Mr. Personality

Henry's "good note" from school on Thursday afternoon said, "Henry is SO funny!  He has a great personality!" 

We completely agree with the formal assessment.

The apple doesn't dig far from the tree

Oh, my dear Henry.  Someone, I'm not sure who, should probably teach you not to procrastinate.  My own school year memories are peppered with "Mama!  I need to read a book that I don't even have... by first period tomorrow... and I need to do a presentation with visuals!"  Or, at the ripe age of 30, staying awake all night, not to tend to my newborn, but to begin researching and writing a paper due the next day.  I got an A. 

Tonight, I almost forgot that we were supposed to collect a soil sample from our yard for Henry to take to school tomorrow.  The result was a post-bath dirt dig in one of the beds in our front yard.  In the end, we got the required bag of dirt and had a good time just in time.  I think he'll get an A for Amusing... or Awesome hair.

Like I said, Henry, someone should probably teach you to not procrastinate.  Daddy and I will get around to it someday.

Quick trip to Paris

... Mountain State Park for a Sunday picnic of baguette et m&m biscuit...

fresh champignons...

and "stuffed" ducks...

Followed by a (not pictured) paddle boat road along the lake and lots of strolls and sits along the historic bathhouse grounds.

Henry looks so much like a little boy here... not my little toddler at all!

We caught a gander at a black snake and some glimpses of a few salamanders.  They were not on our menu, but they skittered away as though we were waiting to slurp them off the stone wall.

I sure do love this snake, salamander, duck, boat, bug lovin' boy and his spontaneous hugs!

Late Nite

Henry had a chance to stay up laaaaaaate on Friday night--10:00 PM!  By the end of the night, he was delirious but still anxious to play with and entertain Darion and Christine.

No, Darion is not teaching Henry gang signs.  Henry's instructing Darion to do various hand tricks.

 Christine prepped him for bed with a quick book read--hand tricks not included.

The Secret

We had an amazing weekend filled with lots of good times with lots of good friends and neighbors--from a pool party to a garage band party.  Long afternoons and late nights can usually lead to Henry waking up with his cranky pants already on for church on Sunday, but he did great all day up until he and Daddy got back from Publix tonight, and the spaghetti that I made wasn't up to his standard.  (Actually, he just wanted to eat "that big cheese," the block of parmesan.)

But, you know what, it was all good.  I had a massage this afternoon, and I now know the secret to being a perfect, patient mother--a professional massage.

Close Encounters

Henry met a mime on Mother's Day while we took advantage of the last hour of Greenville's Artistphere.  Or, perhaps we should say that a mime met Henry.

I cannot blame Henry for being suspect of a silver-faced man who doesn't change his expression unless you put a dollar in his bucket.  Plus, there's the whole idea of getting a bunch of suckers from a stranger who just suddenly took them out of his suitcase.

But, really, all's well that ends with a sucker or five.

On Monday, we celebrated the random state employee's Confederate Memorial Day observance by taking a mid-afternoon trip to the Greenville Zoo where the iguana took a special interest in his observer.

Again, I can't blame Henry for getting a little worried about a super large lizard taking a special interest in him.

You have to admit, though.  If you were a lizard, you would think Henry was cute, too!

Mother's Day Indulgence

Sure, Mother's Day was three days ago, but I am taking the recent occurrence of Mother's Day and my position as Henry's mother to indulge in a direct boast about the boy who makes me so very happy to be a Mama.

Today, Ms. Cole told me that they introduced some new shapes to Henry's class at the YW--crescent, arch, rhombus, semi-circle, and octagon.  Henry was the only one in the class to be able to name them right back to her, even happily recalling them as she demonstratively drew them on a scratch sheet of paper for Henry to show off to me.  Ms. Cole reminded me that Henry is, by far, the youngest in the class.

Henry's latest craze is to declare "I did it all by myself!" after independently and successfully accomplishing some daily tasks, and each time he picks up a new skill, I swell with pride.  I love my adorable, smiley, hilarious, and genius boy!  Thanks for making me your Mama, Henry!

Cinqo de Mayo va al perro

Henry's class had a fiesta on Cinqo de Mayo for which they made and wore "sun-brellas" for proper celebration.  We didn't get to see Henry wear his sombrero, so we begged him to model it.  He just wouldn't give in, but poor Penny got cornered.

¡Cinquo feliz de Mayo, Penique!

In preparation for Mother's Day

Cory attended the Busch race at Darlington last night, and consequently, Henry and I spent an enjoyable evening together.  He even indulged me by watching "The Princess and the Frog."

Shortly after I thought he was drifting asleep, he began to cry, "I want my Daddy... I want my Daddy... "  I went into his bedroom after the cries started to get intense, and in my mind were visions of gingerly consoling my little guy.

I gently wiped away his tears as he continued to cry for Daddy, and he stopped for a moment before wailing, "I want my teeeeeears!"

Ahhh... I felt so loved.

Food Chain: by Cory Hughes

Henry is studying dinosaurs at school.  Tonight, Ginny asked Henry what carnivores eat.  His answer: herbivores.

Who's the boss?

We got home late from dinner last night, so Henry didn't get ready for bed until around 8:45 last night.  I figured he would sort of melt into my arms while I read some books.  Instead, he told me, "I need water, " and I said, "OK, I'll get you some water."  (He has a cup of water with him every night.)  I picked up reading where I left off, but Henry squirmed his way out of my lap and onto the chair beside me and said, "I'll sit here while you go get my water." 

Today, Henry emptied out his supply of nighttime diapers out of the top drawer of his dresser, and Daddy informed him that he needed to pick them up and put them back, Henry said, "OK.  I'll do your job."

Frisbee

Henry does a pretty impressive frisbee throw now.

I love how proud he is of himself.  It's just a tiny fraction of how proud we are of our boy.

Penny says she's only slightly impressed, though.

Whale of a Good Weekend

It's possible that, if Henry possessed the art of long term memory comparison, he would rank this weekend among his favorite.  After all, we now have extended cable for the first time in his life, so he watched several Mickey Mouse Club episodes within just a few hours.  (Don't worry.  I think the TV noise eventually even got on his nerves.)

But mainly, he experienced what must by among every little boy's top wishes--riding in the back of the truck with a pile of topsoil.

We filled the raised beds, but we didn't get around to planting our veggies yet.  Instead, Henry took a nice, long bubble bath followed by a late afternoon nap then dinner with friends.  He stayed up late and offered lots of commentary from the backseat on our way home.  When we asked if it was good to see Ella, he said, "Yeah.  That was nice."  He was impressed by the cupcake desserts, and he also kept bringing up that we have cupcakes in the freezer, which he apparently spotted sometime recently.

Henry kept Daddy and me company in the church nursery today, and afterwards, we went to lunch with our Sunday School friends.  Thus, Henry had another late afternoon nap, after which we inflated the whale pool that we ordered for super cheap back in December.

It was hot, hot, hot today, but by the time we got the pool inflated and slightly filled, Henry got a little chilled and required the towel wrap.  He insisted that, "I look like a catapiwar."

Once fully warmed, he took off with the wagon.

After retrieving the boy and buying some lemonade from our neighbor's stand, Daddy and I discussed our dinner options, and overhearing our ideas, Henry suggested, "We have cupcakes." 

I suppose we'll eventually thaw those leftover birthday cupcakes.  But can you imagine how completely over the top and amazing this weekend would be if we DID have cupcakes for dinner?