Sharing their DNA

Although this was filmed several weeks ago now, here is a short video of Henry and Charlie playing together (one of the very first times!) and, yes, literally and symbolically sharing their DNA.

Happy Halloween!

I feel horrible that so many wonderful childhood milestones have passed without any updates. I keep planning on writing about significant family memories like summer trips, weddings, 3rd birthday parties, apple-picking, and hand, foot and mouth disease, but I never seem to find the time. I would love to write a funny, little anecdote about Halloween, but instead I will just post a few pictures.

My little honeybee. When I was pregnant with Henry, one of my first thoughts was: Now I can finally dress a baby up like a honeybee! Henry's birth date made him essentially honeybee ineligible - he was just a few weeks old on his first Halloween and he was well passed the tolerant stage of being stuffed into a thick, fleece, round, immobilizing costume on his second Halloween. Is a honeybee an original costume? No. But, come on, just try not to smile.


He may have been passed honeybee territory, but Henry was still interested in being a winged creature. Henry's costume preferences changed frequently during the month of October. His costume preferences included (in approximate order): A prince ("A cape, crown, and boots!"), Tinkerbell (yes, the very one... how?... I don't know...), an ice cream man, Arial (yes, mermaid princess... how?... I don't know...), and finally he settled on a bat. Just a bat. Although in the picture above he looks like a crow. Well, not any crow. The Crow.


Henry's costume choice made it fairly easy on me. We got a black cape for his wings and pinned the cape to his sleeves for a wing-like action. We covered his rain boots in black duct tape. He wore all black clothes. He was fairly clear about his expectations for a bat costume: cape, black clothes, and black boots. I tried to get him to wear an eye mask but that didn't last too long. He became quite adept at wearing that cape so it billowed with just the right dramatic flair as he walked.

The Artist Currently Known As The Prince Who Lives In The Castle

When we got in the car this morning, the song "Landslide" was on the radio. After a few seconds, Henry said, "Mommy, this song is too sad. Please listen to a happy song."

"Like what?" I asked. He said, "Like the red car song! The one that man sings. The Prince who lives in the castle."

Translation: Little Red Corvette by Prince.

Sweet peas

Charlie is starting to try baby food. He really enjoys rice cereal, bananas, and sweet potatoes. Here is Charlie's first experience with peas.


What's this? Another new food? Peas, you say? I'm curious.

What?! Yuck - what are you doing to me?

What's this? Another new food? Peas, you say? I'm curious.

Blech! You did it again. Curse you, Woman!

First Day of School

Yes, I was warned, and yes, it is true. Poor Charlie is the victim of second child syndrome. There is very little photographic evidence of his existence (compared to first child Henry). I have some posts in the works regarding are truly wonderful family trip to Wisconsin as well as some general summertime fun pictures. In the meantime, here are some pics of the boys first day of "school." The new year for their daycare begins in June.

Henry started out once like Charlie... fresh-faced, ready for the new school year in his sweater vest, eager to impress with his prep school insignia. Alas, now that Henry is an upperclassman, he is slightly disheveled, prone to rolling out of bed and just throwing something on. The bold, impertinent colors - where are his conservative blues? Note the ironic t-shirt (imagine, a boy of his age liking Spider Man). Why, I don't think he even combed his hair!

Little Turkey

In a wish I had my camera moment, the other night, Henry spontaneously put his favorite shorts (red ones) on his head and began singing "Turkey in the Hay" while square dancing.

Southpaw

When Mike was picking Henry up from daycare the other day, he happened upon Henry hitting a baseball - quite well, actually. Mike was delighted and proud (and immediately went to buy a baseball tee) and surprised to note that Henry bats left-handed. We are both right-handed, and Henry seems to show a natural preference for his right hand, too. He scribbles, eats, and waves with his right hand. What surprised Mike even more was to learn that I also swing a bat with my left hand, it is the way that I was taught to hit. (Of course, I don't hit the ball well). I was taught to hit left-handed because my father also hits a ball left-handed, despite being right handed, and was taught by his father, the original Henry, to hit left-handed. I thought the left-handed hitting was a result of generations of learned behavior, but in Henry's case, it truly seems more natural and comfortable for him to hit left-handed. I hadn't ever tried to teach him to hit a baseball, and Mike had tried to teach him to swing right-handed.

Here is a video of Henry hitting the baseball:

Meet the New Chin Chopper!

Yes, he is 6 weeks old now, and currently weighs as much as the turkey we had for Thanksgiving, but here is the long overdue introduction of Charlie to the world. This picture was taken the day he first started smiling true, genuine smiles in response to cooing and attention. He could also be smiling because he is wearing his Green Bay Packer onesie - gift from WI grandparents. Another happy Packer baby.

