My Henrys at age 4

One on one time with my special guy

Having snack with Alanah at school (at Maracas the kids have to invite other children to have a snack with them, they do not want them eating alone, such a great idea)

Henry was fascinated by Grandpa Mikey's gun, that is his 'Can I have one too?' face

Sweet boy so proud of his color coded creation

Reading in one of his hide outs

I really cannot believe that my boy is 4 years old. He has changed so much physically and in personality in the past year. I don't remember Samantha's 3 to 4 year old year being quite so drastic. Joking around with him before his birthday I asked him if it would be OK if this could be his last birthday, so he could stay 4 and then just be with me forever. He said, 'Sure Mommy, I can be 4 forever, but can I keep having a birthday party every year?' You got it buddy.

These are some of my favorite words to describe my Henry boy:

FUNNY  We never know what he is going to say next..."The only person bigger than Poppy is God," Overheard on his monitor prior to nap, "I love dragons...I love boobies." He recently cut his lower lip wrestling with a friend and had blood all over his face. Pays was trying to get him cleaned up and he asked if he could keep it that way for a while.

TENACIOUS This boy is strong willed and competitive. It will serve him well as an adult but there have been times he has been very difficult to parent. While it has been a difficult relationship, it has also been immensely rewarding.

SWEET  He is very affectionate and loves hugs and kisses. He loves it when I whisper silly ways that I love him, "You smell better than Bruno, I love you."

SOUR  When he is angry he can throw some barbs, (although you have to try not to laugh because you can tell they are from a 3-4 yr old mind) "I am gonna throw sand in your eye", "You are bad, like a stinky butt". And his favorite word over the past month has been AWFUL. "This dinner is AWFUL, you are AWFUL." It can be so frustrating, refer back to the section about him being tenacious...

BRAVE  The boy has jumped off more swings (in full swing) and playground platforms that I can count. He will walk around in bare feet when the temp is 40 degrees or less. He will not. Wear. A. Coat. He usually winds up walking around with it in his hand just to make us happy.

SMART  I am always amazed by his memory (Mommy, look, Tia Marty has that purse, Hey, this is the way to Rainbow Room!) and his inquisitive nature (Why are there cracks in the sidewalk?, Why are here cracks near your eyes?). He loves animals and would love to have a pet lizard or a fish, a tough sell right now to parents of 3 children, 2 dogs and 2 cats. Senora Vicky reports that he loves to work with numbers at school.

Other things that we want to remember...
SILLY QUIRKS He only wants to wear shorts, all the time. If we insist he wear pants because it is 5 degrees outside he will wear the shorts under his pants. Oh, and we only have a about 3 pairs of pants that he will wear right now because the others are too tight, too long or too itchy. 2 pairs of fleece pants and a pair of his 'Grandpa Mikey favorite jeans' (Grandpa Mikey loves jeans). He hates to wear underwear and will pretty much only wear them to school because Senora Vicky insists, although she doesn't know that she insists. He won't eat a banana for breakfast but loves to have one as a snack before dinner. He loves to put fwwwaxxx (flax seed) on his cereal and gets upset if I don't already have it on the table. He LOVES to come down in the am and have the breakfast table already set up. He especially loves a breakfast that he can help with such as putting out small bowls of toppings for oatmeal. He loves his superhero and Star Wars t-shirts. He has a C3PO t-shirt that he received as a gift when he was 2. It is pretty tattered but it is still his absolute fav.

SLEEPING It is a challenge to get this boy to nap most days but he is pretty compliant with about an hour of rest time. After resting he is very content to read books for another 45 minutes or so on his own. Without a nap it is easy to get him to bed at about 7:00pm.

LOVES Dragons, superheros, weapons of any kind, ninjas, hot cocoa, cereal, meatballs, pizza, Berenstain Bears books, coloring, forts, hideouts, climbing trees, any physical play with his Poppy (he and Samantha love a weird vampire chase game they play upstairs with poppy).

BIG BROTHER He is so great with Claire Bear and she just totally lights up when she sees him coming. He loves to jump around and do silly antics to make her laugh (see video below).

YOUNGER BROTHER Henry and Samantha are best friends about 90% of the time and worst enemies the other 10%. All things considered, they play very well together and love to come up with all sorts of imaginative play scenarios (going to the beach, vacation, school, zoo, pet store). He totally knows how to tease her and drive her crazy with his competitive behavior but she is learning how to ignore it and not feed the fire.

FRIENDS He is finally developing some good relationships. He loves playing with his Moore cousins and he thinks 7 year old William just about walks on water. Any playtime with Noah and Tommy makes him super happy. There is another 4 year old in our neighborhood named Cooper, he and Henry have become fast friends. At school he loves to play with Joel and Zack, I have been trying to get more playdates together with them. He also loves to play with Ford and Henry L., sons of some of our friends.

Henry in his happy place, playing with William, wrestling with Poppy


Henry in his element entertaining Claire.  I love how she looks for him with her head tilted to the side.