How old is Henry?

baby

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sunday Funday

Jeff, Henry, and I had a nice Sunday together today. I've been trying to limit Henry's t.v. time because if I didn't, he would watch Thomas the Tank Engine constantly all day. I let him watch for about a half an hour this morning, and then I had to figure out ways to keep him occupied the rest of the day while he asked for "More Thomas, pease!" We read books and played with trains. During Henry's nap, I went to Target, and Jeff re-built Henry's train tracks into a new configuration. After naptime we decided to go to our favorite playground at Washington Park near the zoo. We stopped to check out an old steam train that's on display outside of the zoo before heading to the park. It was pretty cold, so after about 10 minutes of playing, Henry said, "How 'bout go bye-bye?" We then headed over to the mall so that Henry could play at the indoor playground. He had fun playing on the equipment, but I think he had more fun being tickled by Daddy and wearing Daddy's hat. After a little walking around and shopping, we were ready for dinner. We drove to Benihana, where Jeff and I ate some great sushi, and Henry enjoyed his teriyaki chicken and noodles. What a fun day!

Henry loves his "Oh, David" book so much that he has it memorized word for word. I took a video of him "reading" the book this morning. In case you want to follow along, here are the words:

page 1: David's mommy always said...Oh, David!
page 2: Open up, Davey!
page 3: P.U.!
page 4: Hold still!
page 5: Go to sleep, David!
page 6: Oh, David, I love you.
There are several books that Henry knows by heart, and he is so proud of himself when he "reads" them to us. Smart boy!

Friday, December 28, 2007

What do you mean, Christmas is OVER??

There are still PRESENTS under the tree!
Henry and Stella both love sitting under the tree. Did anyone ask for a dog or a 2-year-old for Christmas?

Just yesterday, Henry sat down in front of the tree and said, "How 'bout open presents?" That's MY boy!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas 2007

We had a nice family Christmas. Jeff was off on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and most of today. Very unusual, and VERY nice! We spent Christmas Eve at my dad's house with a huge group of friends and family. There were TWENTY people there for a delicious prime rib dinner. We ate, visited, and opened presents. We didn't even get home until almost 10:00 PM. Henry and I quickly went to bed, but Jeff stayed up late putting together a very cool train track configuration for Henry. When we woke up this morning, Henry had fun playing with his new Island of Sodor setup. He didn't realize it was Christmas, though. It was just another morning to Henry. He wanted a sippy cup of milk, and he wanted to "watch Thomas." Jeff made us a nice breakfast, and then we opened our stockings. We practically had to force Henry to open his stocking. He really wasn't interested. But, he was happy with the new Thomas trains that he got. Next we opened the gifts under the tree. Again, Henry didn't really get it. He doesn't like opening gifts...he definitely doesn't get that from ME! I love presents! I had to start tearing open the gifts. Then when Henry caught a glimpse of what was under the wrapping, if he was interested, he would finish the unwrapping job. He loved his new Spongebob towel. It snowed this morning, and we thought it would be fun to take Henry for a walk in the snow. We bundled up and went outside, only to discover that it was very cold and very wet, and our faces were getting pelted by freezing raindrops. After about five minutes, we turned around and went home. Unfortunately Jeff had to go to work at 5:00 today, but at least we got to enjoy most of Christmas together. Henry and I drove over to my dad's house again for another yummy dinner. This time it was a much smaller crowd. We got to spend more time with my Grandpa and Esther, who are visiting from Virginia. Henry got to hang out with his Grandpa and his Great-Grandpa!

Four generations...I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Does Henry like Santa Claus?

I'll let the picture speak for itself...
What a difference a year makes! Last year Henry was somewhat interested in the jolly old guy...

At 5 weeks old, Henry slept through the whole thing...Stella and Rocco love Santa! I've also learned a valuable lesson over the past 2 years. Don't take your child to a doggy daycare to have his Santa picture taken. The Santas are much better at the mall. No cheesy fake beards!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Thomas-Mania!

Here's Henry watching Thomas the Tank Engine, playing with a Thomas train (or two), and wearing Thomas jammies.Henry really loves Thomas! Until recently, he wouldn't watch anything but Baby Einstein. Now, it's nothing but Thomas. He loves the Thomas show. Luckily our Comcast OnDemand has rotating episodes available. Henry knows many of the characters' names, and asks for specific episodes by name. Henry's 2nd birthday party was done in a Thomas theme, but it wasn't until recently that he's become so fascinated with Thomas. Henry has quite a few different trains and accessories. He has Thomas bath toys, Thomas books, a Thomas toothbrush, Thomas toothpaste, Thomas band-aids, Thomas toys, books, and a Sir Topham Hatt jack-in-the-box. I've never liked children's clothing that has cartoon characters on them. I have stayed away from Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, etc. But, I finally caved and bought Henry a Thomas t-shirt a couple of weeks ago. He loved it! He looked at himself wearing it in the mirror over and over. So, then I bought him a pair of Thomas pajamas. Again, he LOVED them. Good thing I bought two different pairs. Just when I thought I was getting far too immersed in the Thomas-Mania, something happened to make me feel better. I cut out a 40% off coupon to Michael's because I'd heard that they sell Thomas stuff there, and we were going to get Henry some new tracks for his train table for Christmas. Since the coupon is only good for one item, I talked to Jeff about getting Henry one of the big sets. Jeff decided that he would go to Michael's yesterday while Henry was napping. THIS is what Jeff brought home...
One of the trains was broken, and one of the boxes was empty, so Jeff went back to Michael's today, and this is what he brought home THIS time... Plus, Jeff bought Henry a Thomas calendar earlier today. I'm not sure WHO has the worst case of Thomas-Mania...Henry, me, or Jeff?

But, Henry is having lots of fun playing with his new Thomas stuff...So, really, who can blame us?

Monday, December 10, 2007

Decorating the Tree...

with MORE pretty lights! I don't think we even need ornaments this year. Henry is perfectly happy with just lights.

We had to take a break while putting on pajamas tonight because Henry just HAD to see the pretty lights...right that instant!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Christmas is Coming!

We're really looking forward to Christmas this year! I think Henry will have a lot of fun with it. Even though he's still too young to really "get" Christmas, he's already getting excited about some of the Christmas preparations. He absolutely LOVES Christmas lights. As we drive around, he shouts out from the backseat, "Pretty lights! Look at pretty lights! Red, blue, yellow, green, pink pretty lights!" I bought a couple of strands of colored lights and hung them up in our house, but he's especially fascinated by the lights outside of houses. He loves the two houses across the street from us, and he constantly asks to see their lights. He says, "Pretty lights UP CLOSE! Pretty lights OUTSIDE!" Each afternoon when we get home, I take Henry across the street to see the lighted reindeer. Jeff took him across the street today while it was still light out, and Henry kept saying, "Turn ON pretty lights!"

We hung up our stockings this evening, and Henry was pointing to them saying, "Santa, snowman, train!" He surprised me one day a few weeks ago when he started saying "Santa" and "Snowman." I don't even know where he learned those words.
We bought our tree tonight. It's not decorated yet, but hopefully we'll do that tomorrow. I know Henry will be excited when we put on the pretty lights!