Hank - 28.5 months

 Hank is growing up more and more every day it seems.  His vocabulary has exploded and we just love how he surprises us with new words every day.  He's always listening.   He'll repeat what Brett and I are saying to each other even when he's on the other side of the room from us and it seems like he isn't listening.  Some of his often used words and phrases right now...

"no, please" - instead of just answering "no", he throws a "please" on there.  Adorable! 
"happy"  - whenever he hears someone say "happy" he loves to repeat it with a cute little high pitch happy voice.
"park" & "outside" - 100 times a day - as in "I want to go outside" or "I want to go to the park" and it's always perfectly timed when we can't go...right??
"bubbles" - he works "bubbles" into the conversation a lot.
"I watching" - any time he stops to look at something or when he's watching us doing something.
"Sorry Sissy, sorry Ruby" - He will do something to upset one of his sisters and automatically say "Sorry Sissy, sorry Ruby".  Even if it's not Ruby.

"No crying Sissy" - whenever one of the girls is crying, he likes to try to tell them really sweetly and sympathetically that it's ok and that they don't need to cry. 
"Silly (fill in the name)" - when someone does something that makes him laugh he declares them "silly".
"Pretty" - I have no idea how he learned this one but it's so sweet that he calls things "pretty".  Sometimes he comes up to Ruby or Charlotte and then looks at me and says "Sissy is pretty".  The other day I pulled my hair down out of a bun and he looked at me and said "is pretty". Sweet boy.
"Daddy home soon?"
"Trash truck soon?"
"Cozy" - He loves to get "cozy" with blankets.  It's the only time he is actually still long enough for a little bit of cuddling with us.  This normally only takes place in the morning after he wakes up.
"Why?" - The quintessential toddler question just started this past weekend.  It blew Brett and I away when we were talking to him and he stopped and looked at us and asked "Why?".  And since then he has asked "why" about a hundred times.  But it's always in this high pitched sweet cute voice so I kinda like it for now.
"welcome" - he often says this instead of "thank you".

We are always mentioning to each other new words Hank has said with us that day.  It is so amazing how many new words he says every day.  I love this age and how fun it is to see him blossom and talk.

Hank loves his trains and watching train shows like Thomas the Train and Chuggington on TV.  He loves to talk about choo choos.  He is constantly asking to watch Chuggington but we really try to keep it to a minimum.  The funny thing about it is that watching Thomas and Chuggington really has taught him so many words and concepts.   

We have been practicing his colors.  His favorite color is blue.  He usually says "blue" any time you ask him about a color.  In the past few days he has been pointing out orange things and saying "orange" so I think he's got one color nailed down.  We are trying to incorporate practicing colors in many things that we do together and he is catching on.

We are still a ways off from potty training.  He has gone pee in the toilet once a while back and at preschool they have told us that he asks to sit on the potty sometimes.  We aren't potty training right now because he's not quite ready for it since he still fights diaper changes sometimes and doesn't mind hanging out in a dirty diaper!  I have potty books and even bought some undies for him so we'll start the full fledged training once he seems ready enough.  Life is a little hectic around here so I'm not in too much of a hurry.

He is so strong and athletic.  He loves to throw balls, play sports, and chase every thing - kids, Ellie, birds.  At his YMCA gym class runs and jumps over everything with such ease and it is fun to watch him.  He really loves anything physically challenging.  At the park, he scales every structure without fear.

His baby teeth are complete (at least I think so?) since he got his final upper tooth last month.

He sleeps really well.  Bed time is 7:15 and we have finally been blessed with him sleeping until at least 6:30am.  He has been doing this for about a month now and we are so happy.  It's life changing really.  He has slowly been extending his wake up time past 6:30am and we are now almost at 6:45am.  AMAZING!  He wakes up happy in the mornings ready for his milk and "nana" (he eats a banana first thing every morning).  He goes down for nap anywhere between 1-2pm and sleeps for a couple of hours.  He is still SUPER cranky when he wakes up from his nap.  He's almost always bent out of shape.  I have no clue why!

Meal times are hit or miss.  We give him the food to eat but more often than not he doesn't eat it.  Lately he has finally discovered that pizza is delicious and he likes it.  He will eat most of his meal if we go to Chipotle, which he now calls "poochay".  Smoothies and milk are his favorite.  They seem to be a comfort for him because whenever he is sad or in trouble he says "smoothie?  milk?"

 

Hiding!  Oh boy does this kid like to hide.  Every day he tries to hide at least once.  And every time he says out loud "I hiding".

He has been singing and dancing a lot lately.  He has his own CD player that he knows how to open and load CDs into.  He calls it "mujick".  He will go up to the coffee table, use his arm to scrape everything off of it in one swipe, and then climb up on it to dance for us.  Sooooooo annoying when he swipes his trains and tracks off and makes a huge loud mess but so adorable to see him spontaneously grooving, even if no one is watching.

He is one strong-willed, smart little boy. Wow it can be rough when he is determined to do or have something that is off-limits or not ok at that moment.  I would be remiss to act like it is all happy and nice around here all the time.  He definitely gives us a hard time some times.  He is super active and never stops moving.  The only way I can get him to enjoy hanging out at home (which we do a lot of) is to invent a new toy or contraption for him to play with that will entertain him for a while.  Yesterday I attached a bunch of his trucks together with pipe cleaners and he drove the new little truck train around on the couch and in one of the girls' cribs in his room.  (There is no keeping him out of their cribs.)  This bought me the most quiet time I have had with him in over six months!  I have been trying to get out to the park more often during the week and he has been very cooperatively lately (it's hard to get all three kiddos into the park without Hank running away) so that is encouraging.  This is why his nap time is so late in the afternoon now.  We try to get out of the house in the mornings or play as much as possible so the post-nap time part of the day is shorter.  You know what I mean...that part of the day can be rough!

He had a doctor's appointment early last month when he was sick and he was 36" tall and 29lbs 11.2 oz.


This boy is the second love of my life (besides his daddy) and even though being a mom is hard work, I am thankful everyday for this opportunity.  I don't take it for granted one bit!


-a