Henry's 3-Year Update

Henry turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and we celebrated in the best way possible...at DISNEY WORLD! I'll be posting a recap of our trip in the next few days, but first I wanted to write a few things about our precious boy. I read my 2-Year Update from last year and could not believe how much Henry has changed! He's hurdled several milestones this year (potty training, ditching the crib, becoming a big brother), and he's handled all the transitions like a champ. We could NOT be prouder of the little boy he's growing up to be!

Henry's interests still include trucks, construction vehicles, and tools, and he can't wait to be a construction worker for Halloween. 😂 We got his costume in the other day and he had to put it on immediately. His imagination has blossomed since last year, and he now loves to pretend play. Henry is smart, and has an amazing memory! He shocked me one day by reciting almost the entire Pledge of Allegiance. I can't take credit though, it's something he's learned at school. Ha! He loves music and will sing along to the Donut Man, the ABC Song, Jesus Loves Me, and a number of other children's songs. One of his favorite things to do is dance to "Un Poco Loco" from the movie Coco, and it's hilarious!

One of my favorite things about Henry is how loving he is. He always says "I love you, and daddy, and Claire!", and there are probably a dozen times a day when he says "I love you, mommy! I love you biiiig much!" "Big much" is an expression he came up with on his own, and he opens his arms wide as he says it. It's the CUTEST! At bedtime he likes to tell God the things he's thankful for, and he always say "me, my mommy, my daddy, my baby sister." Seriously. It melts me every time.

 Speaking of bedtime, I have to write our routine down so I can always remember it. After Caleb and I both read to him, we brush his teeth and say a prayer together. Then Caleb leaves (Henry always wants me to "put him to bed"). He gets under the covers and says "You want to get under my covers?" and when I do he says "So soft and comfy!" (Okay, I'm going sort of stream of consciousness here 😂 but I just remembered a few weeks ago when he asked me to get under his covers, he tried to appeal to me by saying "So soft, so comfy, has peepee in it..." Apparently his pull up had leaked at nap time and he never told me. I couldn't stop laughing! I don't know why he thought that was a good thing, but it was hilarious. Now back to what I was saying!) Then I sing Jesus Loves Me and afterwards he always says that he wants "to do another song", so sometimes we do "Open, Shut Them" or "Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple" with our hands. And every time we get to the "open the doors, see all the people" part, Henry wants me to grab his fingers and scatter the people. Then he says "Huh, where'd people go? Oh, maybe back to church." Hahaha! He's such an OCD little creature of habit, and it's the same thing every night. Then we give hugs and kisses and he watches me leave his room and we blow each other kisses before I close the door. Some nights I don't have the energy to go through it all, and I desperately want him to want Caleb to put him to bed, but it's always such a special little time together and I cherish it so much. Sometimes we talk about God and he asks me questions about Him, sometimes he thanks God for "my books, my bed, my animals, my house."...it's always special! 

Henry's big thing right now is "hiding" from anyone who's about to walk in the room. If he has time to prepare, he'll get under a blanket, but sometimes it's just him closing his eyes. We'll say "Where's Henry?? He was just in here!" and then he'll pop out or open his eyes and say "SURPRISE!!" He gets such a kick out of it. There have been a few times where he gets Claire under the blanket too and she's always very confused and slightly scared. 😂

Even though he's only 3, Henry often seems more mature than I expect. He's usually rational and reasonable, and talking and explaining things to him works well. His new thing is asking "Why?" about everything, and it can drive us crazy, but it's also fun to hear his wheels turning. After his 3-year checkup and flu shot the other morning, I took him to get donut holes. He had 4 total, and he ate 2 in the car and then said he wanted to save the rest for when we got home. I was amazed that he held the other 2 in his lap the rest of the way home, and told him how proud I was of his self-control. He's empathetic towards other and always says "Awww, poor him!" if someone is hurt or crying. 

Henry has an amazing sense of humor, and makes us laugh all the time! He's gotten into playing little jokes on us, like the other day when I was reading Claire a book about farm animals. I would ask him what sound each animal made and he would make the wrong noise with a little twinkle in his eye and a smirk on his face. Then we were reading a book with construction vehicles and he would point to the bulldozer and say "That's dump truck!" and then point to the crane and say "That's backhoe!" He did it without missing a beat and it cracked me up. The other night I was putting him to bed and he said "Booger on my finger." and held up his index finger. I went to get a wipe and wiped his finger and then he said "Booger still on this finger" and held up his thumb. So I wiped his thumb. Then he said "It's still there" and pointed to the index finger again. I wiped both fingers multiple times with him still saying there was a booger until I finally touched his fingers and didn't feel anything. I said "Henry, there's no booger. Are you tricking me??" and he just laid his head on his pillow and nodded his head. I couldn't help but bust out laughing and then he started laughing too. I love his silly little pranks!

I can't write a post about Henry and not mention what a fabulous brother he is. He ADORES Claire, and now that she has started interacting with his and responding to him more, he can't get enough. He's obsessed with making her smile and laugh, and every time she does he says "I think Claire likes me!" He'll have his moments where he yells at her for touching one of his toys, but we remind him about showing kindness to his sister and tell him that we won't tolerate meanness towards her, and he always ends up happily sharing with her, even if it's a different toy. :) He's such a big helper to me, and will bring me diapers, burp clothes, baby toys...whatever I need him to do, he's ready to do it. Claire is a lucky little girl to have a big brother like Henry!

 I took this picture after Henry had "blown up" a bunch of balloons. I told him that he had done a great job and he said "Yes I did." Hahaha!

I know this is the proof, and posting it is probably illegal, but I CAN'T with this picture!

That was SO LONG, but I feel like there's even more I could say. There just aren't enough words or time to describe all Henry is to us. He's such a special gift from God, and we are so excited to see everything age 3 brings. We love you, Henry Horton!