Sunny Days

Proud Little Man.  He discovered his race track parts move and make clicking noises.  You can imagine what happened next.  Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down...up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down....up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down...I think you get the idea.  When he learns a new skill that is NOISY, he likes to practice A LOT.  Henry has become increasingly inquisitive.  He loves to study how things work, take things apart, place objects in containers (just to take them out again), and he's started to build things with his blocks (and today he used his breakfast toast and kiwi chunks as blocks as well). 

Henry likes to play peek-a-boo/hide-and-seek.  He likes to "hide" behind the couch and then "appear" around the corner.  Of course he is giggling and squealing the whole time.  Totally cracks me up!  The game is even more fun if Mama chants "where's Henry, where did Henry go?"



Mama's helper.  Henry LOVES the dishwasher.  If the dishwasher is open, I can guarantee Henry will rush toward it.  He is overjoyed if there is silverware to remove and "reorganize."  Once the dishwasher is emptied and you close the door, it usually results in a very vocal protest by Henry.  Who would have guessed a kitchen appliance could be so entertaining. 

April has brought AMAZING weather on the weekends.  We just enjoyed the third sunny weekend in a row.  It was 82 degrees on Sunday!  We of course had the A/C running because we all know I melt in the heat. : )  In all actuality, we spent a lot of time outdoors these last few weekends, playing at the park, going for walks with Soph, doing yard work, BBQ'ing, and hanging out with our neighbors.  This last weekend, Ryan and I also enjoyed two evenings out on the town with friends.  A nice treat. 

Henry has always preferred to be outside rather than inside, but now he is starting to communicate his desire to be outside, even though he doesn't know how to say any words yet (other than "Mama" and "Dada").  He will run to the back door and loudly say "UH UH UH" and bang his hand on the door, or go to the garage door and reach for the door nob and similarly loudly say "UH UH UH."  The other day at Grandma O's house, Henry picked up his shoes and went to her garage door and started saying "UH UH UH".  Problem solving.  Gotta love it. 

Henry's newest accomplishment is learning how to stand, from a seated position. I think he might officially be a toddler now, but I'm going to hang onto the wobbler stage for just a bit longer.

Happy Easter

This past weekend was awesome! Henry and I started swim class on Saturday. Little Man LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the water. He squealed with delight as he splashed himself, Mama and everyone within a 6 foot radius of us. The only "problem" is that he wants to really swim already. Splashing around singing songs really doesn't suit his fancy for 30 minutes. He wants to MOVE! Hmm...this is a common theme in our house these days. After swim class, Henry and I headed to the park for play date/mom's group (our usual monthly affair). Four other moms and babes showed up. This was Henry's first official trip to the park. He really enjoyed the swings, slide, bouncy bridge and over sized tick-tack-toe. Being out in the sun was an extra bonus (although, Henry looked like a total greaser after I slathered a TON of sunscreen on his head, even in his hair). : ) That evening, my girlfriend Mary came over for pizza. We took Soph and Henry for a walk while we caught up on gossip. What a perfect day.

Now, how do I get into these eggs!?!

As if Saturday wasn't enough fun, Sunday was Easter, which entailed even more fun in the sun. We headed over to Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Keith's house for an egg hunt, blowing bubbles and eating goodies. Thank you Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Keith for hosting, we had a grand time. It was great fun for me to watch Henry and Ryan go hunting for eggs. Henry decided to just sit in the grass and open his eggs after he picked up about 6 eggs. He wasn't too sure about the grass though. Ryan would often have to pick up an egg and hand it to Henry so he could put it in his bucket. The older cousins had a blast filling up their egg buckets. It is fun to see our extended family grow in size with little ones. That evening we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a walk as a family (a regular and favorite pastime for us when the weather is dry). It was a nice way to wind down the weekend.

Other Henry updates:

Henry's 8th tooth emerged last week. A molar. I thought he would get the rest of his front teeth first, but I've been proven wrong. I'm convinced there is no rhyme or reason to teething.

