Henry the Crazy Man

So...today was going to be an anniversary post since we're celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary today. BUT...guess who didn't quite escape the family sickness from Thanksgiving? Poor Michael is out for the count today. I guess I was sick on our wedding day, so he's allowed to be sick on our anniversary. I love you, Michael! Feel better. And thanks for putting up with me for the past 8 years. :) (You can see more about a past anniversary here.)

Onto other news...

Henry is 2! He is a fun, spunky, happy little ball of energy. He is night and day different than the other kids. He's curious to a fault and can't EVER be left alone in a room without something getting damaged. He's busy! And he loves to learn about how things work. He copies everything we do and is the most excitable little guy I've ever seen. We love our fun little man!

Henry loves making noises and pretending to spray water is his favorite sound to make. He is home most of the time with just me and the girls (since Elliott is at school) and he loves doing 'girly' things right along with Emma and Isa. I often find him doing things like this: (shoes are his favorite thing whether he is putting on Daddy's shoes or these princess heels)

To my dismay, he's the only child we've had who likes to play with poop like play-doh. (Ewwww!) He's also the only one who's been determined enough to actually pull the cabinet locks out of the cabinets by trying so hard to get them open. He was not happy when we 'Henry-proofed' the kitchen in July by putting up a baby gate to it.

This determined little guy is also the only one who has learned to climb out of the crib. Here is a picture of Henry several months ago in his crib:

You can see that when he stood up, the top of the crib was about at armpit height. After he got out a few times, we lowered the mattress to the floor. This is now how tall the crib is compared to Henry:

But the stinker can still get out. Here's how he does it...(I was glad to finally capture it since it was a mystery to me.) He starts by gripping his toes around the crib bars to hoist himself up.

 Then he throws his leg over the top of the crib...

 Shimmies his body up and over...

 ...and he's out!

So what now? My solution (after lots of trial and error) is to put him in a onesie...then footie pajamas...then another onesie on top.
The onesie underneath is to keep him from taking his diaper off and me finding something nasty spread all over. The onesie on top is to keep him from unzipping the footie pajamas and then climbing out anyway. I tried just a regular shirt on top of his pajamas once and this is what happened:

He couldn't get the shirt off so he just reached under it to unzip the pajamas and get his feet out. Then did his little toe maneuver and climbed out.

I think Henry has an exciting future ahead of him where he'll challenge the status quo and his determination will help him immeasurably. At least, that's what I have to keep telling myself so these little antics don't make me crazy!

A big boy bed for Henry is in the pre-planning stages and we'll get around to it. For now, I just have to keep an eye on this little stinker.