Milestone Minutiae

Henry doesn't sign the way his brothers did. I don't know if it's that we're using fewer signs (because I'm spread thinner with three boys) or if it's something else, but he only signs when he really, really wants something. For example, we recently went on a short canoe ride. Henry hated the life vest and was pretty unhappy to be in the canoe in general, but finally settled down and played with the water (as I kept an iron grip on his life vest). Emmett and Luke were both happy to paddle with Dad. While sitting on my lap near the end of the ride, Henry started grabbing the collar of my shirt in a classic "I want to nurse!" move. Since I was wearing a life vest and we were in a canoe he wasn't getting what he wanted. Only then did he start signing "milk" - I don't think I've seen him use that sign in weeks, maybe longer. (I guess pulling on my shirt works pretty well for him.) Anyway, for posterity, here's a list of si

The 15 month checkup happened at just one week short of 16 months, but here are the stats: 22 pounds 10 ounces (20th percentile-ish) 31 3/4 inches tall (60th percentile-ish) 49 1/2 cm head circumference (95th percentile-ish) I could look these up for the other boys to compare but I know he's lighter than Emmett was, heavier than Luke was, and probably in between for height as well. They've all had giant heads.

Luke will say to me, "When I do this (shakes his head yes) it means I want a banana, and when I do this (holds out one finger and shakes it back and forth) it means I don't want a banana. Watch!" And then he'll do one of those things. Or if I ask him what he wants on a picture menu, he'll start moving his finger over the pictures like it's a ouiga board and say "Where my finger stops, that's the one I want." Of course, it always takes a while for his finger to stop.

We have a bin of short pieces of PVC pipe and connectors that the boys like to build things with (mostly guns, of course). They've always played with it just fine when Luke decided that an "L" shaped contraption was a "pecker" and proceeded to peck Emmett with it incessantly (leading to escalation, of course). After warning them a few times that PVC is for building not hitting, and if they (Luke) continued to hit with it I'd have to put it away for a while, I had to put away the PVC. A couple of days later, David was putting the boys to bed. Luke "needed" some PVC or he couldn't go to sleep, so David started looking for a piece for him. Then Emmett told David that I put it away, "Mostly just to make Luke mad."

Henry is more physically adept than either Luke or Emmett was at this age. I think it's at least in part due to the fact that we don't freak out and stop him when he's doing slightly dangerous things, and he tries more things after watching his brothers try it. Like when he climbs up onto the back of Jenny's chair so he can reach the light switch. He's never fallen, and I'm pretty comfortable with him doing that now. Yesterday he wanted a toy out of the bathtub, and fell in. He caught himself with his arms and controlled his fall into the tub just fine. Then he proceeded to figure out how to safely climb in and out of the tub, putting his chest onto the side of the tub with one arm on each side while he throws his legs over. He can go in and out like a pro!

Yesterday Henry took the stick from his finished sucker over to the sink, opened the cabinet, and threw it away all by himself. Without any instructions from anyone. He's a keeper, for sure!

Henry has been trying to jump - surely you've seen it when a toddler bends their knees and then straightens them quickly, trying to jump. So far the toes of one foot have always remained on the floor, but I'm sure he'll figure it out soon. Also, Henry likes to jump from our bed down on to his mattress on the floor. Since he can't really jump, he just walks off the edge.

David hates bedtime. He has no patience for boys who jump around on the bed instead of brushing teeth and getting on PJs. Then as he was helping with bedtime recently, he started awarding "points" - one point for getting on your pjs, one point for brushing your teeth, etc. Emmett and Luke ate it up, eagerly finishing bedtime tasks to get their points. They ended up with 7 points each (I think) and were thrilled. Bedtime was quick and painless.

Henry has been playing with a puzzle on the couch next to me. He's getting a little cranky-tired (it's 11pm now) so I turned on Curious George. He's been running laps between the couch and the kitchen while I do work on the computer, and I hear a cabinet door bang each time. I finally realized that he's been running to the cabinet under the sink, with the trash can, and throwing away the puzzle pieces one by one. Doh!

When Henry starts running, he tends to get his feet moving while running in place before he actually makes any forward progress. It's like having my very own cartoon character. :)

All the times that Henry stays up with me until 11pm would be annoying if he weren't so cheerful. It's 10:30pm and I'm watching TV (my show - not Curious George), and he's sitting in another chair playing with his pop-up-animal toy. He'll usually do this about once a week.

Henry loves touching his belly button. He'll pull up his shirt with one hand and then tap his belly button with the index finger of his other hand. Last night while nursing him back to sleep I noticed that he was playing with his belly button. After trying to stop him for a few minutes, I figured he'd never nurse to sleep while playing with his belly, so I stopped nursing him. (This was a safe move because it was nearly midnight - he fussed a little for about a minute and then was asleep.)

Henry seems to think that if he swings his right arm really fast and really high while he's running, he'll go faster.