Hank has been really fun lately.
He wants to be outside all of the time. He's not afraid to go down the biggest slide at the playground and loves to dig in the driveway with his shovel (sounds like "Fvo-vull" when he says it). He's a big fan of swimming at the Y, but it takes him a little while to get into the water. He likes to stand at the edge and jump into our arms.
When he goes to parties or new environments, it takes him about 15 minutes to warm up. He's very clingy and whiny for exactly 15 minutes, and then leaves us behind and rips up the joint wherever we are.
Behind his back we call him "The Ruiner" because he is often like a little Godzilla, leaving devastation in his wake.
He asks "Where Going?" and "What Doing?" all the time. He likes bikes, trucks, the mailman, the bus, trucks, "Running" (either doing it himself or watching people run).
He loves baseball. When the Tigers are on he watches attentively, giving play-by-play: "Running," "Throw," "Catch" and "Maggs" anytime Magglio Ordóñez is on.
He can sing many of the words to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and sometimes sings a made-up song containing random letters of the alphabet and words like Mama, Dada, Sky, Blue, Green and Banana.
He loves music, but only 4 songs:
"Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups
(YouTube video)"Kamera" and "Heavy Metal Drummer" by Wilco
('Kamera' YouTube video and 'Heavy Metal Drummer' video)and "See and Be Scene" by the Hard Lessons
(video here)
If we play anything else, he gets this confused look on his face and says "no" like we're idiots. Every time we get in the car he says "DRUMS!" and swings his arms up and down.
Sometimes he'll wear his bike helmet for hours, but will only wear a baseball cap or sunglasses for a few minutes at a time.
He likes Spiderman, Superman, Captain America and Wolverine, but is a little scared by Iron Man (the wind-up toy from Burger King sometimes starts walking on its own and is not to be trusted).
Today he said "Ice" and "Hockey" as clear as day when we passed the ice rink here in Ann Arbor. We have no idea why.
He is
way into Sesame Street (particularly Elmo and Cookie Monster). There is the occasional Sesame Street segment involving a bad James Brown impersonator crafted out of cut paper and when that guy comes on he gets this confused look on his face, shakes his head and says "no" like we're idiots.
He looks at his MSU book and says "Sparty!"
When he wakes up in the morning, he stands in his crib and says "Daaaah-Dah" over and over again. If Dad doesn't come to get him, he'll start saying "Maaaah-Ma" until we start laughing and go and get him.
He can't get enough of reading and can find Goldbug on every page of
this book.
His skin continues to be very sensitive, reacting to any clothing that isn't the finest cotton. He requires naked time every evening and gets slathered in a wide variety of lotions every day.
He collects pine cones and visits all of the cats in the neighborhood. He loves our neighbor's dog Sasha (whom he calls "Shah-sha").
He's been inflecting his "S"s very strangely, making "Yes" sound like "Yesh," "Bus" sound like "Busch" and "Bubbles" sound like "Bubblesh." We have no idea why.
He gives hugs freely and hi-fives like a champ.
