Henry these days

Henry has been hilarious lately.  He's really developing his personality, explaining more in depth thoughts, speaking in longer sentences, and thinking about bigger things.  Back in October he started to have a real problem falling asleep each night.  He would call us in constantly and cry.  Only at night.  It turns out he had a fear of the dark, which a nightlight in the room eventually solved.  At the time of all of this, he pointed out all of his sweatshirts hanging on some hooks in his room and said it looked like a monster, and asked me to take them down.  He would point to scary looking shadows and ask what they were.  He always wanted to look outside to see if it was dark because he didn't believe me and wondered why his room was so dark.  But the cutest thing of all was when he asked me to "turn off the dark".  I clued in then that he needed a night light!

Gone are the days of Barbie, and although he inquires about this show from time to time, his new favourite is Paw Patrol.  He asks to watch this every time it's show time.  He's totally into it.  This Christmas he was given tons of paw patrol stuff and he has been loving it.

We have been weaning him off the dresses and it has been a few weeks since he's worn one around the house now that I think about it.  I've treated it more like a dress up thing in the basement with the princess dresses, and he knows to take them off when he comes upstairs so he doesn't trip on them.  I'm glad to be getting away from this phase, not that I had a huge problem with it, just that he was SO obsessive about them and would talk about dresses as soon as his eyes opened and right at bedtime.  Also, he was wearing Rose's dresses out.  Poor Rose was being nice about it, but in the meantime wasn't wanting to wear certain ones anymore.  The other things that Rose has been really great about are her Anna and Elsa doll, and Henry wanting to play with them non stop.  Granted, she wasn't playing with them really, but she has let him carry those things around all over the place.  I had to soak them in vinegar and baking soda and scrub them with an old toothbrush the other day when I found mould in their hair!! Gross.  And a few weeks ago I had to take a magic eraser to their faces since they were so dirty.  If we could have foreshadowed this other obsession we could have bought him his own so Rose could keep hers pristine, but we didn't foresee this of course.  A few nights ago Henry had to go to the bathroom one more time after getting in bed, and he dragged Elsa along.  As he's sitting on the toilet he clutches Elsa and whispers, "Sorry Elsa".  This was way too cute.  I can't wait till he sees the wall of Elsa's at the disney store....and better yet...when I get a picture of him and Elsa on the Disney cruise!!

Something Henry needs to work on is walking rather than being carried around.  If we go somewhere where there is a short walk, and not stroller worthy, he says "Carry you!! Carry you!!" and has a huge meltdown if I make him walk.  I always have to get the stroller out at Rose's school, or I'll end up having to carry him the entire way.  I know it'll change eventually, I just feel like the girls were way more into walking everywhere by themselves at this age.  I wonder if he feels like he can't keep up and is discouraged.  Who knows.

He still continues to be the biggest lover of sweets.  The advent calendar ended on December 24th of course, and he was distracted by Christmas day, only to have a meltdown on the 26th because the calendar was gone.  And the next few days he asked for it every morning.

So many more things I could say I'm sure.  I have to remember to blog more.  At the end of January we'll be off to Florida which will satisfy Henry's want/need to wear shorts and no socks at all times.

Outtakes!!

Trying to take Christmas photos...unsuccessfully.  I was really late in getting around to this project and as a result was rushed and desperate.  I got a few good photos in the end and ordered our cards far later than I would have liked.

Auntie Amanda's baby shower

Maura, Cheryl, and I held Auntie Amanda's baby shower mid November.  As I write this the baby will be coming in a week or 2.  Exciting!

Hello again Ste. Anne's Spa

At the beginning of November we ventured out to Ste. Anne's spa again.  This time for 2 glorious nights! Two nights is the way to go.  We had a gigantic room this time.  The room was off site at the gym, so we had to get in the car to go to the main building, but the size of the room made up for this minor inconvenience. This time we each had our own bedroom.  Mine wasn't a bedroom per se, as I had a Queen sized murphy bed in the living room, but it was still my own room.  Since I wake up way earlier than the others I loved my space as I would start the wood burning fireplace in the morning, make a coffee and read until the other 2 got up. 

Here are some photos in random order.  We had our spa treatments of course, spent time in the hot tub (we had our own hot tub outside our door!), ate a ton of food, read books, and went for a long walk.  Amanda was 7 months pregnant at the time, and Maura was getting over being sick and having her voice problem, so I'm surprised we did the long walk.  It was good for everyone though as the day was amazing and we all needed the exercise.  Maura's voice went from probably 20% to 99% while we were at the spa as well, which was crazy,  and a testament to the healing powers of relaxation.  

The strangest part of the getaway was that we often got in the car wearing our robes.  It felt super wrong and awkward. 

All things Halloween!

Halloween fun in no particular order:

I took Rose to buy this wig on Halloween day while Paige was at an oddly-timed birthday party.

A week before Halloween we went to the Great Pumpkin Trail at the RBG again.  Always a fun way to kick off Halloween for the kids.  Mike had to carry Henry through the entire trail though.  Just as well since it was dark and scary for him. They loved seeing the pumpkins and listening to the campfire music.  Grandpa joined us as well which was fun.

Henry was not impressed with wearing his Paw Patrol costume to the RBG, and still was unimpressed on Halloween night.  He would have much preferred to dress as Elsa or Anna.  After a little coaxing (ahem forcing/bribing), Mike got him ready for the night and he was ok after that.  See the first picture as a reference as to how he was feeling about wearing his marshall hat.
Now when Henry sees the character from Paw Patrol he names them, "Sky, Chase, Zuma, me...".

"Me" instead of Marshall.

The kids did our entire street together mainly with Mike, and then Henry was ready to head back home. I then took the girls out to do another street, which was the most trick or treating they've ever done.  

Thanksgiving Muskoka Style

Even though I had a debilitating neck pain, as well as a bad cold, we headed up to the cottage for Thanksgiving.  The first day was quite cold, but then it warmed up quite a bit and we were able to be outside a lot.  

Grandpa had to go in the water to take the end of the dock out of the water.  I'm sure he'll pass the torch onto Mike one of these years.  Seems like a man's job to me.  I'm much too busy with childcare and baking to be involved in a task like that. ;)

While we were listening to the neighbours and Mary Jo play a lovely clarinet concert, Rose got stung twice by a wasp in the woods.  Greg appeared suddenly carrying her out of the woods.  She was pretty upset and it seemed to hurt a lot, but at least we know she is not allergic.

It was the final visit of the year.  Always sad, and unfortunate that it is the one time of the year with absolutely no bugs (minus wasps of course).  Our next trip up will be riddled with mosquitoes and we'll be cursing the fact that we even decided to go.

Back to Gymnastics and Dance!

This gymnastics picture is not from the beginning of the year, but it shows her new professional looking suit!