Falling Perpetually Behind Is a Good Thing

Here it is, December.  Really?  I think it is supposed to be in the 60's outside today.   I feel like I am running perpetually behind, but there is a price to pay for actually having EVERYTHING together, in its place, and caught up.  The price is that we would miss valuable time with Henry.  Seeing him grow, change, learn new words, and have new experiences daily.  I think that is a hefty to price to pay, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  So, that is our excuse for falling so far behind on our blogs, we were actually having the real Henry experience instead of memorializing it.  I guess that is what Facebook is for anyways.  Our apologies for bombarding it with Henry moments.  I guess that is for us just as much as anyone else.

H-man enjoying first ice cream cone

So, where are we?  Our last blog recounted summer adventures.  Now I guess, we have returned to work, ho-hum.  The seasons have changed, and we have a thriving, healthy toddler on our hands who can boss us around. 

Henry is almost 19 month old.  There have been some obvious changes from 16 to 19 months.  Heny has started saying longer utterances.  He now strings 4-5 words together pretty consistently.  He has a pretty expansive vocabulary.  His /f/ sound has developed, so "fish" is no longer "pish."  He can run faster, get some air on his jumps, follow directions, joke around, repeat missing lines and words to nursery rhymes, stories, and songs.  However, it is hard to break these milestones and changes down into months.  It seems like his development and changes are nuanced.  It isn't like it was when he was learning the big milestones (yeah, he can roll over today, and he couldn't yesterday).  His growth, development, and learning is sequential now, all building upon prior knowledge and skills.  He is expanding now.  Each day he is slightly more cognizant, and it is difficult to parse apart exactly what is different from the previous day, but you know there are differences. 



He likes to act out play schemes:  Lone Ranger and Tonto getting the Bandits, Crying baby needs its diaper changed, Feed the animals in the barn

Hickory Nut Gap Farm Fall Festiveness

He likes to play with trains, tractors, cowboys, horses, Indians, rakes, balls.

He likes to organize and rearrange things.  Right now, we have the house decorated for Christmas, and he likes to get the nutcrackers down by asking for them one by one (Cake man nutcrackee, Davy Crockett nutcrackee, Winemaker nutcrakee, Pirate nutcrakee, etc.).  He then likes to line them up, carry them from room to room and line them up some more, and he also likes to know what each one says.  He says "What that one say?" We then talk to him and say things that are fitting for each of the nutcrackers.

He has been sick a couple times this fall

He is getting better at feeding himself.  He still isn't very efficient, but those fine motor skills are really coming along.  He makes it to his mouth probably 80% of the time.  He has also really expanded what he will eat.  For a while, he was surviving off of mac and cheese, cottage cheese, and anything cheese with veggies mixed in and fruit.  He will now eat a couple different kinds of soup like tomato and lentil.  He will eat peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, turkey and peanut butter sandwiches, different rice mixtures, chicken nuggets, and some other things thrown in.  He has eaten hot dog, and pesto pizza among other food items. 





He likes to go to the park and see "other children"  as he likes to say.

He really likes ice cream. He has graduated to getting his own kiddie cone instead of sharing mommy and daddy's.


He can make better strokes with crayons.  He is also really into stickers right now.  We had Highlights Calendar with holiday stickers, and we had to go through the whole year and put each sticker on.

I can't leave him home with Daddy- or this is what happens...

He has quiet the sense of humor.  He knows lots of nursery rhymes and songs and at one point would fill in the missing words (Jack and Jill, Hickory Dickory, Georgie Porgie, Old King Cole, Hush Little Baby, Twinkle Twinkle,  ABCs etc.).  Now, however, he fills it in with whatever random word comes to his mind and thinks it is soooo funny.  Did you know that Jack fell down and broke his rainboots and Jill came tumbling daddy?  Or Georgie Porgie pudding and Santa?  He really gets a kick out of this.  He also likes to rhyme words:  dock, sock, bock, mock.  And, sometimes what comes out doesn't sound too nice. 
He likes to "hide" and also look for other things and pretend he doesn't see it.  He will say: "Is it under there? No!"
It is really cute, he also replaces any word that ends with -"er" with "ie."  So, cracker becomes crackie.  Also, he is using the pronoun "you" for "I" and "me."  So, if he wants us to sit beside him, instead of "sit beside me," he is saying  "sit beside you."  Too cute!





His favorite books at the moment include Bernstain Bears, The Lone Ranger, The Gingerbread Man, Sammy the Seal, Richard Scary's Best Book, and Tacky the Penguin.  He can also basically request any book that he wants to read by name, now.

