The next Picasso?

Henry tried out his new finger paints on this rainy afternoon. Look at that concentration! :)

Baby Chicks

One of the third grade teachers at school raised baby chicks with her students. I brought Henry by after daycare one day to take a look at them. He thought they were pretty cool, but what really captured his attention was the cow figurine he found on the teacher's desk (notice his left hand). "Mooooo!"

Daddy's Home!!!!!

Tom's project abruptly ended last week so he's been able to take some much-needed time off. We have LOVED having him home! Henry has been spoiled with lots of bike rides and trips to the park and I've been spoiled with solo trips to Target and a night out with some friends.

We've also managed to get in an afternoon trip to the zoo and some hiking on nearby trails.
Henry LOVES going for baa-pa (backpack) rides!

He's even managed to conquer his fear of the swing! (Well, sort of . . . he won't stay in it for long, but at least he'll go in them now and swing ever-so-slightly!).

We are grateful that dad has been able to be home for more than just the fun. About a month ago, I kept saying how we just had to make it another six weeks without Henry getting sick so I didn't have to take any more sick days this school year. Well, that didn't pan out. About two weeks ago, he came down with a mysterious virus that gave him yet another high fever and sores in his throat (I'd blame it on daycare, but he was the only one who had it). He was healthy for about a week and then last Wednesday I heard him coughing at night. He managed to sleep through it and was fine during the day on Thursday. Then Thursday night he woke up coughing around 11 and when I went in to check on him, I realized he was having trouble catching a breath. So I woke Tom up and we heading to the ER. Turns out he had croup so the doctor shot him up with a steroid and sent us home. He had a rough few nights (but the days were fine) and is finally getting back to normal the last day or two. I sure hope all his illnesses mean he'll be a healthy boy once he hits kindergarten! The biggest relief for me once school is out will be not having to figure out sub plans early in the morning with a sick kid in my lap!!!

Orphan Henry

Henry spilled one of his daycare mom's glass of ice tea on himself at daycare the other day. Of course I didn't have a "back up" outfit there so this is what he came home in. He looked so funny with is pants hiked up and shirt tucked in. Love it!

Construction

My sister and I did a little shopping this past Saturday. I found some construction pjs on clearance that had Henry's name written all over them. I was folding clothes one afternoon and Henry spotted them. He insisted on taking off his clothes and putting on his new jams! Who cares that it was the middle of the afternoon! Too cute!

Lawn Mo-rrrr

Long time, no post! After Henry is in bed, I am one tired pregnant lady at night (and there have been some really good season finales on TV!).

Have I mentioned Henry is obsessed with lawn mowers? Here he is gazing out the window at his dad mowing the front lawn- we have a pretty decent size front lawn and Henry was perched there the entire time!

Other Henry obsessions:

-He continues to pine over construction equipment. I never would have predicted that I would know the names of things like auger, backhoe, etc. much less my one-year-old. This boy can spot them a mile a way when driving in the car and is sure to announce when he does spy one! I am a terrible mother and put away (aka hid on a very high shelf that he can't get at) his construction books that he insisted on reading a bagillion times a day (we do have some new ones from the library to peruse so I'm not that terrible)!

-Speaking of books- Henry insists on reading only nonfiction books. He loves his encyclopedias, baby's first words books, etc. I love that he loves nonfiction, but a nice little story every once in a while would be okay too!

-Okay time to brag . . . as long as we are on the book and construction equipment topic . . . the other day (prior to putting away his construction books), Henry was reading a new book from the library that had a backhoe in it. He got up and got one of his construction books and found the page with a backhoe on it. He recognized that each book had the same thing in it!! In my teacher world we call that a text-to-text connection!!!!!!!! Proud mama moment! :)

-Henry also loves ants. Yes ants. We clock many minutes watching those tiny creatures.

-He also loves his mon-hee (monkey), baby doll, going for stroller rides in jammies before bed, his buddy Nolan (Nono) at daycare, broccoli, berries, cheese, toy cars and trucks, bubbles, and washing his hands.

Irresistible Henry Pics (at least it me!)!

Henry and I did a bit of baking this week as part of Mother's Day gifts to the moms in our lives!
Pear smile! :)

Henry loves to "pretend" to sleep on the step- this comes with full-on sound effects as well (honk-shoo, honk-shoo . . .)

He couldn't leave out his baby and bear-re (bear- Henry turns every one-syllable word into a two syllable word!)

While visiting grandma and grandpa on Saturday for a Mother's Day BBQ, Henry and his cousins enjoyed some new toys Grandpa found at a garage sale!

Henry and Miss Mae riding double on the little lion walker!

Back at home, Henry doesn't go anywhere without his la-mow-er (lawn mower)! We have also managed to clock many hours watching all the neighbors mow their lawns- I hope they know it is Henry's obsession and not mine! :)

Henry and dad flying a kite! Henry's favorite part was letting go of the kite and watching Tom and me chase after it! That evoked lots of giggles from the little guy!

Big boy Henry going down the twisty slide all by himself!

And riding the squirrel at the park- still won't have anything to do with swings but we're working on it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!!

Mother's Day is my favorite holiday! I love being a mom more than anything else! Despite the fact that Henry is squirming to get out of my arms in this picture (he had more love for the geese nearby than for his mom at the moment!) and the fact that my Mother's Day gift was a vacuum cleaner (what?!?!? was my husband thinking???), I'm having a terrific day thus far- early morning bagels and coffee followed by a walk to the park to fly kites- all before 9am! While Henry is napping, I just might go get myself a guilt-free pedicure to make up for the fact that I got a cleaning gadget as my gift! :)

(I guess my real gift came earlier this week . . . Henry took my Jillian Michaels "30 minute Shred" DVD and pointed at Jillian and said, "mama!" Ahh, I love that boy! Although, I shouldn't get too excited as Henry pointed to Sven Sungaard doing the weather on KARE 11 the other night and said, "dada.")

Super Duper Helper

Henry was my very helpful helper yesterday when I attempted to get some flowers planted! He loved using his new gardening tools from the Easter Bunny!
More dirt landed outside of the pot than actually in it!

My little muscle man thought he should pick up the bag of potting soil . . . he actually got it off the ground . . . and then managed to dump it on the driveway. I just don't understand why things take 10x longer when doing them with a toddler?!?!