Henry

Just a quick break from Nicaragua stories and recaps to give the last monthly Henry update.

Henry is no longer my little baby boy. On March 26th, Henry turned ONE.

When Henry was little, he seemed so easy-going. Calm. My chill baby. As the months went by, I realize he was playing me for a fool.

Henry is a boy who is ALWAYS on the move. Unless eating or sleeping, that boy never sits still. Never ever. He loves to be chased, loves hide-and-seek, and loves to chase his sister.

While we were in Nicaragua, Henry was always on display. Not only did he attract attention because he was very white, but he is also chubby, has extremely blond hair, and has the most beautiful soft blue eyes that are otherwise non-existent in Nicaragua.

Anywhere we went, I could hear the chatter as people talked about him and pointed at him. Some people talked to each other about him, and others came up into his face and talked directly to him. Some tried inconspicuously to take pictures, and others walked right up and asked to take his picture.

Henry loved the attention. He would smile his toothy grin back at anyone, and often muster up a good "hola" to people passing by.

Yep, Henry tried speaking Spanish too.

Within a few short weeks, it was pretty obvious that Henry was understanding practically just as much Spanish as English. He would respond correctly to the Nicaraguans speaking Spanish in an appropriate way, and attempt to repeat words they were teaching him. His favorite words have become "mama" and "hola".

And while Henry became a bit more clingy to me right around age 1, another funny thing happened. It became shockingly clear that Henry prefers Nicaraguans to us North Americans. Henry would not want to go with his daddy, or even his grandparents who were visiting...and yet when a Nicaraguan walked in the room (even complete strangers), Henry turned on this charm and would go anywhere.

I also need to clarify one thing - I have said that Henry is always on the move, but there was one exception. Henry became particularly fond of one worker at the condos we stayed at in Nicaragua - Nelson. And somehow Nelson could get Henry to sit still with him for over an hour at a time while Nelson was being the guard outside the condo. It was like magic I've never seen before.

Some of Henry's other tricks as a one-year-old are:

Clucking his tongue to sound like horses coming down the street
Sticking his finger in his mouth and saying "shhhh" (we make this sound a lot to him - he is LOUD)
Saying "cheese" and grinning for the camera
Walking backwards, which he does mostly to show off
Dancing
Tackling his sister
Moving furniture around (somehow this is good entertainment for him)
Pointing out birds in the sky
Whispering
Mimicking all sorts of noises (sneezes, dog barks, etc.)

Needless to say, Henry makes us laugh. And shake our heads in disbelief. And wonder what in the world we have in store for the next year...

Love you Henry!