I've not been so great about celebrating some of Harper's milestones on this blog. I really need to try to be better about that, especially since she's learning and changing every day it seems. Warning: This post is long.
One of the biggest changes we notice every day is how much her vocabulary is expanding. She doesn't say a ton of words, but we can recognize those that she does try to say. "Dada" is said ALL the time, from the time she wakes up, to every picture she sees of him, to when she's in a tickle fit and is cracking up. Dada is who she's always talking about. "Mama" is said much less often, but it does come out when needed. She also says "dog", "that", "Granda" and, inexplicably, "Dora". She sees Dora on her yogurt, a couple of her cups and on TV, and every time she does, she says her name. We've heard what could be words here and there like "Grandma" and "what" but nothing consistent. Oh, and of course she says "hi" to anyone and everyone, usually accompanied by a little wave. Grocery store, church, where ever... My little social butterfly.
What is truly impressive for us is her signing. I admit I am slightly embarrassed for not having taught her more at this stage, having the background I do as a former Deaf Studies major. But what I do teach her she picks up so quickly, it amazes us when she whips it out in context. So far she signs the following consistently and with purpose:
milk
eat
more
please
sleep
thank you
bath
ceiling fan
Next on the list to teach is blanket, Mama, Dada, and her favorite fruits like banana and apple.
She still hasn't taken her first steps, though we keep working on it. She walks extraordinarily well while holding on to a finger or hand, and she has been for a while. She'll also walk with her walker, though at the slightest wobble, she falls to her knees and then pushes it that way. Last weekend I decided she needed lots more practice, so I've been having her walk during most of the times when I would normally carry her like in and around church, to and from the car at Grandma's house and the like. She really enjoys it, though I haven't seen any progress in a week's time of her getting any braver on her own. When she gets home at night, she usually is more interested in playing than practicing and she goes all spaghetti legs on us, so Daddy and I don't get to practice with her like we'd like, though Grandma continues to encourage her during the days.
She is still a total ham and knows it. She gets into extremely weird moods where she just babbles nonsense and carries on a full conversation, then breaks into weird singing noises, then goes right into making funny faces -- all this whether she has an audience or not. I do have to admit that I see myself in her a lot during these times. Especially when I catch myself doing something silly, even by myself, it makes me realize "ahh, yes.. that's where she gets it from". I have a silly face I make to her sometimes and today at the grocery store I reached to get something off a shelf and when I turned around towards her, that silly face was staring back at me. She still does her "I dunno" shrug, though it's turned into a close to the body shrug, usually accompanied by a weird face. Here she is peeking out at Daddy through the doggy door as he was grilling.
If she gets her personality from me, then she gets her sleeping habits from her Daddy. The girl can sleep and she does it well. She averages about 12 hours per night, and goes right down around 7pm without a fight most times. If she does cry, it usually only lasts a minute or two and it never involves real tears. If she's awake when I go to get her, she's full of smiles and is trying to climb up her bumper to get a better look at the picture of Daddy on her dresser, telling me "dada. dada. dada." and pointing. She also loves to fall back into her crib and play "chase" while I reach down to get her. If she's asleep when I go in, she's none too happy to see me and will cover her face with her blanket and not move. She'll sit up, then lay back down, then sit up, and lay back down, and so on... Just a glimpse into the teenage years, I can tell. The only part of my sleeping habits she seems to have gotten is her love of blankets and things cozied up and around her face. I used to sleep with a pillow over my head until I got too hot one summer a few years ago and got out of the habit. But I do still sleep with a soft blanket and gather it all around my face and head to make a cozy nest. She does the same.
She loves her baths and looks forward to them, tonight even asking for one for the first time. She loves to have the water poured over her face, and squeals when the faucet gets turned on. We have to watch her while we're filling the tub up because she's begun trying to shimmy up the side and get in herself. She of course loves the pool and has a blast when we go, which we're trying to do every weekend this summer. We missed this weekend because she had a high fever the day before we would've gone, but we'll try to make up for it next time.
She loves her sippy cups and has been done with bottles since right after her 1st birthday. Straws have been a little more difficult to understand the concept on, but this weekend she started using one really well, so we pulled out the spill-proof straw sippies and she seems very excited about using them. Below is a picture of what I improvised with today after discovering I had left the house without a sippy. I had a bottle of water in the car and went into the Starbucks inside the grocery store and got a straw. She was giddy to be drinking out of it and made me so proud... and THANKFUL that she can be so flexible sometimes.
She is still a pretty good eater, though she has gotten pickier over the last few weeks especially. My once eat-everything girl now likes to mash food up in her hand and hide it in the pocket of her bib rather than taste it. She has some days where she'll eat everything on her plate, and other days where she'll pick and choose and avoid most of it. The girl LOVES hot dogs and would eat them morning, noon and night if we'd let her. So I stocked up on some all white meat turkey dogs and those work just fine for her (and me). Other faves (depending on the day) are green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, veggie patties and pasta. She likes corn, peas and lima beans, but each one of these are also great for squishing, so some days it's hard to tell. One meal that is always easy to get her to eat is breakfast. Eggs, waffles, bananas, applesauce and berries - she'll eat them all without problem. We've had some fun lately letting her eat messy berry breakfasts with her hands and capturing it in pictures.
That's our wrap-up!!
I have a few cute posts waiting in the wings and I'll try to be better about putting them up here more frequently. Blogger has really been a battle for me lately with posting videos, so I tend to get frustrated and give up after a little while. I'll be looking into alternative video hosting sites if it continues to give me problems.