He is still nursing.  I was trying the gentle weaning approach for awhile, "don't offer, don't refuse."  However, he still asked for it pretty frequently.  I had to eventually just draw some lines and say we are only doing nunu when we wake up and before bed.  This has worked, and in the last few days we have cut it down to only before bed.  He still asked for it for a while, but he pretty much knows now.  He will ask for it and say "Nunu time? No. Aftee jomjoms."  HE is a smark cookie, so he catches on quickly.   The goal is to have him completely weaned by the new year.  He still wakes up once a night most nights and wants his nunu.






In other news:

I fulfilled a bucketlist item.  I saw Janet Jackson back in September!



Sam ran a 5K in October.  He was 4th out of 7 for his age group and 26th out of 200.

We checked out Chic-Fil-A for Halloween.  The Muppets were there, too.
 

 

We went to JingleFest downtown, and Henry got to meet Santa.  He sat on his lap...that is more than we expected! He really liked the bouncy house, too.  He is really into bouncing, especially on the bed.


We took a trip to Atlanta with my family to see the Braves play.  It got rained out.  We also went to Coca Cola World.

We went on a hike to Triple Falls.  Henry still talks about hiking to the waterfall.
















We also checked out the Nature Center.  Henry thought the otters were pretty cool!  Henry enjoyed playing in the barn, too!


Other big news, we are building a house! In Haywood County...  The process is going a little more slowly than we had hoped, but we are finally  (hopefully) going to close on our loan in January.  Initial grading has begun at the site, and we have bought our appliances, so it is all becoming a reality.  We hope to be in our new home in late summer.  Here is the link to our house plan: http://www.schumacherhomes.com/house-plans/car/new-haven/.  Ours will look a little different.  We are putting a big covered porch on the front. 











 Here is the land where the house will be:

Dear Henry,

Well buddy, these past months, I've been having a blast with you.  I've introduced you to the world of playing with cowboys and bandits, inspired by the book "The Lone Ranger," and as you know, I really like playing cowboys.  You've introduced me to the world of a sore back by getting so big.  Yet, I have a lot of fun seeing you laugh when we "jump on the bed."  We play this by me lifting you up over my head while you are on the bed.  Over and over and over.  You are much better at playing with toys now.  Just today you were rolling the cars, then saying the cars got stuck in a cactus patch, and you would rescue them by taking the cement truck and smashing them out of the patch.  I think this was inspired by a Cars book with Lightening and Tow Mater (Matey as you call him).  You will like to ride of the elliptical while I move it.  You've started playing on the keyboards a little.  We still go outside in the evenings when it's warm enough, most of the time until dark.  We started digging for treasure in the "jungle" which consists of a bunch of bushes and a lot of fallen leaves.  I bury a couple toys in piles of leaves and you find them and we shout "Treasure!"  Yesterday,  you helped me pick up sticks for the burn pile.  You like to ride on my "shouldies" (shoulders) and we run around the yard.  You like to go look at the mannequin in the yard next door.  You like me to push you around the yard in the wheelbarrow.  We also kick a ball around the yard a lot.  I think you might be a soccer player.  You and I go to Lowe's every now and then.  You like to look at the forklifts.  Yesterday we went and you liked looking at the inflatable Santa and other yard decorations for Christmas.  When ever you go to Gammy and Papaw's house, you love to play with the nativity over there, and you like reading Christmas books here.  You like reading a lot of books.  I usually read to you at night before bedtime.  It used to put you to sleep, but lately it's been getting you more awake.   If I try to turn the light off, you say "Light on!  'Nother one!"   Sometimes I'll be reading to you while you're in my lap, your eyes will be closed, you're mostly asleep, and you say "'Nother one!" 

Daddy finding more than a dusting of snow in his beard...

That's about all for know.  I love you so much, buddy.

Love,
Dad

• 
  

Summer Breeze

Summer has always flown by.  I know that I can't really complain because the majority of people don't actually get summer off....but still.  And now, with a little one in tow, it goes by even quicker.  Your days are segmented by a nap schedule, and your waking hours are devoted to this little one, attempting to get house work done or just a little rest here and there.  Nevertheless, summer was amazing.  It was amazing to watch Henry learn to walk, develop a lot of language skills, and explore his environment.
The highlights from the Summers' summer:

Fun times in the yard with the pool.  Although Henry always took a while to warm up to the water, he always enjoyed his time out there.  He liked the slide.  He liked pouring water out of containers and playing the the water hose, too.   Once or twice he had a cousin visitor to teach him a thing or two. 
 

 I enjoyed getting to catch a snooze on most days.  The fact of the matter is that Henry is still just not sleeping through the night.  He still wakes up on most nights 2 times.  This was ok during the summer when I had a chance to get a little shut eye now in then during the day, but it is rough now that work has started back.  I had my first cup of caffeinated coffee this week.  I haven't had any since I got pregnant two years ago.

