18 Months

Last Friday, my baby boy turned 18 months old. I can scarcely believe that a year and a half has passed by. I remember when he was smaller and I would try to imagine what life would be like when he was walking and talking. It seemed so far into the future. But this little boy has met each milestone with lightening speed. He was trying to lift his head up and look around when he was only a couple of hours old, crawled up the stairs at 7 months old, walked at 8 months old, was running by 10 months old and also able to kick a ball and run with it at 10 months old. He will not be left behind. Yesterday he walked all the way up our stairs without holding onto anything. Like a big kid. Like an adult. I couldn't believe my eyes. But that is Henry. He is an up-and-doing kind of person. He amazes us all daily. I love this child with every fiber of my being. Sometimes I feel like I will burst my heart is so full of joy and love for him. Our entire family feels this way.

Today was his one year Adoption Day. We had shrimp & corn chowder, roasted brussel sprouts, green beans and sourdough bread. Sahara made a Mississippi Mud cake too. Henry loved it all.

Henry loves construction vehicles and trucks and cooking (helping me cook, pretending to cook) and popcorn. He is non-stop action and LOVES his siblings. There are so many fun, wonderful things about Henry. He is a delight. We are blessed to have him in our family.

Here are words that Henry can say (that I can think of off the top of my head--he pretty much repeats anything we say now):

hi, bye, mommy, daddy, Beth ("Beh"), Ryland ("RyRy"), Kenyon ("Nennon"), Claire ("Care"), Talley ("Taatee"), puppy ("puppay"), kitty, horse ("heehee"), backhoe, loader, truck, car, airplane ("airtane"), bird ("burr"), cold, hot, ouchie, night-night, sleep, shut-up (naughty Beth taught him this and on our trip down to Phoenix he kept saying someone's name, once he got their attention he would say, "Shup"), baby, baba (bottle), eat, food, egg, milk, popcorn ("Pop pop"), apple, banana, cracker, pretzel, keys, shoes, out, down, please, thank you, door, shut the door, stairs, chair, cup, chocolate ("chock"), candy, cake, ice, water ("wawa"), ramen, kids, van, basketball, pumpkin, no-no, yes, um (which often means "yes" to him), up ("hup"), cheese, bunny ("my bun"), book ... and so much more. I can't think of any specific ones right now, but I will remember more as soon as I hit publish. :-) He basically repeats anything he hears and he remembers a lot of words and uses them on his own to communicate.

He can make sounds for most animals. It is adorable when he says "cock-a-doodle-do".

Henry is pretty darn smart. When I am doing laundry, he will say whose clothes they are as I am hanging them up. I can't always remember what shirt belongs to what child, but Henry remembers. He's very observant.

He is just a treasure. We are lucky he is ours.

And here he is at the tire store from October 29th: