Henry talks and sings ALL the time. When he wakes up in the morning, I can hear him loudly and enthusiastically singing Jesus Loves Me and the ABC's from his crib. He is saying more and more phrases, and I've heard several 3 word phrases this month like, "No barking, Maggie!" Whenever he sees something new or interesting or something that might be forbidden, this month he has been saying, "ooh!" with lots of inflection. When we walked around the corner and saw the Christmas tree up in the school foyer, be said, "ooh!" immediately. It's neat to see things fresh with a child's eyes.
He's been saying tons of new words, and I try to catch as many as I can. I know this is not all of them, but some of the words he's been saying this month are: Grover, Cookie Monster, Burt, Ernie, choo choo...all aboard!, animals, mouse, ooh!, cute!, nice!, good job! color, run, grapes, popcorn, dirty diaper, pen, sunny, bright, tight, train, home , open roof, angel, donkey hee haw, turkey gobble gobble, toys, ouch, hot , cold, sour, kick, lid, silly puppy, little, pajamas, come, drop it (those last 2 are when he's playing with Maggie-poor dog), and love you (ie, "love you, Grandpa" and "love you, Peggy" when we were saying goodby after a recent visit).
Some kids call their grandparents unusual names, and we are among that group for my mom's name. George, the first grandchild who is now 13, tried to call my mom "grandmother" (which is what we call my mom's mom, too), but it somehow developed into "my-nar" (I think it's his version of mother). It stuck with the siblings who came after him, but since there was such a gap between Henry and my brother's kids, I figured we'd let Henry figure out what he'd be calling her. With older cousins, though, and even us saying it, he picked up on it pretty quickly. He's been saying "manar" for a while now, but since her last couple of visits with him, Henry has come up with his own variation. He's changed "manar" to "mayonnaise"-a word we've never used with him and a food that I totally disgust-to refer to his grandmother. Everyone thinks it's hilarious! I think it's what she gets for having an off-the-wall grandparent name:) And speaking of grandparents, Henry loves my and Steven's family. He very much knows who they all are, and wants to go to them right away. It's sweet to see that connection even when we don't live in the same state as they do.
A major thing this month for Henry has been coloring. He has done some of this in the past, but lately he begs to "color, color?" and will lay on his tummy on the floor for long periods of time and color or scribble with a pen or beg to color while sitting in his car seat in the car. Afterward he says, "good job!" in a very enthusiastic way (you can tell his momma is a teacher!). We were at my parents for Thanksgiving, and I heard him saying over and over, "good job!" and pointing to something on the fridge. He was pointing to his hand print that I had put in mom's bday card back in the summer. He recognized and complimented his own "art" even there!
Another major thing for Henry this month is the way he has been saying "thank you". Since we've just been with family for Thanksgiving, he got to use his manners A LOT. He voluntarily says "thank you, momma" (or fill in the blank to whoever he's talking to) ALL the time. No matter what I hand him, he is very consistent about saying it to me. He has said it over and over to all of the family...afterward he gets a big grin on his face and sometimes says it again. Let me just say that it is a CROWD PLEASER-everyone loves it, of course!:) It is so cute, too, when he says one name, then corrects himself if he's thanked the wrong person. It goes to show he knows what he's trying to do! When he uses it, it's always it at the right time which seems very mature to me!:) He's also thanked Maggie for rolling off of his toys before- "thank you, Maggie!"
He has gotten tall enough to reach the kitchen counter and is constantly pulling stuff off. He can also reach the top drawers in the kitchen now (the ones we did NOT put latches on) and he opens them and fishes around for the forbidden things inside. He can also reach the door knobs and has opened the bathroom door, but I am hoping maybe he has forgotten this and it won't be a huge bother (crossing my fingers??). I guess we can always go 100% baby proof and put those stinking handle locks on, too.
Henry has added a few new foods too his diet including Kefir, which he loves, and beef jerky (I was trying to figure out how to get some protein in him that I can send to school). We are still struggling in the food department, and he is so finicky that it drives me bonkers, but we will just keep trying. I keep reminding myself that there are very few adults who struggle with this issue:) Steven and I certainly don't! He's a great sleeper and sleeps about 12 hrs and night and takes a 3 hr afternoon nap (sometimes a little less, and sometimes more). I guess if I had to choose, I would selfishly take a good sleeper over a good eater any day.
Henry had his first rough cold of the winter this month. It lasted 2 weeks, and we debated and debated about taking him to the doctor, but decided to treat it as a true "cold" and let it take its course. And it did! He got better on his own, and he did not develop an ear infection, so the tubes are doing their job! I am SO thankful for them.
There is so much more going on in his little life, but I will stop there. We love you Hank! You are getting so big so fast! We love watching you grow!
No comments:
Post a Comment