Dear Tantamoose, Just as the cold began to bite a little we spent an hour at the playground. You showed off your new ability to climb around and to use the slides. So much fun to watch...even when you roll sideways at a VERY slow rate pulling off a small somersault at the bottom rolling over to land on your feet. Dadoo and I giggled as we watched the 60 second wiggle and roll. Honestly, the pictures don't show just how slow the entire thing transpired and one might be moved to thing I am a mean mommy to take pictures of her child in distress...HOWEVER...it was SO SLOW...on my camera clock an entire minute passed from the first frame I took to the last. One part embarrassment and one part relief that the landing wasn't painful you jumped up, whipped your hat off and swung it around laughing. Now that we are in the middle of winter I long for the days that are warm enough to hang out on the jungle gym...they are just around the corner.
Dear Henny, Good gawd! Since birth, rolling over the first day, you've been a physical phenom. You started crawling right around 5 months, pulling up a couple of months later and walking completely on your own the day before 10 months. I'm bragging a little but all this early strength can cause some problems. For instance, you have recently been on a climbing jag. You are so stealth about it too. One minute we are playing in the living room and by the time I drag my old bones up to follow you to the kitchen, you've shimmied up the bar stool and are standing on the kitchen counter or sitting there with your feet in the sink acting like you're doing dishes. You also love to sit on the dining room table grab my mouse roller ball and throw it or stand up and try to swing from the light fixture, seriously. You s-t-r-e-t-c-h your arms above your head standing on your tip toes and smile at me. You know you should not be doing this! When I pull you down you say, "naughty, naughty!" Huh?! I haven't said naughty to you more than once or twice your whole life. Where did you get that? It is true but where did you get that word from? But hey, if it fits. This weekend we thought you were hiding behind the Christmas tree but I found you sitting on the record shelves discovering all of the crap you've been throwing back there for the last year. Pointing and trying to crawl over the shelves head first to dive for a three month old cookie I was in shock. Not about the three month old cookie, but rather your boldness! By the way our house is clean in most spaces but I've just left the crap back there to accumulate, until now. I had to remove your motivation! So the letter N is for....
Naughty, Naughty, NO! NO! What the Heck are You Doing Now Henny?!
In addition to watching Lily in action, some afternoons we will dig up fun You Tube videos to watch. Babies giggling, chimpanzees, Koko the gorilla, and music videos. You have your favorites requests. "Elmo A, B, Cs," "Frog, banjo, rainbow, Debbie," and most recently, "Elmo, bed, sleepin', guitar, milk, milk." It features the letter N and the rockin' out part gets your head moving swiftly from side to side, up and down and all around surrounded by chuckles.
Dear Henry, Grandpa Tim was recently up from Florida for his Hank fix. He was also working hard at the farm getting the barn-do-minim primed and painted after we set up a surprise professional dry wall finish. This is a good thing too because as Grandpa Tim returned back to Florida his physical showed some issues with how his heart was functioning. Just after Papaw Elmo's funeral we get the call that he was going to need open heart surgery! What! This put us in a panic and we tried to decide if we should rush to Florida. Grandpa Tim was so worried that he wouldn't be able to keep himself on the healing path with you around because the compulsion to play is too great that we decided we would wait a few weeks for some strong recovery to happen before we made it down. The surgery was a success and today he should be waking up a bit. Mama wanted to post this blog to motivate a quick recovery. I know he will be looking. So...
J is for John Deere Tractor Rides with Grandpa Tim
We spent the day out at the farm and Grandpa Tim allowed you to ride the little John Deere by yourself, well sort of. He just turned it on a let it drift in idle back and forth. You seemed to think you were big time, but you enjoyed riding with him just as much. He tried to get the big Johnny Popper running but it needed a little work. He allowed you to drink out of the hose and took you on a walk. What 19 month old could want more than that?! We love Grandpa Tim and hope that he feels even better than before quickly...he has to be!
