Worth the Wait

Worth the Wait, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

My birthday present from Henry finally arrived! All the way from Hawaii! She's totally kitschy and wonderful and her hips even sway back and forth. I love her. Thank you, Henry! You are the Wag to my Mond. XOXOXOX

There are so many nice things on my mind tonight. Hank just continues to open up -- everyday he is more and more vocal, and constantly pushing his boundaries, working on new skills. It is so exciting to be a part of it all. He's been working so hard at crawling, but he can't quite get there yet. Soon, soon! He can get his behind up in the air, and can get into the cat-cow position from yoga. It is just a matter of time. He has figured out that he can roll from Point A to Point B, but at the same time I can tell by looking at him that he knows there's a better way to get there.

We are just really having a good time. We had about a week and a half there where none of us were sleeping well, and that made for a stressed out little family. But we did some sleep training with Hank -- just some 'check and console' type stuff, and that really seemed to make the difference. Of course, now that I've put that thought down in writing it will probably all go straight to hell again, but I'm going to stay positive! But we're all feeling pretty good again, I think.

So many nice things on my mind tonight...

• We had a group hug this morning, with Hank in the middle in a baby carrier. Henry kissed Hank on the head and said, 'Hank, will you be the meat in our family sandwich?' Totally sweet and cute, but of course begged the question -- if Hank were a sandwich meat, which kind would he be? Turkey? Olive loaf? Roast beef?

• Hank had his first visit to Fairyland today. We went with my friend Molly and her three little boys, and my friend Carol and her little baby boy. It was so fun to go back to Fairlyland for the first time since I was a kid! Hank was too young for it, but I felt like a kid in a candy store. Pretty much nothing about the place had changed, and every time I turned my head I was seeing something else that took me right down memory lane. It was totally, totally rad.

• Another first today, Hank had his first encounter with a bug! I was changing his diaper in his stroller (which makes an excellent changing table, by the way -- if anyone is vacillating between getting a stroller that reclines over one that doesn't, get the one that reclines, if nothing else so that you can use it as a changing table when none other is available). We were under a tree and a caterpillar fell out of the tree and was ooching its way towards Hank in the stroller. I put the caterpillar on my finger and showed it to Hank, who was completely mesmerized by it. Awesome!

• Solid foods continue to be a hit. This afternoon when Hank was getting his butternut squash, between each bite he would stick his tongue out as far as it goes and grin like an idiot.

• Hank is all about the raspberries these days. He blows raspberries constantly.

• Hank's got his first pair of actual shoes! They are so little and the first time he wore them he seemed to really like them. All I could think was 'wow, now you look like a Real Boy!' I got them so that when he uses the walker at my parents' house he doesn't rip up his socks or toes. He cruises all over the house and backyard in that thing, and has actually walked up to me in it, on purpose. We are going to be in so much trouble...

• When I went to feed Hank in the middle of the night last night, by the time I got to him he had stopped crying. I thought, 'great, he found his pacifier!' Nope, he had found his tiny stuffed elephant and was contentedly sucking on the elephant's trunk. It was super cute.

I guess that is it for the moment. Hank is snoozing and Henry is off to train club so I've got the place to myself. Sweet!