He can name tons of animals. So many in fact that I have no idea where he learned them because I certainly haven't sat down with him to teach them all to him. (Not that I don't have grand intentions of doing so...) Rhinoceros, stegosaurus, ostrich, etc.
Since we moved into the new house, we have had a new routine where Hank gets to read with us either in our bed or on the couch while he drinks his morning cup of milk. We do this in an attempt to let his sisters sleep longer without being woken up by him. He loves this routine and he usually wants to read the books we have checked out from the library. We love reading with him throughout the day. It's one of the ways we can calm him when he is upset.
He loves to watch TV or videos on our phones. His favorite shows are Clifford, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Bob the Builder, Super Why, The Berenstain Bears, Doc McStuffins, and Dinosaur Train. He still likes Thomas the Train, but he prefers the other ones now. He knows the theme songs for Clifford (big and small shows) and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He asks me to sing them every day several times a day. I often hear him singing the Clifford theme song by himself and it's really cute. Sometimes he says "Mommy sing Clifford. Sing Chuggington. Sing Mickey Mouse. Sing Hot Dog Hot Dog. Sing Thomas." I made him a CD with all of these theme songs on it so he could listen to them whenever he wants and hopefully I get to sing them less often.
He is still pretty rough with his sisters at times and at other times he so loving and sweet. He loves to go in their rooms to help me get them out of their cribs. He says "hello sweeties pies" or "hi cuties pies". He will say that he loves them and that he has so much fun with them. Other times he runs straight in their room, launches over the rail of one of their cribs and flies into the crib and crushes them. On purpose. Even though he is absolutely capable of launching over the rail and tweaking his body to avoid touching them at all. Lately he has been knocking them over on purpose and it takes everything I've got not to freak out. He is just too rough! We are constantly working on being gentle. Sometimes I wonder when it's going to sink in.
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| Waiting for Brett to come home...pretending to be Buzz Light Year. |
He loves his Toy Story Buzz and Woody figurines. We bought them at a dollar store three months ago and he has played with them every single day since. The other day he walked into the room to greet me with his drum on his head and told me he was Buzz Light Year, acting like the drum was a space helmet - so creative!. He waited at the front window like this for Brett to get home so he could show him his Buzz helmet. Notice how he's holding Buzz and Woody in his hands.
He has seen a few short clips of the movie Cars and he is obsessed. He has a small Lightening McQueen car that is one of his favorite toys. That car has so many miles on it from being driven around our house each and every day.
He loves routine. He is easy to put down for nap and bed time because he knows it's just what we do. At lunch time he will ask me if we are getting ready for nap soon. After dinner he knows that bath time means it's almost bedtime. He will ask "is it getting really late?". He does like to ask for more books and he even says "this is the laaaaaaaast one" as he grabs another book right after I just finished the book that was supposed to be the last one. When he sleeps, he always rounds up a few toys to have in bed with him. For the past month or two, his favorite bed time toys have been his Buzz and Woody figurines and his little Lightening McQueen car.
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| Giving the garbage man a shout out through the window. |
He's still a big fan of the garbage man. He stands at our front window to watch the trucks o by on trash day. The other day he gave a shout out to the guys by raising his trash truck in the air when they drove by. This week he heard them coming and started scurrying around the house to find his trash truck so he could do it again.
He loves to play in the back yard with Brett when Brett gets home from work. If we are in the middle of dinner and Brett walks in, they take Hank's dinner plate outside and they hang out and eat. He calls it a picnic dinner.
He loves to go to the park and he gets sad if there are no other kids there to play with. He really loves to play with any and all kids. He grabs their hands and likes to walk around the playground with his new friends and lead them to whatever structure he wants to climb on.
He did private swim lessons this summer. It was a great way to get him more comfortable and more water safe. He loves to go under water now and hold his breath and come back up. He's not a swimmer yet but he's getting more acclimated with the water. Next year we'll try to get to a pool more often so he can practice more.
He has an amazing memory. The other night when we were putting the kids to bed I mentioned to Brett that I needed to go to the store. Hank looked at me and asked "to get honey?". He remembered that we were out of honey even though we didn't even talk about it that day.
When people come to our house he calls them his new friend. He will ask where is my new friend? When is my new friend coming back? He is also on super charge energy craziness when people come over. It is exhausting!
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| A typical day of Hank doing something out of the ordinary. No pants on working in the garage with a head lamp. |
Other things he loves right now: Trains, playing baseball and basketball, painting his outdoor house with mud and a brush, wearing flip flops, swimming, wearing sunglasses, sucking baby toothpaste out of the tube when we're not looking, drinking a big sippy cup of milk first thing in the morning, frozen yogurt, and going to the library.
Other dislikes: Turning off the TV or youtube, Ruby and Charlotte swiping his train tracks, washing his hands when he's not in the mood, waiting for us to finish something with Ruby and Charlotte when he really wants our attention, and listening to instructions that are going to annoy him.
He is a stubborn little guy. We are still trying to figure out the best way to discipline him. I'll just leave it at that. :)
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| He recently had his very first ice cream cone. He thought the cone experience was very fun. He also had his first Dickey's BBQ. We're pretty happy to have this Texas staple close to our house now. |
What he's saying...
Please stop talking. He's usually not trying to be rude. He just really wants us to stop talking so he can have silence or so he can focus on something and not have to listen to us.
Of course. Lately instead of answering "yes", he's been saying "of course" and Brett and I love this to no end. He says it in the cutest little way.
I had so much fun playing with you. He'll say this to other kids when we leave them or to us/his sisters at bed time.
No thanks, I'm fine.
He calls girls princesses.
Mom/Dad, I need to talk to you. When he says this we know he means business and really wants to have our attention to tell us a story. The funny thing is that it almost always is about a story line on a cartoon he recently saw or something in a book. He just feels the need to tell us about it randomly out of the blue.
When he can't remember a friend's name he will say "my girl" or "my boy". Or he'll just start talking about someone and then stop and look down at the floor and say "I no know his name" in a sad voice. When I remind him of the person's name he perks right up and repeats the name and then continues with his story.
"Mom I have one question for you. No, two questions." Then he starts in with the questions.
My Mommy. As in "My Mommy can i have x?" or "My Daddy will you read this?"
I have a good idea! Then proceeds to tell me what he's going to do next. Even if it is something simple and not really any big idea. I have started using this phrase more when I talk to him now because it really gets his attention.
Asks for "one more minute" and "two more seconds" all the time when we are trying to get him to transition to something else.
He says "last night" a lot. He uses this anytime something happened before the last time he slept. If it's after nap time and we did something that morning, he will talk about what we did "last night". If something happened the other day, he still says "last night". I love that he is getting the concept of time in an abstract manner like this. When he says "last night" it is usually in the cutest drawn out way.
"PHEW!" After he finishes something strenuous. The other day I got all the kids rounded up and loaded in the car and after a couple of trips back and forth from the house to the van I plopped down in my seat and got ready to go. Hank yelled "phew!" really loud and started laughing. Other times he will come in from outside and look at me with his arms hanging down all tired-like, by his sides and he will say "phew!"
He calls me Mom, Momma and Mommy and Brett is called Dad, Dadda and Daddy.
He hardly ever calls his sisters by their names. He usually just calls them both Sissy. Sometimes he tells me something about he girls and he will call one of them "Sissy" and the other one "Another One Sissy". So funny!
We love love love Hank so very much. He is so much fun to be around and to love on.
-a
1 comment:
Gorgeous, precious boy. So smart and focused. He's an engineer at heart!
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