Happy New Year

Henry, Sophie and I spent a long New Year's weekend at the coast, which was glorious work-free family time.  Ryan came down for a night to join us, but had to head back to Portland so he could work.  Henry took great pleasure in "calling" Dada multiple times to check in on him after he left. 

Henry is one very active boy these days.  The weather hasn't been as conducive to outside play as the fall was, so Henry has taken to "mowing" the carpet.  He has started to try to climb everything too.

Henry loves cars!!!

Henry really enjoys doing puzzles now, especially this one that is all about vehicles.  He still loves all things with wheels.  The bigger the better!

Peek-a-boo.  If I cover my eyes, you can't see me!!!

Giving loves to Dada's chair.  He loves to snuggle anything soft and squishy.

Bang, bang, bang.  This thing is awesome and loud!!!  We used to have to hold the drum part up for Henry to use, but now he can do it all by himself. He is quite proud of himself when he plays drummer boy. I think he gets this from Grandpa Jim who grew up playing the drums (even played in the military). 

Henry is talking up a storm these days. New words form everyday.  His latest words include more, wall, bye, blueberry, rhino, banana, bib, pot, and scissors.  He's also starting to learn his letters, including O, Z, M, E and Y.  Amazing how quickly kids pick stuff up. 

Henry's generally still a good eater, however, he has become much more particular on any given day. For example, he'll eat blueberries everyday for a week straight like they are candy and then the next week, he'll have nothing to do with them.  If you serve them to him (when he doesn't want them), he will often first offer them back to you to eat and then if you say "no thanks, why don't you try them???" he'll say, "no...dog, dog" and drop them over the side of his high chair for Sophie to consume.  He has banned all solid forms of meat, other than breaded or smoked fish.  He'll still eat bacon and sausage though (who wouldn't, pork fat is awesome!).  His favorite foods these days include, waffles with syrup, greek yogurt, blackberries, sesame rice crackers, grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit leather, cashews (roasted and salted, not the raw ones), and avocados (sprinkled with kosher salt). 

His favorite toys in recent weeks include his power tools, race cars, recycle truck, cash register, floor puzzle and train set.  He also still loves to read (but only the books he gets to pick out, not the ones Mama picks out). 

All in all, Henry continues to thrive as a happy, ever-growing toddler.  I couldn't be happier!