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.