Our Sunday: Flagstaff, Trains, and Autumn Leaves

For the past week or so it's been all about trains in our house. Henry has been loving Thomas the Train and all things train-related, so Hank and I decided to take a little roadtrip up to Flagstaff to watch "Thomas and Friends" go by.

Whether you're a parent or not, I'm sure you can relate to having an expectation about how you want something to go, especially with little ones. In this case, I had this wonderful vision in my mind of sitting at the train station with Hank and Henry, sipping on a hot drink, and enjoying the rush and sounds of the trains going by. So much of that depended on so much; the weather, Henry's mood, and most of all, if and when trains were running. But I am so happy (and feeling so lucky) to miraculously report that my hopes for the day totally matched up to its reality. It was really a perfect afternoon, and Henry had the best time. We were able to sit outside the station for awhile and watch freight trains go by every 15 minutes or so. One of my most favorite parenting moments ever has to be watching Henry's face light up as he yelled "THOMASSSSSS!" as loud as he could when he first spotted it coming down the tracks. Honestly, it doesn't get much better than that.

The rest of the day was filled with collecting leaves and rocks in the various spots we stopped to hang out, eating our favorite vegan treats and my favorite breakfast sandwich from Macy's, perusing a couple shops, and really just soaking up the beautiful weather. It was a wonderful Sunday full of family and fun, and we're already counting down to the Polar Express train ride in December.

Here are some photos from our day:

Henry's 2 year photos

With Henry turning 2 next month and time picking up speed everyday, we thought it would be a good idea to get some professional photographs done to capture this stage of Henry's life. And "capture" is pretty much the perfect word to describe shooting photos with a toddler. Henry is already a very rambunctious little guy, but add in a new person holding a big camera and asking him to sit still, and you've got a recipe for possible craziness.

We enlisted Emily Snitzer, a long time mutual friend and amazing photographer, to try and "capture" some pictures of Henry, and maybe a few of us too. When we started the session we weren't too sure what to expect- H. was running all over the place and it was hard to imagine Emily being able to get any photos at all of our wild man. We had periods here and there where Henry would stop for a second and pause long enough to smile, but for the most part he was on the move! At the end of our time with Emily I was a little nervous that she maybe didn't get enough to work with, but those thoughts were put to rest when I got the pictures back. WOW. I can't say thank you enough to Emily for the photos she took. She managed to truly capture the essence, the attitude, and the sheer joy of Henry at this age. I still don't know how she did it, but she did, and I am forever grateful for these pictures of our running, laughing, smiling son.

Emily is an Arizona-based photographer who does all kind of photography and photo sessions. She's really, really great at what she does and I love her aesthetic- light, bright, and so airy. I highly recommend her to all of you, and especially to those of you with small children, who can often be so tough to shoot. She's really amazing.

Right now Emily is doing November mini-sessions, which is perfect if you want to shoot some photos for a holiday or New Year's card. She also does weddings, engagements, newborn shoots, families, graduations, events, you name it. Be sure to pop by her site and say hello!

And finally, here are some photos of Henry (and a couple of us) from our session. Thanks again Emily! :)

Little Moments I Never Want to Forget

photo by Emily Snitzer - more of these to come next week

Everyday there are these moments that I never want to forget. Little snippets in time where my hurts aches so badly in the best way for how full it is, for how good it all is in the here and now. It's hard though to remember it all with time moving so fast, so I almost always try and jot down those memories on little pieces of paper, or in the memo section of my phone before I forget the details. And today I thought I would compile some of my favorite recent moments here too, so you could enjoy a little bit of Henry's sunshine!

The other morning I asked Henry if he could pick out a shirt to wear for the day and looked me square in the eye and said, "Okay, babe."

Henry eating Goldfish, holding up one to me and saying, "Cheers, mama," reaching his little orange snack towards me so we could clink them together.

