Happy Happy

Henry has learned many new words lately and one word he loves to use is "happy". I was putting him down for his nap today and as I snuggled the blankets around his face he looked up at me and said, with a huge smile, "happy, happy". He really is a happy boy. Here he is hanging around downtown Pittsburgh with his mommy and daddy.

Henry also love accessories like hats, sunglasses and hair ties, which he pulls up to his upper arms and leaves there for hours. Sometimes I find four or five hair ties stuck on his arms hidden beneath his tee-shirt while I'm changing him into his pjs. He's lucky that his arms aren't big enough for them to cut off his circulation! hopefully he'll lose interest in them by the time his arms grow bigger. By that time I'll be able to see his arms turning purple anyway. lol! Funny kid:) Henry fell asleep in the car with my cowboy hat on and his stretchy mosquito repellent armband that he loves. He loves his accessories!

Sweet Henry Stories

These stories, though short, have to be documented for posterity. Henry does random things every day that make me laugh and somehow my mom thinks these stories are really fun, so here they are...

The other day I put Henry down for his nap and he was being such a good boy. He had just finished a bottle of milk, was totally relaxed and I carried him to his room. I laid him in his crib, tucked all his blankets around him saying "snuggli wuggli," which he really loves and always makes him laugh or smile. Then I stroked his hair and said, "Henry, you're such a good boy." He looked up at me, smiled, and then said "boy" in his sweet little voice. Then he snuggled his head in his blankets, closed his eyes and went right to sleep. That just about melted my heart.


Last Saturday we went for a hike at Fall Run Park and we let Henry walk up the trickle of a stream that's left. He loved playing in the water. When we got to the waterfall we put him at the sloped, slippery base to let him slide down since he loves slides. When he reached the bottom he hit his elbow then looked up at us and said, "owwww, elbow." haha! Justin was like, "when did he learn how to say that? I didn't even know he knew that word!" He does, however, know the word "bridge,"but since he can't say r's very well yet, he says it without the r and you can imagine what that sounds like. lol! On this trail, there are probably 10 bridges and whenever he sees one, he says his version of bridge a hundred times. When this women passed us near a bridge we had to keep saying, "yeah Henry, that's a bridge. Good boy, bridge!" So she wouldn't be offended!

Henry loves to go out to the garden every day and eat fresh tomatoes, raspberries, carrots and beets. That's one of his favorite things to do. He walks down our deck stairs and finds all the cherry tomatoes that are ripe, then we go find all the ripe raspberries. After the raspberries are all gone Henry starts saying "beets, beets, beets" over and over and then goes over to the beets and carrots and looks them all over to find ones that are ready to be picked. Henry does pretty well finding the ones that aren't "babies". He seems to respond really well to the reasoning that we have to be careful and nice to the baby ones until they grow up and we can pick them. After he picks the beets or carrots, he holds them up and says "wash, wash" until they are all cleaned off. I really can't believe how much he loves his beets. I seriously love it.

Henry's new way of getting out of Sacrament Meeting

So, I was supposed to sing today with my ensemble, but our friend Cynthia called to say that her little 2 year old was throwing up and she wouldn't be able to sing. So I had to cancel the ensemble and I don't even know if I can reschedule because it's a total hassle to get everyone together. PLUS, my neighbor Swati whom I adore was coming to church today for the first time to hear me sing. I tried to call someone about doing a solo, but I couldn't get a hold of anyone so I was just going to talk to someone before church about it. I pulled into church a few minutes early and was rushing to get in when I somehow accidentally locked the car, got out, shut the door and there was Henry and all my stuff for Sharing Time and music locked in my car at church that's 20 minutes drive from my house. Aaaahhh!!!! I couldn't even call Swati to tell her not to come or about what happened. Fortunately I parked in the shade and after a few minutes of trying to get Henry to push the buttons or pull the lock up, we gave up. We tried to point to the keys or the lock button, but he would just put his fingers on the glass where our fingers were touching the glass. We were laughing hysterically. Henry was roaming free in the car and he was happy as a clam! haha! I borrowed a friend's car, drove home, got a spare key, and drove back. When I pulled up, my sister-in-law and Swati were in the parking lot waiting with Henry and my car and there was just 10 minutes left of Sacrament Meeting. When we opened the car door, there was such a stench that everyone almost passed out. Henry had a the nastiest poopy diaper full of undigested grapes. Gross!! My singing plans were shot and Swati didn't even get a chance to feel the spirit. Can you believe this? So, she stayed to hear my lesson in Sharing Time, which actually went really well and then left. Soon after that, I soon realized that I had forgotten my binder with all my secretary stuff and wasn't able to do any of my normal duties. How in the blazes???!!! Then after church I got snagged to sing in the ward choir and I had to sing through Henry's screaming fits because he was so tired. After that, we went home. On the way home I realized that I had left almost all my props, including my cowboy hat and my down slippers at church because I couldn't clean up properly after my lesson with all the commotion going on. Henry was already asleep too, so I couldn't return without risking messing up Henry's nap. He slept from 2:30 to 6:30(four hours!!!) and I still hear him whining upstairs at almost 11pm because he's not tired enough to fall asleep. Plus, this whole time Justin was at work and won't come home until tomorrow afternoon. We did finally get a chance to go down to visit him at the hospital and eat cinnamon rolls for 15 minutes with him, so that was the only relaxing part of the day.

