15 Month Stats

*Disclosure
There is no photo of Henry at his 15 month well visit appt.  He had a little bit of a melt down while at the doctors.  As soon as we got in the exam room he started screaming and freaking out.  The doctor said he now has memory recall and since he was just there a few weeks ago when sick, he must have remembered the room (which he was also screaming in then).  Stranger anxiety is also normal for his age, and this boy was not letting go of us for anything!  We were just trying to comfort him through the examination and shots. Needless to say there were no opportunities for a quick iPhone photo.  All is well though and Henry is right on track with his diet, sleep and development!      

Height: 32 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs 2 oz (40th percentile)
Head Circ: 49 cm (90th percentile)

15 Months

Dear Henry,

You've made it to 15 months!  We thought we would continue our letters to you, just not every month like we did during your first year.  There have been so many changes the past three months, we hope we don't leave any of these milestones out!  And it's official:  you are a TODDLER.  No more calling you our little baby... you're our little man!

- Walking.  Walking, walking, walking.  All around the house, all day long.  Outside, in stores, at Grammy's house.  You never stop walking no matter where we are.  You strung together your first steps on December 14th and there's been no looking back.  There was a two week period where you wanted nothing to do with any toys or games of yours, you just wanted to explore on two feet.  Mommy and I love how you always want to walk... it's like you're a little person.  Seeing you walk into the kitchen looking for us (and a snack) puts a smile on our faces every time.  Playing hide-and-seek, tag and simply walking up and down the block is the highlight of our days.

- Talking.  You spend all day talking predominantly in your own little language, but you've added several words to your arsenal and know the proper association/object to go along with them.  Car, kiss, teeth, bus, ball, garage (or "gra," as you would say), diaper and snack.  You also follow directions, key off of what we say when we give you simple commands and you know we mean business when we're telling you "NO" (and you do NOT like it when we do).

- Playing.  You still love - LOVE! - reading.  It is your favorite pastime and you certainly have your favorite books.  You know what comes next in several of them (most notably, the pages with lions and monkeys because you can make their noises) and you always turn the page for mommy and daddy.  You've also fallen in love with your boxes of flash cards and enjoy looking at them every morning.  We also have adapted to having little cars all around the house... but daddy doesn't mind, he thinks it is cool you're playing with classic Camaros and Ferraris.  You also love playing with your bouncy balls, which we have to fish out from under the couch most days.  You've become a dancin machine.  You love for us to put on music and we have dance parties in the living room.  So far your favorite musician is Zach Brown Band.  Last, you've taken a liking to your kitchen set... you don't use it for "cooking" just yet, but taking everything out of the little refrigerator is a favorite activity of yours.

- Eating.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet:  you eat whatever - and I mean WHATEVER - we put in front of you.  Most nights you have the same dinner mommy and daddy, but there are some nights when you'd rather have one of your toddler meals.  Then there are the nights when you're not interested in food at all and just want to run around the house and play... but those are few and far between.  The only drawback of your healthy appetite is that you know where your snack cupboard is and you'll be sure to lead us there and bark at us until we give our little Snack Monster a treat.  But I have to say, you're a VERY healthy eater for a little boy... lots of veggies and fruits, your grammy's are very happy about that.

- Mommy and I recently cut out the last piece of babyhood you had left:  the nighttime bottle.  The first night or two were a little iffy, but overall it was worse for mommy than it was for you.  Now you don't miss them at all.

- Sleeping.  You still sleep like a rock.  I'm jealous.

SO MUCH has happened in the last three months, Henry.  Mommy and I feel like more has happened since you turned one than in your entire first year put together!  You are at such a fun stage in life, always smiling, giggling and playing with us.  And while you are a lot easier in many ways, there are certainly new challenges associated with having a toddler around the house.  But we wouldn't have it any other way.

We love you always,
Daddy and Mommy

February Break

It was wonderful to be home for the week and have Mommy and Henry time all day, every day.  There was a lot of playtime together, relaxing days, dance parties, kitchen play, ball pit action, homemade mac & cheese, homemade sauce and meatballs, turkey dinner in the crockpot, lots of strawberry shortcake (um let's just say Reddi-wip is my new best friend), visits with friends and even a dentist and doctor's appointment in there as well.

Beer Box

Sometimes the best toys aren't toys at all...

Explore & More

We went to Explore & More Children's Museum, which is right around the corner from our house.  Henry and his buddy Jackson had a blast playing in all the different areas.  Henry was very intrigued by the gears and the windmill going round and round. We are thinking about getting a membership so we can go whenever we want!  

Ball Pit

We were waiting to blow up the ball pit Henry got for Christmas from his Aunt Christine and Uncle John. Between his birthday and Christmas, he had a lot of new presents and we thought we would hold onto this one until the dead of winter when there's only so much you can do inside the house.  February Break seemed to be the perfect time to bust it out.  Henry has a walk-in closet in his room which we have also turned into a little toy area.  It's great for containing all the balls that go EVERYWHERE.  So much FUN!!!

Fun Fridays

Just another Friday at Grams!!!

Irresistible

Love Day

Look what cupid left!

New touch and feel flash cards.

My valentine.

A singing froggy from Miss Marji.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Like my hat?

These are some good fries!

Edward, myself and our little "love machine" had a romantic dinner at Ted's Hot Dogs!  Just me and the two boys I love most.  Henry got to experience his first hot dog and fries.  FYI - He devoured it all!!!  And let me just say, Ted's was jammin...  Who knew so many couples and families went there on Valentine's Day!?!  Actually this is not our first time dinning there on this holiday... Hehe :-)

Sickies

Henry woke up one morning with a fever and he sounded like a barking seal.  By the afternoon he was struggling to catch his breath and Marji called us really worried about him.  Daddy rushed out of work to get him to the doctors.  Luckily, his horrible cough was not croup, but he did have an ear infection.  Antibiotics and a steroid were prescribed (this was Henry's first ear infection and the first time he had to take antibiotics).  The Amoxicillin brought me back to my childhood days being sick: I loved that pink medicine.  Henry spent four days home snuggling with either mommy or daddy (taking off of work).  Literally all he did was lay on the couch and watch hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, read books or sleep.  It was horrible seeing him not feel well and be in pain.  I felt helpless and would've done anything to make him feel better.  It took a good week for Henry to get back to his old self.

Happy Birthday Edward

I love that Edward was surprised by my gifts.  I went "techie" on him and got him a new iPhone case and new headphones for the iPod that he listens to at work.  He also got new clippers (the REALLY good ones) and a barber cape.  For those of you who don't know I buzz Edward's head almost weekly.  It's really classy... Edward sits on a bucket in the garage or in the basement (during the cold winter months) with an old towel wrapped around him.  So now we have the professional clippers and a cape for our hair sessions.  Haha!

We did things a little crazy and sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes before dinner so that Henry could participate before going to bed.  Thanks to grammie and papa who watched Henry (who still wasn't felling great) so we could go out to dinner at Edward's favorite restaurant, Blue Monk, and get a few drinks.  Happy, Happy Birthday Edward!!!