He can almost run now, especially if the laundry room door is open (where we keep Sophie's water bowl...splash, splash, splash....BIG mess).

He is becoming much more picky about veggies. He tried some spicy Korean noodles last week and loved them. The boy loves FLAVOR...who can really blame him though. His favorite food remains the strawberry, in which he can consume his body weight (don't know where he got that from, hehehehehe).

His favorite book now is his Color book, which has enlarged photographs of things in various colors. Ryan indicated that he can barely stand to read it anymore because Henry has demanded that he read it him about 132 times a day. : )

Henry seems to be in a growth spurt. I recently had to retire several of his 18 month clothes and bring out the 24 month/2T clothes, which seem to fit just fine (some of the pants are way too long though). It still blows my mind at how fast kids grow. I'm sure I will be saying that for the rest of my life.

Henry also really enjoys playing with his race cars, tractors, Mega Blocks and Mr. Potato Head. His favorite game seems to be peek-a-boo. He'll "hide" (today behind a kitchen chair) and then peek around the side. When you make eye contact he LAUGHS, LAUGHS, LAUGHS. He doesn't quite understand that I can actually still see him even if he can't see me. Super funny to watch him make up games that make him giggle.

Sweet moment of the day: When I picked Henry up today at Grandma O's, they were outside walking down the sidewalk. Henry had a dandelion in his hand. When I caught up with the two of them, I greeted Henry and he reached out to hand me the flower with a big grin on his face and said "MAMA!"

On the Bookshelf

I love reading, but you likely already knew that about me. Hence, I chose to be a professional reader (aka lawyer...not all of us lawyers are like Perry Mason who spends their days investigating facts in the field or trying cases in court - funny the show never revealed the hours, weeks, months, perhaps years it takes to read, write and prep for trial). Reading for pleasure was put on the back burner the first year of motherhood (like much of anything non-Henry related), but I have happily rekindled my relationship with books in 2012. Yes, I am a die-hard for the hard copy (not the electronic version). I love the look, feel and smell of books. I'll probably be one of the last folks on Earth to adapt to reading on an e-reader for pleasure, although I admit that I do read a fair amount on a computer screen at work. Below are a few books I have finished reading this year, that I would also recommend:


The Dirty Life, by Kristen Kimball speaks to my wanna-be farmer's heart. Kimball is a Harvard educated writer. She used to work in New York City as a mucky-muck writer. She decided to venture out into the country for a story one day and came across Mark (a young farmer), who she was instantly intrigued by (perhaps not madly in love with...yet). Something called to her that day on Mark's farm. Long story short, Mark convinced her to fall in love with him, fall in love with farming, accept his hand in marriage and start a 500 acre farm (from the ground up). This story chronicles Kimball's 1st year as a farmer. I found the book entertaining and inspiring. The core messages that I took from the book include following your heart and that the best rewards come from hard work.




Room, by Emma Donoghue is a captivating story (fiction) about a woman who is kidnapped at 19 and locked into a garden shed (Room). Her captor impregnates her and she begins to raise her son, Jack, in Room. The story captures the limitless bounds of the love between mother and son (it's no wonder I enjoyed this book). In the interest of not spoiling the story, I will leave the details for you to peruse at your leisure. The book was one of the NY Times 10 best books for 2010. Thank you Jen for the great read.





Everyday Sacred, by Sue Bender is an interesting compilation of short stories (most just a few paragraphs) that come together to describe Bender's journey to finding inner peace, to quell the harsh judgmental inner voice. I too have a harsh judgmental inner voice that tells me that I can always achieve more, do better, acquire more, so this book resonates with my personal journey to find inner peace. To be present in the moment and to stop the search for "more." She used the Buddhist monk's begging bowl as a metaphorical symbol throughout the book - searching for whatever it is that is meant to fill the bowl. What she discovers is the whole point of the begging bowl is to be willing to accept whatever is put in the bowl, without expectation.