What's going on?

I haven't written anything recently so I thought I would write a few things about the little boy as of late. He's still taking it easy on us. He doesn't run off or tantrum much. He eats and sleeps well. He whines but it's easy to handle. Anytime he refuses to do something I say, "Do you need to go to your crib?" and he immediately runs to me to do the thing I want him to do. It's weird b/c I've only put him in the crib a handful of times for like 20 seconds. I think he's like Justin...doesn't want to rock the boat. Doesn't like to be in trouble. Very unlike his mama as a child! The few times I've raised my voice at him it has DEVASTATED him. He just wants everything to be kosher.

This month I am subbing 2 mornings a week for the co-op (this is the Mother's Day Out some friends of mine set up and Henry briefly attended). Their teacher moved to Dallas and I am filling in till their new one begins at the end of the month. It's 4 girls and Henry and they are all about 2, give or take a few months. Of the 5 children only one is presenting typical toddler characteristics....which makes me wonder if the "Terrible 2's" is not a fair label but an example of the exception being what people consider normal--and so that's why you have moms like me scratching their head wondering when the storm is coming. I was with those kids for 4 hours and it was easy peasy, with the exception of the one kiddo (and even she was fine, but she has a completely different personality than the others and needed more redirection/attention).

We played pretend animals...I'd say "Be an elephant!" and they would all make elephant sounds, etc. and we danced, sang songs, ran around and kicked the ball, chased after bubbles, painted, played with the zillions of toys they had, had snack, I changed 8 diapers (2 per child), ran outside some more, had story time and then lunch and cleanup. It was fun. Henry had a blast. He was asleep within 5 minutes of getting home.

Henry is counting a lot now. It's just by rote but sometimes he makes us wonder if he might really understand. If you ask "How many chairs are there?", he will count them by putting his finger on each chair and say, "1, 2, 3, etc." and sometimes he'll stop when there are no more chairs and sometimes he will keep going and recount the chairs but not go back to 1. So I don't think he gets it but they say it's not till like Kindergarten before they understand that concept so it's crazy for me to even think he might. Anyway, just like stacking things, he likes to count things. We went to the Natural History Museum this past weekend and Henry went up a lot of steps. He counted to 20! Once he gets to 14 things can get hairy and he'll juggle the teen numbers, but every so often he nails it. He's also made a ton of progress on the alphabet song. He definitely knows the song but sometimes skips "H I J K" in a mad rush to get to "Now I know my ABC's...". He loves to sing that part. Also, he's begun singing a ton of new songs that I've been singing or playing to him since birth. It's hysterical to watch him playing with blocks or something and then overhear him quietly singing "Take out the papers and the trash...".

(Note: for any grandparents reading this: Henry is not a genius. I think this is pretty normal. But EVEN if it wasn't, it all evens out by age 4-5 --just like with walking. It really means nothing that a kid walks at 9 months--they all eventually learn to walk. Same with counting and ABC's. A developmentally "normal" kid will learn whatever you teach them and I teach Henry these things b/c what the hell else am I doing? ).

In other news Henry has begun, just this past week, calling us "mom" and "dad". Not mommy and daddy, MOM and DAD. Like he's a teenager or something. I think he picked it up from hearing older kids yell "Mom!" when we're at playgrounds or the swimming pool. He refers to us still as mama and dada but if he is in another room and wants me or Justin, he yell's "Mom!" or "Dad!". It's so hard not to laugh.

Hysterical new saying this week, "What's going on?"

Okay, the last thing I want to document. Henry watches Elmo's World from 7:40 to 8:00 (Sesame Street is VERY lame now--so sad to say that---but Elmo's world is worth watching), and Curious George from 8-8:30 and I let him b/c that's how I get ready in the morning, and sometimes, depending on our level of exhaustion, in the evening from 4:30 to 5:00 he gets to watch this PBS cartoon called Cyber Chase, while we make dinner (We eat at 5:00). So the other day dinner was ready and Justin and I were at the table ready to eat and Henry was in the living room watching Cyber Chase and I said, "Henry, dinnertime. Turn off the TV and come to dinner." And about 6-8 seconds later you hear the TV go off and the pitter patter of little feet. He walked in, climbed up the chair, picked up his fork, and began eating. I mean, COME ON!