Day 20

No crafting again. :c( I haven't lost interest in it...things just keep getting busy. I'll have some more time this week - I'm excited to finish up those flowers, and I have felt cut out for more letters, some oranges, and some strawberries...I just haven't made them cuz I haven't made decisions about velcro.

I haven't talked a lot about Henry - I have all sorts of fun Joshua stories that I tell on the blog, but this little Henry of ours is quite a little character, and deserves stories of his own!
He has got the greatest smile. His little top canine teeth came in before the middle ones, so his smile has a kind of baby vampire quality to it, so when he is laughing a lot, or when he flashes his new "cheese" face (for the camera), you can see his adorable little chompers.

He has definite favorites in what he likes to play with. His favorite things is the xylophone/piano that we have. He loves things that spin, like the spinny thing on the walker/car, or the beads on the twisty wire things. He loves to hold and munch on books and bang everything possible on the ground or the high chair tray.

He's becoming a little more ambitious, not being afraid to dive onto his tummy to get things, and rolling and pivoting places. We're going to talk with someone soon about helping him increase his mobility, but he is slowly increasing the movements he is comfortable with, which is good to see.

Henry is so adorable - his little hair sticks straight up in back, even being like two or more inches long...it's still sticking straight up most days. I call him tweety bird, and I'm sad on the days when it flattens down, cuz I think he probably won't ALWAYS have hair sticking up, and I'll miss it. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if he has an incredibly stubborn cowlick as he grows up. His hair is really curly in the back when it is wet, and a little curly when it's dry...so it's getting to the point where I kind of want to cut it, and yet I really don't.

He is great at roaring and purring and growling and spitting at us, and he's learning some sign language. He can sign "milk" and "more" really well, sometimes it seems like he does "eat" and if you ask him to clap (and he's in the right mood, of course) or wave, he will. He LOVES music, and he's enjoyed getting to come to nursery and watch all the toddlers and be there for music time. Now that Nathan isn't in nursery anymore, he'll get to enjoy hanging out in Sunday school and with the guys. I sing to him all the time. One of his very favorite songs is, "I found a million dollar baby...in the five and ten cent store." Grandma Rozen sang that song to him a LONG time ago...and I didn't know it, but had to learn it quick, cuz at times, it was the only thing that would calm him down.

He is finally sleeping every night, though he still wakes up more often than we'd prefer, and it isn't very consistent when he wakes up, but he sleeps. And he takes naps. Nearly every day, he takes two naps. Usually the opposite of Joshua's - at least in the morning. He'll go down for a nap sometime in the morning for an hour or so, then wake up about 45 minutes before Joshua goes down for his nap. He'll go down for another nap while Joshua is still sleeping, and generally wake up again before Joshua gets up. So I sometimes get a little break in there. His sleeping patterns have controlled our lives (it sometimes seems), for months and months and months...but now, other than the fact that he is in our bedroom (which I really wish wasn't the case), things aren't nearly so difficult at night or during the day in terms of his sleeping. He still cries before nearly every nap and nearly every night when he's put down, but it's more of a ritual or routine than him really being upset. Usually I have to go in once or twice to get him to stay down for his morning nap, but other than that, things go fairly smoothly.

He's very cuddly and his cheeks are nearly impossible not to kiss. Really. If you've ever held him, you know I speak truth.

We hope to get some answers about his development and what we can do to help him as he grows from being a cuddly happy baby to a cuddly happy toddler (or a stubborn wild toddler, perhaps!), and we'll give updates when we do get those answers.

Also, these boys do love each other...their relationship is still a little inconsistent, but Joshua sometimes expresses his feelings for his baby brother by bringing him toys or sharing with Henry when he really doesn't want to share. Tonight Joshua sat down on the floor with me and Henry, and Joshy was holding his "personal penguin." Henry grabbed for it and Joshua yanked it out of Henry's grasp. I told Henry that there are some things that Joshua doesn't need to share unless he wants to share them. Henry wasn't a big fan of that reasoning, but Joshua thought about it for awhile, and then held out his little penguin to Henry, who was distracted and missed his opportunity...but it was a sweet moment. Also, yesterday, Henry was in the crib in the bedroom trying to go down for his nap, and Joshua was sitting on the floor in the kitchen, playing with the magnets on the fridge. He looked up at me and said, "Mama, why is my baby crying?" It was again, such a sweet moment.

And finally - here are a few pictures of this dynamic duo!

This is the happy "cheese" face!

A little conspiring going on, it appears.

There's that vampire baby!

And my two cute little sweetie-pies.

I love them so much.