Delicious photo from Grandma Ann

Ann sent this great picture from last week (was it only last week? Feels like about a year ago!) when she and Henry made banana bread together.

It came out delicious, too!

Developing brains, developing minds

Two and nine months is an interesting age. I remember my brother at this age being absolutely fascinated with what happened if a police car were speeding (would it have to be pulled over by another police car?). Henry is similarly hung up on recursion. He just bursts out laughing at the thought that when a doctor gets sick he has to call another doctor, or when he sees a book pictured inside a book. (Of course I'm the one teaching a whole course on The 1001 Nights this semester, so I can't claim the fascination with the metaliterary is something one ever outgrows...)
He watches the tiny details of everything I do, and feels free to comment. Especially when something is inconsistent. "Mommy, why did you use a little spoon for that instead of a big spoon?" "Why did you say they were our strawberries instead of my strawberries?" One time I literally asked him: "Henry, could you please refrain for a moment from criticizing everything I do? It makes me self-conscious." I wonder how much of that he understood.
His little mind is developing in all kinds of amazing ways. Unfortunately, he now does that toddler thing of short-circuiting every so often. (Like when I pour his milk into his cereal for him, even though he was fine with letting me do it yesterday.) My reflexive annoyed reaction ("Dammit, you're such a smart kid, you're way too smart to be having this tantrum!") is probably about as constructive as telling someone they're too smart to be having PMS. I really believe the absurd screaming outbursts are neurochemical -- or neuroelectrical! -- rather than behavioral... so does that affect how one should handle them?

Fun with cheese

Grandma Ann mailed us a care package from Wisconsin including some clothes for Henry, a half gallon of home-produced honey (yum, yum!), and a ginormous log of Colby cheese.

Don't worry, we didn't let Henry do this for very long!

Samosas and mugging for the camera

Have we mentioned that Henry loves samosas?


But he may be exaggerating a bit here. In the right mood, he loves posing for the blog. When he says something funny (of course I am blanking on any particularly funny examples right now) and I say, "Ken, did you hear what Henry just said? I should write that down!" Henry has been known to suggest, "We should make a blog of it." And of course (like anyone born since 2000) when you photograph him he immediately wants to see how the picture came out.

Does the fact that he's giving you that big kiss for the camera make it any less sincere?

Better than the playground...

Spy Pond itself. Watch the swans dive down for a snack.

Climb on the rocks.


And be the boy who makes all the other mommies nervous because he inspires their kids to try to go splashing (pants, shoes and all) into the cold, muddy water. (I was the only mom who actually allowed it.)

Last weekend (Grandma Ann visits)

I returned from Morocco last Friday to join Ann and Henry for a lovely pre-spring weekend. (Ken was away at a conference in Albequerque.) Sunday the weather was gorgeous: upper 50s, brilliant sunshine. The Spy Pond playground was crowded, but Henry still got his turn on the roll-y slide. I mostly sat and soaked up the rays while Henry played with Ann; got more sun there than in my 3 1/2 days in Rabat.

Remember when I made a fuss last summer about my cousin Brocha letting her 3-year-old Nitzana do this?

Actually, Henry isn't much for running around a playground. On Sunday he spent most of his time digging, trying to plant a twig in the sand - pretending to garden, I think. (It's hereditary.)

But the roll-y slide is okay.

"Little boys grow into big boys..."

I just got back from a very quick work trip to DC and then to Rabat, Morocco. These pix are from March 2, before I left. We unexpectedly got almost a foot of snow. Both BU and Tufts canceled school; day care was closed. For the first time all season, Henry and I came out to help Ken shovel.

Well, we sort of helped. (At any rate, Henry was out there for over an hour, way longer than we can keep him interested in sledding or playing in the snow.)

Henry is getting somewhat interested in the idea of getting bigger and older. Something he said that day (this was not a propos shoveling the driveway but because he wanted to get some snacks from a high shelf and needed Ken's help to reach them): "Little boys grow into big boys, and big boys grow into bigger boys, and when I'm grown up, we'll be a Three Grownup Family."

Poor kid hasn't factored the impending new sibling (due late August) into his calculations. It's going to be Mommy, Daddy, and Henry forever -- only at some point Henry will be big and won't need Daddy's help with the high shelf anymore. I guess that's how it goes.