Henry Update: I'm Two

Henry is awesome. If anyone asks him how he is doing, he responds "I'm two." Full of energy and spunk, here are some of the things he is into these days:

• Hiding. Especially in the curtains and on the "big bed" which is our bed. He loves hiding under blankets, pillows and behind furniture. He doesn't even care that we are watching him hide and know where he is, as long as we say "Where is Henry?" and he can pop out and say "Here he is," he is happy. When he is hiding with one of us on the big bed, he will yell "Mama (or Dada) come find us." 

• Tangled. The kid loves Tangled-he thinks that is Rapunzel's name-and Flynn Rider. He also loves Finding Nemo and I have started him on some older movies, he liked Aladdin a lot. 
• Talking in complete sentences. I feel like it happened overnight. Instead of scattered words, he is more likely to use a full sentence these days. He also will get talking and just go on and on telling a whole story. We call it "monologuing". When he monologues, only part of what he is saying can be deciphered. Some recent favorite sayings:
• I need a band aid
• I got the power
• Wipe a nose please and I also need water
• I want to watch a movie
• Singing. Henry loves singing. We have been teaching him primary songs and he loves them. He is also really getting good at classic kid songs. He loves singing: 

• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Give Said the Little Stream
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Rubber Duckie
• Search, Ponder and Pray
• Families Can Be Together Forever
• I am a Child of God
• Call Me Maybe
• Wait, I need a hug. I love you.
• He also really loves to change up the lyrics to songs. For example: instead of singing "Call me maybe" he will sing, "Call me Henry" or "Call me hot dog." After such a clever word swap he bursts into laughter. My favorite was when he said "Cover me Pillow Cover."
• He also likes dancing. We have mini dance parties here at home and he really cuts loose. Sometimes he is the only one allowed to dance or sing and will get angry and shout "no Mama, I sing it," or "no Mama dance."
• He is going through a cute/mildly obnoxious phase of continually saying "Mama look at this." And when I look he is performing something for me or sometimes just standing there smiling. He has also started hugging Steve or I and saying "Mama/Dada look at this." We think he is trying to make whoever he is not hugging jealous.
• I have been trying to teach him how to close his eyes without opening his mouth. He can do it if he tries really hard but its pretty funny. 
• He also loves to have me pretend to be asleep and then give me an Eskimo kiss to awaken me. Cute when we are playing, not cute when I am trying to take a real nap and I keep getting his nose in my face.

I inherited a huge box of primary aids from my mom and Henry loves playing with the magnet stories. He requests the "broken bow one" often, its the story of Nephi breaking his bow. He also loves a cute one about a monster under the bed. Henry is also really excited about and enjoys FHE. He sits on his special FHE seat, the red ottoman and will help choose songs to sing, pray and listen for the lesson. After months of working on this, his attention span has really improved from 5 minutes to 15 minutes of sitting still. It helps to have lots of pictures and activities but its really paid off. And he often talks about the things we're learned like Joseph Smith, the scriptures and Daniel in the Lion's Den.

Swimming. Henry is quite the fish these days and loves being at the pool and floating and jumping off steps to me. He is also starting to master using his arm floaties to keep himself afloat. At the pool he is more hesitant but at the lake he just jumps in and doesn't look back. 

He can point out the following letters and numbers with at least 80% accuracy: W, O, S, T, X, Y, P, 1, 3, 2, 0

He has stopped napping. Sad. But he still sleeps 12-13 hours each night and is getting really good at playing by himself. He loves cars, blocks, stuffed animals and books. He hates quiet time (alone time in his room) but if he can play quietly in the same room with me he is happy. He also likes to line up all his cars on the table as I am sewing. They like to drive on the fabric. 

Henry continues to be a wonderful little boy who is such a blessing in our lives. Pictures from July-August.