Candy enough to feed an army

I don't know if it's written in Henry's genes to run from house to house collecting candy, but as soon as the idea got into his head, he was out of control! We went trick or treating with Kaitlin, Wee-o, and Thomasin tonight and Henry was in heaven. He was screaming out "Wee-o, Wee-o!" and "Tommy, Tommy!" as well as "punky, punky! for pumpkin. He also learned how to say ghost and witch and was equally amazed by every kid or dog that was dressed up. When I say Henry was excited, I mean that he was running, screaming, and yelling every word he uttered. He never waited for the nice people handing out the candy to put in his bag. As they bent down to say hello to the nice little giraffe, Henry would dig both hands into the candy bowl, almost knocking the person off their feet and the bowl out of their hands and take as much candy as his little hands could hold. Then he would turn and run back to daddy, screaming "woh, woh!" who was holding the already 10 lb bag and secretly glad that Henry got the extra illegal stash, and watching as the person staggers to their feet, needing to replenish their bowl of candy. I have to admit that it was really fun to watch. Most little kids were so calm and normal, walking from house to house, being so polite and cute, then there was Henry, tripping over curbs, screaming out for his pure love of candy and his cousins and friends, stuffing his face with jujyfruit for fuel. hahaha! We basically laughed the entire time. He really was that wild and uncontrollable.

When we got home, we dumped all the candy out and Henry jumped all over it and tried to get us to open up more and more pieces. Henry knows how to say "sucker" and now "Starburst," which Justin apparently taught him during sacrament meeting. Basically, Henry loves candy and will do anything to get it.

Long Neck

Henry got a giraffe outfit from grandma for Halloween, so I've been trying to teach him about giraffes. He has a hard time saying giraffe and really doesn't want to attempt it, but every time I talk about them I show him the sign which makes a gesture showing a long neck and I say "long neck". So instead of saying giraffe when he sees one or sees his outfit he says "long neck," but sounds more like "yong neck." L's are still hard for him. It's pretty funny:) We had a trunk-or-treat last night at the church and our friends have a cute little boy who was dressed up as a rhino and when he saw him, Henry was saying "rhino, rhino!" It was so cute that he recognized what his outfit was and could say rhino! Our nephew, Wee-o, was a caveman and when Henry saw him he wouldn't leave his side. They were getting pretty distracted looking at everyone's costumes as they went from trunk to trunk, but whenever Henry realized that he was separated from Wee-o he would yell his name over and over until we got them back together to walk to the next trunk. Henry loves his cousin:)

I don't have a photo yet, but I hope to have some soon!

Alphabet Boy

So Henry officially knows his ABC's in sign. Yesterday was his 20 month Birthday and as I was warming up his bottle to go to bed I decided to test his knowledge. I signed the entire alphabet with my hand and he was able to tell me every single letter with little problems. Every time he said a letter he would throw his hands up in the air, jump and yell out the letter with a huge smile on his face. Every morning he also wakes up reciting letters. He now says "ABCD" over and over with other letters interspersed. His all time favorite letter, though, is "W". He says it a hundred times a day and tries to find it in every book and sign. He and I do a little dance and say "dubba, dubba, dubba-u" over and over. So all day long we just look for letters. He also loves numbers and knows 1-5 and 8, but is still more interested in his letters.

Grandma and Grandpa come to visit

Grandma Teri and Grandpa Jim came to visit this last week and I think it was the busiest and most fun week we have ever had! We also lucked out with the weather, so we got to do everything we planned. This will be like a log of everything we did, so it might be a little boring, but I want to record it for posterity;)

The first day I took Dad and Teri down to the Strip District where we have a top ten bakery in the country, the best Italian grocery store in the world, and many other shops with fun and interesting things. Worth mentioning are the macaroons at Enrico's and the incredible selection of spices at Penzey's. You have to go there to experience it all. In the evening we went to the Bodies Exhibition which was really cool. The "skin only" body grossed Teri out and we thought $22 was a little steep for admission, but it was a must-see.

The next day we went to the Zoo and miraculously most of the animals were up, awake, and walking around. The best was the giant Kodiak bear with only his gigantic mammoth sized head poking out of his pond getting a drink. His head was seriously huge and he sure was thirsty! The aquarium at the zoo is fabulous and Henry ran around the entire time screaming "fish, fish!" In the evening we went to Andy Warhol Museum. Wa-heird. I hope Henry didn't see all the homosexual neon signs. lol! If you didn't know, Andy Warhol grew up here so there's a pretty decent sized museum here in Pittsburgh. Henry's favorite piece was a room filled with silver rectangular helium balloons that were blown all around the room by a fan. That was probably my favorite one also. I think I'll do that for his next Birthday party:)

We were supposed to go to to Ohiopyle (state park), but it looked like inclement weather, so we decided to go shopping at REI and H&M instead at the South Side works where there's also a fun in ground water fountain that the kids can run through. We took all of Henry's clothes off and let him run in the water and he was attracting a pretty good crowd. We then went to Jimmy Tsang's for dinner and ate some really great Chinese food in honor of the Birthday girls (Teri and Me).

