Our little man turned TWO on February 26, 2014!! While it's hard to believe we have a two year old, all we have to do is look at Henry to know that he is not really a baby anymore, but is quite the "big boy" running around these days! I've said it before-it would be very sad for me that he is growing up so fast except for the fact that he is just so much fun right now! Everyday he is discovering something new, saying something new, and doing something new. Being a parent is quite the adventure!
We had lots of fun celebrating his birthday this year, and I will be posting on that soon, I hope! But for now, I want to do one last monthly "progress" update. Of course I will be continuing to write all about Hank, but I'm not planning to keep up the monthly update after 2. It is a lot of work! :)
One of the best things that happened this past month wast that Henry was tested again for his egg allergy, and he has grown out of it!! We took him on the 25th for the prick test-no reaction! We went back the very next day (his actual birthday!) to do the "food challenge". I brought a scrambled egg and boiled egg in. They gave him increasingly larger portions of it and monitored him every 20 minutes-no reaction! I was honestly VERY surprised. He was such a show off at the allergist, too. Steven and I were super skeptical they'd be able to even get him to take one bite (picky and opinionated!), but of course he showed us up and not only ate it right off the spoon but begged for more! He would say, "mmm!" after each bite, too. Silly boy....you never know what he's going to do. Anyway, it has been SO SO nice to not have this worry anymore. Honestly nicer than I thought. Plus, it makes that year of avoiding egg worth it since it worked! I guess they knew what they were talking about after all........:)
Henry went to his 2 year checkup on March 5th and weighed 26 lbs (25%) and was 33.5 inces tall (25%). Dr. Dudley said he looks perfect.:)
Henry continues to talk up a storm. It is interesting, because I try to keep a "tally" on my phone of all his little phrases, and this is the first month that I truly have not been able to keep up at all. He has just said so many things there is no way. After looking at the list, I can even see progress within it. The first phrase of the month is much more "choppy" than what is written for the end of the month, and certainly much more than the full sentences he is saying to us (literally) today ("I want that book please, Mommy. No, not that one. (As I search the seat compartment for the one he's asking for). It's on the floor.") He will repeat anything, and it is SO much fun to hear that little voice emerge. We've tried stuff like supercalagragalisticexpialadoshus on him, and it is hilarious to hear him try. He gets pretty close for a 2 year old!! The more silly of a mood he is in, the more willing he is to try new words, so we do our best to take advantage of this:) He is my little companion in the car to and from work, and jabbers to me all the way. It's nice to hear other people confirm that he is a talker, too though, because we don't really know any different, but will sometimes look at each other and say, "Wow! Did he say______ (fill in the blank)". When church workers, strangers, and his school nursery workers comment on it, though, it makes it seem more valid. :)
Some stuff he's been saying this month has been:
I want mama, runny nose bubble need tissue, playroom dada, drink of water, bang on ball-hit it with a hammer-big hammer, sandwich, salad, lettuce, come on mama!, be careful!, hurry, hurry up, what's the matter mama?, you ok? (these are both so very sweet-he is showing lots of two yr old empathy, and he's gotten lots of practice this past month while I've been sick with pneumonia), I make a noise!, it's blue with green on it! (he's gotten very good with his colors this month), I see bicycles mama! Come on, bicycles!, mama finger scratch my face. Ouch, it hurt me. Hurt chin. (I went to grab him to keep him from falling and scratched his chin with my fingernail really badly! He told EVERYONE the story of what happened thereby making me feel like a terrible mother! I think he's going to have a scar from it- as you can see in the pics here), a little bit more, baby sister, look mama look-it's a ______(whatever he sees-he reports EVERYTHING to me!), mama's shopping, whatcha doing?, it hurts me/I hurt my feet, finger, thumb, whatever, wake up Maggie!, I like snow! More please!, No. Mine. Gimme that/it, I put it away, stickers? stickers? Thank you lady! (He has learned at what stores he gets stickers when we check out, and he never fails to ask. At least he thanks the lady when he get what he wants!), hey Mags, all done mama-I ate it all gone!, babies drink milk-they don't eat goldfish-Henry eats goldfish (this is after one of our conversations with him to attempt to get him ready for baby sister-ha!), Nora Kate (sounded like "cake"), Dawson, Carter, medicine...I need my medicine, I have dirty hands, tip it up high (new sippy cup), there's birds on that jacket! (he noticed my windbreaker), I like Bennett's house! (after we'd visited), baby Clayton, there's a choo choo train on it, Manar says-go away sneeze. skat!, No write in books. Only on paper! No, no. That's naughty. (after a conversation we had when we saw some crayon scribbled on the back page of a hand-me-down book. we talk A LOT about this). I want to hold you, Want that mommy? Want this? Want that one? Want some? (all in a row), can you reach that mama?
He breaks out into song on his own a lot these days, and some songs or portions of songs we get the pleasure of hearing are: That's Elmo's World! My God is so big (complete with hand motions), Muffin Man, This Old Man, Happy Birthday to You (for a while he was throwing "reindeer" in there and we couldn't figure out why-then we realized it was because of the "dear, so and so" part. so funny!). Itsy Bitsy Spider, Skip to my Lou my Darlin.
He has gotten really good (or bad) at saying "I want" this month, and we've had to remind him a lot to say please. He wants EVERYTHING! When he was a baby, I remember reading that a parent should "narrate the day" to increase a child's vocabulary, so I tried to do that some but felt so silly. Now, it is Henry who narrates the day. He tells us everything he is doing or wants to do.........I want to go outside, I put my coat on, I need shoes, I open the door, Come on, Maggie! Come on! Pine cones! I pick up them up. Come on, mama! Want this, mama? Want this? Need this? Here you go.........you get the picture:)
Henry also has "triggers" for every family member. As soon as he talks to or sees particular ones, he says certain things. For Manar, it's stickers. For Kaia, it's bracelets. For Grandpa and Peggy, it's cookies. For Grandma, it's Jesus Loves Me. The boy doesn't forget much! Recently we've been with my parents, and we heard him with my dad at the fridge in the kitchen say, "What are you doing, Papa? Are you getting yogurt?" It's so funny to hear him try to carry on conversations. He also answers "good" or "great" to questions now...like, when Steven asks him how he's doing or how his day was, he says, "good". He's also developing a little sense of humor, and when we showed him an eraser recently (he has a serious love for all things office supply related), he stood up and pretended to "race" it across the room:). He poked himself in the leg the other day accidentally and I heard him from the back seat tell himself sorry and then kiss his leg!
Ok, enough about that...some of Henry's current favorites are....
-food-animal crackers, green olives, graham crackers, cereal bars, strawberries, chicken nuggets
-toys-tools, knocking over stacking cups, golf balls/clubs, play-doh, painting, anything art (anything that's not really a toy like batteries, wipes, lotion, sunscreen, etc:))
-activities-anything outside is #1 by far, running around the house in a circle chasing dada (or vice versa), riding on dada's back like a horse, bubbles
-people-Ellis, Braeden, Eli, plus he talks about certain school nursery workers like Mrs. Mandi, Mrs. Julie and her daughter Emma, Mrs. Valerie, Mrs. Tracy, all family, he's been especially clingy and needy for me this month...up, please! I wanna hold you! I need mama.
We love you, little man! You are a blessing and a sweetheart.
