Henry . . .Oh, Henry. What can I say about a Henry? How does one even begin to describe a Henry?
The kid is one-of-a-kind, there is no denying it.
When Henry woke up this morning to use the restroom it was after 4:17 am and whispered "Happy Birthday" to him and replies back "Thank you". What a sweetheart. It's a nice change from some of his other personalities and attitude.
Henry loves to draw . . and then the drawings need to be cut out. His drawings aren't half bad either. He is getting pretty good at designing his own simple lego creations. He can entertain himself for quite a while re-creating scenes with cars, trains, planes . . .just about anything . . . with full narrative about what they are doing or crashing into. He likes rolling his socks.
He
likes flipping through books, Thomas the train (still), Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, "slicing” people’s body parts with his hand, and has a new found interest in pirate-themed toys after his birthday party today!
He
can reach the security keypad on the door at daycare and likes entering the
code.
A few weeks ago Henry came down with a virus that left him with a fever
for a few days. Henry watched more than his share of tv those days and
since then has been going through tv withdrawal. He tries to watch
every opportunity he gets.
The boys are on a Scooby Doo kick
during breathing treatments but Henry would watch it for hours if allowed.
We've been playing the game "what does X (insert word) start with?" and he does pretty good. What does "dog" start with? What does "library" start with? What does "tree" start with? We have a 3 card matching game that forms a word - he resisted the first night I introduced it but in the morning he was actively making words and matching the pictures. He loves flipping through books and gets the concepts and context from the photos. A few months ago he would write various letters upside down or backwards and write the letters in words right to left but things are starting to click.
It is amazing what he remembers and recalls after weeks; sometimes months of not talking about something. He was looking for something at grandpa and grandma's the other day he hadn't played with in months.
He has convinced me let him take a "break" from gymnastics. I'm guessing it'll turn permanent but I like to call it a break just so it's not so obvious he won. The beginning of the end started a few months ago when the PreK room was outside at the same time the school agers were outside at pick up time on a gymnastics day (Henry goes to gymnastics; Mike picks up Ralph later). Henry was not too happy to be leaving when Ralph was oustide with him. It was the first time this had happened . . .and it happened again the next week. To keep him active he will be going with Mike and Ralph to basketball at least once a week. He loves running up and down the court and doesn't do too bad dribbling. I'm pretty sure Henry will be talented at whatever he is interested in BUT only when he decides it's "HIS thing".
Some things never change . . .He still is very opinionated about the types of shirts he will wear. If I get lucky he'll wear a screen printed shirt but mostly solids or stripes will get the best reception. Pants do not seem to be a big deal. He is almost as picky with jammies - prints or characters are fine; not sure what causes some to be okay and others not okay. He is wearing 4T shirts with a few used XS shirts (ie. some shrinkage); pants are mostly 4T/4. He is currently wearing 9.5T in shoes. He is a ways from learning to tie his shoes . . . even doing the starter knot has fallen by the way side. He does insist on his shoes being double knotted ALL the time though and will untie his shoes when he takes them off.
We had a few good weeks of Henry staying in bed at bedtime when I started exercising at night but earlier this week schedules were messed up a bit and I didn't exercise at night. Henry got out of bed more than necessary at bedtime . .just when I thought he might have gotten over that phase. He has had to be reminded a few times this week if he gets out of bed at bedtime there is no tv during the next breathing treatment.
Henry is still 5-point harnessed. There are no immediate plans to change that. We won't go in for his 5-yr check up until his kindergarten physical in April. He'll need those 4 months to gain weight but even though I expect him to be harnessed through most of the summer at the least.
Lights
out at night are around 8:10 on a good night. It's anyone's guess when he actually falls asleep. On a good deal he'll sleep until 6:15-6:30. He prefers French
toast sticks or mini pancakes in the morning with a sausage. His preferred fruits are clementines, mandarin oranges, pears, grapes, and apples. Vegetables are hit and miss. His favorite choices
for lunch or supper are currently peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hotdogs, and chicken nuggets.