The day they went home we went to the Strip one last time to get some bread and macaroons and then spent a few hours at the Phipps Conservatory where Chihuly has a spectacular exhibit. We absolutely loved it. Wow! We ate yummy Panera sandwiches for lunch while Henry slept in the car and then drove to the airport. Our little adventure had to come to an end even though there was so much more I wanted to show them. I suppose we have quite a few years to show them all that Pittsburgh has to offer.

We had such a fun time hanging out with them. Henry was so excited to have them around and even a couple days after they left he kept looking for them in our guest room. Poor little guy:(

Finally Lake Tahoe Revealed

Henry and Lake Tahoe are like peas in a pod. Henry and I arrived early and left late to get used to the time change, so we had plenty of time to relax. We stayed in a condo right on the beach, so every morning we woke up to sounds of the small waves on the lake and an incredible view. Lake Tahoe has such a unique landscape with enormous mountain ranges encircling the entire lake. There are something like 11 ski resorts in the area and we had fun going to the resort villages wishing we could buy everything in the high end ski stores. Henry, my Dad, Teri, and I hung out together the whole time. We also had fun hanging out with the other cousins and aunts and uncles. Henry took particular attachment to my uncle Grant, whom he called "Grandpa" the entire time. He loved it over at their place with all the toys and especially the train set. I think I'm going to have to get a train set for him for either Christmas or his Birthday. He liked it so much, in fact, that he wouldn't eat meals and by the end of the day he was so starving that he would finally eat massive amounts of dinner. Our favorite thing to eat was Judy's home-made wheat bread or pancakes in the morning. Ya-hum! Henry also had a fabulous time with his cousin Wil and my youngest cousin Markie. They frequently hung out together on the beach catching crawdads, digging in the sand, and climbing on rocks. I also had a great time hanging out with my cousin Liz. We shared philosophies on life and it seemed like we were very much alike!

Just like when we went to DC for Easter this year and his signing exploded, his vocabulary exploded on our trip and it hasn't stopped. He continuously learns new words and always tries to say everything no matter how difficult, which is consistent with his "no fear" outlook on life. That's our boy!

Mom's Birthday Party

Well, it was my Birthday today and Henry had a great time. He knows what Birthday means, so he knew it included some sort of a party and a cake. We had a bunch of family and friends, including my dad and my step-mother, Teri, who have been here having a blast for the last 5 days. Henry and the other three kids his age actually ate their dinner without a huge mess, then danced around on the deck to Norah Jones until they started to get dizzy and bumping into each other which led to crying. haha!. Henry especially loved the train cake pan that Stef gave me. He LOVES trains and I'm going to make him his train cake for his Birthday. I'm really excited to do it for him.

Before the party we went on a hike at Fall Run Park where Henry took a pretty bad face plant on the trail and a rock embedded in his lip. The entire rest of the day he had a flap of skin hanging down off his mouth and a fat lip. So sad. He was a trooper though and as soon as he saw another rock, he totally forgot about his lip and started running again without a thought about the hidden rocks on the trail. It was such a beautiful place and there were so many leaves on the trail and we all enjoyed kicking them up.

Check out the Lake Tahoe photos. I'll write about it next!

A couple of cute photos

I don't have time to say much, so I'm just going to upload a few cute photos. Oh, Henry said Broccoli today. "Brocky" he says. He was pretty happy with himself that he could say it. These photos are of Henry in Washington DC at church and after church at our walk through a fabulous garden with aunt Meg and Uncle Kirk, which included a butterfly garden.

Honey is one

Henry learned how old he is the other day. I should have taught him earlier, but I didn't think of it until now. Now, every time we ask him how old he is, he says "one" and sticks up his little finger. He also understands the concept of one and what one looks like. He has a numbers puzzle and runs around showing us the number one and every time he has one grape or one fruit snack he says, "one" with a big smile on his face. He surely is excited to have learned about the number one.

Henry also started attempting to say his name. For about one day he said, "Hammy," which was really funny, but now he says what sounds like "honey". I think he knows he's not saying it right because he gets a little bit of that embarrassed/shy look when he says it, but at least he's trying to say his name. He can say just about everyone else's name, but not his own. I think "r's" are really hard for him at this point and so he avoids them when he can.

I just have to point out that Henry is surprisingly good at sharing. Even though he's being so high maintenance and emotional at this point in his life, he is always so willing to share things and that amazes me still. He has his raspberry plants from which he usually eats every day. Every time, without asking, he puts a few into my mouth. Today there were so many raspberries that we decided to pick some for Justin, who was home studying, and Henry brought the entire bowl up to the office and shared them all with Justin. He did the "one for you and one for me" thing, which I hadn't ever taught him. He just naturally knows the concept. When he asked for grapes in his bowl today, before he ate any of them, he gave one to Justin and one to me and then he started eating his own. He also played Sherpa today as Justin and I watched the Yankee game. He willingly was bringing me pretzels every time I asked Justin for a few. He would bring a handful over, give me all but one, and take the last one for payment. lol! He's such a nice boy.

