Hank - 2.5 years

 

Henry is now 2.5 years old.  He is changing so much right now.  He is more obedient, says "yes mommy" or "yes daddy" when he listens to our instructions, and is a lot more gentle with his sisters.

The last week or so, he has taken to tickling Ruby and Charlotte when they are playing on the floor.  He says "I got you sissy" over and over.  They laugh like crazy and it makes him laugh too.  This has to be the best part of having multiple kids...when they actually can hang out together!  Little by little I am able to leave him by himself with them.  (But it's always risky.  Especially with our wood floors that still need area rugs...he has knocked them over one too many times.  On purpose.)  He can tell the girls apart now.  Most of the time he gets their names correct when he is pointing them out to me.  Either that or he is a good guesser.

His improving communication skills are making our lives a little bit easier each day.  One of his favorite sayings right now is "you stay back" or "you get back, please".  He does this as he holds his hand out in front of him like a stop sign.  He also likes to negotiate for more time by saying "I almost finished" or "I finish, please?"

He walks around singing the Baa Baa Blacksheep song.  He likes to say "yes sir, yes sir" repeatedly.  Another favorite song lately is Frere Jacques.  There's something so sweet about hearing him sing that.  He sings a lot lately and I even find him singing when he's playing by himself.  He likes to ask me to sing a lot for him too.  

He can count to ten and sometimes to fifteen.  He is getting better at naming his colors.  Orange, blue, and red are his favorite colors to talk about now.  He knows a few shapes too.  I feel like I forget to practice all of this with him so when he rattles off these things I am always so surprised that he knows them!  We have a big book that has lots of animals in it and he can name plenty of animals that I never have reviewed with him.  A genius!  Or maybe he learned it at preschool.  (By the way, he's taking a couple of months off of preschool so I can find him a new one near the new house.)

He is very good at understanding directions.  When we are out driving, he can point in the direction of our house or to a store or a place he wants to go.  Even in our new neighborhood, we drove by a playground once and he showed Brett how to get there on foot a few days later.

He is practicing his manners so well.  He'll say "excuse me", "thank you", "no thank you, I am fine", "yes please", "ok mommy".  All of this is so sweet and Brett and I get a chuckle when he says "excuse me" as he squeezes through us or wedges himself in between us and something else.  I love hearing him use these phrases.  Especially "excuse me".  So polite!  Lately he has been saying "I am fine" or "it is fine" when he doesn't want to do something we ask.  It kills me every time because it is just such a grown up answer.

He likes to help with dishes even when there are no dishes to be washed.  This means he will sometimes take his full plate of food and run to the sink to dump it in there just so he can do the dishes.  This makes me a little crazy.  After I just made his meal and managed to get him plus his two sisters to the table at once...he goes and dumps it in the sink.  This is why my brain feels like it will never be normal again.

He loves the train table we bought him after we moved.  He plays there a lot each day and it's nice to have the trains off of our coffee table now!  He also uses the table for all types of imaginary play with trucks and any toy that fits on the table so that has been really fun to watch his little mind get creative.

He is still taking one long nap in the afternoon at the same time as the girls.  I pray he doesn't drop this nap any time soon.  I am 100% positive I need to be kid-free for a small portion of each afternoon in order to make it to bed time. The past month he has been waking up before 6am more often than not.  Not good.  I am also 100% positive that this breaks my heart on the mornings when I wake up and I look at the clock and the time starts with a "5".  The girls have also been waking up early as a result.  To get back at them all I have been putting them to bed really early.  I will get my time back some how.  ha ha  Especially when Brett is out of town like he was last week and right now. 

He seems to be eating a little bit better lately.  His diet still consists mainly of toddler food like nuggets and PBJs but he does like veggies such as peas and carrots so that makes me feel better.  At the new house, he can open the pantry cabinet himself and he will stand there and say "hmmm hmmm hmmmmmm" as if he is trying to decide what he wants to eat.  He uses the word "delicious" a lot now.  I bought cinnamon raisin bread and Hank has been asking "can I have some of dat awishus bread please mommy?" He asks every snack and meal.  "I would like an awishus sandwich with dat awishus bread."

Such a sweet face.

We say prayers with him before he goes to bed and we always ask if he has anything special he wants to be thankful for that day.  The other day he said (super fast) "play time, quesadilla, outside, mommy, daddy, sissies, lunch time and the macaroni."  Just like that.  I left the room to write it down so I didn't get it wrong.

The last several days he has asked to go on the potty and has peed several times so we're hoping we can start potty training him soon.  We'll see how it goes!  This kid has a mind of his own and I really don't know if he's going to be cooperative or combative.  I'm never sure which little boy is going to show up sometimes.  

2.5 has been such a great age for Hank so far.  I don't know what it is but it just seems like so many of the things we have been teaching him and trying to instill in him are clicking now and we are really enjoying him.  Even the hard days are actually good in the end.  The other day he looked up at me when I put him down to sleep and said "mommy, I give you a kiss."  Then he stood up, grabbed my face and kissed me so big it made me want to scoop him up and hold him tight.  My heart actually jumped in my chest.  Such a great little boy who can put a smile on my face even though he had me pulling my hair out a moment earlier.

-a