Milestone Minutiae

Yesterday while we were out at an indoor playground, Henry signed "milk" to me twice. I returned the sign, asked him if he wanted milk, and told him he'd have to come to me to get it. Both times he came over and nursed a little bit right after. This afternoon, Henry was crawling around while I cleaned the kitchen. He signed "eat" to me! So I gave him some finger food, and he ate it. When he decided he was done, swiped his arm around his tray sending bits flying off to an eagerly awaiting Jenny! (this is a standard routine around here - thank you Jenny for keeping the floor clean-ish.) To sum up - Henry seems to sign sing, milk, more, all done, and eat.

Sometimes I wonder what's going on in Luke's head. A few days ago, he told me (with great emotion in his voice) that if I was cooking and someone was going to try to push me, he would stop them! He's also been talking a bit about fire - Emmett gets Highlights magazine, and there was a cartoon about a family having a fire drill. So we talked about how rare house fires are, and how we'd get out and call the fire department from a neighbor's house, etc. A couple of days later, he mentioned fires again, and when I asked, said he was worried about it. Emphasizing how rare house fires are, I showed him where the fire extinguishers are in the house. So far he says he doesn't want to have a fire drill, and I wonder if doing that would relieve or intensify his worry. I remember having similar worries as a kid, because we learned at school that every family should have a plan for fires, but we never had fire drills at home. My fears were pretty mild and I didn'

Today while I washed dishes, all three boys were playing near the kitchen. After a few minutes they had all gone down the hall and it was relatively quiet, so I peeked into my bedroom to see what they were up to. All three boys were playing happily on the twin mattress next to our bed - Luke bouncing (but not too aggressively), and Emmett and Henry crawling around. They were all happy and having a good time, so I crept away. They played like that for a few more minutes before coming back out.

Henry is getting much bolder about letting go of the things he's using to steady himself. Several times a day I'll notice that he's let go of me and standing unassisted, at least for a couple of seconds before he slowly bends his knees and sits down. He seems to especially like standing on the mattress next to our bed - he'll let go of the bed, bounce his knees once or twice, and then quickly fall / sit right down.

For the first time, Henry gave me the "all done" sign without prompting. Usually, when he seems done I'll ask, "Are you all done?" and show him the sign. When he is done, he'll sign it back to me. But finally, when I was still trying to feed him (and he hadn't eaten much so I wasn't thinking he was done!), he signed "all done" to me. The only other sign he's using reliably is "sing." He loves it when we sing, and he's constantly asking us to.

Emmett has gotten big enough (and Henry's gotten sturdy enough) to carry Henry around. Emmett grabs him under the arms and can pick him up easily. Emmett has even figured out how to safely get him off the bed. Henry doesn't seem to mind much, as long as Emmett puts him down again pretty quickly. And sometimes Emmett twirls around which Henry loves. His little legs fly out, and it's pretty cute to watch.

After dinner tonight we were sitting around the table making Valentines. For no reason I could gather, Luke said, "Mom, if you're ever cooking and someone tries to bump into you, I'll protect you." That alone is pretty strange, but when he said it his voice was full of emotion like he was maybe going to cry. I hugged and thanked him, he didn't cry, and the conversation moved on.

When Luke was born, I knew there were lots of milestones that I'd get to experience again - crawling, walking, talking, etc. And now that Luke is three and having trouble with his temper and getting frustrated by some of the things that he can't do yet, I remember Emmett going through the same things. There's at least one repeat I wasn't expecting. Luke has started asking us to guess things, like which hand he's going to open. Or he'll put something behind his back and ask you to guess which hand it's in. Of course, he brings it forward with the hand you don't pick - you can never win these games. Strangely enough, Emmett played similar games with us when he was about 3 1/2! The best part, though, is that Luke is mostly playing these games with Emmett . And Emmett gets annoyed, because he can never win. I thought I'd have to wait for Emmett to have kids of his own for that!