Henri Update

Time flies. After Hen’s nap this afternoon I was sitting with him on the coach – where he leisurely wakes up – staring up at a framed picture of Henri from maybe around four months.  It’s amazing how much change a year (and a few months) can bring. Henri has become quite a little handful. He’s still really sweet and really funny (see below "Henri the Toddler" video) – but he knows how to push my buttons and I’m starting to think he’s doing it on purpose.  

 

I think our main frustration at the moment is that he can understand so much – but can communicate so little. I felt like we had a little breakthrough today because he started crying right after a toy dropped so I asked him to show me where it hurt and he grabbed his foot. I know this seems like such a small thing (I did deduce that it was his foot before he told me) but for me it was a real milestone. Two way communication that didn’t involve whining or the ol’ “uh uh uh” routine!  I ran some cold water on it – which probably wasn’t necessary but I feel like it’s a good sensory distraction– and that was that. Now I need to do a better job asking questions he can somehow answer until he gets his words. Speaking of words his current favorite words are “bubble” (which he says whenever I blow a bubble with my gum) and “apple.” 

 

He cracks me up every day. He does a happy dance when he sees the family on Skype, our neighbors or really anyone he likes. This involves some bobbing up and down, stomping and squealing. He’ll just up and yell “go!” and start running back and forth across the apartment with his little hands flapping. He likes to spin until he’s dizzy. He knows how to turn the dishwasher on and when he finally succeeds in pushing the button hard enough for it to cycle on he gets scared and runs over to me and grabs my leg all terrified. Sometimes I think he’ll take any excuse to laugh. He will decide saying “boo!” is hilarious so the next five minutes he’s just cracking up saying “boo!” over and over. 

 

Tonight was a push my buttons night. He went from opening and slamming every kitchen cabinet, to seizing the remotes and messing up the TV settings, to grabbing my cookbooks and throwing them across the room, to climbing onto the coffee table repeatedly, back to the kitchen to empty one of my drawers…  I hate my mean voice and I had to hear it a lot tonight.  

 

Sometimes I go into my cabinet to get a gallon Ziploc baggy only to pull out a quart size and I know he did it. He emptied all my Ziplocs once without my noticing until the floor was just covered. Now he seems to do it a bit less openly.

 

I realize this is just the beginning…