Is there a division for 2 and under?

Henry is an official climber. He got some climbing shoes from his Uncle Sam when he was born and recently he has been wanting to wear them all over the house. They are a size 10, but they velcro on pretty well even though Henry is just a 7 or so. This weekend we went to Ohiopyle State Park to hike, camp, and climb with our great friends Christi and Dave Romney. That place is just beautiful. We even stumbled on a kayaking competition on Saturday where the race included dropping off a large waterfall. Henry was in heaven with all the water, dogs and motorcycles everywhere. We decided to spend our Saturday climbing at a pretty nice spot where we actually met the guy who bolted the climbs. Justin and Dave did most of the climbing. I scaled a really fun crack climb that was a 5.6 in difficulty (aka: not that hard but still gave a rush). That was a blast from the past. Many of you may not know that my brother is still a professional rock climber, so when Henry began climbing all over just about everything that looked climbable, I wasn't surprised. We put his special climbing shoes with the monkey on them and he was unstoppable. He had a blast climbing all over the boulders and more difficult ledges (with mom spotting, of course). Miraculously, he didn't even get hurt in that rocky terrain. I expected him to get a bloody lip at least once on the trip! After climbing we hiked to our campsite in Bear Run where we were totally secluded (except for the distant sound of the freeway. Ugh) and we ate yummy food, roasted marshmallows, and told funny stories in the freezing night air. Henry had a tough time without taking his usual two hour nap, so we had to live with the crankster for a while, but after a pretty good night's sleep (for him) he was refreshed in the morning. We hiked out in the morning, took a nice easy walking tour up the river to look at the waterfalls and the natural water-slide and then went home.

Henry's New Pet

We have a a new pet......spider! Haha! Just in time for Halloween, eh? We are so glad that our big mama orb weaver spider has decided to join us this year. She is a large orange spider with orange and white striped legs, just the same as the ones we used to have in New Mexico, which is astounding to me since there are something like 30,000 different species of orb weaver in the USA. Anyway, so we had her for a couple days in our back sliding door, but then she vanished. On Sunday our in-laws came for dinner and my sister-in-law was cleaning up in the toy room when she screamed bloody murder, hopping and prancing out of the room, "there's the hugest, ugliest bug I've ever seen in there, eeeewwww!" haha! I ran in there and it was our girl! I was so excited to have found her, and just in time, too, because after I put her back in her corner of the door frame, she laid her eggs! We are so excited to have them there and her back where she spins her perfect web. We have the best seat in the house from the other side of the window. Henry loves it when I put a grasshopper in the web so we can watch her wrap it up and sink her fangs in it! haha! Am I grossing you out? Good! She does have some pretty big fangs. The best part of the whole scenario is that when the little spider babies hatch in the spring, they'll all float away on the breeze with their little parachutes. Isn't nature so exciting?

Poopy mornings

Henry keeps waking up at 7am, which is really early for him, because he has a huge poopy diaper. I usually go to bed around 2am, so I've been getting 5 hours of sleep and it just isn't enough for me! The worst part is that I'm so delirious when he starts to scream that I don't go in there until I hear him say "eeew", at which point I know that he's stuck his finger in his diaper and has scooped a dollop of poop out and is sitting there waiting for me to clean it off. He knows that I finally snap out my delirium when I hear "eeew". haha! So gross.

