Henry at 4

My big boy is 4! And yes, this is old news, since he's officially been 4 for over a month now, but I'm still having a hard time believing it. Every day is so different with him and I can't believe he will be starting kindergarten in just over a year!


"One, two, free, four!"

This post is a bit late because I wanted to wait until his 4 year checkup before posting. Which also means I procrastinated writing the post until now. After visiting with the doctor today, everything looks great! His eyesight is where it should be for his age and he's a growing, healthy boy. Unfortunately he was due for a couple of shots and I was worried about how he would do since he hadn't had one in a few years. He couldn't have done better! He watched as they gave him 2 shots in his arm and place the bandaids on and didn't make a peep. After they were done, he mentioned that it hurt a little, and that was it! I think he did better than I do with shots!

His official stats are:
Height: 39.5 Inches (27th percentile)
Weight: 33 pounds (22nd percentile)
He's still my little guy, but is staying in the same percentiles that he has since he was a newborn, so that's great!


Henry at 18 months on the left & Henry at 4 on the right - Guess he's grown a bit!

As a special Mommy/Henry outing, I signed him up for a zoo school class in May. This class was "Under the Sea" and he absolutely loved it. He learned all about the creatures in the sea and even made himself into a jellyfish, which was his favorite part. To break up all the writing in this post, I'll disperse the pictures from that day throughout the post (all the pics with him in a blue fleece are the zoo school pics).


Circle time with his friend Gabrielle and all the other zoo school participants



I admit that I may be a bit biased, but I think he's a super smart little guy. He is constantly amazing me with his vocabulary and all the new things he is learning. He knows all his letters and the sounds that they make, although hasn't had much interest in reading at this point. But since he loves to have us read to him, I'm sure he'll develop an interest in it soon. For now, we just go with what he's interested in working on. Often it's letters, sometimes it's math/numbers and he's always up for mazes! We have a separate activity book with only mazes and he's almost done with it!





As with most 4 year olds, he comes up with the funniest things to say! For example, I have been taking a picture of the boys each evening as part of my New Year's resolution. The other day he asked me when we were going to stop taking the pictures, and I said I wanted to do it for the year and we'd done so well, I didn't want to stop now. He paused for a second, then looked at me with a completely serious look on his face and said, "But Mommy, you can always start taking them again if you stop." Wise words, little man, it's never too late!





My Jellyfish





Our daycare was recently featured in an article in the local newspaper. In the article, one of the teachers was talking about how everyday she comes home with a story. The newspaper then goes on to say, "Like a story about one little boy who 'cracks me up with his mature language. It's way beyond his years.'" I smiled the second I read that knowing my Henry had to be that little boy. And sure enough, it was (I checked with the teacher to make sure I wasn't just biased)!




Henry and I raced though the zoo to find the new flamingo exhibit after his class was over



But having a four year old is not without it's struggles! I'd heard of the terrible 2's and 3's, but thought 4 was when it got easier. Not for us! For the most part, he is a super sweet kid and a great big brother, but he's definitely testing us these days. He loves to repeat everything we're saying, usually when he's in trouble (Me: "Henry, don't do that, it isn't safe." Henry: "No, YOU don't do that!") Ah, the joys of parenting. Definitely a battle we are currently working on! It's also quite embarrassing when he repeats what complete strangers are saying. He loves to eavesdrop on other people's conversations and then repeat them at top volume. Luckily most people think it's somewhat cute (or are completely oblivious to it), but we are definitely trying to nip that behavior in the bud!





The other big battle that we're fighting is sleep. It was taking him hours at night (and many trips out to see us) before he would fall asleep most nights. After dragging my feet for awhile, we finally decided to cut out his naps so that he would fall asleep easier. While it's done wonders for bedtime, it's still a struggle in the afternoon/evenings. But, hopefully once we get him in a routine of taking rests/quiet time, that will be enough to carry him through until bedtime.



After a particularly rough afternoon when he said he didn't need a rest. He finally crashed in our room and I had trouble waking him up!



But sleep and behavior battles aside, he is so much fun these days!







At age 3, I started doing this 20 questions birthday interview with him. I think I neglected to post last years, so I will put both on here now:

Henry at age 3
1) Favorite color? Red
2) Favorite toy? Train / Bounce House "Jumping Castle"
3) Favorite fruit? Watermelon
4) Favorite TV show? A movie! Open Season.
5) Favorite thing to eat for lunch? Noodles
6) Favorite outfit? "A flag shirt!"
7) Favorite game? Crocodile game on iPad (Where's my Water)
8) Favorite snack? Graham crackers
9) Favorite animal? Zebra
10) Favorite song? "Bang Bang One" (Witch Doctor)
11) Favorite book? "Dinosaur one" (Curious George)
12) Best Friend? Liam
13) Favorite cereal? "2 of them" - Honey Nut Cheerios & granola
14) Favorite thing to do outside? Bubbles
15) Favorite drink? Milk & water too!
16) Favorite holiday? Christmas
17) What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Mack (Cars 2 Mack truck)
18) Favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
19) What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Mac & cheese
20) What do you want to be when you grow up? "I don't know", "Project!" - Realizing that he didn't fully understand the question, we asked if he wanted to be a pilot, accountant, farmer or firefighter and he decided Pilot!

