There are so many things that I've discovered that are really only fun when you have (or are) a child. For instance, a 4th of July parade. We took Henry downtown on Tuesday morning, and watching him watch the parade was the most fun I've had in ages. While I got completely teary watching the World War II vets, Henry blinked in amazement at various kooky looking Uncle Sams, people with crazy wigs on stilts, marching bands (with drums -- his favorite!), cheerleaders, fire engines, garbage trucks (yes, the garbage truck fleet parades in Greensboro), local politicians in convertibles and anarchists and anti-war protesters. But when one of the politicians gave him a flag, things really got exciting. Amazing how a 10-month-old instinctively knows how to wave a flag. His chubby little fists pumped up and down and he grinned with his two bottom teeth and chanted "eeeh!! eeeeeeh!"

Henry and Jack have had several play dates lately. I watched Jack two mornings in a row when Virgil had to unexpectedly teach a summer class, and it's funny watching how they're starting to interact differently. They're now at the stage where they grab things from each other and one or the other gets mad and/or upset, and I have to try to redistribute, and then the other one gets mad and/or upset.

Today I took Henry to the Weatherspoon Art Museum, because it was a rainy day and they had an exhibit of modern prints from artists like Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, and I thought the bold lines and colors might appeal to him. He liked it okay, but had more fun making friends with the security guard. He still just loves people, and has learned how to wave in the past month, so he can have quite a bit of fun waving enthusiastically at anyone who walks by. Though he is starting to get a bit more bashful around strangers, and does this very sweet thing where he rests his head on my shoulder as he checks new people out.

Oh, and he's terrified of facial hair. Christian has threatened to grow out his beard to see if that helps him get over it, but for now, every time he sees Peter or Philip -- or Josh, the other day -- he bursts into tears and tries not to look at them. Even after five days at the beach with Peter, he could only barely tolerate looking at him, and seemed to solve his problem by pretending not to see him. I'm sure it will pass.

Comments

[Debbie]

Henry is the cutest baby BOY around. I love that you can see his red hair in pictures. He is the perfect combo of you and Christian - hopefully his personality will be too. :)~