Middle of September

It's the middle of September, and Instagram just informed me that Johnny is now 14 weeks. Wow. Can you believe that? And my Henry is 2 years and 7 months on Tuesday. Yikes--I'm getting old. The boys have been doing and changing so much lately, I thought I'd get a few things written down.

Henry:

• Henry is still quite obsessed with his "bwankie." he wants to take it everywhere, and as soon as he gets hurt or upset he says he "needs bwankie." It's the only consequence that makes a difference when he's being naughty (which is quite rare. Usually just when he's harassing the cat.)
• Speaking of the cat, Henry does still love Rowena, but I have to tell him several times a day to leave kitty alone. 
• Henry, unfortunately, as discovered that he likes rubber snakes. Grandpa and Grandma have two at their house, and he found them in the toy box once. Every time we've gone out there since, it's the first thing he looks for. He wants to carry them all over and has even requested to have them in bed. So, snakes nap with him and go to bed with him. (EW!!!) Unfortunately, he and Daddy convinced me to let him get a rubber snake at the zoo this week, so now we have a lime green monstrosity at our house, too. At this moment, he is in his bed cuddled up with his bwankie clutching "Mr. Snake." It sort of makes me want to freak out, but he loves it so much....oh well. 
• Henry is learning his letters and is doing really well. He loves to watch the Leap Fog "The Letter Factory," and has learned the sounds of all the letters. He often points them out to me on signs when we are out and about, particularly the letters H, W, S, and M. Come to think of it, it was "The Letter Factory" that got him excited about snakes--for the letter S, a snake comes to teach the S letters their sound. "Ssssss!" For a while, Henry wanted me to rewind it and let him watch the "nake one" over and over again. 
• He likes watching sports with his Daddy. Any sport, really, he enjoys. 
• We played kickball with the family (my siblings and Nana and Papa) over Labor Day Weekend, and asks to play kickball almost every day now. 
• He's still a picky eater, which is rather frustrating. He does like to dip chips in chili, and asks for "chips and chiwee" almost every day for lunch. 
• Two funny stories about silly phrases: Uncle Greg was talking about a toy that Caleb has that tells what each body part is and what color it is. He said "Blue Ear" and Henry just started laughing uncontrollably. Seriously, for almost 30 minutes he was laughing hysterically and saying "blue ear!" Now, whenever we say it, he laughs. 
• The other thing that makes him laugh is "Banana peel." Derek was getting him out of the car at Old Navy a week or so ago, and almost slipped on a banana peel. Henry thought that was hilarious, and now laughs when you say "banana peel" to him. 
• He still likes to vacuum a lot, and reminds me most days. 
• Henry likes to play "nicken" (kitchen) in Nana's play house. He's recently started pretending that some of his other toys are food or drinks. He likes to "cook dinner" for me in the playhouse, and we are often out there for an hour or two. 
• Henry still loves watering flowers and mowing the lawn. 
• He also really enjoys sitting on the deck chairs and "watching the trees grow." Several times a day, he will inform me that he wants to go outside and sit on "his deck." He takes his blanket, spreads it out on his chair, and will just sit and look around for a while. He loves it when Derek or I join him, of course, but he will sit out there peacefully for ten to fifteen minutes at least once a day. 

John:

• He LOVES to laugh and smile. Particularly at his Daddy. After he eats, he just wants to talk to me or to Daddy and smile and smile. 
• He's also recently discovered chewing on his hands. Or his blankie. He gets pretty excited when he can get one or the other into his mouth. Sometimes, it looks like he's going to be a thumb sucker, but mostly he likes to chew on it. 
• John also loves to blow spit bubbles. As soon as I wipe his chin and mouth, he starts gurgling and blowing bubbles again. 
• After John eats, he expects to be able to lay down somewhere and stretch. He gets quite frustrated if he isn't in a position to kick his legs and wiggle around a lot. 
• John also really likes to lay under the little jungle thing and look at the lights, as well as listen to the jungle noises. 
• He loves to watch Rowena, and often laughs at her. 
• His favorite thing, however, is watching Henry. When Henry laughs, he will grin and laugh, too. Sometimes, when he can see Henry playing or Henry comes up close to him, he will just grin and laugh. 
• Unlike Henry, John has loved his baths from day 1. He relaxes and chills in his chair (we have a bath chair that he uses and takes a bath in the sink). I love giving him baths, because he really just enjoys it. We've put him in the bath with Henry a couple of times, and he really likes that. Henry tolerates it, but now will ask take a bath "by me-self" sometimes. 
• John has gotten pretty good at holding his head up, but he still wobbles quite a bit. He actually likes tummy time, but instead of trying to hold is head up, will just snuggle down and get cozy. I think he'll be a stomach sleeper when he's strong enough to roll over on his own.