We went on two beach trips this summer.  The first was with Sam's parents in June to Oak Island.  Our visit was just on the heels of several shark attacks off the coast of NC, so we didn't get in the ocean but to our shins.  Henry did a 360 from his first trip to the beach in October and proved to be a fan of the ocean.  He also enjoyed playing in a baby pool on the porch and going to the aquarium.  He really started letting go and walking on this trip, too.  I think it is because the house we stayed in was carpeted, and he felt more comfortable letting go.

My "yay for summer" face

Henry's "no summer is over" face

 Henry got his first haircut at the end of June.  He was 13 months old.  He took it like a champ.  We didn't get a whole lot cut off.  Just enough to get his hair out of his eyes and off of his ears.  We left his precious curls alone!

 We went on some downtown explorations like the drum circle and SplAsheville.  Henry never hesitates to get in the middle of something and explore.   

 


 Happy 4th of July!  We didn't attempt to stay up for fireworks.  This little guy  was tuckered out, and so were we!
 

Henry discovers the deliciousness that is Papa's and Beer quesadilla and rice!

 

We splashed around in the creek at the Botanical Gardens.  Henry was not afraid to get into the water and climb on all the rocks with a helping hand from mommy and daddy.

 We went to The Hands On Museum in Hendersonville.  Henry was a fan of the grocery section and big block sections.  He is still a little young form most of the activities, though, but he enjoyed getting to run with the big kids. 

We took our second beach vacation with my family to Fripp Island in August.  There were 14 of us there.  My older two brothers and their kids and my parents.  We were just missing my younger brother and his wife. Fripp Island was really neat.   We rode a golf cart around the island, saw a countless number of deer that live on the island, visited multiple pools, played in the ocean, rode bikes, Sam played golf, and just had good quality time.  The condo we stayed in was close to a sand bar that became available to walk on twice a day.  We saw live sand dollars, star fish, sting rays, and other neat stuff while exploring it.  Henry had a great time being doted on with so much attention from his 5 girl cousins.  His cousin, Jack, also taught him a thing or two...to point his finger and say "bang, bang."  Everytime he sees a picture of Jack he now automatically says "bang bang."

Back to work for us!  Oh, this was not a bittersweet time, but just bitter.  It was a really difficult transition for our whole family.  It sent Henry's sleep patterns into a downward spiral, and just made us(especially the adults) feel generally sad.  Although, we are extremely lucky to have careers which allow us so much time home with Henry. 

Sam and I also celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary.  We stayed a night at the Grove Park Inn and soaked up all that it had to offer.  We swan, wine, dined, ate dessert, and got to sleep in a really big bed.  I will say that it was hard to be away from Henry, and I definitely didn't sleep as soundly in an unfamiliar place.  It was a nice little escape, though.  Everyone survived.  

Other random shots from the summer: 

Henry started some self feeding exploration this summer.  He enjoyed it.  Now with almost everything he gets to eat he says "self", meaning "I want to feed myself," and he will get mad if we try to help him.  Little Mr. Independent.   His language, gross, and fine motor skills have really blossomed over the summer.  He is making his speech-language pathologist mommy proud.  At 15 months I would place him on par with a 18-24 month old for his language skills.  He has a vocabulary of probably close to 100 words, and he is starting to use 2-3 word phrases.  He can identify and name all of his animals as well as tell the sounds they make.  He can identify and name all of his body parts, including some not so common ones like shoulder and wrist.  Some other words he says are strawberries, ghost, cowboy, dark, little, big, tall, spoon, straw, fan, wipe, truck, hammer, weed eater, lawnmower, plane, hat, ball, kick, tools, rock, moss, grass, leaves, tree, stick, old, dirt, dig, milk, yogurt, hot, coffee, wine...and the list goes on.  The way that he has acquired new words has been amazing.  He of course hasn't developed all of his sounds yet, but honestly, he speaks more plainly than some of the kiddos I work with.  Thank goodness he has developed his /r/ sound.  Right now, he hasn't developed f in the beginning of words, v, sh, ch, j, and s-blends.  He also says /p/ for /f/ at the beginning of words, so fix is pix and fish is pish.

He can self-feed when he wants to...it is still pretty messy and takes a long time.  We usually sneak bites in between his attempts.  He also wants to be able to drink out of a cup by himself with out a lid.  He is pretty good at it, but he had to stay planted somewhere while doing so because he is known to spill every once in a while.  When he wants a sip of something he says "gulp."

He really enjoys running around the yard yelling "hooty hoo" and playing chase.  He lays in the hammock with me and we look up at the leaves and talk about all of the animals that live in the tree.  We play around with crayons and water color paint.  And he LOVES books and magazines.  He also loves cleaning projects.  He will sweep and wipe stuff down with a rag.  He can climb up the ladder and go down the slide on his outdoor "fort."  He also loves to go to playgrounds and explore the equipment there.  We are still taking him to Mother Goose times at the library every now and again.  He is so quiet and concentrated when we are there. He also is very willing to share his toys with other kids.

He is just down right A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.