Henry is THREE!

My, oh my. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday that Henry came into our lives and everything changed! He (and Annie) have enriched our lives more than we can say! They are such a blessing to us-more than we ever thought possible. Only God knew how we needed them!
I have tried to keep some notes since I did Henry's 2.5 yr post of things I wanted to remember. Most things will seem silly and random to most, but to Steven and me they are special, and it is so easy to forget all the sweet and funny little details, so here are a few! We asked him some questions on his birthday morning-an "interview" of sorts-and here is what we got.

1. What is your favorite color? brown (I was surprised he said this. He usually says red, pink, and purple)
 2. What is your favorite toy? ball
3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Super Why (I'll add Bob the Builder, Clifford, and Daniel Tiger, too)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? chicken nuggets
6. What is your favorite outfit? I didn't ask him this one because he could care less what he wears, although he does love his cowboy boots and any hat. He also still loves to wear his wolf costume from Halloween and run around the house in it.
7. What is your favorite game? He said he didn't know. He's learning to play hide and seek and it's pretty funny because he doesn't understand where he hides is a secret. When we start searching for him and say, "Where's Henry?" he is quick to yell, "Here I am!! I'm in here! I'm in the closet!!"
8. What is your favorite snack? applesauce (pouch)
9. What is your favorite animal? giraffe
10. What is your favorite song? I'll answer this one for him-he's in love with the Annie soundtrack and Frozen soundtrack. He will pick twinkle twinkle little star as his night night song 9 out of 10 times.
11. What is your favorite book? Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, The Little Engine That Could
12. Who is your best friend? Bennett (and Sister he added!)
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios, strawberry mini wheats, Life
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play
15. What is your favorite drink? juice (apple AND orange)
16. What is your favorite holiday? n/a
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? oh my...this is way too much right now. Big elephant, little elephant, bear (Berry), blankie, bunny and bibbit lovies, plus a blanket under him and one over him.  Oh, and a new stuffed dog he got for his birthday. Ridiculous!
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? He said he didn't know. He just eats cereal usually! He has learned to like pancakes/waffles now and also muffins, but those things are just for special times.
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday. He wouldn't tell me. He said we could just eat at home when I suggested pizza or Chick fil A, which turned out to be a good thing since we were snowed in on his actual bday anyway and couldn't go anywhere! He couldn't think of what he'd like me to make him. I guess food isn't that big of a deal to him right now.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? He wants to work on the farm (like Grandpa!) and he wants Annie to work with him when she gets bigger

