Henry's 2-Year Update

Henry turned 2 a few weeks ago, so I wanted to share a little bit about him right now. He's talking like crazy, he's throwing bigger fits than ever, and he's SO FUN! Two has been hard so far, but we're also really enjoying this age! Here's a little about our sweet 2-year old!

Henry loves books, and has started "reading" them on his own. He'll get a stack of books and sit down and start flipping through them and I'll ask if he wants me to read them and he says no. 😂We've made a really big point of reading to Henry since he was a baby, including literature above his comprehension level, and I definitely believe it's why he loves books so much. I'm amazed by some of the things he wants to read; he loves Blueberries for Sal and The Night the Toys Had a Party, both of which are fairly long stories. He also loves a book of fairy tales and fables we have, especially "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".  Reading to Henry was an investment that I strongly believed would yield positive results in his intelligence, vocabulary, attention span, etc. and it's been really fun to start to see some of these results!

Henry has become a HUGE helper around the house, and it melts my heart! He loves to help carry stuff to the car when my hands are full, throw laundry into the dryer, throw away trash, put groceries into the cart and then on the checkout counter at the store...he's always quick to come help when we call him, and he takes a lot of pride in his work. 😊 When I took this picture, our washing machine had overflowed and Henry heard Caleb ask me where the mop was. He ran to his room and next thing we know, he'd grabbed his mop and started working on getting the water up. SO SWEET!! I love his little servant's heart that's starting to emerge, and I really try to speak that into his life. I want him to always look for ways to help others, and to do it with joy! 

 One thing that anyone who knows Henry can tell you about him is that he is ALL BOY! Oh my goodness, this guy could stay outside all.day.long playing with his trucks and digging in the dirt. He's also a total daredevil and loves to climb the fence, stand on the arm of the couch and fall onto it, jump off of any and everything, and most recently, climb down from the changing table after getting changed or dressed. 

Always standing on something! Also, Henry got a pretty sweet farmer's tan this summer. 😂

I loved building with K'Nex when I was a kid, and I got them out the other day to show Henry. He's too young to build anything, but he loves digging through the box, and picking out things for me to make. He calls them "mex", and wants me to get the box down everyday. Caleb was building something a couple weeks ago and asked Henry to help him find more of a certain piece, and now everyday Henry collects those pieces and says "Dada need!" 😂😂 I don't know why he's latched onto that, but he hasn't forgotten! 

Caleb took this picture the night before Henry's birthday, our last night with a 1-year old! He loves doing "faces" and has the CUTEST angry face. 

Here's "angry" and "sad" on the top row (which look almost the same, but notice the subtle difference in the eyes 😂😂😂)  and "happy" and "surprised" on the bottom row. 

Henry's favorite things in the whole world right now are construction vehicles. He can name a backhoe, excavator, cement truck, dump truck, crane, and steam roller, and I swear he can spot any of them from a mile away! At first we thought he was making stuff up when we'd be driving down the road and he'd start saying "da-doe! da-doe!" (the way he pronounces backhoe), but then we'd see one through the trees or something. 😂😂😂 Now we know that when he says there's one, it's around somewhere! I picked out some shirts for my mom to give Henry for his birthday and 3 of them have construction vehicles on them. She said she hated to give them to him because clothes aren't very exciting gifts for a 2-year old boy. I told her that he would love them, and sure enough, he did. When I get one out of his closet he gets so excited and wants to look at the pictures before putting it on. He's hilarious!  

My mom also ordered him this backhoe for his birthday, and he loves it! He freaked out when she gave it to him, and took it to bed with him the first day he had it. And you can't see because of his seat belt, but his shirt has an excavator on it. hahaha!

This gorgeous baby boy...I don't even know what to say about this picture. He's just SO CUTE!!! He's recently become Mr. Independent and wants to do EVERYTHING himself. Climbing down from the changing table, getting into his carseat, climbing into my lap when we read at bedtime, turning off the lamp in his room...everything is "Me. Me. Me. Me." and if you so much as put a finger on his back to keep him from falling, he'll stop what he's doing and start over with a more insistent "Me! Me! Me!" We indulge him for the most part because, seriously...look at that face! But when we're in a hurry it can be especially trying! 

Henry has 3 best friends, and their names are Spot, Matt, and Bert. These are the three animals that he loves more than anything, and he wants them with him everywhere he goes. They sit in his lap when we read at night, they get up with him after his nap, sometimes I let him take them outside to dig in the dirt with him. Some mornings he makes them "eat" off of his plate before he eats his breakfast. He gives them big hugs and likes to show them stuff he can do, like jump in his bed. Sometimes I want to lose my mind when he has to get the whole gang together to leave the house, but it's so stinkin' cute, and I know it's something he'll grow out of sooner than later. 

Henry has started saying a lot of words and phrases and it's seriously the best to hear him start talking and expressing himself! We've been drawing with crayons a lot and he started saying "made that" about his drawings. Now "made that" has turned into several things he's done, like putting a magnetic nativity set on the fridge for Christmas. 😂 He also says "look mama!" or "look dada!" when he wants to show us something, and it's SO sweet! If he wants us to come somewhere with him he says follow me and it sounds like "wow me". We've found a new cartoon on Netflix that he likes called "Goldie and Bear" and it's about Goldilocks and the three bears, as well as a bunch of other fairy tale characters. He heard them calling baby bear's daddy "papa bear", but he associates papa with his grandfather, Papa. So now he's talking about "Papa Bear" and "Mimi Bear" and I can't even handle the sweetness! 

Henry has a lot of changes on the horizon for next year; we're going to start potty training soon, he's moving into a new big boy room and bed, he's going to become a big brother. I pray for his little heart through all of the transitions, and that he always feels safe and secure and loved by us, but most importantly, by God. I'm excited about what this next year of life will bring. I know there will be more big changes, and that Henry will be different on his 3rd birthday than he was on his 2nd. We will see a bigger picture start to emerge of who God made him to be, and I'm so excited to get to continue to speak his calling, potential, purpose, and God-given talent over his life in more detail. And I know I'll look back on this post and have a little glimpse into the past, probably with a few tears in my eyes! As for right now, I'm enjoying every day with my 2-year old! (For the most part! 😉)