Milestone Minutiae

An actual exchange: Me: "Henry, we're going to (I don't remember what)! Go tell your brothers!" Henry: "What brothers? (pause) Oh! My brothers!" ...and then Henry runs off to tell them.

We had a fantastic trip to Disneyland. The weather was perfect (low 70s and sunny), the crowds were light, and everyone was in a good mood all day. I think the good moods were helped by a steady stream of snacks and treats. In the morning we had churros, after lunch we had ice cream / cookies, there were giant suckers after dinner, and all day long there was kool-aid in the water bottles. Keeping the kids from getting hungry is important! Waiting for rope drop on Main Street, Henry pointed at the bananas in a woman's backpack in front of him. She offered him one, so he started his day with a banana. I love the guests at Disneyland. Henry didn't seem to like the dark rides. To be fair, he's always been a bit more sensitive to noise than his brothers. We went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and he tucked his head into my chest and was kind of watching the ride sideways. Even though last year he seemed to like Buzz Lightyear, this time he complained about the noise, didn&

Today Henry and I made a "sick kid" visit to the Dr. When the doctor came in the room, Henry jumped right in and started describing his symptoms - he didn't seem to need me there at all. Amused by this loquacious kid, the doctor asked if he knew his last name. Henry thought, and thought, and thought, and then said, "My last name is two and a half." Henry has started telling me things he's nervous about. Like he wants to jump off the changing table, and I suggest that he hold my hand while he does it, and then (holding my hand), he tells me, "But I will be nervous about jumping." In the end, he jumps and has a good time. We watched a video of the Matterhorn at Disneyland (which Henry will not be riding on this trip). A day or two later, he said, "I was nervous about that Yeti!" While I was calling Henry a "silly bear" he told me he was not a silly bear. So I called him a "funny bunny," and he looked at me very

When Henry is upset about something and yelling, and the din is growing louder and louder because his brothers are making an absurd amount of noise along with him and I'm just about to lose my mind and yell at Emmett to stop making so much noise (because he's the most likely to actually listen), I'll notice that Emmett is actually dancing around like a baboon, twirling and swinging his arms while making funny noises in an attempt to make Henry laugh and stop yelling.

Emmett is really into secret codes, pig latin, and magic tricks. He has a trick where he makes a dime appear in an empty machbox, with the magic word "Alacazam!" And my boy who hates writing anything down, will leave short notes in code for Luke or a friend and lead them on a treasure hunt around the house. The other day Henry was walking around with both hands full of marbles. He looked up at me, shook his hands and said, "Alacazam!" I asked him what he was doing and he said he was making the marbles disappear. I told him that was cool and waited for him to do the trick. He shook his hands and said, "Alacazam!" emphatically again. Then we both just stood there looking at the marbles in his hand. I guess he has a little work to do on that one.