Month Five

Dear Henry,

If I had to select two words from the English language to describe the past month, they would be "roll over." As in, "Oh my Zeus, Henry just rolled over." It is an amazing skill you have picked up rather quickly, and already you appear to want to advance to crawling. But you need to slow down a little, kid, because you're starting to scare your parents. We aren't ready for your mobility. There's baby proofing to be done. And vacuuming. You can't go scooting around this house before we have time to vacuum the animal-fur dust bunnies that float around the floor when movement disturbs the air. You are still very much in the 'everything goes to my mouth' stage and a dust bunny comprised of the aforementioned materials would not be a good first taste of what our culinary world has to offer you. No, you need to save that moment for bananas. Bananas, son, are going to blow your mind.
Those two words would be closely followed by these four, "Clearly wants to walk." Because it is clear that you intend to walk one day, sooner rather than later, even though your stomach muscles aren't strong enough and your coordination isn't coordinated enough to have you do so just yet. A recent game of ours involves me holding you up, placing your feet on top of mine, and "walking" around the room. There are times when your feet will slip off. It is those times that lead me to believe we'll see you taking your own steps before the one year mark. You understand the motion that is involved and will continue to place one foot in front of the other without my assistance. Which could also mean that you are ready to move out on your own, eat ramen on a nearly daily basis, and only call home collect but I hope not. I enjoy having you around, even with your occasional bouts of CDF (a.k.a., Catastrophic Diaper Failure).
Your energy has saddled you with the label "kinetic". We have turned this into a nickname so get used to hearing it, Captain Kinetic. Something tells me this attribute is only going to be further realized as you age. We hadn't actually considered being leash parents but we might revisit this idea in the coming months, if only so we don't lose you in a crowd.
Given your propensity for curiosity, you use your hands to grab whatever is within reach be it my hair, your dad's glasses, the cats or everything else. This, of course, means we have to be very careful with where we place things in your presence, particularly at the kitchen table. You are definitely letting us know in no uncertain terms that you are nearly ready to begin eating. Our dinner ritual involves placing you in your high chair, surrounding you with a variety of utensils, sippy cups, and the like, and then retrieving the items you drop to the floor. Why splat mats are a necessary baby item is clear - everything is introduced to the floor at one time or another. We have reached the conclusion that you will need to take the place of your father at the head of the table. Then, collection duty can be shared by each parent as opposed to how it is now with your father constantly bending over to pick up whatever you have tossed aside. Pops needs to eat, too, son.
To enrich your rapidly growing brain we have begun to sign to you. We've actually been doing this for some time but it was only recently that we noticed you paying attention to what we were doing. The list of words is small and includes the basics for now - mom, dad, kitty, dog, milk. If I had to guess what your first sign is going to be, I would put my money on "kitty" because you are fascinated by these fuzzy creatures that streak past you when you're on the move and cuddle with you when you nap. For as energetic and curious as you are, you can be surprisingly still whenever one of them approaches to sniff your nose. The latest addition to your vocal repertoire includes an almost-blowing-bubbles "mmm-bwah" sound. It is this sound you choose to practice when you wake up around four o'clock each morning.
You constantly search for me and your pops when someone else is holding you. I don't want to think this is the beginning of antisocial behavior but rather that you just prefer us. When I am holding you, you turn to your pops. When he is holding you, you turn to me. I have a feeling you'd like to make a game that involved going from one parent to the other and back again. Repeat. This gesture was made infinitely sweet when you started reaching for us with your arms. It suggests you are now picking us as your favorites and we love every second of it. So often, yeah, I can say we do get wrapped up in passing you back and forth. Want to go see dad? O.K. Wait, want to go see mom? O.K.
Bath time has grown to be a favorite because you are now interested in bath toys. You don't seem to be a fan of bubbles because they effectively provide shelter for those floating objects of fun but you don't seem to hate them, either. One thing we did notice is that bath time with bubbles provides you with great bouts of enthusiasm for staying awake. So, we try to give you baths earlier in the day rather than right before bedtime. It is nearly impossible to get you to sleep after vigorous play time with your rubber ducky.
You amaze us every day and we adore everything about you, more than mere words can express.

Love,
Mom