Henry Hippopotamus

This post is all about...Henry! I feel like I haven't really kept track of what this kid has been upto in recent months via the blog and this is my attempt to correct that a bit.

The first thing I think of when I think of Henry is that he is a funny kid. And he wants to be funny. He'll routinely say something and then turn and ask us if that was funny or not. I find it interesting that somehow we've engendered in him that it's a good thing to be funny or that he naturally values it. Either way he says some funny stuff on a daily basis which helps a lot especially after he's just been or is acting like a stinker.

The best one I can think of recently was dragging him out of a restaurant and while he was yelling and screaming he stops, in the middle of the parking lot and says, "Mommy! You are not pretty anymore!" and looks at me like he just said the 'f' word. I wish I could say Johann, my mom and I all managed to not laugh like crazy and tell him how that's mean but we all laughed and so did a mom passing by.

Don't worry, my self esteem was restored the next morning when he woke up and told me I was pretty again.

I feel like a lot of his 'hobbies' have changed but he still loves to help cook or bake whenever I'll let him in the kitchen.

He also crosses his legs like the picture above a lot. He typically falls asleep in the car with his legs crossed like that.

He adores his papa/daddy. When Johann is home, Henry is within a six foot radius of him. He always groups the two of them together by saying, "the boys are sitting here....the boys are doing this..." etc.

Henry use to dread and scream during haircuts or at least be nervous. Now we go into Vinnie's and he is excited. He even let Vinnie's wife, Connie, cut his hair this last time. Which reminds me he is in need of another cut. His hair grows so fast it seems.

He can be much more helpful now. Most mornings right before or after we go up to comb his hair and brush his teeth, he takes all the stuffed animals and pillows off his bed, I do the tucking and then he puts them back on. He seems to change their arrangement every day but this seems to be one of his favorite ways to make his bed lately.

I love that when he spills something I can tell him to get the vacuum and clean it up. He usually does a pretty good job.

Speaking of helpful, he gets himself dressed every morning on his own. He comes in to tell me he's awake, which is never later than 6:45am gaaah, and then says he is going to change. He usually does a good job picking his outfits, (except for always wearing those boots, gosh, I hate them now) it's just getting him to stay in one shirt and one pair of pants all day. I finally told him last week that unless he pees himself he cannot change pants. Of course he then looked at me and said, "I peed." And sure enough, he did. Touché, Henry.

Crafts are still a big thing with him. I feel bad that I don't do them as much with him now as before because I figure he gets to do a lot of them in preschool but he still asks at least 3 or 4 times a week to do a craft.

Babies. He loves babies. He is still torn over wanting a baby brother or sister. At one point he told me if it's a girl he will tell her to get out of his house, he said he wanted a brother! Yikes. Then ten minutes later he told my cousin he was having a cute baby sister. Yeesh.

He had fun over break meeting his cousin, Max, but as I suspect will happen with this baby, he thought at times he could pick him up or was in charge of him. I'll have to buy this baby a bubble or something for when it's not attached to me.

Big kids. If Henry can get a big kid to play with him, he is in Heaven. He talks endlessly about the big girls, his 2nd cousins, Sophia and Lisset and how those big girls played with him. He'll talk about a big kid in the park from summer playing with him. He also insists he isn't a little kid but just a kid. Not quite a big one yet though I guess.

Does anybody else think the rapture has taken place when their kid goes to the bathroom?! Below is what I find when Henry has to go numero dos. Why, oh why does he think he has to take all his clothes off? I mean, even to his socks he takes EVERYTHING off. It drives me nuts. And I'm not sure why he does it. But he must enjoy the freedom because after going he usually spends at least 5 minutes dancing free as a bird in front of the mirror. Don't worry, we sanitize.

There was a time when Henry drew like nuts and then we were at Grammy's for the summer then moved and he didn't so much anymore.

He's decided he likes drawing again, which I love, hello non-messy activity.

His favorite things to draw are pirates and the inside of bodies. I know, the latter seems kind of creepy but he actually does pretty well. The above is one of his first bone ones and now when he draws hearts he even includes the valves. We were at Lakeshore the other day and they had a body model and he spent about 20 minutes playing with it and looking at all the insides. He loves going with me to the doctor and seeing the blood work done and looking at all the charts. I think it's pretty cool he is interested in all of it. I mean, when I think about it, the body is pretty dang fascinating and I want to let him explore whatever he is interested in, even if it seems a little gross at first. The problem so far was when he made his spider a boy. Poor Johann almost had a cow until he realized he's only 3 and it's pretty innocent. Oh, he is going to have a heart attack when it's time for "the talk."

He is doing much better in preschool-woohoo and manages to be good most days. It's good I'm upstairs with my cousin's baby though, otherwise I would think Henry wasn't getting anything since I can never get him to trace or write his name for me at home but he'll do it at preschool for Miss Nancy.

He is now a full fledged Sunbeam and really loves his teachers. I do too. They were so sweet and he is excited to talk about what they do in their class and it sounds like they really have a hold on how to keep 3 and 4 year olds interested. I'm so, so glad it hasn't been rough like I thought it would be.

It also feels like all our morning scripture study is starting to 'pay off' when he talks about something from primary they did, like a choose the right game and then compares it to what we learned one morning when he said, "So I have to have a squishy, soft heart so I can make good choices." Yes! And last Sunday he said something that sounded like "King Noah is my boy" and I repeated it and asked if that's what he said and he got mad and said, "No! King Noah is a bad boy! Heavenly Father is my boy!" Apparently, around our house, to Henry, King Noah is the ultimate bad guy, he is too interested in the ship and the shocks Nephi gives to care much about Lamen and Lemuel.

Well, that is probably waaaay too much for one post which reminds me I need to be better at doing short ones more frequently. Tonight he starts his karate class at the rec center. Pray for us =) and I'll be sure to post about this new adventure. If this goes well I may do one other class while we're here. Henry wants dance or gymnastics for his next one. Johann wants to cry. =)