Summertime and the Livin's Easy...

Henry's new thing is that he wants to play baseball all the time. Obviously, this desire is happily accommodated whenever possible. It might not be quite this, but I must say this stance would be pretty intimidating for any pitcher to face.

Be still, my heart: he's a lefty! At the plate, anyway. He's right-handed in everything else he does. But still, there's hope!

This late swing is what happens when you're thinking curve but you get a fastball. But check it out: eye on the ball! I know that's not hard to do when the ball's moving at the speed of a zeppelin, but it's a good start.

But don't think he's all sports. He also takes after his mom in a lot of ways, too. This is a picture of his pail after he carefully selected only the green popsicle sticks that match it. He was very proud of this arrangement.

Sometimes he is all sports. This is the game where you catch a ball on a cup so that the finished product looks like an ice cream cone.

He really wanted to climb this tree. But now what?

Hide & Seek Fail

Chillin' Like a Villain

Posse: Henry, Julia and Charlie

What began as some play time on the seesaw ended with Henry and Julia sharing a quesadilla at La Fonda. (This one, not this one.) That really puts the date in "playdate," huh?

Let the record show that for a few hours on Saturday, May 9, 2009, it did not rain in Atlanta. So we went outside and ran around....in the water.

Swing and a miss

When trying to hit spraying water with a baseball bat got old, he tried his hand at washing Daddy's car. He gave up after wetting about six square inches of the front bumper.

Break's over kid--get back to work!

For Your Consideration...

Are you a visitor to this blog who often wonders, "what can I do to give something back for the enjoyment I get out of seeing pictures of Henry looking at trains and such"? Well now's your chance!

Henry is one of ten finalists in a professional photography contest. All ten photos are really cute, but in my completely impartial and unbiased opinion, the picture of Henry deserves to win. You can help that happen by clicking here and voting on photo #3. You have until Wednesday, May 13 at 5:00pm CDT to cast your vote for a better tomorrow!*

* I'm Henry Solomon ('s Daddy) and I approve this message.

The Mother Ship

That yellow Number 1 can only mean one thing: Thomas. Thomas left the Island of Sodor last week and visited the Tennessee Valley Railroad in Chattanooga. And so did we, along with Mindy and Henry's friend Ryan and his parents. As an indication of his excitement, Henry refused to nap in the car on the way there, instead singing a made-up song apparently called "I can't wait."

Like in the first intermission of Ms. Pac-Man: "They meet."

Henry got ink done.

What better way for Mindy to spend her birthday-eve than with Thomas and his flocks of admirers? This was taken right before boarding Thomas for an actual train ride....

Nah, he wasn't excited about this experience at all.

Pondering a world without talking blue steam engines.

Henry and Ryan jockey for position. The only negative about riding on Thomas is that you can't see Thomas when you look out the window.

Double-D

While Alexis represented all of us at our friend Christal's wedding in Alexandria, Louisiana, Henry and I went to Double Decker in Oxford. He'd been talking for weeks about getting to ride on top of a "decker bus" and going to a baseball game. Neither was a disappointment.

After cruising around town waving to everyone like a celebrity, Henry got to hang out with his tailgate buddy Stephen. They had sort of a dance-off to the music and then shared some M&Ms.

No one on the corner has swagger like us.

Mmmmmm. Corn dog. But don't let this picture fool you--he ended up eating this thing corn-on-the-cob style. And when that got old, he pulled the hot dog out and ate it plain. [Not pictured: Les Miles.]

He brought Pooh Bear to the baseball game and made sure to hold him up so he too could see the field. It was actually a great game and I think Georgia's pitcher got a little rattled when Henry started his cheer of "we need a snitchner, nomma skerry gichner." (Translation: "we need a pitcher, not a belly-itcher"...I think we may need to work on that one.)

At the stadium playground, holding on to a stranger's shorts for balance.

After the game, kids can go on the field for autographs. Henry was in awe. But not of the players...of the John Deere mule that rakes the infield. Future groundskeeper?

Uh oh.

I think that looking at a lot of the pictures posted here probably gives the impression that Henry is some kind of by-the-numbers, tall-glass-of-whole-milk, all-American boy. And in a lot of ways, I guess he is. But there are definitely times when he is anything but. Case in point: a recent trip to the shoe store with Alexis. She was trying on a pair of shoes herself, and when she looked around she saw this, which he had done all by himself...

Looks like we may be perusing a new section of the parenting books in the near future.

Meanwhile, in a much less flamboyant display of individualism, here is Henry eating one of his favorite, if not his very favorite non-ice cream-related food: edamame. He used to let us take the beans out of the shells for him, but now he won't let us get anywhere near them. His success rate is about 80% with the other 20% or so popping out and flying all over the kitchen.

When it comes to hide and seek, like many poker players, Henry has a tell. Even if you were somehow having trouble finding him in his hiding place (hard to imagine since it usually consists of a crouching position in the middle of the floor), you can almost always smoke him out by implying that he is an age other than two years old...