Henry never ceases to amaze...or make me laugh

Today I printed out a bunch of photos at Costco to swap with some of the old ones around the house that just weren't that great. I printed a few out to put on his photo wall in his room and while I was up there organizing everything, he climbed up the two tiered changing table, pulled himself up to a stand and then pointed at my older brother's photo and said, "Sam". I was shocked. I clapped, laughed, and made him say it a couple more times and then asked him if he could say "Jamie," (who is Sam's girlfriend and is in the photo with him) and he said it perfectly! For the rest of the night he was saying "Sam, Jamie" while he was jut walking around. I can't believe he remembered something I had tried to teach him so long ago. I don't know when the last time we talked about all the people on the wall was. At least a week ago or more. What a memory.

Tonight I made some more fresh salsa from the tomatoes that just ripened today. I'm loving this indian summer. I thought I would bring some over to my neighbor Swati, whom Henry LOVES to death. She's straight from India and is the most lovely, friendly, and sweet girl that ever existed. Henry calls out for her frequently, so when I mentioned we were going over there, he ran to get his shoes, then he ran to the table where my cowboy hat was hanging on the kitchen chair, put it on, then ran to the door and looked at me with an excited/impatient look like, "I'm ready. Let's go!" The hat is now folded over so much that he has to turn it sideways in order to see and then it looks more like a Napoleon Boneparte hat made from straw. lol! We went over to Swati's house, but she wasn't there. I told Henry that Swati was gone and he started repeating her name over and over in a very sad tone. Poor Henry. He got all ready for nothing. haha.

More Dog Stories and Singing

This story is in addition to the last dog story when Henry stuck his finger in dog poo before peeing on the doormat and pooping under our deck. Tonight our friend took Henry while Justin and I went to a fancy lecture/dinner for the Orthopedic Surgery department that they have every year. It was so nice to have some time away from Henry for a minute! Don't tell him I said that. Anyway, so when my friend took him to her house, her dog in the back yard started licking the outside of the sliding glass door, and when Henry saw that, he promptly ran over and started licking the inside of the glass door where the dog was licking as if it was second nature to him. lol! I always believed I had a little bit of a natural dog whisperer in me and I think I've passed it on to him:)

So, in the car the other day I was singing Old McDonald had a Farm when I wanted to tell Justin something in mid verse. I stopped singing for a second and Henry continued singing in perfect pitch and tone, "E-I-E-I-O". He actually sang on tune! I'm so glad to hear that because I fear that some of our children will inherit Justin's voice and not my own. Just so you know, that's pretty much one of the only things I would rather they inherit from me and not him. They can be like him in every other way because he is just amazing:)

Henry is getting increasingly jealous of anything that takes my attention away from him and anxious about being separated from me. He doesn't even like me to be out of sight anymore even though it never bothered him before. It seemed to start ever since he learned to say Mommy and Daddy, like now we mean more to him because he can say our names. If he's with Daddy, he calls out for Mommy, making sure I'm close by. If Justin's home and I have Henry in my arms, he calls out for Daddy, wanting him to be in arms reach. I don't know what is going on with him, but I hope it passes soon because I find myself wishing for some more alone time to rest from his intensity.

Oh, and today he got out of the tub twice to run into our room just to pee on the carpet. I guess it's my fault because I was trying to double task by making the bed while he was supposed to be playing (I can see him in the bathroom from anywhere in my room just in case you were wondering), and it was too late to stop him once he ran to the first patch of clean carpet he set foot on. Then when I got him out of the tub, he usually follows me into his room where I put on his diaper, but he was too busy closing doors, which he is obsessed with lately, and spent just a little too long closing our bedroom door and created a little lake next to Justin's nightstand. He also knows the words, "pee pee" "poo poo" and "bum bum" and isn't afraid to use them when he gets the chance.

BTW...that photo is of Henry after the tomatoes in the food processor splashed out all over the kitchen. I let him push the buttons when I chop things up. I cleaned up the walls and the cabinets, but I didn't notice Henry's face until a few minutes later! lol! He also likes to put stickers on his chest while he watches me cook.

Henry Ouch

Henry went to DC this weekend. On the way there we stopped at Harper's Ferry where we walked a little bit of the Appalachian trail. When we got out of our car, a huge train was going by right next to the parking lot, so I put Henry up on my shoulders and got really close to the train so he could feel the wind, hear the noise and see how big they really are. He was screaming and laughing at the same time from the exhilaration. So, because of the train, we didn't put shoes on him and he ended up running along the trail barefoot, falling every 50 feet as usual. On one of those falls he broke/scraped off a good chunk of his toenail and for the rest of the trip he had a bloody and really dirty bloody stump of a toe. He never cried or complained about it until today when he stubbed it on a wooden toy and it started gushing blood. I wiped it until it stopped bleeding, but shortly after that he dropped a Nalgene bottle on it, splitting his wound open again. I gave him a bottle of warm milk, took him up to my room and performed minor surgery to clean it out and put band-aids on it. Henry was such a good patient. He never cried and he totally let me do whatever I wanted without squirming. He ended up pulling off the band-aids twice, so it didn't really last long, so I hope it heals even though his toes are always covered in dirt! haha!