Henry at age 4

1) Favorite color? Red
2) Favorite toy? "All of them", "bubble maker & blocks"
3) Favorite fruit? A pear
4) Favorite TV show? "I like 2 shows. Mickey a little bit & Henry Hugglemonster the best!"
5) Favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & Cheese
6) Favorite outfit? "The flag shirt!" (To be fair, he was actually wearing it that day) & batman shirt with the cape
7) Favorite game? The Cat in the Hat game
8) Favorite snack? Graham crackers
9) Favorite animal? An elephant and a giraffe
10) Favorite song? "I like the songs you play on the piano" (Ah, just made this mama's day!)
11) Favorite book? The Berenstain Bears ones
12) Best Friend? "Everyone" After much prodding for a more exact answer: "Everyone! Like you!" (Made this mama's day again!)
13) Favorite cereal? Apple Jacks
14) Favorite thing to do outside? "Do bubbles"
15) Favorite drink? Water & milk
16) Favorite holiday? "Halloween. Because I like being a dragon."
17) What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Water & books
18) Favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
19) What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Mac & cheese and chicken nuggets
20) What do you want to be when you grow up? "A big dragon." After a bit more prodding: "I want to do your job & dad's job"



After finishing the questionnaire:
Henry: Are we all done, mom?
Me: We are! Good job!
Henry (glancing over at the paper): Those questions look fantastic!"


A collage of random Henry phone pics

I love this kid! He cracks me up everyday!

Henry at 3 Years

Henry had his 3 year well check today and that was the push I needed to finish up his 3 year post. So the rest of the vacation pictures will have to wait a bit longer.

First off, his official stats are:
Weight: 29 pounds (20%)
Height: 37 inches (33%)

The doctor appointment went well and Henry seems to be right on track for his age. In fact both the doctor and nurse were impressed that he was not only potty trained during the day but also during the nights! Henry had fun chatting with the doctor and checking out all his fun tools. A flashlight that looks in the ear? Awesome! Even more awesome? No shots for the 3 year visit! Woohoo!





Despite the frustrations of being constantly tested by him, he is such a fun little guy. He's got the funniest phrases and just loves to have a good time. He loves to sing (favorites include his ABC's, Bingo, Ring Around the Rosie and really any other song he's memorized), dance (loves to rock out to Elvis and still loves Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys) and read books (both by us, and to himself or to Owen) and has even adopted Owen's musical seahorse as his baby. Owen doesn't seem to mind and it's so fun to watch him care for his baby so we've approved the adoption papers. He feeds him, changes the "stinky diapers" and carries it around. It's sweet to watch, even if his attention span for caregiving is short before he's moved on to another toy. "I'm done with that. I'm ready for the next ______" (Thing/place/animal - depending on what we're doing).



He is an amazing big brother to Owen and has started to see the benefits of a live-in playmate. Not to mention he's bigger than him, so he often gets his way when Mommy and Daddy aren't watching. He even defends Owen when he sees fit. When we're struggling with changing Owen's diaper or Owen is getting into something that he shouldn't and we get a little frustrated, Henry announces, "He doesn't know any better. He's just a baby." That usually lightens the moment and reminds me that he forgets nothing! And during Owen's nap time, Henry loves to get out the big kid toys and play games and do puzzles with us.


Candyland & Twister

His memory is constantly impressing me. On Christmas Eve, he was having a rough time sleeping and I wanted to calm him down before he woke up Owen. So we sat in my closet and read some books including a Christmas book that was put away the next day. Just last month he walked into the closet and announced he wanted to read the Christmas book and pointed back to the spot we had sat in. Seriously? Amazing and a bit scary at the same time.







He has an incredibly curious mind and is constantly asking "Why?" and wanting to know how things work. Just recently he has been very interested in where water comes from and where it goes. Often a conversation started with the flushing of a toilet. "Where's it going to?" While I often get frustrated after the 1 millionth why in a row, I'm so amazed by his curiosity and watch how much he is taking in. I'm working on trying to answer him simply, yet intelligently and give him a little more credit since my answer often gets repeated back weeks later. While I love that he wants to learn how everything works, there are times I wish he wouldn't figure it out. Such as figuring out how to unbuckle his carseat (we've had MANY stern discussions on that and he now seems to understand that he can only do it once we're parked and he has our permission) and just this week he's figured out how to bypass our "child-proof" door handles. "Look Mommy, I can open this!!" Although this has proved useful when he was able to get himself a graham cracker when my hands were full. And so far he's asking before grabbing. Let's hope that lasts!


Also loves any water fountain he can find!