The transition from one to two kids has almost been more overwhelming than the transition from zero to one. What can I tell you about Charlie? He likes to eat. A lot. He likes to sleep, too, in theory, but never for very long at a time and in a seemingly random pattern. In other words, I am exhausted.

Charlie has dark blue eyes, not sure if they will change to brown, and he has brown hair with a reddish tint - very similar to the color of hair that Henry had when he was born. In fact, Charlie looks A LOT like Henry at this stage. So much so that I am quite sure that I will not be able to tell their newborn pictures apart from each other in about 5 years. It is going to be particularly challenging to differentiate the two newborn pictures because Charlie is wearing a lot of the same clothes that Henry wore. Except, of course, that Charlie is outgrowing them very quickly. I can't believe that he already has a stack of outfits that are too small for him!

Henry is adjusting really well to being a big brother. He loves to hug Charlie and is very protective of him when I take Charlie to pick up Henry from school. When Henry's classmates storm the stroller to see Charlie, Henry quickly intercedes and says, "No touch Charlie! Charlie is a baby!" Henry has also reported to his classmates that Charlie cries often and loudly and that "Mommy tries pacifying Charlie." His teachers and I were particularly surprised and impressed to hear Henry use the word "pacifying."

Irish Jig

Henry's school had a St. Patrick's Day parade. They made hats and sashes and paraded around the building. Although he refused to let us take a picture of him on St. Patrick's Day when he was actually wearing all green, he did let us take his picture 3 days later. He wouldn't hold still for the picture, but it worked out to our advantage because it looks like he is dancing an Irish jig.

Now that spring is here...

... It is time to post a winter picture.

When we were in the Midwest for Christmas, Henry was able to sled for the first time! There isn't much snow on the ground, but he loved it. My mom managed to capture this moment of sheer joy with her camera when Henry was flying down the hill.


Here is a short video of Henry sledding.

Our little scientist.

These pictures are from October so they are a bit dated. However, they are just so cute and always make me smile. Henry loves to measure, pour, sort, funnel, and transfer liquids and solids from one container into different sized containers. Apparently, this activity is a real skill that his teachers use to evaluate the kids on their "scientific interest and abilities." For Henry's first parent-teacher conference (yes, they have them for 2 year olds), his teachers told us that Henry excelled in scientific interest and abilities. Imagine our pride. In these pictures, we had set up a little station outside so that Henry could play with different colored water. Since we didn't want him to get his clothes discolored and we wanted this to be a truly authentic experience, we dressed him as a typical graduate student, in my old tie-dyed t-shirt. (BTW, I made this t-shirt in Girl Scouts, which may make tie-dying the most useful and lasting skill that I learned from my years in the scouts. Also, speaking of Girl Scouts, a little one came by a few weeks ago to sell cookies. It was late afternoon, snack time, and since I am pregnant, well, let's just say that her sales alone may be sending her troop to a broadway show in NYC this year for their annual overnight instead of a butter churning demo, which, again, is another one of my own personal GS experiences).

Out of the mouths of babes

Now that Henry's verbal skills are increasing at an exponential rate, his choice of words and tone are really starting to reflect his personality and demeanor. For example...

Henry loves band aids. He loves getting one on a boo-boo and then immediately ripping it right off and asking for another one. The other day he said to me, "If I have a boo-boo, then I get a band aid." I replied, "Yes, but you don't have a boo-boo, Henry, so there is no need for a band aid right now." He looked at me squarely in the eyes and clarified with a tone that suggested impatience and exasperation, "I said IF, Mommy."

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Henry has a favorite song from school about finding worms, caterpillars, and spiders in one's food and then screaming "Ewww... yucky! Yucky!" He then laughs gleefully. The other night he was in the bath and starting improvising a song about finding a spider in his hair while he shampooing it. I happily jumped in for what I thought would be the chorus of the song, "A spider! Ewww... yucky! Yucky!" He then stopped singing, looked at me flatly and said, "Mommy, it's a joke."

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And finally, Henry has begun to master the classic divide and conquer technique. The other day, Mike and Henry were going to the park, and Henry asked me if he could bring two cars with him to the park. I told him that I didn't think that was a good idea because he might lose his toys and then he would be sad and disappointed. Mike claims that he didn't hear this conversation because when Henry immediately went over to Mike and said, "Daddy, can I bring two cars to the park?" Mike said, "Sure!" Henry then returned to me at once with a triumphant tone and said, "Mommy, Daddy said I can bring two cars to the park." I smiled stiffly at Mike. Mike looked guilty. They left with two cars. They returned with one. Need I say more?