These last several weeks have been pretty major for Henry. Just before Halloween he burned his hand on an oven at my grandmother's house. I had no idea the oven would be so hot from the outside, so I didn't think anything of it that he was crawling around in the kitchen. He reached up and touched it and then I heard the most terrible cry. It was heart-wrenching. By the next morning it had blistered up and we had to keep it wrapped in gauze and antibiotics so try and prevent infection if the blisters burst. Fortunately, it healed up nice and quickly. But not before causing him a lot of pain and making me so very sad. It's terrible to see your baby in pain.
But after a rough few weeks with the burn and a nasty cold, my happy boy was back. And what a little snuggle bug he has been. He crawls so fast now! And he loves to play with the girls in their playroom, always fiddling with their toys and pulling himself up on anything sturdy (or not so sturdy) he can find. He even took a few steps along the couch the other day. (WHAT? Why is he trying to walk already? He's supposed to be little still! Wasn't he like just born??)
Instead of being little he is growing and changing so much! If he's upset and I'm not holding him, he will cry at me with a sound very much like "MOM" until I pick him up. It's weird that he's already trying to talk a little bit. He's got his "bababa" down solid. And I'm hoping that soon it will turn into a rendition of "Ba-ba-ba-ba-Barbara Ann". It's so fun listening to his little voice talk.
If I sit on the floor for even a few seconds he will coming crawling as quickly as he can from wherever he is, making a playful screaming sound all the way, and crawl into my lap. I think he is trying to be a Henry Monster, as the girls often pretend to be monsters attacking. I love it! There's nothing better than your baby crawling right into your lap.
And he is all boy, all the time! It's fun to see the differences in his personality even now. He's very different from his sisters! For one, he is much more mobile than his sisters were at his age. And he loves to make noise. So much noise! The other day he was banging something on the floor, so I took it away (sometimes I just can't handle incessant noise). He picked up something else and scraped it along the carpet. When I took that away he looked me straight in the eyes and started kicking his foot on the floor to keep making noise with something I couldn't take away. Of course I laughed at that. Clever boy. And he never sits still for one minute. Even cuddling him is a trial in baby acrobatics.
Some of my favorite times with him are still in the morning. I just love how that beautiful morning light caresses his sweet cheeks. It would be lovely if we could stay there forever, without anything else to do. I mean, look how wonderful:
Have you ever seen anything cuter in your whole life? No, probably not.
(Unless you have your own baby, and then you're allowed to think yours is cuter, I guess.)
P.S. If you want to get Henry a Christmas present, this list is a pretty good description of the things he would be quite pleased to receive.
