Dear Henry,
Last Easter you didn't do too much. You were just a month old so I wasn't expectin' ya to do too much...but this year you had your first introduction to finding eggs and eatin' big.
Grandma LaJean gets the house all ready; covered in bunnies, eggs and full Easter baskets.
While waiting for the food to finish Grandma Lajean took you for a walk around the block. I met you as you made it back and you were chit chatting, clearly ready for a nap! You took a short one, too hard to sleep with such activity around you.
Next we went to the backyard because Grandma LaJean had hidden eggs all over the yard.
We each had one special egg with our first initial. Inside were coins. Your egg had a very special coin. Great Grandma Hazel put a silver dollar in it that was one that your Great Grandpa Carl had carried. He passed away when your Grandma LaJean was just a little girl. He drove a fuel truck and one day at the end of his route he had just dropped off the extra fuel to a family in need. His truck stalled on the train tracks. His truck was hit by a train. As you can imagine how hard this was from Grandma LJ and Great Grandma Hazel. So you see this coin being handed on to you is extremely special. What an honor. I thought it was so thoughtful of Great Grandma Hazel to share that piece of her love with you.
You did pretty great on the egg hunt. You seemed better at spotting the eggs up high. You would point until we caught on that you'd found one.
casserole, and hot chocolate, for real! For dessert, yes, I said dessert she made cup cakes and decorated them like a mama bunny surrounded by her babies. Let's just say we ate our dessert the next day we were so full! You enjoyed the french toast the most.
Then it was time to dig into your Easter basket. You bit into a malted milk ball and loved it. You had the tell tale chalky white around your lips and you continuously tried sneaky ways to get another. You gave such a gasp and wide eyes when you pulled out a DVD of the Velveteen Rabbit you'd think you'd seen it 100 times. After a marshmallow peep and playing with your little running hamster your aunties set to teaching you piano. It was really sweet. Auntie Krispie is not a pianist but you both certainly tried to fake a little Jerry Lee Lewis style. We begged a reluctant Auntie Carrie to play something but then she finally relented. So much fun! and it was cute to see them playing together. This weekend they will celebrate 5 years!
After a full day already and a refreshing quick nap we loaded into the mini van and went to see how Crappaw was recovering and to say hi to Grandma P. Crappaw was still in bed from hip surgery so we went for a short sunny walk and hung out a while and headed home. While this was a funky year for holidays Peep I assure you that Grandma P and Crappaw celebrate too and next year will be different. I certainly hope so...we lost Great Aunt Judy at Christmas and Crappaw was recovering...we don't need anything like that again any time soon!
Love, Mommy
Dear Henry,
Shortly after bringing you home Grandma LaJean gave you a bag of Daddy's baby clothes. The onesie was already too small but in the back of my mind I remembered there was a decidedly early 1970's outfit that was too cute to not at least put on you. I figured you were about the right size to put it on you. Well, you've never had this type of reaction when trying on clothes. You wailed! You hated it. It is a little departure from your hipster styling but I had no idea what a fashion diva you've become. I thought you looked kind of cute but I can't lie it was the kind of cute that made me laugh at you. You had it on for a total of 10 minutes but I had to get your picture in it. The outfit you ended up wearing for your second Easter was really just an updated version, sort of...those are to come.
Sorry,
Love, Mommy
Dear Henry,
Growing more and more independent,
you've become a solo slider now, well almost. Clearly you ride with a sometimes prickly stowaway named static electricity!
:) Don't forget that I'm always on standby if you need my hand and Daddy is waiting to catch you at the bottom.
Love, Mama
Dear Henry,
You're a good working buddy these days. I have to remind myself to think of the things you might be able to do and set you to task. You always meet the challenge and give me a self satisfied smile after. Lately you've started helping me pick up your toys before nap and bed time. Two weeks ago we were in your bedroom reading books and it was time for lunch. I asked you to put your books back on the shelf and just like that you picked them all up and put them on the shelf! A few weeks ago I was getting the last remnants of fall and winter out of the courtyard. I took your little chair from Nissy and Jim out and bottle of water. You'd take breaks and sit in your chair drinking water.
You would help me put pine cones and stray leaves in the yard bag. You also tried to help me pick the decorative rocks out of the flower beds and put them back into their home. I can't lie, you had a hard time not tasting them first. When I sprayed the mud off of the driveway you really just got in the way. You loved it though. You were soaking wet and covered in mud.
After the work was done we played in the back yard. You started out by using your little foot shovel to dig a Peep size hole at the bottom of the ramp. My little boy was getting so hungry and tired from work and play I couldn't keep the dirt out of your mouth and your hair was crazy! Medusa herself would have tamed that coif. You started pinching your belly and I knew it was because you were feeling hunger pains. So I washed you off and fixed you a lunch that was gobbled up so fast it was hardly made. It was such a fun day and like the end of any good day of play the flower pot was on your head and your clothes were scattered around the yard.
Looking forward to many more days like this with my workin' buddy. I took a lot of pictures of your silliness.
Love, Mommy
Dear Henry,
Last weekend we went to our first Saturday's farmer's market for the season. A beautiful day! It also happened to be Record Store Day so we were out ALL day long. While at the market we met your local aunties, Krispie (Daddy's sister) and Carrie, and others. One of Krispie's friend's walked up, Chris, with another friend and pointed at you and said, "Hey! You know who this is? This is Devlyn's best friend!" It made me smile so big! My boy has a best friend! Truth is right now Devo is about as close to a best friend that you're going to get. Devo is a sweet boy with a good
sense of personal style, a glowing complexion, sparse blonde hair, a hearty raspy laugh and a quirky little up turn at the corners of his mouth. You will circle each other drawing your circles closer and closer the longer you spend time together. If it gets late because the Mommies and Daddies are yip yappin' too much you guys start running into each other. I imagine eventually you'll interact and maybe even talk to each other a little.
A couple of weeks ago after playing on the play ground we pulled you both in your wagon to the Chocolate Moose so you and Devo could experience your first torch cones (complete with eyes) together. Devo was not so fond but you ate your cone like an old pro, despite a momentary brain freeze.
Dear Henry,
Mommy's good friend and college roommate Tiffany and her family came to Indiana to visit family and they were able to make time for us. The first time you met Desmond and Amelia we went to the zoo. Amelia is your age minus a couple of days. We always enjoy the Children's Museum in Indianapolis but it was extra fun to watch you and Amelia interact and avoid interacting.
We road the carousel,. played in the water in the science room, slid down the large slide in the central room and roamed around the exhibits. It melted my heart when she put her hand on your back at the water table and you crawled next to each other back and forth over the bridge in the toddler room.
It was great spending time with friends and when Tiff, Ian and the kids move to Athens we can hopefully visit them when we go to visit Uncle Gary in Atlanta.
Love, Mommy
While waiting for the food to finish Grandma Lajean took you for a walk around the block. I met you as you made it back and you were chit chatting, clearly ready for a nap! You took a short one, too hard to sleep with such activity around you.
After a full day already and a refreshing quick nap we loaded into the mini van and went to see how Crappaw was recovering and to say hi to Grandma P. Crappaw was still in bed from hip surgery so we went for a short sunny walk and hung out a while and headed home. While this was a funky year for holidays Peep I assure you that Grandma P and Crappaw celebrate too and next year will be different. I certainly hope so...we lost Great Aunt Judy at Christmas and Crappaw was recovering...we don't need anything like that again any time soon! 
