sweet Henry things

Since it is a sentimental, reflective week, I thought now would be the time to write down some of Henry's sweet little "things" (for lack of an effort to find a better word) that he does and says. I know that right now it feels like I will remember for forever, but I know I will forget if I don't keep some sort of record, so this is mostly for me. (Read: you have permission to skip this post.)

First of all, in the bathtub he has these tiny little (Henry-sized) rubber duckies, and he LOVES them. He calls them "du-dees." Anyway, he always holds onto them throughout his entire bath, and somehow, someway, he gets away with at least one of them in his hand when we are getting him dried off and ready for bed. Usually we put his lotion, diaper, and pjs on in our room, on our bed. Anyway, point of the story... later in the night after he's asleep when I am cleaning everything up, there is always a little ducky on our bed. It's so sweet. I love it.

His words are super sweet, mainly because he has a super sweet voice! He has a lot of them (words), although they all sound pretty much the same. In every word, though, he draws out the first syllable... so "ducky" is actually "duuuuuuuuh-dee."

"baba"- this is bottle, balloon
"ba" - bird, ball, bath
"daaaah-da" - this refers to daddy, mommy (yeah, he always calls me dada)
"daaaah-dee" - doggie
"duuh-dee" - ducky
"a-wah" - one, water
"he-wah"- hello (but usually he says, "hello hello hello" really fast, all in a row. So that's "he-wah, he-wah, he-wah")
"he" - Henry

Unfortunately, I told him the other day that I was going to "wipe his butt." And he caught onto that last word real fast. "Buh." Also, when we are changing his diaper we always ask him, "Do you have a POOP?" And he's started to say "poo" also. Uh oh.

He repeats a lot of other words, too, but not often enough for me to remember exactly how he says them.

One really sweet thing he does right now... we have taught him to say "one" (or "awah") when we ask him "Henry, how old are you?" Usually before we even get to the word, "old," he has his pointer finger up (signaling that he's one) and very speedily answers the question. The only problem with this is that a lot of times I will say to him, "Henry, how are you?" Or "How sweet are you?!" And of course, he promptly replies, "a-wah."

On the same note, awhile back we tried to teach him where his nose was, how to blow kisses, and where his belly button was all in the same week. I haven't been too good about reinforcing (because let's be honest, he's not going to go to kindergarten not knowing where his nose is). Anyway, so if I ask him where any of those things or/and/or ask him to blow kisses, he just kind of sticks his finger in his mouth like, "As long as I do something, she'll be happy with me." He is confused.

He really doesn't like to try new things when it comes to food. I think it's texture aversion or something, but we have to work hard to get that dude to eat anything other than yogurt, goldfish banana and cheese toast. Today I tried to sneak some chicken onto his cheese toast, and he immediately spit it out. But then, I told him it was cheese toast, and he was immediately interested, and ate it even with the chicken on it. Most finger foods he will spit out onto his tray, then pick up the already chewed food and throw it on the floor. (He used to drop it, now he forcefully throws it. I'm sure I will have to teach him not to do that sooner or later.)

Also, if we feed him something that he likes, he will say, "Mmmm," with his mouth closed... as if he is really enjoying it.

"If we say, "good job," he automatically begins to clap. He thinks they go hand in hand, so he is clapping for himself a lot.

He LOVES balloons and he LOVES dogs. Anytime we are in the grocery store or any store with a balloon, it's like he can spot it from a mile away. He immediately points and starts trying to get to the balloon (of course saying, "baba"). Same with dogs. He loves them. Pretty much goes crazy at the park or the Domain or anywhere else that he sees a dog. This is especially funny considering that Matt is not really a dog person, to put it nicely.

At nap time (or lack of nap time), he takes every single item in his crib and drops it onto the floor, one by one. Then he cries for an hour... Just thought I'd throw that in there. We are working on it!

Oh, how could I (almost) forget this. The kid is a crawling maniac. And when he knows where he's going, he will literally point his nose to the ground (as if he's extremely determined to get there) and crawl very fast without looking where he's going. It's hilarious. The only problem with this is that he has run into a wall a time or two... oops!

He is tall! He can reach to the knobs on the stove, and he tries to turn them. He can reach the door handles. If he's reaching up for something, he will actually stand on his tip-toes to try to get to it, and he has pretty good balance.

He loves his bath. If he hears the word "bath," but then has to have a (poopy) diaper change first, he usually gets a little fussy.

He is a flirt... super-friendly to anyone in a grocery store or Target who is willing to smile at him.

Also, I mentioned this a long time ago, but it's still true. If Matt or I, or anyone start to laugh in a social situation, he will pretend like he knows what's going on and start laughing too. It's really funny. He's got a high social IQ, I believe. :)

Okay last thing I can think of right now. Awhile back someone taught him that a cow says "mooo." (He says it like, "bmoo.") Anyway, so for a long time, any time we asked him what a cow (OR any other animal) said, he would say, "Bmmoooo." Well, just in the last week Matt and I taught him that a dog says, "woof woof." So it doesn't matter what animal we ask him about, we can ask him what a cow says, or a horse, or a duck, and his reply is now always and only, "uff, uff."

Okay, I know that I have forgotten stuff, but I will have to deal with that later. This will be sufficient for me when I am reminiscing next year at this time. :)