A Little Bit of Henry

Henry's getting older. He's almost a year and a half old! When he was newer, people would tell me how fun it was to watch a baby's personality develop. I wasn't entirely sure I understood that; I'm still not sure that I do, in fact. Since he's our first, I can't tell what is his personality and what is normal baby behavior. I think I'm going to take all the negative aspects (crying, clinging, dislike of long car trips, etc.) and put them in the "just a baby" category, and so that means all the positive aspects are clearly his personality and make him unique among babies...right? Unique or not, there are a few funny things about him I want to share.

At a family reunion, summer 2016

• Henry flaps his arms like a little bird when he gets excited. This happens when he sees us bringing him applesauce or when he sees me come back after having been babysat all morning. He flaps very excitedly and squeals.
• Henry has a little Buddha belly (see picture above). It's getting a little less pronounced as he gets older, but his little shape toddling around the house makes me smile. I love his shape: his big head, his pudgy wide-set legs, the curly hair, and that belly!
• He knows the words "no!" and "yeah!" but isn't quite sure what they mean, so he almost always uses them backwards. "Do you want a snack, Henry?" "Nooooo!" (reaching for the snack).
• He loves to say "Dad." Lately, he's been sticking "a" in front of his words (so it's "a ball" or "a puppy," rather than just "ball" or "puppy") and now James is "a Dad." (The best part of his new "a" fascination is that he uses it everywhere.I'll say, "Henry, let's go!" He'll say, "A go! A go!!")
• Henry is (on a small level) exploding with words. Granted, he knows only a handful, but he's picking up more all the time as we use them. He has recently mastered "button" (for belly button) but for a while he didn't get the second syllable. I remember him playing with James on the floor one evening, when he turns around, pulls up James's shirt, and sticks his finger in James's belly button, proudly calling it, "A butt!"
• Henry is pretty good at identifying his own body parts. James particularly likes it when Henry will point out his hair by lifting a single strand when we ask where his hair is, and how Henry smacks his right hip when we ask where his bum is. The belly button is especially funny, because if Henry is wearing a t-shirt, it's easy to pull up the shirt and peer down to try and find it. If he's not wearing a t-shirt, he gets quite distressed. "A but-ton! A BUT-TON!!" and frantically tries to pull his shirt up to find it. 
• He still loves to taste everything he can touch, and he loves drinking anything he can find. He's not great at normal cups or water bottles, but he is great and finding them when we hide them.
• Speaking of hiding, he will hide pacifiers, spoons, etc. when he's done with them because he knows we'll put them away if we see them around. Then when he wants one, he'll pull it out from under the couch or behind some blocks so he can have it.
• Henry is very friendly with new people. He might make a few squeaks of protest when I leave him with others, but he recovers very quickly (if he notices I've left, that is. He often doesn't) and he's happy to hang out with pretty much anybody.
• He loves babies. "A baby!" he'll say when he sees one, then grin at me and cackle. Babies are very funny to him. Sometimes he'll steal my phone and somehow turn the camera on so it's taking pictures of him. He'll stare at the screen, which is showing him, and say, "Baby!" and laugh and laugh.
• He does not love shoes, he does not love sitting still, he does not love table food (one of the daily struggles he and I fight over), and he does not love cuddling at all. He's far too busy for that, thank you very much.
• He is all about puppies. His first word was "puppy" (he says it "pup-mm") and I think he actually thinks the word means "animal," because that's how he uses it. He does love dogs, though. If we see one on a walk, he'll spend several minutes happily remembering the encounter, saying, "A pup-mm! A pup! Pup-mm!" to himself. 
• He loves James so very much. His joy when "a Dad!! DAAAAD!!" comes home is heart-melting.
• Sometimes he has so much emotion that he doesn't really know what to do with it, and so his whole body will shake a little. This happens if he's very angry (usually if we take him away from exciting but forbidden things like the toilet or trash can) or if he's very happy. This week he was by the door when James came home, and he stood there, shaking a little, yelling, "Dad! A Dad! Dad Dad Dad Daaaaad!" for quite some time, flapping his arms. He got so excited he fell over.