18 months

High time for a proper Henny update!

Official toddler status at 18 months, we made it! We raised a baby and now he is running around and being crazy and charming us to no end. My biggest worries used to be - am I eating well enough to give him some good milk? What if he never crawls? What if he never let's go of my hand and walks on his own?!
Well, of course he let go of my hand, as soon as he was ready. And now I have to force him to hold my hand when we cross the street. And now my biggest worries are: did he eat a vegetable today? Is he growing? Should I be teaching him more things?

Here is what I can tell you about Henry. He is a big sweetheart. He really loves the people in his life, and is very loyal to them in terms of who is allowed to say hello to him and who can pick him up. He loves to be silly and laugh with us. His favorite game is chase! He will giggle to no end, just trying to run away from us, wanting to be scooped up and tickled. He is curious about new things, always looking for a long time to examine and saying "wow!" Since he was born, he has always been an observer and this continues to be true. He takes things slow, waiting until he's sure before he goes bounding off to do something. Which I think makes taking care of him a bit easier. We're not chasing him around too much and he never strays to far from us, most of the time. He has an impressive vocabulary, probably about 100 words, and he's just starting to string words together. "Buh bye....dada" and "thank you.....mama". We are learning to count to 3. I say 1...2...and he says 3! He'll also help me say the alphabet, coming in at G, P, V, and Z. Haha. Evert night before bed, we read his favorite book, I am a Bunny, and he will finish the last word of every sentence. His favorite foods are pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, bananas, blueberries, blackberries, peas, and sweet potatoes. And of course Annie's cheese bunny crackers, we should buy stock in those. And cookies, obvs.

He's just starting to run, or bounce up and down as he walks faster. He is so good about going to bed (finally!). We give him a bath, read a story or two, then sing a couple songs and put him down in his crib. I'm so proud of us that we figured out a good way to get Henny to sleep. The times we went through! Perilous! He loves anything to do with trucks, airplanes, kitties (he calls them meow's), and water (obsessed with the tea kettle, baths, watering the garden, boiling water on the stove). We go for walks most nights and now if he sees a raised part of the sidewalk (a garden bed or a curb, or brick border, he must walk on it. I think that's a boy thing? He's starting to pretend play. We made eggies in his little frying pan earlier this week and he fed imaginary bites to me, and sometimes we pretend we are dogs and we crawl around and bark and sniff and laugh.

Having a little boy, especially a little Henny boy who is the perfect complement to me and Mark, is the best thing that ever happened to us. It's true what they say - once you have a baby, life is never the same. But apart from a few sleepless nights (ok more than a few!), what they don't really say is life is never better. Ugh. I mean, really, Hen, you've completely stolen our hearts. We love you.