Sixteen Months with Henry!

As this boy gets more active, I have less time to write about him. Life with a very mobile toddler is nothing short of exhausting! All day long, when I'm off that is, I follow him around from room to room, reading book after book, asking Henry to name items, taking away things that he might eat or break or otherwise damage, hugging, redirecting, soothing, nursing, tickling, laughing and learning patience. Henry is absolutely hilarious. Words are pouring out of his mouth lately and I am not even sure I could count how many there are. He both signs and says "more" and "all done" and uses "more" for about 10 different things- do it again, more food, another book, don't stop, push that swing one more time, and at times when I have no idea what he means.

His hair is long and curly and growing longer all the time, people comment on it constantly. He is confused for a girl about half the time, most recently today by my 93 year old grandfather who probably just lost track of which of his 13 great grandchildren were hugging him.

Henry is obsessed with books, wants them read over and over and over, and he identifies words and pictures in his favorites. One of his clearest words is "Arlo" who is our tabby cat, but all cats in every book become "Arlo" in Henry's world.

Some other things he loves to say are:
Thank You
Grandma
Grandpa
Baby (baybu)
Dad (dadu)
Mom
Milk
Teeth
Nose
Shoes
Socks
Book
Doggy (dada, not to be confused with daddy)
More
Head
Eyes
Cow
Moooo

and a few more I'm sure.

Sometimes Henry is prone to a very dramatic outburst of emotion, usually some very passionate tears over something highly tragic like us removing something inedible from his mouth or trying (horrors!) to change his diaper. I started saying "ACTING!" a la Jon Lovitz in the early '90s SNL with John Lithgow and now Henry proudly says "Acting" pretty often. It cracks Rob and I up.



He is fascinating right now, the volume of learning going on is staggering. He is also just adorable as he has learned to hug, kiss, and say "I love you" in his own little words (wubwu). He's sweet and melts you when he walks over and reaches up for a hug going "Awwhhhhhh".

He is a full time job, no joke. He's a job I like a lot. I have been also not writing here much because so many other things around us are so unhappy and it is hard to not complain about that junk and also I suspect the stress just makes me feel depressed and not like writing. Henry makes this all better. Sometimes he is the only good thing going for Rob and I. It isn't fair to complain about things like money and work and money when others have big problems, really we're quite lucky. But when you are in the throes of many bad things, it is hard to see outside yourself.

Henry helps that quite a bit. His world is simple and he doesn't know stress. I hope none of ours stays with him. He was a very serious little baby but seems a more carefree toddler. I hope so. No small person should shoulder their parents' issues.

I hope things get better in 2011, though it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But Hank is lovely. A wonderful, sweet spirit and really he is just love. I worry about him all the time, worry that he won't be happy or that he'll get sick or hurt himself but I suppose that is normal parenthood. I would love to say that I'll start writing again, talking about my family or things we do and learn but it is so hard right now. Henry is good. Rob and I are good. Our families are good. That should be enough!

I'll try to get better.

And a post would not be a post without some Henry shots, right? Henry's new cousin Seamus was born on November 24, which is also Rob's birthday. We managed to get a photo shoot together with Hiroki, Henry and Seamus just before Christmas and it was an adventure. Many takes later, we got one photo that was suitable for gifting to the proud grandparents, but along the way there were some very cute moments. A few of them are documented here. Hiro is 2.5, Henry was 15 months and Seamus was almost one month old.