HENRY HOLBROOK AT THIS VERY MOMENT

a little bit about huck in the month leading up to his third birthday.

mister henny loves animals. all day long he is talking about animals. especially these little squishy plastic animals you get for 50 cents out of the toy dispenser at the grocery store in our hood. fifty cents and out pops out a little plastic egg and inside are all sorts of bizarre plastic monstrosities. 

he and brandon have been going to this little toy dispenser all year hoping to get a penguin. easily thirty dollars they've invested into this machine to get that penguin, and our house is completely overflowing with the miniature animals that resulted, none of which, of course, are penguins, but all of which huck loves like his own flesh and blood. sometimes he lines them up on the floor in one looooong line according to species.

last weekend the boys capped off their traditional saturday morning playground trip with a stop at the toy dispenser and his time they came home with pride in their chests because the penguin! they got the penguin! i am happy to report that penguin has been enjoying the prime position in huck's fist at bedtime, and that he and cow have become fast friends. ask henny about it, he'll tell you the whole story. but they aren't friends with the purple dragon. it's complicated.

huck loves to sing. all sorts of songs, and he prefers to shout them from his stroller or the top of dad's shoulders, usually on the same note but always at the same volume: loud. he caps off performances with a particularly dramatic high note -- "how i wonder what you are-aaaaaah!" don't try and sing along with him, this is a solo performance. when i try and join in he waves me away with the back of his hand and says, "shoo, mommy!" yeah, we're working on it.

he's suddenly become a little more adventuresome with food, which, thank the freaking heavens. i was pretty convinced it was going to be peanut butter and nutella sandwiches until he was thirty, but the last few weeks he's discovered all sorts of new things. if we're eating something that he's curious about he'll ask to try some and i know i shouldn't, but i really like it when he pulls a face afterward and says, in a very serous tone, "that's too yucky."

henry always says thank you, and is very quick to say sorry. if he trips on the carpet he'll brush himself off and sheepishly say, "sorry!" if another boy at the playground pushes him and the boy's mom asks him to apologize, henry will usually apologize first. because he's sweet. when he gets a little heated about being told what to do, he always apologizes to me almost immediately. "sorry mommy." he's kind of a dreamboat.

he has stick straight hair like his father and freaky monkey toes that move independently of each other like his mother. (totally gonna teach him to write his name with them, that trick really comes in handy at parties.) he loves answering the door and brushing his teeth, he hates having his hair washed, his favorite charlie and lola is the one with the alligator costume, when i pop his toes he giggles and says, "you got me!" and every time we turn the tv on he says, "noooo! not felicity!!!!" 

i love being this boy's mama. he will always be the coolest thing i have ever done.