Henry at age 2

Henry is such a fun, happy little boy, so I thought I would dedicate a post to Henry and everything he is doing at age 2.

Last week, we had Henry's two-year checkup with his pediatrician. He weighs 27.6 pounds and is 34 inches tall, which puts him right at the 50th percentile. Considering he was born huge (97th percentile) and dropped to 15th percentile at age 1 (due to his nonstop activity), I'm very happy with him being right in the middle! Everything went fine at his checkup and he is doing everything he should be.

Henry knows all his colors and shapes (his favorite shape is a semicircle!). He loves to count and just mastered counting from 1 to 10 and also back down, from 10 to 1! He adores singing songs, especially his ABCs (which he sings pretty well), "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Wheels on the Bus." He can speak in sentences (things like "Mommy driving new car" or "Baby crying") and is using pronouns (mine new car). He says thanks completely unbidden and also please, bless you, and yes, ma'am (even to Gene).

Henry is still working on jumping, but he has mastered climbing up and down stairs by himself and is very good at kicking a ball. He also loves to throw balls. He can brush his own teeth (though we still help him) and can drink water from a big boy cup all by himself. One of Henry's favorite sentences is "I do it." He likes to be big like his brother! He also loves to say "no" and is extremely opinionated!

Henry's favorite things:
-books
-cars/trucks/trains (usually we can find a collection in his bed)
-playing outside
-rocket jammies
-"Blue's Clues" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" TV shows
-puzzles
-balls
-going to Gymboree
-music (especially marches, like his brother)
-food (he definitely has a sweet tooth)
-stickers
-coloring/painting/art class

Henry made a turtle and a snake at Gymboree art class last weekend.

Things Henry dislikes:
-going to bed
-being told "no"

We definitely haven't hit the terrible twos just yet. Henry is so much fun and I am just loving this age and this little boy!

Eat at Louie's

Will loves Richard Scarry books. In one of his stories, some of the characters go to eat at Louie's Restaurant. Here is a picture of Able Baker Charlie delivering bread to Louie's Restaurant.

In our backyard, Will has named the picnic table under the play set Louie's. Now that the weather is nice, the boys love to eat there. As you can see from this photo, the "restaurant" is also a favorite of Weezie's. She knows that the boys will share (willingly or not) their dinners with her.

Here the boys are enjoying a meal at Louie's. Can you see chef Louie (aka Daddy) in the background?

A spoon on the ramp?

The food is great at Louie's, but perhaps the best part is that the swings are right there.

I can't wait to see what Chef Louie is cooking up tonight!

Got Milk?

As I've posted before, Gene loves his new espresso machine. He makes us coffee all the time now, and it is so yummy. The boys have taken to requesting special coffee as well. No, no, no, we are not completely insane. The boys just get foamed milk with a touch of sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon, but they do call it coffee. Doesn't Will have the cutest milk mustache?

You may know that Henry is not a huge fan of milk, but he does like his "coffee." Hmmm, maybe that's how I need to get him to drink more milk!

Got milk?

Rocket Jammies

I bought fleecy rocket jammies for the boys in November, just as it started getting cold, and they soon became Henry's favorite jammies. He would wear them all day every day if I let him. You can see him here on his birthday morning, opening presents and wearing his favorite rocket jammies.

Do all doctors wear rocket jammies?

I knew that we would have to soon retire the rocket jammies now that the weather is getting warmer, but I also knew that that would devastate Henry. So I went online to find new rocket jammies for my little boy. Fortunately, Kohl's had some and I got them just in time for Henry's birthday.

Henry knew immediately that these were rocket jammies and he loves them!

I also found this cute rocket t-shirt on etsy and ordered it. Silly, Henry. It doesn't go on your head!

Henry couldn't wait to wear his new rocket shirt on his birthday.
I wonder how long the rocket fascination will last? Perhaps next year's birthday party will be a rocket-themed one. Blast off!

