Henry Lately

Recently Henry has been changing and growing so much. Sometimes I look at him or watch him do something and I am overwhelmed by how big he is. I realized that I haven't been that great lately at documenting his new talents and interests. I hope I will still be able to take note of his development after we have two kids to account for. I am so used to having one child and I feel so blessed that I have been able to pay Henry so much attention and not miss anything. I'm sure at first it will have to be a conscious effort. But for now my attention is his, so here is what I have observed of late.

Pages of letter. You try sounding out this really long word...

• As mentioned before, Henry is super interested in letters and numbers these days. "What do 1 and 0 make?" Or "Da, Da, Daddy" are common exclamations or questions around these parts. He loves noticing letters in signs as we drive around and is becoming more aware of the sounds letters make. He also loves for us to spell things for him or for us to translate the words he is trying to spell. "What is H-I-L-T-Y?" Or he will write letters on a page and ask us to read it. Even if there are no vowels he thoroughly enjoys it when we read what he has written. One day he wanted me to tell him letter for letter how to spell "Clean up the markers" and he wrote it out on a paper. 

All ready for the Kiss Sample, it was supposed to be a kissy face.

• When we come home, Henry will run up the stairs and shout "Get ready for the Kiss Sample!" He perches between the rails and we each get a kiss as we ascend the stairs. 
• For Christmas we got him lots of new games and only recently has he showed true interest in learning them and playing with us. His new favorite is Go Fish and since he can't hold the cards in his hand, he lays them on the table. Its adorable. Go Fish is fun because he doesn't care if he wins or loses. We also play SNAP which is another card game and he loves it but hates to lose. We try hard to make sure he both wins and loses while playing games because we don't want him to be that kid. He also loves playing Cootie and Super Why Letter Bingo. Playing games with him is so fun, I love it. Sometimes he sneaks in cheating so we have to nip that in the bud but most of the time he is a good sport.

Henry's Self Portrait, Age 4

• Henry has started protesting when we tell him he can't do something or ask him to stop doing something. He'll close his eyes, clench his fists, thrust them to his sides and say "Fine." He says it with an angry sigh or with a scary angry voice. Then he stalks off to be alone in his room. Or sometimes he'll lay down in protest. We're working on dealing with anger and disappointment. 
• One of the great things about him being four years old is that Henry totally understands this whole new baby thing. He talks about how she is in my tummy and how she is going to come in the summer. He wants her name to be Henrietta. Since he has to come to some of my doctor's appointments he has been able to see her in ultrasounds and listen to her heart. He has lots of questions about monitors and ultrasound cameras and I try to explain everything and help it be not scary. 

Henry was the spotlight in primary! I love that his teachers helped him fill this out and its a total surprise when he brings it home. 

• Henry is super sweet and loving. He loves to tell us that he loves us and will shout it out any place. He also loves giving hugs and kisses and receiving affection on his own terms. He loves to show us how much he loves us with his hands, throwing them back really wide. He loves us a lot. 
• Henry is now in a booster seat! Bye bye carseat, bye bye baby. And the great thing is, if I reach around and unbuckle him, he can open the car door and climb out by himself. 
• One thing that we have been lax on is bedtime routines. This is totally laziness on our part as parents but recently we have held strong to some new things and it has been so nice. Each night we have him put on his own pajamas by himself, Steve helps him brush his teeth, then we read scriptures in his bed, say prayers and I kiss him good night. Steve then tells him 1-3 stories depending on his obedience in the routine and then sings him one song. Steve used to have to sit in his room with him while he fell asleep and then we moved it to Steve sitting outside his room in a chair. Well we finally cut the cord and Steve just leaves and we keep the door open so he can hear us and knows we're in the living room and he totally falls asleep on his own. Having this strict routine has totally helped him and us and will be especially essential once the baby comes.

Number practicing. He makes pages of these and the letter ones daily. Yeah, we buy computer paper by the ream. 

• Henry got into Pre-K for the fall. They do a state run lottery here so there is no guarantee your child will get in. He is going to be in school this fall and has to wear a uniform. He is so excited and honestly so am I. 

A drawing of Princess Leis and the Emperor, he has a green light saber. 

• He is still Star Wars and Angry Bird obsessed. He is often R2D2 and I am Princess Leia. He enjoys making Lego starships for all of his characters complete with laser guns. I honestly don't mind this obsession because he is so imaginative with it. He has also become pretty good at drawing his favorite characters.

For Valentine's Day Henry got really into learning to draw hearts. He made me this Valentine which he taped up on the wall next to my bed. 

• Henry had his first big punishment for doing something naughty. He totally chewed up my phone charger, the part that goes into my phone and I was livid. Lucky for him we didn't find it until he was already asleep. He got one whole week without video games or playing on our phones. This is a serious consequence for him but it totally worked and went much smoother than I expected. When he would ask to play we would remind him he wasn't allowed to and he would tell us why. 
• The other day we were at Firehouse Subs and he got up with his cup and started walking away. When asked where he was going, he responded "I'll be right back, I'm going to get a refill." Raised right. 
• Common phrases right now are "What's the point?" "I'm going to freak out." "He will be amazed."