All About Henry: 18 month installment

At 18 months:

Weight: 27.9 lbs (74%)

Height: 33" (66%)

Henry is our little heartthrob. He loves everyone and everyone loves him. At church he'll sit on nearly everyone's lap and smile at them. If someone offers their hand to him, he'll take it and lead them to the nursery. At the end of family prayer each night, Henry jumps up to give each of us kisses in turn - even Grace. He's very affectionate, gives good hugs, especially to stuffed animals, and loves to sit on my lap.

He's all boy in his toy preferences. He loves cars and balls. Balls are becoming more favored to him every day as he's becoming better and better at aiming his throws. Last week we caught him sitting a few feet away from a baby boy just a month younger than him and they were actually playing catch! They were throwing the ball (a bean bag ball) back and forth. It was hilarious and awesome and lasted for several minutes. He's really coordinated both with gross and fine motor skills.

He loves to color, preferably with marker on the walls, but he'll settle for crayon on paper. He loves music and dancing.

He's recently had a language explosion in the past couple weeks and is thrilled at his new-found communication skills. It's so interesting to notice the difference in language development between Grace and Henry. At this point, Grace had definable words that were clear and repeated and obvious. Henry doesn't work the same. He talks and chatters in a serious tone and you have to listen really carefully to find "words" but he has them! He seems to come up with like 3-5 newly recognizable words a day, but sometimes they're not repeated. Our favorite word for him, banana, has become a family joke. When he started saying it he would say "Baaah" and stick his tongue out and wag it from side to side. We got such a kick out of it and have asked him to repeat it so often that now it's a joke. If we ever ask him to say banana he just sticks his tongue out far with a "Baaaah" and a big goofy grin.

Speaking of tongues, check out this awesome picture:

Pardon the graininess. Photo was taken today with an iPod at a friend's house.

Henry loves to "help" me clean the dishes. He is really good at throwing fits and squirming away when he wants to do his own thing. He's really good at getting bumps and bruises. He's really good at taking naps and going to bed.

And he's really got us all wrapped around his finger. We love our little Henry Benry.