Milestone Minutiae

Henry has no fear. At the park a few days ago, he was climbing one of those ladder-like things that start out vertical and then curve to horizontal where they meet the play structure. It was only 3 feet tall, but he scaled it over and over again. I had my hands under his belly in case he fell, but he only slipped off once. At home, he likes to climb up onto the foot rest from the recliner seat in the couch. At first he'd only stand all the way up if he was holding my hands, but now he doesn't want them. He's even climbed it when it was only partially extended, so it was at a pretty steep angle. In the back yard, he climbs all over the play structure unassisted - up the ladder and down the slide, up the slide and down the ladder, whatever. Yesterday I held him up to one of the monkey bars so he could grab on and hang. I held my hands just outside his torso and let him hold himself up, and he could hang for about 5 seconds before falling. He loved it. While he was

When Luke was little, he saw a Gloworm at a friend's house. He liked it enough that I bought him one. Henry is getting to a similar age, and I thought he'd like to play with it at bedtime - it's face glows and it plays soft music. Henry was pretty tired and upset the first time I showed it to him, and it definitely didn't help. Today he saw it while we were getting ready for bed and eyed it suspiciously. I offered it to him again and he fussed a little and leaned away, so I knew to just skip that toy. Then as I was turning off the lights, it was on the floor in the room and Henry just kept looking at it, even after I turned the light off. He didn't like it when I went to pick it up, but I took it out of the room and that seemed to make him feel better.

The aquarium is on the way home from Spanish school, so we stop by reasonably often to hang out for a little while. Today was a particularly awesome visit. First off, the octopus was crawling all around her tank (staff have told me she's a she). She was a dark red-rust color, which is a little unusual. A couple of minutes later her body was almost entirely yellow with lines of the rust still crisscrossing through it. And though the skin on her body is usually fairly smooth, this time she had 2-3 inch leaf-shaped projections sticking out all over. Very cool. Over at the stingray touch tank, Henry and Luke were having fun splashing in the water for a while when the stingrays decided they wanted some love from the crowd. They were swimming right up and bringing their bodies up in the water so you didn't even have to reach down to touch them. Emmett ran over to get in on it, and we all pet the stingrays today - even Henry (and me!).

Trying to buy a couple of minutes at the computer, I turned on Curious George for Henry. I figured it would work, because he is already bringing me Curious George books to read (what is it about that monkey?). It worked all too well. Now, if I sit down at the computer to check on anything, Henry will run to me with the remote.

The raspberry bushes along the driveway are full of fruit. Emmett and Luke love picking them, and Emmett and Henry love eating them. Today while Emmett was picking, Henry chased him around begging for berries. He'll stand behind Emmett while Emmett is picking, clapping and giving that baby grunt-squeal that means "Give me that NOW!" Emmett gave him lots, and Henry's face was covered in raspberries. Then Emmett figured out that he could lead Henry around by placing raspberries on the ground. It was very cute. Henry ran after Emmett, picking up and eating berries all the way.

If I open the refrigerator, he runs in there looking for yogurt. He'll point and strain until he gets one in his little hands, and then start his little "grunt-squeal" noises until I get him a spoon. He has also reached the "playing in the sink" age, if not the "playing in the sink" height. He likes to stand at the bathroom sink (on one of the small red chairs) and play in the water, which he can reach if I fill the sink up half-way. I'll have to give the kitchen sink a try some time, too.

He can pretty much get down the ladder from the playhouse now. Henry wants to feed himself. The first couple times this involved eating with the spoon for a while, then immersing his hand in the yogurt and spreading it around. Did I mention that he takes his bibs off? Then he stopped doing it - at least twice, he ate and didn't dip his hands. I had hoped that this story would end with "I guess he doesn't like making the mess" but it doesn't. Changing clothes after meals is likely to continue for a while. Henry still loves pushing ride-on toys and big trucks while he runs around. When I'm spraying the big kids with the hose, Henry likes to be nearby but not right in the action. If I carefully spray his feet, he'll dance around and squeal. If I accidentally spray him right in the belly, he doesn't get upset. He also wishes that he were strong enough to spray his brothers, too. Henry has a few more regular signs - flower, more, and possibly light.

Luke had a great time the first day at Spanish school. Then on day two when David drove Luke and Emmett to school, Luke wouldn't get out of the car. I drove the next two days, and Luke went in and had a great time for both of those days. Then yesterday (I drove), he wouldn't go in to class. This morning he was all set to skip Spanish school. I reminded him that if he didn't go today, we'd be waiting until he's older to try again. With that, he told me he wanted to go today, and had a great time. After school today he told me he wanted to go again tomorrow. Will he actually go tomorrow? Who knows.