More Birthday Celebrations

March is a crazy month for birthdays in our family. My mom, dad and sister all have March birthdays, and of course Henry is my own little March baby. One of my best friends shares her birthday with my mom and my sister-in-law was also born in March. And of course there's playgroup with about six March birthdays. The whole month is like one big birthday party!

Henry is truly confused. When I ask whose birthday it is, he randomly guesses Gramma, Hanka or himself. (Hanka is what my boys call my dad about half the time. They both do it and we have no idea where that name came from!) On Henry's real birthday, we put two candles on his pancakes. Remember that he doesn't quite understand blowing out the candles? Here he is trying to blow them out with his fingers still in his mouth!

Gene had to help him out a little bit. Well, actually Gene helped so much that he actually blew out the candles for him! Once again, Henry really didn't care because he just wanted to eat breakfast!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday, so my parents came over for dinner and cupcakes.

I'm sure you'll notice that we ate leftover cupcakes from Henry's party, and my dad also got Henry's farm candle. Don't you love his shirt? Perfect for a grandpa's birthday, it says "Whatever is new, is bad." It's a Wallace Nutting quote, and if you don't know who Wallace Nutting is, you just need to read my brother-in-law's book, Wallace Nutting and the Invention of Old America.

Will loved singing happy birthday to my dad. Happy birthday, Hanka!

Henry was just pretty excited to get cupcakes again.

After dinner, Will and my dad headed upstairs to play trains and build cities. I think there was also some marching going on up there.

Henry stayed downstairs and worked on a new birthday puzzle with my mom.

I think we're done with birthdays and parties for at least a week!

Moo Moo, I'm 2!

I wasn't really ready to have a house full of little people celebrating Henry's 2nd birthday last weekend, but in the end, it all worked out really well. Here's my little guy, just eating a snack (of course) and waiting for his friends to arrive.

My friend Ally designed these cute cow invitations and thank you notes. She even put Henry's photo on the back!
We made CDs for the kids as part of their party favor bags. I picked the music and Gene designed the cover.

I decorated really simply (because, you know, I hadn't purchased many decorations, assuming we would be at the farm!). I used one of the boys' tractors to hold raisins on the dining room table and served simple, kid-friendly food.

I thought these cupcakes turned out really cute. The "grass" is really green-colored coconut. The kids at the party asked if it was real grass or lettuce, and some wouldn't even eat it!

For a "craft," we decided to make animal cookies and let the kids decorate them. Sorry, moms! This party was pretty heavy on the sugar, but the kids sure enjoyed decorating their cookies (and then eating them).

Here's Will's headless horse (he ate the head first!).
Beckett looks guilty, doesn't he? I think perhaps he has gotten into trouble with the sprinkles before! Then we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I found the game at Target for $1.02 and it was really little (and cheap!) and the blindfold broke after the second kid, but it was a good last minute farm game! A couple of the little kids refused to wear the blindfold, and just look at where they pasted those tails! (Remember, they can see where they're putting it!)
Here is Kate sticking it to her forehead!
I also set out all our farm books and toys, and most of the kids entertained themselves with those toys.



Some of the kids managed to find their way into the hall closet and pull out all the other toys we had hidden in there. I am still surprised that even big kids will still play with this ball popper!

Little Reese found "barn cat" Weezie and made her own little petting zoo.
Henry's favorite part was the cupcakes, of course. He really didn't get the whole blowing out the candle thing. And somehow I didn't a photo of this, but Will blew out the candle for him.

As you can see, Henry really didn't care. He just wanted to eat that cupcake, and almost didn't even let Gene get the paper off!
Ainsley doesn't eat cupcakes, but she was sure interested in the grass on Ellis's cupcake!
Cranky Henry has some fun with Daddy!
And this is how the party ended -- with a big spider (left over from Will's third birthday).
Poor Ellis. Will chased her (and everyone else) all around the house with that spider!

Whew! It was a fun weekend full of parties, but it was exhausting! Next party, August 2010!