The other night before bed we read A Pocket for Corduroy for the first time. As we got to the part where Julie leaves Corduroy there, Hank and I notice a tear sliding down Henry's cheek...and then a moment later he's softly crying. He was mesmerized throughout the entire story, and to know he really got what was going on, and felt Corduroy's sadness at being left alone, broke my heart. It was amazing to see him feel like that, and even though I was so sad that he was sad, it made me feel happy we're raising a thinking, feeling boy. I hope he always, always knows it's okay to be sad, to cry, and to show his emotions.

A couple of weeks ago we were at my parents' house eating dinner when out of the blue Henry looks around the table at all of us and says "I'm happy," with a big smile on his face. I'd never heard him use that word before when speaking for himself, so it was an amazing surprise.

Henry will often say "come on, Mama!" when he wants to get going or play. It might not be that funny without hearing it, but nothing makes me laugh more than trying to get ready and to have this little guy saying "come onnnnnn!" with that little look on his face. I like to imagine him tapping his foot impatiently too.

Just last night while we were putting Henry down to sleep, he said "group hug, guys!" and enveloped Hank and me into the biggest hug.  I died a couple times from cuteness, right then and there.

xoxo

Just a hello!

 

this morning- "Issa pocket, mama!"

Hello and happy Tuesday! It's 2pm here in Arizona and while Henry finishes up his nap I thought I would pop in and say hi. It's been a good, slow day so far- we woke up a little later than usual and ate some breakfast. Henry only wanted to eat a cereal bar (well, two of them), so that's what he had, and I had the same thing I've had for the past week- Ezekial cinnamon raisin toast with butter. Yum. Then we split a carton of raspberries and called it good.  

Tuesdays are Storytime days in our neck of the woods so we got dressed and headed out to meet Veronica and Max for a walk before the library. We walked around the square then hightailed it into the library to meet friends and listen to Mr. Steve read books and sing songs. If you're a mama and haven't yet checked out your local storytime, I highly recommend it. I'll keep my fingers crossed that your story man or lady is even a little bit like our Mr. Steve, because that way you're sure to love him. He's the most wonderful man, full of life and fun, and the kids just gravitate towards him. I feel so lucky we get to see him every week.

So we sang and danced and played for a good hour, then then the four of us walked over to the bagel shop so the boys could eat an early lunch. Henry loves cream cheese lately, so he ate about a half a bagel before both little ones were ready to go. Now he's finishing up his nap, I'm doing some work online and anticipating a good workout in a few hours.

A funny moment from this morning: Henry chasing me to the pantry yelling "BOOTY! BOOTY! BOOTY!" I was kind of freaked out for a minute until I realized he was yelling for the Veggie Pirate's Booty on the shelf. Ha!

Life with a toddler is never dull.

Henry at 22 months & a video

It's hard to believe that Henry will be TWO on November 22nd. I feel so lucky to be able to spend my days with this little guy. He's such a joy- the biggest sweetheart, full of smiles, and he reminds me to stop and appreciate so many things I might not notice otherwise. And right now, at a little over 22 months, his world is just exploding with so much excitement. Vocabulary and talking are the biggest thing right now - he is speaking in sentences and can totally communicate to us what he wants, needs or feels. This afternoon he even said "Mama, I feel sad" as I was getting him ready to go down for his nap. I asked him why, and he said "Don't wanna nap." Ahh! My mind was blown! It's insane to think that all of this happens so quickly- he went from being a little baby to this walking, talking toddler in what seems like the blink of an eye...and to be able to have little conversations with him is the coolest thing ever.

I'd say one of the challenges of this stage would be eating. Some days he's the adventurous eater he's always been but other days it's hard to get him to eat anything other than his everyday favorites. He will eat fruit all day long and usually raw veggies aren't a huge problem either. He isn't a fan of meat unless I hide it in quiche, mac 'n cheese or something similar. He loves cheese (his favorite being "monster" aka Munster cheese), yogurt, crackers, pizza, and smoothies (I always sneak in a ton of kale, etc.). But on those occasional hard days it's difficult for me to get to him to eat meat/vegetarian meat options/bread items and sometimes I feel a little stressed that's he's not getting a good variety of food, but most of the time with patience I can make it work.



