Countdown to 1 year old!

Henry is now a mere one month away from making it to the one-year mark! Holy cow! It's hard to know whether to call him a baby or a toddler. On another blog, I read the author's suggestion for the term "wobbler" as the interim stage between babyhood and toddler. That seems about right to me. Henry is now taking several steps at a time, but I'd hesitate to call him a toddler. Instead, I'd say we're in the thralls of wobblerhood. Wobblerhood is a wonderful time of development so far. Henry is not only learning to walk, but also really soaking up all of what we say and do around him. Some recent developments:

Brushing his teeth and hair. Often with the wrong tool. First, he picked up on using his hairbrush to make a brushing gesture against his head. It was a very sweet, if completely ineffective, attempt at grooming himself. Then, when I gave him his toothbrush the other day, he mimicked me and "brushed" his teeth. Again, pretty ineffective, but totally adorable. I can see why it would get confusing when he went downstairs and saw his hairbrush, another item he uses to "brush, brush." Brush your teeth vs. brush your hair is a fine distinction to this little wobbler. And maybe not that important a distinction, since his food often winds up in his hair anyway.

How does his food wind up in his hair, you may ask? Well, Henry is very interested in feeding himself. Most of his meals are self-fed meals, where he gets small chunks of whatever we're eating. On occasions when Henry's menu includes something requiring a spoon, oh boy are we in trouble. Henry hasn't quite gotten the idea that you can't necessarily grab whatever substance is on the spoon and put it directly into your mouth. Yogurt, for instance, works a lot better on the spoon than in the palm of your hand. Try telling that to Henry. And what gets on Henry's hands goes in Henry's hair. So, tooth brush, hair brush, whatever.

Other 11 month Henry facts...

• He lovvveeess dogs. Whether they're on TV, at a friend's house, or walking down the street, Henry greets them with a squeal of delight. I think he's already begun lobbying for a dog of his own.
• Henry also loves monkeys. Usually he only sees them on TV or in the form of stuffed animals. He saw them in a few murals at Trader Joe's this week and started squealing and laughing. It took me a while to figure out that he wasn't excited about pita chips, he was excited about painted monkeys. We can't wait to take Henry to the zoo this spring to see the monkeys in person.
• Henry loves TV. Okay, not really; but the previous two items would seem to indicate that I sit him in front of the TV all day. I do sometimes sit with him on my lap in front of the TV while he takes a bottle, but that's about it for watching. He'll sit still for approximately 10 minutes to watch Curious George, Sesame Street, or occasionally the Animal Planet channel. Otherwise, he's got better things to do.
• Monday through Friday, Henry lives for 5:45 pm. This is the time when Brian arrives home from work. Henry gets very excited when he hears either the car pull in the driveway or the door start to open. He looks at me, and either waits for me to say "daddy's home" or starts saying "da" himself while heading for the door. Then he gives Brian and big grin and hug around the legs. And he melts our hearts.
• The minute I walk into Henry's room in the morning, he starts pointing and saying "eh?" and doesn't stop until he goes to sleep at night. He wants to know the name of everything around him. It's getting much easier to figure out what Henry is pointing toward, as he's begun using his pointer finger more effectively. Up until this week, his "eh?" was accompanied by using his whole hand to gesture. Now he's managing to isolate his pointer finger when he wants to know the name of something.
  
• Henry's a dance machine. He especially likes motown. I especially like his squat and groove move.
  

There are, of course, a million other cute and fascinating facts about Henry that I could include here. If I had time to write them, that is. But I hear the little g-unit upstairs pouding on his crib. That is code for: Mooooommmmmm, I've been up here napping for two hours!! Now get up here and let's play!! I've got things to do and learn!!