New skills

This weekend Ryan and I were very productive. I love productive weekends because I feel like lately there are far too few. We joke that the two of us can get more done between the hours of 6:30am and 11am on a Saturday than most get done in the entire weekend. :) We took turns hanging with Henry and then did a few activities we knew Henry would enjoy helping with, like vacuuming and folding laundry.

This weekend I seemed to notice all the little things Henry does that makes him seem so much older that I think he is in my mind. I guess in my mind I think of him as a 12 month old or something. Since I work full time, I miss out on things he may be doing everyday but I only see them once in a while because the opportunity may not present itself at home. For instance, we were up in his room and he took the ring stacker toy and stacked all the rings, by size, on the pole! How did I not know he could do that and with great ease?! He now builds towers with blocks without knocking them over. I got him a play vacuum for his birthday, and everybody thought it was a goofy gift, but he loves it and "vacuums" the wood floor all the time - just 5 months ago, he couldn't even push it!

The kicker for me was when I decided that with the cool weather, he needed to wear pants and pulled out a pair of sweats that he wore in April/May and they were 2+ inches too short. My heart broke just a little, knowing he is officially in 18mo. pants. Silly really, since that is almost his age but all summer he has been in 12mo. shorts so I guess I assumed the same would hold true for pants but that isn't the case. He just moved to size 6 shoes. He can still probably fit into his size 5's but I think he was growing out of the width because the Velcro wouldn't fasten all the way anymore. I feel really lucky that I have collected clothing for Henry for 18-24 months so I will have to purchase hardly any clothing but for sizes beyond that, I have hardly anything. I will definitely continue to hit up sales for next years wardrobe!

I am in the process of going through Henry's toys right now as well. There are some he has outgrown and some he never plays with. Those that he doesn't use will be given away to a child who will use them or to daycare where others can enjoy them. Right now, his favorite toys are books. He will look at book after book and I could not be more excited. Outside of us reading to him, he likes his play with his kitchen utensils, any stuffed toy that makes noise or that moves, his ride in toys and a jack-in-the-box.

I started letting him stand on a chair next to me in the kitchen while I cook so that he can see what I am doing and sometimes let him help me. He typically just likes to eat the ingredient I happen to be working with at that moment. Today he ate breakfast and snack at the counter like a big kid. He really thought that was pretty special. The other thing I have started doing is bringing him to the sink before and after meals to wash his hands vs. just wiping them down for him. I think they do this at school and I am trying to implement it at home to create a good habit for him. Lastly, he has a fascination about drinking water from a cup with no lid/sippy attached. The first sip is a success, all other attempts are all over his shirt. This is a skill that will take time, much like his inability to effectively use a spoon well. We are working on these but I have full faith that with practice, he will be a champ at both of these skills before you know it!