 
Some other things I want to remember about Henry over the past 6 months:
 -The biggest thing is how loving he is right now. He will randomly say, "Mommy" and I will say "Yes?" thinking he is going to ask for something or needs assistance, but he will just say, "I love you." This happens about 10 times a day, and it melts my heart every time!! :) Sometimes he will say, "I have a secret for you", and he will whisper "I love you". Sometimes he will whisper, "I had fun with you."-all 3 of us are recipients on occasion. He's also told us before, "I like spending time with you, Daddy. I like spending time with you, Mommy. I like spending time with Annie, too!"
-He loves to have dance time in the evenings with Steven. He will say, "Let's dance wild!" and Steven will run/dance/jump all over the house holding him with loud music playing. Annie and I join in sometimes!
-I thought we were not going to go through the "why?" phase, but right around Christmas time he just started one day and hasn't stopped since!
-He's gotten quite independent and goes to the bathroom now completely unassisted-he shuts the door and says he can do it all by himself. He calls us in afterward if he needs assistance:) He will always still tell us when he needs to go, which I like because then I can at least monitor how long he's been in there. A lot of times he will say, "I need to stop and go right away!" (from Daniel Tiger). He also dresses and undresses himself and puts on his shoes and socks, too. This is actually quite helpful!
-He's starting to rhyme words on his own and counts from 1-20 (I should work with him to go higher, because I know he could). Sometimes when he has several of something he will excitedly say, "Mommy, can we line these up and count them?!" He is also recognizing the letters and sounds of (maybe?) half of the alphabet. He knows A, B, C, D, H, K, L, O, P, Q, S, T, W, Y, Z. He will voluntarily point them out on signs we see out and about. While he hasn't shown much interest in writing letters, he does know how to write a capital H. He loves to sort colors and also knows all the basic shapes. There are several good free apps I've recently found to help him learn as well. As a teacher I was taught to follow the interest of the child, so I have tried not to push much structured learning on him, but just develop whatever he asks or talks about naturally and make it a teachable moment. Since he is showing so much interest in letters lately, I have realized I probably need to do more with him about this. I decided to start something once he turned 3, so my goal is to try to do something little with him each day during Annie's nap to help enrich his learning. I'm hoping that by typing it here, it will help me be more accountable!
-He's doing so, so much better about eating-he tries things now that I never thought he would a year ago. He is still picky and still wants us to feed him rather than do it himself, but he can often power through something he does not like in order to earn a treat afterward. Now we just tell him his whole dinner has to be gone for him to get a treat. Usually he does it, but there have been occasions where he tries and just can't stomach whatever the vegetable is for the night, and he voluntarily forfeits his nightly treat.Poor guy. What kills me, though, is when we have to do the same bribing for him to eat what most would consider junk food (mac and cheese, a chicken nugget, stuff like that). Anyway, we are doing better overall in this area, and I'm so happy about it! He knows even with treats that he can't just have tons, and on Christmas morning he got a huge sucker. After eating on it for a few minutes, he asked me, "Mommy, can you tell me when to stop?" He needed some regulations laid out:)
-This is kind of a random thing to point out, but he has a really keen sense of smell. He will ask, "What's that I smell?" and without even seeing it will be able to say what it is-he's done this before when I was trying to sneak a piece of candy in the front seat of the car, one time when Steven was trying to sneak graham crackers for breakfast, when we were walking down the baking aisle at the store and he said he smelled sugar...of course he always smells Annie's dirty diapers first and any whiff of Maggie. It's weird!
-And while we are at it, Henry is also excellent at picking out all the different parts of a song. He loves music, and will listen and listen to something, and say stuff like, "I hear drums! I hear piano!" and, "I hear a man AND a lady singing!" We are amazed that he is always right. He imitates the noises he hears and seems to have pretty good tone! Some songs that he likes are, you're my sweetheart, deep and wide, behold what manner, wise man built, I need you, all the pretty girls on a Saturday night, Holy Holy Holy, livin' on a prayer. Interesting mix, huh?:)
-Henry is a pretty good natured little guy and obedient for the most part. I love how honest he is-he doesn't know how to lie yet and will tell on himself right away. He will often say he's sorry and then I have to ask what he did. He listens to Rappin' Rabbit (from Steven's childhood), so when we ask him to do something, he will say, "I'm gonna hop to it, mom!" or "I'll be glad to do it, dad!" or "I'll obey the things you say!" We have our moments of course, but I think he is pretty normal for his age.
-Henry is still an awesome sleeper. He goes to sleep easily and sleeps 11-12 hour nights. He takes an afternoon nap that ranges anywhere from 1.5-3 hours (2 is probably average). It just depends-I can't really figure out his pattern. There have been a handful of times where he just sings in bed during nap rather than actually sleeping, but I am hoping those were just flukes. The majority of the time he really does still need some rest. Over New Year's we were with my family at the lodge, and I was trying to let him stay up a little longer before going to nap since some of my family had just arrived, but he came over and said to me, "Mommy, will you put me to bed?" Ha! I thought that was so responsible for a 2 year old! :) He loves to lay his blankets all out and get covered up, then cover up each stuffed animal that is in his bed with him, too. Oftentimes when we get him up in the morning he is still perfectly covered up and in the same position we left him in the night before! He wakes up in the mornings oh, so happy, and full of life. His naps are about 50/50. He sleeps so hard sometimes that he wakes up groggy and it takes him a while to snap out of it. He is still in his crib since he never once has tried to climb out nor does he complain about it, but we figure we probably need to take the front off of the crib at a minimum sometime soon!
-His interactions with Annie are super sweet. He calls her sis or sister. He tells her he loves her and I can overhear him saying stuff like, "I love your sweet eyes! Look at her cute head, mom!" One time Steven and I were in the car talking up front heading out somewhere and saying Annie doesn't know whether she's coming or going yet, and Henry pipes up and says, "You're going, Annie". Another time we were sweet talking to Annie and saying, "You don't know who has you, do you, baby?" and again Henry pipes up and says, "Daddy's got you, baby."
-He has gone through a phase recently of trying to clarify if someone is a man or a woman-in public. loudly. I have had several very embarrassing times while we are out and about and Henry asks me, "Is that a man or a girl, mommy?" He gets very confused if a man has long hair or a woman has short hair, or heaven forbid, if a woman has facial hair. Yes, that happened. He also asks me, "Is that a mommy?" when he sees a younger adult girl who doesn't have kids with her. Another time he was convinced that a guy was actually a girl because, "Mans don't wear scarves, mommy". Ha!
-This is getting long winded, so I'm just gonna write some stuff now without explaining...hopefully it will spur a memory for us in the future! Did you know there are little baby chickens in eggs, Mommy? panty-oh for piano, cracker-nuts for nut crackers, organize-not agonize!, he said rice hoarder for horse rider one time and totally cracked himself up about it, still says can I hold you, gets may I and may you confused, Someday can I be a teacher, mommy? A man teacher?, remembers to pray when others forget, loves to pray for everyone, says when we remember to pray that makes God happy, Jesus brought me bubble bath and Santa comes down from the heavens, peanut butter underwear-I made a joke!, he has no volume control and his voice is loud all.the.time.

Oh, Henry, our three year old little man, we love you more than words can say! You are our sweet blessing, and we thank God for you! We look forward to this next year with you.