21 months

Henry is 21 months old today. Henry Boy, Lover Man, Henwah, Hen-no. Sweetest little boy in the land.

Stats: Henry still fits well in 18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, and has just moved to size 6 shoes. I have some 24 month clothes for the fall, but they're going to be too big.

Schedule: Henry's schedule is the same as it's been for a long time now. He still sleeps very well at night, from about 7:40 at night to 6:30-7 in the morning. He takes one nap a day, in the afternoon.

Eating: Henry still nurses, usually four times a day but sometimes we skip. He's now at the point where we're almost at the 2-year mark I set as our goal, and he's old enough that skipping a nursing session is no big deal. He does ask for milk ("nilk") though, especially when he gets up in the morning. He wants Mommy and "nilk" right away. Before bed, he has to hold a toy car in each hand while he nurses, and then he puts them to bed on the couch or coffee table before he goes upstairs. Henry is sometimes a little picky about foods, and is starting to dislike things mixed together the same as Celia. He likes all kinds of fruit, most vegetables, coconut and almond milk yogurt, and loves hummus and pasta.

Language and Cognitive: Henry has had a burst of language development in the last few weeks. All of a sudden he started using 2-4 word phrases/sentences almost all the time. He has a huge vocabulary and uses new words almost every day. He understands everything we say, and has started answering questions. Yesterday I asked him if he had pooped, and Henry said "No. Daddy poop." Already trying to blame someone else... He also says some words in such a cute way. He calls Celia "Yah-yoo" most of the time, though he can say "Celia" if he wants to. He pronounces his own name "Hahn-ree", like a little Frenchman. Henry is now starting to use more grammatical structures in his phrases, like plural and possessive "s", -ing verbs, and negatives.

Cognitively, Henry is doing a lot more pretend play. He and Celia drive around the house on their pillow racers, and Henry always pretends he's going to work. He waves and says "Bye! Work! Car!" and goes to another room, and then comes back and says "Hi! Back!" He also likes playing with dolls and stuffed animals, feeding and hugging them, putting them to sleep, and putting them in the stroller. The other day Henry and Celia were pretending to be dogs. I was a bit worried when I heard Celia tell Henry, "Lick something!" Henry also likes playing kitchen, and loves his cars and train tracks. He enjoys art activities, but tends to make a big mess or put crayons in his mouth. He knows he shouldn't, and that's why it's fun. Henry likes helping with household tasks. He takes things out of the dishwasher, throws things in the trash by himself, and always wants to help cook (I don't let him do that...). Henry likes going to the grocery store with me, as long as he doesn't have to ride in the cart. He walks around and is pretty good about staying with me. He likes helping carry the basket or holding my hand, and likes to carry things and put them in the basket or cart. This means grocery shopping takes five times longer than normal, but it's fun.

"Yahyoo, kiss!"

Henry saw this picture and said, "Celia Henry kiss!"  

Social and Emotional: Henry really enjoys being with the other kids at daycare. He always wants to play with Celia and do whatever she does. This often causes conflict as Henry develops more independence and wants things for himself. Whatever Celia has, he wants. This is a frequent source of frustration, as we're now telling him "no" more often and can't allow him to always take things away from Celia. Celia never went through this stage since she didn't have an older sibling to follow around. Henry has quite a temper when he doesn't get what he wants, but he usually recovers fairly quickly.

Henry went through a clingy stage last month, wanting us to hold him constantly. I think it was at least partly related to teething. He had all four eye teeth coming in at once, and they took a long time. They're now much of the way in, and he is much less cranky and clingy. He's back to his old self- usually happy (except when fighting with Celia) and enjoying independent play. Henry is generally able to navigate the house by himself and play where he wants to without a lot of supervision. We have the stairs gated, but he has the run of either the first or second floor depending on where we are.

They were watching a show and Celia was across the room. Henry called, "Yahyoo! Yahyoo! Come, sit!" And sat on her lap. He loves to sit on her lap. 

Henry is at a fun stage. Walking and running, able to do so much with his play, understanding everything and starting to talk in sentences. Henry has some typical toddler behavior challenges these days, but he is mostly still a sweet, happy, funny little boy.