Photo Fest: Henry is Three!

Very belated, but Happy Birthday, little man!

The celebration was a comedy of errors on mom's part, but the birthday boy was of course adorable. And I can't believe it's been three whole years since he was the tiny infant in arms.



And now that he's three, he combs his own hair...



And gets himself dressed in dirty laundry, inside out...



And just for posterity, these are some other things about Henry at three:

Since his hair has grown back from last summer's buzz cut, it curls in the back and over his ears, especially in the humidity. And I find that infinitely adorable.

Popsicles and peanut butter and honey sandwiches are his favorite things to eat, but there is nothing that he refuses to eat. Gotta love that in a kid.

He loves to put his own shoes on and is so proud of himself when he gets them on the right feet all by himself.

He enjoys movies and has a knack for picking up movie lines and repeating them at opportune times, or changing up the words a bit to be funny.

He has an incredible imagination and a repertoire of voices and activities that he invents. He is also getting pretty good at physical comedy and already appreciates the absurd. A budding Jack Black or Jim Carey, maybe?

He loves to sing and to hear stories, and he continues to love electronic equipment and anything with buttons, and is actually quite adept at operating MP3s, DVD players, and toy computers.

He loves puzzles, and is amazingly good at them. To the point that he has shocked his nursery teacher at church...The first time he had a 24-piecer, he had me help him put it together and I walked him through it. He immediately scrambled it all up afterward, stacked the pieces, then started assembling it again - by grabbing the first piece on the pile and placing it on the table in approximately the place it would be when the puzzle was complete again. Spooky, really. He can do 35-piecers now with no help even the first time.

He loves his brother Calvin and will fight to the death for him. In fact, if Calvin hurts him and we get after Cal, Henry will get after us with a fat pointed little finger and a, "You be nice to my brother!" He has also tackled a seven-year-old at a park who was picking on Calvin. Took him down. The kid stopped messing with Cal, and no mothers needed to interfere.

Also part of his love of his brother is watching everything he does and trying to do it, too. He follows and learns, and loves to build alongside of Calvin and to show him things, and absolutely beams when Calvin tells him that he's done a good job.

Henry also has this amazing fearlessness combined with an amazing lack of balance or grace. Which leads to a lot of stumbling and tripping, bruises and scratches, but he gets right back up and goes again.

He is snuggly and tender. There is nothing that I like more than they way he will sit next to me and loop his little arm through mine or lean his head on my arm.

It is near impossible to get mad at him, either because he honestly makes you believe that he is innocent and really didn't know better, or else because he can cock one eyebrow and make you laugh before you can get mad.

He is one precious boy, my middle man.