Henri at 2 and a half

During this blog’s infancy I used to give monthly updates on Henri and what he was accomplishing at that time. As he got older it seemed less necessary as his first steps/words, etc., were long behind us. But since it’s been a while I thought it might be a good time to take a quick snap shot of Henri at two and a half.

Physically: He’s basically functioning like a slightly clumsy big boy. He can climb up ladders (at the park), go up and down stairs unassisted - he continues to run, jump, dance, spin, pretends to fall down, actually falls down… He attempts summersaults (to my dismay, his neck position looks really uncomfortable), he loves to climb onto my back for a horse or piggyback ride. He’s very physical; he is always flinging himself about which leads to head bumps he seems less than concerned about. He did a back flip off our arm chair the other day when he threw himself backwards thinking the back of the chair would catch him – his angle was off… luckily it resulted in a minor bump on the head.

Speech: His sentences are coming together quite nicely. He surprises me now and then. Yesterday we got into a taxi and Henri belts out a big “Ni Hao!” to the driver (hello in chinese). He has started tattling on his friends (apparently last time his little friend Ryan was over he banged our empty water bottles and I heard about it every time we walked by the bottles for two weeks! I asked Henri if he banged them too, and he admitted that he was an accomplice to the crime so I’m not sure he understands good tattling strategy, but I have faith that he will get there). He has also started telling me when something is hurting him, which is a good development. I thought it would make me feel less helpless than when he can’t tell me what’s wrong but I’m still pretty helpless when he tells me that his belly and mouth hurts, which I can’t do much about. He doesn’t always speak in sentences but he can construct proper ones with a subject, verb, etc. Last night I listened to him count to 20 in French nearly perfectly (I did not ask him to) – Occasionally I hear him counting in Chinese.  He loves singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (which he learned in school – he tells me to sing it “fast!”… then “slooooooooowly.”

Potty Training: Is going fine. He gets it. I wouldn’t call him potty trained yet as he mostly goes when I make him. The other day we were walking through the park on our way home from school and a look of panic crossed his face as he grabbed himself so I took him behind the closest tree (we were in a secluded area of the park) and told him he could pee standing up. WHAT a disaster. Really Maxime needs to give this tutorial. I ended up with pee all over MY leg, shoes, hand, etc. I ended up needing to tip his whole body at an angle head over feet to prevent the pee from going all over both of us. It was awkward. Lesson learned.

Interests: He loves being sporty - We often play the arcade basketball game where you shoot as many baskets as you can – he made 5 baskets yesterday! (Yes, I let him stand where the basketballs roll in so he was standing three feet away from it but still!) He is very into all things transportation. He points out buses, construction sites, garbage trucks, etc. He always wants to run/walk everywhere and likes to spot and pick up rocks for me to carry for him. He likes playing catch. He still prefers the swing at the park before doing anything else.  At the grocery store he likes to carry around an item and he wants to be the one to hand it directly to the cashier. On the iPad he puts together some pretty challenging looking puzzles (though I think he does so more by trial and error versus looking at the “big picture”) and loves to watch Dinosaur Train. We play at least 1-3 hands of UNO every day. He often wins.

Henri looks and acts less like a toddler and more like a little boy. He still strikes me as a positive little boy who loves learning, playing, being sporty… His teacher reports that Henri is enthusiastic about every activity they do. He is being much more mature about going to sleep by himself. If only this maturity would extend into what he is willing to eat…. And don’t take this update like we don’t have our challenges. Yesterday I had to put him in timeout when he wouldn’t stop licking the front door when I told him to stop (he issued a direct challenge) and then again this morning for screeching and running away from me when it was time to brush his hair (which takes me all of 15 seconds if he would stand still!). So he is still an…. Independently minded child… but lucky for me the good FAR outweighs the difficulties so… life is good!

Here are some various recent pics:

 

Henri and Ryan playing at the park

Henri showing off an Engineer hat he made at school (as well as a monkey mask from last semester)

August was Ghost Month - there were many a fires where people made offerings to their ancestors via burning fake money. Often when our neighbors do this it is accompanied by a big meal they set up in the doorway with incense burning all around, also in offering it would seem. 

Henri and I are both finishing our antibiotics from our illnesses we have suffered over the past couple of weeks. I took a picture of what prescription medicine looks like here - the bottom packets are mine, the top bottles are Henri's. What I have come to realize is that they "prescribe" things that we would normally buy over the counter - Not all of it, but some. (one of my prescriptions was basically Claritin D).