Henry has a tiny temper on him and I would say that's our biggest challenge when it comes to behavior. He's the most polite little boy you'll ever meet, a great sharer (we practice "Henry's turn" all day long and it really, really works), full of "please" and "thank you" and sometimes even our newest thing- "you're welcome," but he has moments where he just gets so frustrated, mainly when you take something away from him that he wants to hold on to. He'll scream and cry and do the "fish flop" as we call it, when he just lays down so it's difficult to pick him up. I've been working so much with him on this- I'm just trying to let him know that yes, it's okay to be upset but that he can't act like that. Now that he can talk more it's getting a little easier because I can ask him to tell me why he's upset, and that really seems to help. "Henry, you're upset because you can't hold Mommy's cup, right?" He'll nod or say yes through his tears, and then we'll find a solution. I'm no baby whisperer so this is not an all-the-time fix, but for the most part talking him through it has been wonderful. We'll see how it goes as he gets older. So far, so good.

So those would be our two big challenges at 22 months- the occasional picky eating day and the occasional tantrum. On the other side of the spectrum though, and the most important, is all of the good. And there's a lot. This little boy has the biggest heart, and see him grow into the person he is going to be is truly amazing. He loves animals, loves to build with blocks, loves to read and draw, and his absolutely current favorite thing in the entire world are "BIG TRUCKS!" He lives for trucks and out of everything, these are his favorite toys, shows to watch, things to go see while we're out and about. It's so funny because Hank and I aren't car people whatsoever and don't even own a truck. He just picked it up somewhere and it's really adorable how much he loves them. He loves his friends so much too, and we are lucky to be surrounded by a great group of little ones and their families. We're able to hang out with friends many times a week and I feel like all of the socializing he gets to do is great. Between that and CrossFit every night H. is around a lot of people, and I think it's been wonderful for both his communication and want to be independent.

As far as growth, he's growing like a weed and is still tall. His 2 year check-up in is November, so I'm curious to see what his percentiles look like. He's still sleeping like a champ (we were given a good sleeper this time...curious if our next little one will be the same!), and takes one three-hour nap from about noon-3. We still haven't gotten his tooth capped, although I think his Uncle Jason (Autumn's hubby) may do it fairly soon, maybe after he turns two. He's still sucking his thumb, but just when he's tired either before his afternoon nap or before bed. And it's also important to mention that we still haven't cut his hair, although it may be time for a trim as he gets called a "she" almost every single day. I do love those blonde locks though, so we'll see if I can actually bring myself to do it.



Looking forward, I'm actually pretty excited for Henry to turn two. Any time I think about time passing it's a little bittersweet, but in this case it's a lot more sweet because this age is just so much fun. I can't even imagine what it will be like when he can totally communicate.

And lastly, I take videos constantly but never really share them here because most of the time I feel like they're not too interesting to anyone outside of our family. And to be forewarned, that may be the case here too! ha. A couple days ago I filmed a lot of our morning so I could try and capture one of my favorite parts of the day, and after the fact I thought it would be fun to share some of it with all of you. So please excuse my voice, I feel like it's a little much hearing it for 6 minutes straight. And the "organic berries" thing sounds so silly too- it's just what my Mom always calls them and he picked up on it. Okay, disclaimer over! Enjoy.


Good morning Henry! from DH on Vimeo.

That Gorgeous Little Lovable Chipped Tooth Smile

And then suddenly your little boy is a big boy, more and more of his baby self slowly starting to fade away as he grows and grows, every morning waking up just a bit bigger than the day before. And there he is, running and playing and kicking a soccer ball. Jumping up and climbing down, and going non-stop with that familiar sparkle in his eye that's one part mischievous, one part pure joy. You ask, where did the time go? You wonder, how did this happen? You look at baby photos with tears in your eyes, thinking back to those hazy days of him always being in your arms, but in that same moment you look up and see that little face, that gorgeous little lovable chipped tooth smile saying "play with me mama, c'mon mama!" and you know the best is really yet to come.