smiles for momma

we had a big day today! for two reasons:

1. i read to henry for the first time (outside of him sitting in on marianne's story times)
2. i got my first real smiles from him (and caught a couple on video)

the first book i bought for henry was right after we found out we were having a boy and i bought him little blue truck by alice schertle. after reading it a little less than three years ago to marianne and her friend, ryan, while we were at ryan's house on a baby play date, i fell in love with that book. for some reason or another i never bought it for marianne but immediately thought of it when i found out i would be having a son. it's a great little book with a heartwarming story about treating others the way you want to be treated. so i read it to henry today and when i was making the animal sounds (particularly the "moo" of the cow) he grinned so big it nearly made me cry. he's already smiled at daddy numerous times and all when i wasn't around to see them, of course, and he's cracked a couple of "almost smiles" for me but this was the first all-out real smile he's given me. i grabbed the camera and lucky for all of you he blessed me with a couple more smiles. and as you'll notice, he prefers cows over horses. he even threw in a few coos (also a fairly new development). a few moments later, he was snoozing the afternoon away.

i actually wasn't the first to read to henry. unsolicited, marianne read a story to him a couple of weeks ago:

so, henry is nearly seven weeks old now. he is spending more and more time awake and his personality is blossoming. he is such a relaxed baby and just goes with the flow. he has found his voice though and isn't shy about letting me know when he's hungry or uncomfortable but really he's not a crier. he's still eating very well and growing so big it seems...i'm scared to see how far the scale tips at his 2-mo well-visit. he is our little tank. henry loves to spend his evenings in daddy's arms. his sister loves being hands-on. she runs to him when he's crying...she just loves popping that pacifier in his mouth (or cramming it down his throat). a few weeks ago, she gave him his first cheerio. the three of us were kicking off our morning in bed—henry lounging in the boppy and marianne was eating cheerios and watching dora the explorer. i left the room to grab a kleenex and when i walked back in, she was hovered over him holding a soggy cheerio and said "he spit it out"! ARGH!!!!! talk about a wake-up call. granted, it was a cheerio and it would have dissolved in his mouth, but i was sick over it. i never saw that coming! but i guess i'm just going to have to get used to those type of interactions because she's doing her best to toughen him up...the other day she "pinched" (read: gripped his ring finger with her whole hand and bent it backwards) so hard that he wailed inconsolably for a few moments—which, of course, instigated her crying too. all of this aside, she does seem to really love the little guy.

henry's first day in plaid...gratis of aunt kimmy. daddy was so proud!