Henry's Lookout Tower

Henry spent all day today outside, in our neighbors' yard.  Some of the time he was playing with their two boys, Carter and Emerson, ages 10 and 12, who are wonderful to him.  But much of the time he was just out there by himself, whacking things with sticks, carrying out various necessary tasks, firing his cannonball launcher (to do this, you put the big red ball on the ground and then drop a large square of plywood on it to make it bounce and roll away).  This is the lookout tower he built in their yard.  It's tricked out with various comforts: an oval piece of rusty metal ("this is for cleaning my shoes!  or, just one shoe"), a missile launcher (the rake with the big stick in it), the above-described cannonball system.  In these photos he is installing his steps of bricks.  Sometimes I am surprised to realize that he is still just a small, small boy, as I was when I saw him barely able to carry two bricks, or tonight when he was freshly out of the bath and zipping himself into his footie pajamas.  We are so fortunate to have these wonderful neighbors!  Their yard is a boy haven, and they tolerate Henry doing all sorts of things over there.  He climbs over the picket fence a dozen times a day.  By the way, it was about 50 degrees today!  After all day outside in the cool, fresh air, Henry ate a bunch of pumpkin pie and crashed in front of his video at about 6:00 pm.  A pretty perfect day for a small boy.