New Favorites... smiling, giraffe and holding on tight!

Henry has developed some new favorite things over the past few days...

Smiling - as if he knew he was a big boy last Thursday (our one month bday), Henry flashed a huge toothless grin back at Mommy. At the time, we were meeting all the ladies at Daddy's office. This ensured that there were witnesses, including Daddy. (If not for the witnesses, I would have been sure it was gas). Since then, smiling is our favorite activity in the mornings and after naps. We smile at Daddy, we smile at Mommy and we smile at the lamb that hangs from our bouncy chair. He alternates smiling with his very popular "o face" and sticking out his tongue. He totally mimics us, and we are totally impressed by this behavior! We have yet to catch a really great smile on film, but here are some of our latest attempts...

Not going to do it again...

okay... one more!

Giraffe - Henry has also taken to his giraffe from the Miller family in the last few days. We set it with him in his bouncy chair or on the ground and he hugs it, grabs it and throws it. Once it is thrown, he gets very upset and is only soothed by the prompt return of the giraffe to his grip. His grip... did I mention the kid has a grip? Henry will latch on to anything he can reach. Most notably is his hair. Now... as you can imagine, with a strong grip, this hurts! Henry rarely cries and almost never screams, but when he gets hold of his hair, he screams bloody murder. The worst part is that he will not let go, and we need the jaws of life to get his hair out of his giant baby fingers. He has yet to lose any of his perfectly spiked hair, but if he keeps this up, he will have a major bald spot on the back left side of his scalp. We swaddle at night, so this is not a problem, but nap time has been interrupted several times by the hair pulling, and playtime turns sour at least a few times a day. I have now started putting rattles and other things in his hands to keep them occupied, but this sometimes results with whacking in the head with said object. Hopefully he will learn that he is inflicting this pain on himself in the next few days and stop the behavior. Here are a few shots of a boy with his giraffe!