All About Henry: 2 year installment

2 year stats

Height: 36" (85%)

Weight: 29.7 lbs (70%)

When my oldest sister had her first baby boy, she once told me it felt like she had a husband and a boyfriend at the same time. I totally feel that way about Henry. He's my little boyfriend. Grace apparently feels the same way, too. We've had several conversations about her marrying Henry when she grows up. One of them almost ended in tears as I tried to explain to her she can't marry her brother. Needless to say, we all love Henry.

On his birthday we invited a couple of our friends over for dinner and cake. Henry knew just what to do. As we were singing the last couple words of the Happy Birthday song, fast as lightning, he pounced on the table, blew out his candles with a gale wind force, then landed back in his chair. It was done in about a second. He had the biggest smile on his face. We were all a little shocked by his speed and precision!

Henry still loves food, which I'm so grateful for. He's starting to get a little more selective, but will still eat a good variety in abundance. His favorite food, which he requested for his birthday dinner, is noodles. He also still loves all variety of fruit, most notably apples, grapes, watermelon, blueberries and raspberries.

His favorite toys are cars, trains, bead mazes, blocks and balls. He has a special affinity right now for fire trucks and police cars. We live on a busy highway and hear emergency vehicles all the time. He rushes to the window every time, eagerly calling, "p'eece?" (translation: police) He also really likes dogs, but he's a little more nervous about petting them than Grace was at this age. He was thrilled to ride a pony at the fair this year, and almost cried when he had to get off.

He loves hugging and walking through my and Scott's legs. If we let him, he'll hook his arm around an adult knee and just swing around and around through the tunnel as long as we're standing. He is super ticklish and loves it, shouting out "nain" when we play tickle games (translation: again).

He loves Grace. He follows her around and wants to be just like her. They play really well together.

He talks with me a lot about what he observes, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that can understand most of what he says. He can easily count to ten. I think my favorite phrase is "mom, wat dis!" (Translation: Mom, watch this) He's super smart. He loves puzzles and can do our alphabet puzzle all by himself. He sings a lot and can match pitch! I didn't know that was possible for such a young child. He's already started the "why" question phase, which seems awfully early to me. I think he might do it just for the attention more than for answers. He is super playful. He just loves to laugh and have fun. He's pretty easy-going most of the time.

He is a cuddler. He loves kisses and hugs and squishing his face up against my face (which I love, too). He's really patient when I change his diapers or when I have to wipe his nose. He likes watching "shows" when Grace is at preschool. His favorites are Team Umizoomi, Curious George and Dora. His favorite colors are orange and blue, sometimes red. He's such a good little boy.

When Scott tries to study at home...

If you can't tell, Henry is driving a toy car up and down Scott's back and legs.

Things I Love About Minnesota

Version August 2013

The sculpture garden, spoonbridge, running through public sprinklers on a hot humid day,
 

freeways, express lanes, hollering through I-94 tunnels, having a safe haven, a refuge from my feelings of isolation, garden sanctuaries,
 

my parent's house, a mother rich in family history to share, sisters who play past midnight every night for a week, Old Home cottage cheese, bikers all over downtown Minneapolis, the Institute of Art, memories,
 

the lakes, the Como zoo, Sparky the sea lion, indulgent grandmas, pink flamingos,
 

polar bears who swim close to the window, handsome little boys who converse with lions through the glass,
 

the Conservatory, endless shopping potential, endless dining potential, built-in babysitters, finding strength in the temple, quiet car rides without kids,
 

cousins, family birthday parties, brothers to be proud of, Super Grandpa who all the kids adore,
 

Costco food, Costco cakes, radiant baptisms, picnics in the park, huge modern playgrounds, beaches, family dinners, feeling happy, feeling loved,
 

the Great Minnesota Get Together, happy crowds of people,

deep fried cheese curds, butterflies emerging from cocoons, baby cows checking out my baby,
 

the Bazaar, walking until I feel like I might collapse, admiring talent, butter sculptures, fresh dairy raspberry malts,
 

visiting old friends, discovering Northeast Minneapolis as an adult, friendly sidewalk chalk artists, eccentric kindred spirits, groundedness, community,
 

sisters who share: strollers, pronto pups, enlightening comments at church, conversation, friendship and love.

You know you live in a small town when...

...the only slow traffic you get all year is for NASCAR race weekends. And the locals set up lawn chairs on the side of the road to watch it!

The day before race weekends, some of the sponsors show their stuff in the parking lot of the local Walmart.

Race cars really do have stickers instead of headlights! Something I learned from Disney, but didn't see until I moved here.

Henry ran up to the first car he saw and gave it a big hug. He loves cars... a boy after his father's heart.

Did you see those muddy pants? Yup. He's a boy. Caked in mud, hugging a race car.

We played some racing video games inside race cars. Grace loved it even though she had no idea what she was doing. Henry was like, "meh."

Both my kids liked the Snickers car best. They both saw the chocolate on the outside, and perhaps thought there were loads of it on the inside.

And we'll leave you with one of those oh so familiar Grace poses. Cheers!

May Flashback: 10 years of Happy Ever After

On May 16th, Scott and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by getting away, just the two of us! We didn't take our camera, so all these photos are from my phone.

Our kids stayed with my parents while Scott and I visited the happiest place on earth. It was divine. Sure, I had a sinus infection for half the trip and poison ivy rash up and down my arms, but I did not care. I loved every moment of my child-free, responsibility-free time with the man of my dreams.

We spent a day at the Epcot Center during the garden topiary displays.

Ah, Cinderella and Prince Charming dancing... how romantic. But they got nothing on my prince charming.

I love the world villages at Epcot Center. That's what most of my pictures were taken of. Here's a sample.

China

Replica of Terracotta Army. The fact that these exist is so fascinating to me.

Germany

Japan

France. Check out the reactions of the people in the bottom left corner to this feat of balance. Awesome!

Ok, I'm taking a tangent here to talk about the Disney trained street performers. First of all, they're pretty much awesome. Here's the tangent: I am convinced that the male performers are trained to flirt with the women by singling out a woman and making eyes at her. It's really a great tactic to increase the enjoyment and entertainment of the audience, specifically the woman singled out. That's what Disney's all about, right, entertainment? So there was this guy, let's call him Patrick Swayze, who was part of a string quartet in Downtown Disney. He was totally making eyes at me! Scott was right beside me. In fact, Scott noticed it and wrapped his arms around me, feeling a little possessive. Hee hee. But the guy was not dissuaded. Anyway, as I paid attention to other street performers, I noticed the same thing with other women, and I noticed how the woman singled out got way more into the performances.

It reminded me of the last time I was at Epcot Center as a young teenager with my family. In Morocco there was a street band and dancer. One of the drummers was totally making eyes at me the whole time we were watching them. I was entranced. I totally felt special, even with my awkward 14 year-old body, my bib overalls and frizzy hair. He was even looking in my direction when I took his picture. He's the one with the charming smile and the yellow hat in the photo below.

left: Moroccan street performers, right: my sister and me (summer 1995ish?) Epcot Center

I hear other women talk about how much they yearn for their children when they are away from them for even a day. This was the first time I was really away from my children and I learned something about myself. I am not one of those women. I thought about my children, but I didn't particularly miss them. I didn't wish they were with me. I loved being alone with my husband!

There was only one time that I wished my kids could be with me and that was when we were eating dinner in Morocco. There was a belly dancer entertaining the diners, and at one point several little girls went up to dance with her. They were really sweet, and the woman was really cute interacting with them. I knew if Grace had been there she would jump at the chance to dance, and I do so love watching her dance.