One of his quirks (at least in my option) is his fascination with using public restrooms. Oh goody. He always asks to go potty whenever we go anywhere and checks out everything giving a full report to the other parent about the number of toilets, hand dryers vs. paper towels, what type of soap, or any other things he finds fascinating. I guess it's good we don't have to worry about accidents when we're out and about, but I could get by seeing a few less public restrooms!



Every day his vocabulary seems to grow exponentially and we can now have many in-depth conversations (see conversation re: "where does water come from" above). So much fun!





And with that I will leave you with a few Henry-isms:

"That's not very nice!!" (Usually stated when we've asked him to do something he doesn't want to do)

"That's a good idea!"

"Mommy, go faster!" When I'm stuck in traffic. I explain to him that there are cars in front of us and we have to wait our turn. "But I don't want to go slow!" Me either, Henry, me either.

"I don't like _______" (Fill in the blank for whatever is on his plate that he doesn't happen to like for that meal.) When we mention that he liked them before, he states, "well I don't like them anymore. Maybe later."

Owen at 7 Months

Over a month into the new year, and I'm still not caught up on the blog, although considerably closer than I was a month ago! I'm hoping to post much closer to the 1st of the month for his 8 month post - wish me luck in getting and staying caught up as I head into tax season. . .

First off, I'm going to post his "official" 6 months stats from his doctor appointment on January 20th (closer to 7 months for him than 6 months):
Height: 27 inches (58%)
Weight: 16 pounds, 10 ounces (24%)

(Henry was 16 pounds, 4 ounces and 26.5 inches at his 6 month appointment - very similar in size, especially given that Owen's appointment was delayed a bit)

7 months was another big month for Owen. I'm a little nervous to say it (don't want to jinx it like I did with Henry's potty training - more on that in a later post), but Owen seems to be improving on his sleep patterns. The biggest improvement has been his naps. He has started to put himself to sleep (with a little help from the Baby Einstein's aquarium sound machine attached to the side of his crib with light/music/swimming fish to keep him calm) and take good naps in his crib. It's sometimes hard to get a good afternoon nap out of him, but he's been doing well with his morning naps (about 1 to 1.5 hours on average). It's just been so nice to have my arms free during that time and he seems to be much better rested in his crib. His nights have improved quite a bit as well. Since he wanted to spend the majority of his nights sleeping on me and nursing, we decided to try out bottles to see if that would improve anything. It was a slow process, but things have definitely improved. He generally wakes up 2 times a night and frequently has a 5 hour stretch of sleep. Still room for improvement, but much closer to how we were imagining things! He is still swaddled in his crib, since attempts without the swaddle have failed miserably. We're going with what works for now.


Bath time for Owen and a nap at Harper & John's house - although short, it was a promising step forward for his sleep

He is just talking up a storm these days and some of his 7 month babbles included "yayaya" and "dadada" - not in reference to anything in particular, but fun to listen to. Henry loves to interpret what Owen is saying and was really excited to hear him say, "yeah" or "yayaya". I've been working on mama, but so far Owen just gives me a big smile and giggles when I ask him to say it. I'll take that response too. :)




"Yayaya!" "Dadada!"



He's not too interested in the binky (although we've tried numerous times as a hope it would calm him down or help with his sleep), but I guess we won't have to worry about breaking a binky habit! He absolutely LOVES eating solid food and is mastering eating finger foods. He loves puffs and has even done a good job eating some things from our plate (like green beans, blueberries and peas - all squished up or cut to baby bite-size pieces, of course) and has done surprisingly well getting food to his mouth and chewing. He still has no teeth, but that doesn't seem to hold him back at all from his eating!






And for the record, Owen isn't eating salad just yet, but he did get a kick out of holding the salad bowl and chewing on it!


Owen's gummy smile - never know when a tooth will pop up, so I wanted to make sure to snap a shot of those toothless smiles!

All in all another great month for him and he is just so much fun to play with these days. He loves watching big brother and really gets a kick out of everything that Henry does. His favorite position (besides in someone's arms) is sitting on the floor surrounded by toys. He loves playing with all his toys, but is definitely eyeing big brother's toys and takes advantage when one drops/rolls within reach. He is also pretty protective over any toy he has in his hands. He can let out a pretty big wail if it gets ripped out of his hands before he's done with it (either by big brother trying to trade for something else, or by Mommy/Daddy if he shouldn't be playing with it in the first place). Luckily he's usually pretty easy to calm down with a different toy, but he sure knows what he likes!








Oh how quickly his mood changes when he loses his balance and goes from sitting to laying down - especially if that's flopping forward onto his belly!

And now for his unofficial 7 month stats:
Height: 27 inches
Weight: 17.8 pounds

(As a comparison, Henry was 27 inches and 17.5 pounds at 7 months - can't get much closer in size than that!)


Poor Owen and his double swirl cowlick in the back! I think it's adorable, but he may think different when he gets old enough to style his own hair!



And, because Henry loves to participate in the measurements as well, here are Henry's stats on 2/2/12:
Height: 35.5 inches
Weight: 27.8 pounds





Don't worry! Henry has not been forgotten, I've got an update post for Henry in the works as soon as I sort through some pictures. . .