J is for the John in Henry John Carl
Carl Foldenauer
Carl Meyer
John Marr Thompson
Your full name is Henry John Carl Thompson. Before you were born we knew we wanted to name you Henry. No real reason other than we liked the name and it floated around both of our families. Carl was always going to be our boy's middle name to honor both Daddy's maternal grandfather who was killed way too young when his delivery truck became stuck on the railroad tracks, and Mama's paternal grandpa who died at 64 from an unexpected heart attack. After about the third meeting with your birth mother J we learned that everyone of her sisters' kids, and her sisters, and her mom and other family members all have names starting with a J. We wanted to honor your birth family connection and realized it would also allow us to honor your Daddy's paternal grandfather John at the same time...Thus you have a long name...Henry John Carl. It has worked out well thus far. When people exclaim, "Why such a long name?" it gives us the opportunity to decide to share our story or not. What a pretty one it is too. Love, Mama
Dear Water Bug, Though the weather has cooled you have not shied from the splish spash of Bahboo and Grandma P's hot tub. You love it when they move you between them or put you under pulling you into the air quickly. I just love watching you have fun. H is for Hot Tubbin' with Bahboo and Grandma P
Almost daily you get out the mixing bowls, a spatula and the mixer finding the beaters from the top drawer you reunite them delivering them to me with the command, "COOKIES! MUFFINS!" You also love identifying what each cookie cutter shape is so I wanted to make some sugar cookies with you for Halloween. I tried to mix up some sugar cookie dough, allowing it to rest in the fridge over night. As I tried to roll it out it was clearly not going to be good for cookie cutters. I'm not sure what happened. We followed the recipe precisely. The taste was awesome so we recovered our mess by rolling them into balls then pushing them flat. When it came time for decorating I used the pre-made black icing. Little did I know that this icing was not quick to dissipate in the mouth. Your face and hands were black for quite a while after. It was still a good time...even if it left you looking like you had some type of scary zombie disease. I hope to get the recipe right before Christmas cookie time!
I is Icky Black Halloween Icing All Over your Face and fingers!
Dear Peep, You are a worker at heart. Recently when Bahboo was helping with the leaves you broke out of the house and I found you helping him fish leaves out of the fountain. It was cute as you really had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your baby arm to make it into the water.
F is for Fountain Cleaning with Bahboo
______ A few weeks back I was looking for something different to do with you. I had purchased some craft sticks of different colors at the dollar store and I have LOTS of glue from my teaching days. I put out a big sheet of paper from a roll Grandma P found at a garage sale and stickers, barley, sprinkles, markers and macaroni and we made glue art. It was of course a bit messy but that is what makes it fun. I am pretty sure though I took it to an entire different level by putting the glue in a little bowl and adding blue food coloring. Surprisingly I did not catch you eating the markers per usual, the blue glue is another story. I live for your intensity when doing projects, even if it is short lived, your little hands working this way and that, pinching off stickers, and dashing on sprinkles. I need to make time and reserve more energy to find creative pursuits with you.
Bahboo brings his tractor over with a cool leaf sweeper doodad on the back and helps us with our astronomical number of leaves. In the midst of gathering l've come to the understanding that everyone around us rakes a nominal little pile of leaves to let them know it is fall while we are secluded to this little leaf cemetery, where all the other leaves come to be laid at rest and I am charged with being their undertaker. With three pin oaks it the arrivals last well into march. I should add that by proxy it heaps on Bahboo's shoulders as well because even with an awesome backpack leaf blower and Dadoo with a tarp tied to his wheelchair the task is impossible for only two. So enters the leave sweeper Bahboo purchased this year for both of our yards. It takes about an hour to circle back and forth through the yard and dump at the street for the city to pick them up. It turns our grass into what looks like a freshly vacuumed carpet. Bet of all, for you it leaves behind the largest leaf pile EVA! So Dadoo and I took you out the other day to romp and jump around in it. You rolled and played chase for about 30 minutes in our Giza of discarded foliage. But as you undulated in and out your sweater tried to camouflage you by grasping on to every leaf or twig that touched it. I can't forget to mention how much I love hearing you giggle and watchin' you run, and for us the leaves have only just begun.
Dear Henny, On a recent visit to GG's and Grandma LaJean's GG had made some buttermilk cookies, our favorite. Being the thoughtful woman that she is and knowing just what makes a little boys heart beat double time she set aside several cookies, a bowl of icing and some Halloween themed sprinkles for you to decorate your own. Mind you, this was BEFORE dinner, breaking all of the rules to getting a child to eat the stuff that is good for you first. But, if there are no rules for grandparents there are certainly no expectations for great grandparents and so you grabbed at the icing, pawed a couple of cookies and went to town eating them. GG and Grandma LaJean certainly were happy watching you so what is one appetite ruined out of thousands in a lifetime. The unusual sequencing of cookies then dinner was not missed on you...you kept giving me little, "do you see I'm eatin' a cookie," look! It was worth it to see them enjoying it.
D is for Decorating Cookies with GG and Grandma LaJean
Love, Mama * I had to add that I just showed this to you and you said,"HAZEL!" and reached out to touch the screen bringing your finger back to your mouth a few times and then you said, "Taste! Taste! Cookies!"
Dear Tantamoose, 
