16 Months - And a new cousin!

Henry turned 16 whole months old yesterday - wow, we are really closing in on a year and a half already!  As usual, we only have brags to report - no complaints here.  (Well, he IS still joining us to co-sleep in the middle of the night, but our doctor said not to worry, we aren't ruining him, and that some kids just need extra snuggles.  And I think that's what's happening here, and as we both work full time, we'll take them when we can get them.) He is currently cutting 4 molars, one on each quadrant, but aside from lots of drool, runny noses, and occasional pains, he is handling them like a champ. 

He now has about 15 or so words, if you count "op-ah" which he uses for: open, apple, up above the world so high, and all done.  When he needs anything "mama" usually comes out of his mouth regardless of what he needs or to whom he's talking.  Oh!  And he says "thank you" now!  This started about a week ago, and now he is really into thanking himself for completing tasks.  But he did genuinely thank me for handing him something the other evening, too, so I think he's got the main idea down.

Last weekend Henry and I flew to Portland to meet little miss Annie, his new cousin!  We lucked into having the whole back row to ourselves on both flights, which was a trip-saver.  I packed up the backpack with new books, stickers, and little toys, but of course he was mainly interested in the seat belt and stacking his snack cups into towers.  Anyway, we had a great time and Annie is just the sweetest little girl with amazing expressions and sleeping abilities.  Doug and Molly are of course over the moon about their daughter, and it was really fun seeing Henry react to her, mostly in the form of pointing and saying "deese".  We also discovered that Grampa is evidently right in labeling him a "man's man," as he really took to Doug, Jeff, and Craig.  He also enjoyed playing with the Stroud boys when we went over for dinner with them Sunday night.

On with the photos!

Little angel

Wise guy

How one is likely to find Mommy Molly most days.

All cleaned up for our work Christmas parties downtown!

Naked baby loves KU

Buddies watching for Daddy

Journey to get the Christmas trees!

Our beauty.

Saddest school picture ever.

Big boy on the plane!

Aunthood is pretty cool!

I even got a smile.

Cousins.

This pic is a keeper.

Hello world!

Sunday morning reading by the tree.

15 Months!

Hello!  We have had a very busy and fun fall.  Lots of livin' the dream in the moment, and not as much time to record it for posterity.  C'est la vie, no?

Henry turned 15 months old on Thursday and is as cute and enjoyable as ever.  He is saying "Hi!" and waving, waving "bye", pointing at pretty much everything and saying "deese" ("what's this?"), and this weekend we discovered his constant "up-ah" is not Greek like we thought, but actually ". . .up above (the world so high). . ." from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  When I sing the song he does some hand moves and sings that line on queue every time.  And he walks around saying it too.

His dance moves are getting better, as he now incorporates spinning, moonwalking, and headbanging into his routines.  He is still really enjoying reading books, both right side up and upside down, and stacking and sorting.  That kid is organized!

He has mastered drinking from straws, and still pretty much eats anything.  He doesn't eat as well for us as he reportedly eats at school, and still requires LOTS of milk between 1am and 6am.  He has energy in spades and an awesome sense of humor.  He is getting into the "look at me doing something bad!" phase but he needs to work on his poker face some.  Baths are getting dangerous so we've started doing morning showers with Daddy and he really likes those.

We had Grampa and Great Aunt Wynne in town last weekend, and next weekend Nana and Papa will be coming out again.  We love having visitors!  We are also REALLY looking forward to establishing our Bowerman Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions at home this year.  While we will really miss spending time with family and friends, after the year we've had and at the age Henry is, it makes the most sense to be home.  Thank goodness for Skype!

Now for the photos!

Obligatory fall leaves pics!

These are. . .weird, Mom.

What's that?  These used to be on the trees?

Check it out!

Daddy snuggles.

Such a good helper!

Rarely captured Mommy moment.

Yay leaves!

This is all just so. . .leafy!

Charlie Brown and Snoopy getting ready to party Halloween style.

He's a good man.

Buddies sitting nicely for the group shot.

Not everyone is as tolerant as Charlie.

Just eating pretzels, watching Michigan football, as you do.

Flu shot champ!

Cheesing it up.

Grampa!!

Henry really spent a lot of time cleaning for Grampa's visit.

A snowy weekend.

Reading the paper in bed on a Saturday morning.

Waiting for haircuts (before he realized what was about to happen.)

Chillin' in his chair.

Pumpkin Patch (Part One of ?)

Today we went to the Rock Creek Farms pumpkin patch extravaganza.  This place is great - right down the street from our house and it's huge.  It has a giant patch where you can venture out and cut your own pumpkins off the vine, as well as a large (and intimidating) corn maze.  It also has a really nice area with activities just for kids, including jumpy castle deals, a hay bale maze, and animals (to look at, but not to pet.)  Henry saw goats, turkeys, ducks, little pigs, cows, and sheep.  All the things he's been reading about in his farm animal books!

He had a lot of fun this morning, especially running around the hay bale maze and checking out a cute little girl in pink.  We did get a couple of giant pumpkins that will eventually become jack-o-lanterns. 



Blue Steel 2012

We must find the best one!

OMG goat!

Gratuitous pic with Mommy

Little punkin'

Last year we had to prop him up - this  year he wouldn't sit still.

Let's hit the maze!

Who's that cute blondie over yonder?

Inspecting his surroundings.

Keep up, guys!

Your supercute dinner, Mahstah.

For posterity!

Representing his native team.

Still into open/close/open/close/open/close.

Seriously, Mom, enough pics.