Do They Look Alike?

They are approximately the same age in these pictures, just shy of their first birthday.
I can't decide if they look a lot alike.

Also, the picture of Henry really reminds me how much I miss the lighting in our St Louis apartment.

National Train Day

Henry has his serious face on, so you know he's having lots of fun.

We took Henry to Union Station for Amtrak's National Train Day.  Nick went on virtually no sleep, just because he wanted Henry to be able to go and I doubted my ability to do it on my own.  We took the 'L' downtown, so even when we found out the Amtrak excursion was sold out, we figured we still were getting plenty of train in our day.

We waited a long time for Henry to be able to drive a train in the train simulator.  I think the highlight was getting a train whistle.  Chase bank was giving them out to card holders.  The good news is its a cheap whistle that doesn't work very well so it's relatively quiet. I put him in his overalls to look more like an engineer, and it seemed that nearly every other mother had the same thought.  It was a sea of children in overalls and engineer hats.

Henry's 3-year-old Interview

 

How old are you? I'm free [3], not two.

What is your favorite animal? It's goats.  My favorite animal is goats, and the animal show is closed.

What's your favorite thing to eat?  Not cookies either.  I eat some food.  It was a hamburger.  You remember that mama?  It was a huge hamburger I bite.  It snapped like this (hand actions.)

What's your least favorite thing to eat?  [intelligible remarks] editor's note: he picked the pickles of that hamburger, so probably pickles.

What is your favorite thing to do?  I don't know.  Something is cool.  Get grandma.  It was grandma and grandpa.

What is your favorite TV show? Cars, cartoons, and lighting McQueen.

What are really good at? I am trains.  I am big boy trains.

What is your favorite toy?  This road scraper [hold up the hot wheels vehicle is is holding.]

What's your favorite fruit? Nanas

What's your favorite outfit to wear? I wear clothes. Not your clothes.

What's your favorite song? Trains.  My trains songs about me, Henry.

What's your favorite book? Trains.  My favorite book is Stop Trains, is Thomas [Stop, Train, Stop!]

Who is your best friend? My best friend is Gigi.  [mother tears up]

What's your favorite thing to drink? Water and Milk [apple juice]

What to you want to be when your grow up?  Bigger and bigger, I grow up.

What work do you want to do when you grow up? I go to work like daddy's work. [I advise against surgery as a career.]

What's daddy's job?  Daddy's job is at work.  My dad is not at home.

What do you like about our house? Toys

What is you name? N-E-R-Y and a H.

What's your full name? I don't know.

Gigi at 11 Months

Gigi wearing her Halloween costume at 11 months old, standing like a champ..

Georgia is 11 months old.  This lady bug costume is sized 3-6 months, and fit her perfectly.  She was in the third percentile at her 9 month visit, and I hope she's at least holding steady there.  She does not walk, but she can stand up without any support or assistance, and when she decides she is done standing she lowers herself gently to the floor.  She climbs up and down stairs, but not so securely I let her do it by herself.  She crawls happily from to room and cruises along the furniture.
When Nick walks in from work, she says "hi!".  In addition to saying mama and dada, she is trying to say Caesar (which she calls all dogs) but it is just the "s" so it sounds like a snake impression.
She is now a bottle-fed baby.  Weaning was much harder for me than it was for her.  I was very emotional even though I knew it was the decision that worked best for our family.  She wasn't drinking what I thought was enough formula at first, but it turns out my age-based expectations weren't nearly as reasonable as a weight-based calculation.  She started to drink a little more and we're both happy.  She loves fruit, she will eat certain vegetables.  She throws a lot of food on the floor.
She still sucks her left thumb while playing with hair in her right hand when she's tired.  I've seen her play with Caesar's hair.
She is cutting her eighth tooth right now.  She has only been the tiniest bit fussy with teething, manifesting itself as midnight crying.
She makes lots of cute noises.  She is learning how to be loud enough to compete with Henry.  She plays very well with him even though he takes away all the toys.  She pushes cars along the floor.  She is great at playing peek-a-boo.  I love to cover her face with a cloth and then pretend I can't see her.
She is much easier-going than Henry was (and continues to be).  However, she still can be one determined and uncompromising creature.  Just try to eat in front of her without sharing.

She is so cute when she waves, often enthusiastically with both hands.

Lady Bug flying lessons