Henry: Celebrating 35 months!

One more month to take advantage of entrance fees and buffets where kids “2 & under” get in free!  Time is ticking and it is not slowing down!  Soon there will not be any more toddlers in the house! 

Henry is doing much better at identifying colors and shapes.  He is also into matching – the lid on his sippy cup NEEDS to match the cup which is a challenge because they were sold mismatched. 

 

Henry likes to turn anything and everything into a train.   He’ll line up boxes and hop in them.  One night he got each of us to sit in a box as best as we could.  He will take the fabric drawers out of their cubbies and line them up.  He will line up pieces of paper to form a train if he has to.  He is also very picky about his jammies and HAS to wear Thomas the Train jammies.

 

He is getting better at showing us he can undress and dress himself but he does not always follow directions or act on requests quick enough.  I have also seen him trying to remove socks with his teeth though he can do it the right way. 

 

Naps are still a challenge at home.  I’m hopeful this stage will pass sometime and he’ll give in.  If he would just lay quietly we’d probably have better luck – he just can’t seem to stay still.  I’m usually optimistic that he will just fall asleep while playing and he can be tricked into taking a nap but it has not worked yet.  He usually plays quietly without a problem now but he still needs to take a nap!

 

Bedtime is not much easier and he has Mike wrapped around his finger too as Mike has been exercising while the boys are going to bed so Henry keeps going into our room to tell Mike various things.  It is hard to get too mad at him when he comes in to say “Daddy I love you”.  Some nights he also thinks he has to go the bathroom 3-4 times before it’s all said and done, just to delay the inevitable some more.

 

He had been on a good streak of sleeping through the night but is fighting a cough again.  Time will tell if he will need the help of a steroid to get through it.  It’s been about two months since his last bout but when I’m coughing and his friends at daycare are coughing there really is no way to avoid it.

 

He seems to be a tattle tell or maybe he just likes to keep us informed.  Sometimes when he sees Ralph do something Henry will say “we don’t put our cups on our heads.”or “Ralphie pour syrup on his plate."  He also likes to make a big deal if Ralph takes a fruit or something off of his plate at a meal time . . .even if Henry was not going to eat it no matter what.  If he is in a good mood he will willingly share his food  but it has to be his idea.

 

He is getting very brave in the bath and laying on his back and resting comfortable.  Much easier to wash/rinse hair that way!

 

He really needs a haircut but am stalling right now as their Thanksgiving program at daycare is next Thursday and his 3 year pictures next month.  The haircut will happen next week and hopefully it will still look good next month.

 

He has graduated to toddler size 6.5 shoes (with a lot of protest initially), still wearing 2T jeans, some hand-me-down 3T sweats, and hand-me-down 3T long sleeve shirts that are still a bit too big.     I figure the hand-me-downs are the size inbetween new 2T & 3T since they’ve been washed and have slightly shrunk.  Sometimes he complains when things are “too tight” which is far from the case.  Most times they are too big and I was just tired of the smaller size and wanted to get him in some different clothes.

Halloween 2012

Ralph named off three superheros I could pick from when I asked him what he wanted to be.  Iron Man seemed to be his favorite so we went with that.  He tells me Iron Man saves the day!   When I asked Henry what he wanted to be he innocently said "a ladybug."  Keeping with the 'bug' idea, Henry was Spiderman - a distant cousin to the bug??  I also opted to play along with the superhero theme a bit and made a "Supermom" cape with a little bit of help.

I am not sure we could have jammed much more in Halloween week.  Our festivities started 6 days before Halloween with the boys' first visit to Boo at the Zoo, an annual fundraiser at the Lincoln Children's Zoo.  Boo is held October 26-30 every year.  We received "early bird" tickets which are for a specific night so we were obligated to go on October 26 which was the coldest night this season for Boo.  The boys were layered under their costumes and still had to wear their winter coat over the costumes but I did not hear any complaints.  Henry was overwhelmed by everything and wanted to be carried.  I think I can finally say he is getting heavy!  Ralph did great.

Following Boo we jetted over to St. John's church for their "trunk or treat".  After a quick round of trick or treating at car trunks we were on our way back home.

 

On Saturday, the 27th, we made it a day of pumpkin carving.  We only carved two but it did seem to take the whole day.  We took the guts out before lunch, carved one after nap, and carved the other one after supper.  Ralph gave some direction on how to carve them.

On October 28 we had another double dose of trick or treating with an afternoon "trunk or treat" at the preschool of the boys' friends Leighton & Turner.  It was a nice afternoon and a great time for little people.  Following this trunk or treat, Grandpa & Grandma took the boys to St. Mark's for a few carnival-like games and another round of "trunk or treat".

We had a few days of rest then came Halloween.  The boys had jammie day at daycare and dressed in costume for a parade and trick or treating throughout daycare.  After a stop at Grandma & Grandpa's we walked around the neighborhood - it was a great night.  There seemed to be less folks in the neighborhood handing out treats this year - not that the boys (or we) are hurting for treats, it's just a good chance to see neighbors.

(The boys also had field trips to Roca Scary Pumpkin Patch in the weeks leading to Halloween.)

Bloom Where you are Planted Pumpkin Patch

I am getting a little behind.  We visited Bloom Where You Are Planted near Avoca at the end of September.  We first visited BWYP two years ago and found it to be a great spot for young children.  Similar to Vala's, we visited on a Sunday morning just after they opened.  While there were people around us we did not have to share any areas much - it was almost as if we had the place to ourselves. 

We did not make it there last year and found a few new improvements over the past few years.  The wheelbarrow maze was a favorite as well as the chance to climb up the haybales and go down the slide.  The boys also enjoyed the cornbox - mostly all to themselves for awhile, a big tire swing, dressing a scarecrow, and the duck race in the water troughs.    Henry also tried out the horse swing.