Henri is 14 months!

Oh my, Henri is quite the handful. Though he took his first steps at 11 months he officially became a walker at 13. And at 14 he is already trying to run. 

At the park there is an area where once every hour or so music plays and there is a fountain water show. They are very strict and don't let the kids play in the water until the show is over and then they can just splash around in what leftover water there is that hasn't yet drained. Henri goes nuts while the water is spraying and he has had the whistle blown on him a few times for making a break for it into the water. One day a little girl who was maybe three started to play with Henri in the fountain area after the show. Their game was simple. She would stand there and Henri would smack her face and then she would run and he would try to run after her and then she would stand there until he caught up, smacked her again, then she would run, etc. I was a bit surprised that the little girl didn't seem to mind being smacked but I was even more surprised to see Hen trying to run, and on a wet, slick surface no less. Her parents didn't mind the smacking either as they were happily video taping the entire thing. 

Henri is definitely making more word-like sounds, but beyond mama and papa he hasn't really said any other words. Sometimes I think I hear "hello" or "hi" but it's not totally clear. He likes to gargle and make noises in the back of his throat - last week he said what sounded like the Spanish "jota" at least a thousand times.

Henri loves dogs. Because of this we bought him a large stuffed dog from IKEA for his birthday. When I played with it with him I'd try to animate the dog by bouncing it around and making panting and barking noises. Henri oddly enough picked up on the panting. So now when he sees a real dog or even one in a book he smiles, squeals, and starts to loudly pant. We were at a cafe a few weeks ago and the lady at the next table had what looked like a mink purse. Henri noticed it and started his puppy routine, trying to engage with this lady's purse through his panting and squeals. She let him hold it.

Overall he is just so cute right now. If only he would sleep past 530 all would be right in the world...