Very BIG Boy

People had been telling me recently that Henry seems really big for his age. I thought they had meant he acts older, which is does, with his long hair and all his climbing and running. He's so sure on his feet and isn't afraid of anything. This week I took him to his new pediatrician, Dr. Butler,who I adore, and he did his checkup. Henry weighs almost 30 lbs and is just under 36 inches tall which means that he's off the chart(99th percentile) for height and at the top for weight (95th percentile). His head, however is only in the 50th percentile. haha! Poor little guy. He is excelling in every area, especially verbally and physically. For a boy, he is very verbal, follows directions, and even sings a little bit. He climbs, runs, hops, jumps, goes down huge slides and is very independent. His social skills have always been advanced and children younger and especially older than him have always loved interacting with him because of his contagious personality and sweet character.

He is so eager to please and is obedient to the point that it blows my mind. One of his new things is to help me throw everything away. As soon as he finds a wrapper on the ground, even outside on the street, he wants to pick it up and put in the garbage. He's so proud of himself when he understands instructions and does what I ask him to do. Henry is also one of the friendliest kids ever. Everywhere he goes, he waves at people, especially kids, and people can't help but react with a smile and and swooning.

His expressions are getting even more extreme as he learns to talk. He is signing over 75 words and when we go into the city or a new environment, he tries to name everything, and the things he can't name, he signs. He notices everything and never holds back his joy and excitement for the world around him.

Just the other day Henry, Justin and I were doing a little yard work and Justin took Henry to the front yard for a couple minutes and when he saw me in the back yard watering the garden, he ran toward me exclaiming, "woh dad, mommy!, mommy!, mommy!"

Yesterday we went to a Pittsburgh Pirates(I know you've never heard of them) baseball game. He loved the crowd, the jumbo screen cartoons and all the clapping. After a while, he decided to go on an adventure, so we headed out to walk around. He made a bunch of friends, got some free popcorn which he fed to a seeing eye dog. He also danced with a young disabled boy in a wheelchair and they even signed to each other. As he hopped, skipped, and ran down the ramps, he would periodically stop to dance the the music. Whenever he did, a crowd would start to congregate until he decided it was time to move on.

One of Henry's favorite things to do is to go visit Justin down at the hospital and walk around outside. There are always a variety of buses, motorcycles, the trauma helicopter coming and leaving. He gets a lot of stimulation from the diversity of people walking around and all the traffic on the street.

Well, this is Henry! He is the most lovable boy around!

Block Island Bebe

I hadn't really realized it, but Henry had never been to the beach since he was an infant and incapable of truly enjoying it. I was not prepared for Henry's excitement in seeing the endless beaches covered with sand, rocks, perfect kid sized waves to play in, and the large inlet of water which, during low tide, provides a warm, super shallow water park for kids while the parents dig in the mud for yummy clams. This trip to Block Island was THE best trip we'd had up there since I started going five years ago.
What had traditionally been a very cool, overcast and rainy place was hot and sunny all week long. The usual activities of puzzles and reading one or more books was kicked to the curb as we spent most of our days at the beach. Henry and his buddies, Gabe and Nate played in huge holes in the sand dug by their fathers' all day long. Henry also loved being around all the other children and dogs playing at the beach. He made lot of new friends and some enemies as he charmed the girls and smashed the other boys' sand creations. Other kids seem to be drawn to him and are eager to know him. We ate great fresh food, our yearly lobster, home grown tomatoes from our garden, my home-made jam and bread, and other fresh veggies from the Smocks. Eating good food is always a big part of a successful vacation. Clamming was probably the most fun activity we did this year. I had always wanted to go in previous years, however we never had enough time or motivation to get the license. While the boys were clamming, Henry and I played on the beach and caught fiddler crabs. Henry isn't afraid of anything, even large crabs with huge pincers. It was also fun to see him learn the signs for everything you find at the beach. He's so eager to learn and discover new things. Henry is always so delightful to be around with his constant smiles, dancing, expressions, exclamations of discovery and bursts of energy and laughter.