It appears that spring has finally sprung here in New England! The mild weather has meant lots more outdoor activity time for me and Henry. Spending time in the fresh air brings much excitement and fun to our lives, as well as some new challenges for me in keeping the ever-curious Henry safe and happy. Our little buddy continues to find the most dangerous or undesirable areas of our property to be the most intriguing. The garage and driveway are his current favorite areas. But, you may say to yourself, you have a fence, so it's okay. Right? Theoretically, yes. Until Henry sets his mind on getting out of the fence and puts all of his 25 pounds into the effort of prying open the fence gate and squeezing through the small gap between the gate and the fence. You've got to give him credit for trying. Last week when Henry wandered into the garage he became fascinated with the recycling bin full of bottles (and sharp-edged cans). Rather than play in the dirty garage, I piled some bottles into his sled and we played the same in-and-out sorting game in the backyard. Moving items from one spot to another has become one of Henry's favored activities. This includes, but is not limited to: emptying and cleaning up the tupperware cabinet, using his sorting bucket of shapes, and placing his dinner in and out of the pocket on his bib. That last one was pretty funny.
Henry's other favorite activities include exploring all of the flowers and greenery around our yard, looking for birds, and playing with his wheeled toys. He also enjoys pushing the stroller around the backyard. See how happy he is with the jogging stroller here?
Alas, that happiness was short lived. Last week I found myself absolutely perplexed on two occasions when Henry abruptly stopped his happy tour around the yard and began throwing a tantrum directed toward his stroller. I thought he might want to go for a ride, so I sat him in the stroller. Definitely not the answer, as indicated by arching of the back and screaming. Okay, I thought to myself, maybe he wants to play with the straps. Another negative. Then I figured maybe was stuck and needed help pushing. Ohhh, nooo sir-ee that was definitely not it either. A day later, when we hit upon the same sequence of frustrated events, I finally figured it out. Henry wanted the stroller turned on it's side so that he could spin the wheels. Now why didn't I figure that out sooner?
Frustration has continued to be a common theme in our household, as we've hit upon a communication impasse. You can only get so far with "ball," "bird," "eyes," "duck," and "vrrooomm" (car or truck) in your vocabulary. Basically if you're not at the zoo or on the highway you're in trouble. The process of language acquistion has been and no doubt will continue to be a mixed bag. It can be a source of great frustration for Henry if we don't guess his desires correctly. However, it is in many respects a delight to see Henry trying to communicate and let us know his needs. I often find it easy to forget just how much Henry understands, given his limited output. But when I narrate certain parts of his day, he clearly knows exactly what I'm saying. For example, if I tell him it's time to eat lunch, he'll walk to his high chair and raise his arms up for me to lift him into the seat. Such neat little developments.

This weekend we enjoyed a fun gathering with the moms/babies/dads we met about a year ago at this time. It's hard to believe how big the kiddos are getting!