My sweet boy, my sunshine. It's hard to even put into words what this little boy has brought to our lives, because he is in every part of us. Those who know Henry know what we mean- he is truly the brightest part of our world, and lights up everyone around him.
At 20 months Henry is a mover, a shaker, a dancer. A singer, a runner, and a climber. He talks constantly, stringing together two words now to make mini sentences. He tells us what he wants, what he doesn't want, and his opinions are passionate, but can flip flop in an instant.
At 20 months Henry loves to eat, but is picky. Long gone are the days he would eagerly finish an entire plate of vegetables. Now we have to be a little trickier in how we present food to him. Timing is everything. His current favorite breakfast food is oatmeal with fresh fruit, and I always hide his liquid vitamins in there too. Lunch and dinner are interchangeable, and he is currently stuck on the same food items in a big rotation. His current loves: cherry tomatoes, any cheese but especially munster and feta, hummus, Trader Joe's Chicken-less Tenders, PB&Js, cheese quesadillas, bean soup, avocados, Ezekial bread and cream cheese, and fruit- ANY and ALL fruit. The boy would live on fruit if he could, and there was recently an situation we refer to as "The Watermelon Incident" where Henry became obsessed with watermelon during a BBQ and needed to have all of it. NOW. And wouldn't settle for anything less. Needless to say we don't say the "w word" around these parts anymore.
At 20 months Henry is always talking. He says more words than I can count, learning what feels like a million new ones every single day. Some of his most used: Mama, Dada, Maddie, Two-Two (short for his favorite toy R2-D2), Maddie, Snack (said like SCHNACK!), Up, Hiii!, Bye-Bye, Night-Night, Dada or Mama's ______ (shoes, hat, shirt, etc.), Ama (for Grandma), Pop-Pop, LoLo, Abeeeee, walk, park, NO!, Want to ____, the list goes on. He is such a ham and loves to talk to anyone and everyone. He'll walk up to anyone and give a big ole "Hiii!" and smile, then launch into a 2 minute chatter fest that sounds slightly coherent, but full of nonsense too. To Henry it all makes perfect sense though, and I love it.
At 20 months Henry is still a great sleeper. He goes to bed at 7 or 7:30pm and wakes up at 7 or 7:30am. He is taking one nap now, from 11am-2 or 3pm. We just moved to the one nap schedule and it's been so awesome because we can finally get everything done in the morning. For so long we went back and forth but now he can finally stay up until 11am or so without getting cranky. We have the same bedtime ritual every night before bed- we brush teeth, get into pjs, read 2-3 books, and give lots of hugs and kisses. We tuck him in with his two blankets and 2 sleeping buddies (a sock monkey and an Ugly Doll) and he drifts off pretty quickly.
At 20 months Henry is a firecracker. He loves hard, he laughs hard, and he feels every other emotion hard, too, including frustration. He's gotten much better as I've been working with him, but there are still those times (like at the car dealership last week) when he doesn't get what he wants and yells "NO NO NO!" and flops like a fish on the floor. As he understands more and more though, I feel like I am able to discuss with him that yes, it's okay to be upset or angry, but no, he can't act like that. I'm not sure if he is fully getting what I'm saying, but it's been helping and our little firecracker is a lot less volatile in those now-and-again instances.
Our almost two year old is growing and growing. I think he'll be tall like his Daddy and silly like his Mama. I think he'll be musical and athletic and have an interest in skateboarding, but we'll see. And as our little man inches closer to this next birthday, I am constantly in awe of all the changes in his world. From being a tiny infant to this rambunctious toddler, every stage has been the best. I look forward to seeing what else Henry has in store for us! Happy 20 months my man!