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.

A Onederfull Year

 Dear Henry,

Well, happy first year of life!  Let's begin by recounting a few notable events that occurred around the ringing in of your new year.  And what better place to start than cake!  And by cake, I mean cupcakes.  And by cupcakes, I mean, healthy muffins with a light sugary frosting on top as made by your Mom.  While it sounds a bit like a rip off, you actually enjoyed them, probably because they were made with bananas, which you could eat all day.  Your first "party" was just parents and grandparents.
At first, you had no idea what was going on....
 
 It only took you a second to dive right in....

You contemplated what you were tasting...

Ate all the icing off and contemplated some more....


You got a new watertable, a tricycle, and a fort...


Your Mom really liked the fort and especially the slide!

You were excited to get your own John Deere, and are already a big fan of anything John Deere related.

         
Got some other fun presents, and Delilah tried to remind your Mommy that she existed.
         

It was a fun evening...

That next weekend, we went up to Fairfax, Virginia for your Uncle Mark's wedding.  You were the ringbearer.  Here are a few shots from your trip....

You enjoyed Grandma's necklace during the rehearsal diner and during the rehearsal, you and I went down the hill in the wagon.

Note the beginnings of a grimace on your Mom in the picture on the right.  This is when you refused to get out of the wagon and just wanted to stand there and play with it.




After all the festivities, you were just plumb tuckered out...

The next day, we had some fun on a nearby playground, and your Mom again had fun on the slide...



When we got home, we had another party for your here with some friends.  In the picture on the bottom right, your Mom is thinking about trying the slide again.

Speaking of your Mom, she really is an amazing Mom.  You know this as you prefer her more than me, though I'll say you are starting to come around to me at times.  But I want to you know how much she is totally devoted to you.  You wouldn't believe how many times she gets up at night to comfort you.  She has been so nurturing to you and loving.  I know both of us, but especially your Mom, hates to leave you to go to work in the morning.

They say that time flies - especially when you have a kid.  Either because of the lack of sleep or the fact that so much has happened this past year, I'd say that the old saying is true.  It seems like the time when you were just a newborn and you just laid there was such a short time.  Now, 12 months later, you are so big and heavy, almost walking on your own, and much more human-like.  The changes just happened so quickly. You are just into everything.  Many times I find myself just sitting there watching you try to figure something out.  Currently, you really enjoy flipping light switches on and off and can do this for hours.

Usually you are trying to figure something out that is not a toy.  In fact, you don't really like toys that much.  You'd much rather play with a real wrench, a piece of hose, a weedeater, or a cat.  Poor Delilah has been very patient with you pulling her hair, squishing her, and sometimes chasing her.  Sometimes you just pull books off the shelf, or grab a broom and just run around the house "sweeping" or chasing Mommy.

When I say "running" I actually mean that I'm holding one of your hands and you are leading me wherever you want to go.  Same goes for your cars, which you'd rather push than ride.  I don't mind though.  My back might, but I don't because I know next year, you won't need me to do this.  

I remember when we used to look at your little sausage fingers and think they were so cute.  Now, we try to look at them when we try to clip your fingernails and miss the days when they weren't so busy.

Some of my favorite things to do with you are ride the lawnmower,
eat berries right off the vine, read books at night, the time after I read books to you when we play on the bed,

swing you from your arms (until your Mom told me that could actually be bad for you), and just being outside, walking, looking at chickens, or chasing rabbits out of the garden and yelling "Get! Get!"  Watching the garbage truck pick up the garbage, then going inside to read about the garbage truck in my old "Trucks" book that I read when I was a kid.  All of these things you couldn't do when you were a newborn, so life certainly has gotten more excited and I"m glad you aren't going to be a newborn forever.  However, time still goes too quickly.  It could slow down just a smidge. 

Last week, a friend asked me if there was a balance between having a kid and your own personal life.  My answer was a definitive "no."  While I do still find time to do my own things and work on projects or mow the yard, my time is mostly spend with you or cleaning/doing chores.  But my second part to his question was that so much positiveness is added to your life once you have a kid.  And that is very, very true.  The amount of love I feel for you and the amazement you bring to me each day is infinite.

I guess one reason they say time flies is that you can miss so much if you don't stop to step back from a moment and realize you are seeing a moment.   Otherwise, it disappears so quickly.

You know, you weren't the only thing born on your birthday, a new father was born that day too.  So what can I say about being a Dad?

It's wonderful.  It's hard to remember life before you.  The answer to the question "What's the meaning of life?" seems to have been answered more fully the day you were born.  My life has a whole new meaning, and what I think of as important is different because you are so important.  I just want the best life for you and enjoy you learning about the world and life.

A short post-birthday event was going to the mall.  You ate Chick-fil-a for the first time, and loved it.  You probably get that from me.

Then you were obsessed with mannequins in Belk's.  We rode the quarter machines and you drove the school bus.  You tore every truck book off the shelf in Barnes and Noble and played with the train.  It was a really wonderful day seeing you really start to take things in now.

It's been such a year, bud.  So much has happened and my life will never be the same.  I suppose yours won't either.  It's been Onederful.  I'll leave you with a quick snapshot of you staring into your second year....

Love,
Dad