The Perfect Gift

When you're a little kid the box a gift came in is as equally interesting as the gift.

For Henry, his favorite Christmas gift wasn't meant for him. Winnie gave Erin a hand-held massager that lights up and vibrates.

Henry turned this into a space gun, with which he can vibrate anything within his reach: the wood work, floors, windows, tables, people's legs, Xola's head, etc.

A Space of One's Own

Henry was excited to receive his own table and chairs, complete with desk drawer.

He is very particular about what gets placed in his drawer and who places it there.

At first, he wouldn't even let his father sit at his table with him. Little does he know, his brother will soon be occupying the other chair.

Happy Thanksgiving

Henry & Henry sitting in command central with coffee mug and sippy cup on hand.

Dave Wells and I were marveling at Henry's accounting system: see the wall behind him.

Sorry we missed the Hagertys and the Rishes this year; but it was nice to have all of the Wells siblings, significant others and children together.

THANKS for understanding. And THANKS to Bruce for posting coverage of the Hagerty Thanksgiving.

There comes a time

There comes a time in every man's life when he has to decide whether to pull them up over his belly or push them down under.

It's a tough choice between the downward-turned belt buckle and shorty suspenders.

Big hippo

Every once in a while, when Xola is 'hipp-ing' around the living room, hip checking Henry with her 95 lb. butt, we like to remember when she fit in our coat pocket.

All too soon, there will be two 95 lb. hippos in our living room once Henry catches up to Xola's weight class.

Learning from your child

Henry came home from school signing "more" in baby sign language. The only reason we even picked up on it was because we saw Erin Kay and Hannah using baby sign language a while back.

Our theory is that Henry learned this at a meal time...if it worked for that kid, it should work for me. We've been reinforcing it at home, and the sign is certainly better than a yell.

I'm a Dirty Pirate

What else would Henry be for Holloween but a Dirty Pirate? Infamous for his pillaging, Henriques the Englishman has been know to wreak havoc on unsuspecting toddlers in Room #9.

No toy, cracker or juice box is safe when Henriques decides it is time "to take his cut."

Here Henriques is carrying his special pumpkin from Uncle Mike. Check our Flickr account for more exploits.

Monkey On My Back

The Waves

We get a kick out of Henry's waves lately. He waves at people in the grocery store. He waves bye bye when we drop him off at school. And he waves when he is ready for a nap. I caught a little video before a nap when he was trying to tell me it was time for one.

Trucks

Henry gets pretty excited about trucks. Two of his favorite books are about trucks: construction trucks, farm tractors, utility trucks, big rigs, emergency trucks, and our favorties, the dump druck and the concrete mixer truck.

In the clip, Henry is repeating his word for "trucks," which often gets mixed up with "ducks." One of his books has a truck and a duck on the same page, very confusing.

One afternoon we were out running errands in Westerville. We stopped at a coffee shop on Main Street and watched trucks for about an hour. Sure enough, we saw just about every one of the trucks in his books. Henry was pretty excited.

If we ever move to a street with less traffic, Henry will miss watching the big trucks go by the house. Erin and I won't miss it though.

Henry's First Word

Henry's been babbling on about quite a bit these days, especially when he comes home from school or hasn't seen mom for a couple hours.

"Shoes" is his first word we think is intelligible to those not versed in Henry speak. Dee Dee wanted Henry in shoes full time, so we have indoor shoes and outdoor shoes. When it's time for the outdoor shoes, he gets very excited.

Interestingly, Henry has linked the concept of his own shoes to the picture in the book. He identifies the shoes in the book as readily as he does the shoes on his feet, or our shoes in the closet.

Pretty cool to see him construct new meaning.