, afternoon! Jack slept two hours later than usual the next morning. Birthday fun continues this week, including his real big day on Wednesday, his party at school on Thursday and his family party on Saturday.

It’s Finally March

Jack is very excited it is finally March – his birthday month! We had a lot of fun yesterday changing his calendar in his room. We added special markers on the calendar for his birthday parties, and also for his swimming lessons and soccer practice. He had his first swimming lesson today and really liked it. He put his head all the way in the way (with a bit of encouragement from Nathan) and used a kickboard for the first time.

Henry tried corn on the cob for the first time today. He was loving it until we saw some blood on the corn. He must have scratched the inside of his mouth somehow. So that was the end of his corn on the cob.

Learning to Smile

Henry learned how to smile for the camera this week. We also discovered Jack’s old overalls now fit him.

Jack is regressing in his smiling techniques. So we worked on his smile in the mirror for awhile and made some progress.

We also made them a reading “couch” in the dining room this week out of extra pillows. We spend a lot of time there. Henry prefers to read books when he drinks his sippy cup of milk, so 5 times a day we’re sitting on the couch reading. He knows lots of animal sounds now, and also points to all kinds of objects in his books when you ask them where they are. He is very opinionated when it comes to which books we read. He has his favorites and he is faithful to them.

Driving Around and the Dishwasher

Henry learned how to make his Lightning McQueen car go forwards and backwards this week, quite an accomplishment. So he drives around a lot right now. Or pushes Jack around.

He also loves the dishwasher and discovered he can climb on the door when it’s down.

Look at his face. He knows he’s not supposed to be up there.

Valentine’s Day

The boys woke up to a Valentine’s treasure hunt. Nathan drew clues for Jack that showed him where to go next… he loved it and Henry thought it was fun to go to the basement first thing in the morning.

The first clue took Jack to the basement and the ball cave.

Next he headed to the laundry room.

And he finally found their treasures (new paints for Jack and a Mickey Mouse for Henry) in the living room.

Next was a breakfast of strawberry milk and cinnamon rolls, and then Jack was off to his party at school, which he loved. He also got to ride home with his friend which was also very exciting.

Snow Day

It finally snowed today! Jack had a great time playing outside. He made two snowmen, one with the neighbors and one with me. He also went down our sledding hill lots and lots of times and helped me shovel the driveway. He bundled up four different times to go outside. And he also discovered he really likes eating snow.

 

Henry was not so sure about the snow. I think he enjoyed standing at the front windows and pointing at it more than being out in it.

Overheard

This afternoon, Jack and Henry were playing in the living room. Nathan and I were in the kitchen, at least during the beginning of the conversation.

Henry: Screaming and yelling

Jack: “Henry, you made a bad choice and now this is your consequence.”

Henry: More screaming and yelling

Nathan: “What is going on?”

Jack: “Henry was banging his maraca on the window. I told him that was a bad choice and I had to take it away for his consequence.”

Needless to say, Henry got the maraca back and Nathan informed Jack (again) that he is not in charge of Henry.

My blogging app on the iPad isn’t working, so I’m a little behind on posts. Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to lately.

We had an indoor picnic for lunch one Sunday after church.

 

Henry’s love for hats grew.

Jack had pajama day at school.

We created a “ball cave” underneath the stairs in the basement.

Jack got to feed Henry his oatmeal.

And the boys got even cuter.