banana?

From the "language development" files... Here's how Henry is saying banana. He does that finger gesture every time and we have no idea why. Guess it's a sign he made up?

Seventeen months!!

It has been a while. A few days after our last blog post, Henry came down with croup, which was awful. It stuck around for about a week, and involved four doctor's visits, an ER visit and subsequent hospital stay, breathing treatments and three rounds of steroids. He's over it now, of course, but it seemed to throw us off track for a while there. He still coughs at night sometimes, but now I'm wondering if it's just springtime allergies. We still sort of brace ourselves for that croup-y cough when we hear him wake at night, but so far, so good.

It's been a while since we've done a birthday post, so here are some things about Henry at seventeen months -

• He finally got his first haircut this week. The hockey mullet, as Adam affectionately called it, is no longer. He was really good, a little apprehensive but didn't fuss or squirm at all.
  
• We're loving the spring weather, when it comes. There have been just enough sunny days to break up the spring rain, and we get outside as much as we can. He loves walking outside, picking up sticks, splashing in puddles, and exploring the playground.
  
• For a while there, his appetite seemed to be diminishing, but it is back in full force. The kid loves to eat. New and continuing favorites: yogurt (sometimes I buy him the YoBaby yogurts for a treat, but usually he eats plain), any kind of fruit, edamame, Joe's-Os, eggs, toast with mango butter, roasted seaweed.
  
• He's still "talking" all. the. time. He has more recognizable words now - mama, dada, addie, cracker, shoes, go, up, hot, bye-bye... We've also taught him the sign for "help" and he's pretty good about using it rather than yelling/grunting when he needs help with something.
  
• He's finally using mama and dada in a way that shows he knows what they mean. He does this thing we call taking inventory, where if he's with Adam he'll randomly ask about mama and addie, and vise versa.
• He loves that dang dog.
• It took a few weeks after his illness, but he's sleeping well again. He wakes up around seven most days, and will sit up and babble for a while.
• He's kind of obsessed with giving kisses, and receiving them when he gets hurt.
  
• He's more and more of a little boy every day!
  

All smiles after dinner