Hugs

Harper is so affectionate these days! It feels wonderful to see that she is already understanding what it means to love and care for someone/ something and how to be kind and show that love. She has been giving hugs for about a month now, often prompted by "Can you give _____ a hug?" but she often does it without any prompting, too. It started with Mama and Dada, then extended into the world of her stuffed animals (Puffin was first), and now she'll even hug the bottle of lotion! It's fun to watch her hug objects because she curls her little arm around it, draws it into her neck and leans her head over it. We always say "Oh... so sweet and nice!", which she waits to hear before pulling back. But it is extra fun to be the recipient of a Harper hug, her little arms reaching across you, her head leaning lovingly against your neck.

Scoots turned into Crawls

Harper's been working on the up-on-all-fours, getting-both-legs-going actions for about a week now, and today she actually got somewhere with this crawl. She still vascilates between her old standby (the scoot) and her new ability, but she's definitely on her way!

Fast and Clingy

The girl is getting quick with the scooting around. She generally pulls with her right arm and pushes off with her left leg at the same time and she's covering a lot of ground these days. Her favorite thing is to touch the "breakables" or the "yuckies" of course, like the stereo on the bottom shelf or Dad's flip flops. I have begun to stick those outlet covers on the accessible outlets. It was really funny today while Dada was home for lunch. Harper was scooting along to come join us, and she stopped off at the stereo (her favorite). She sat up from the scoot position (which she has totally mastered by herself now) and the next thing we knew, she had pushed the power button and then the play button, and They Might Be Giants' Here Come the ABC's album started playing. E and I both looked at eachother with bewilderment and laughed at our genius girl. It was probably fluke more than genius, but definitely hilarious (especially if you're familiar with that album and the way it starts)! Along with Harper's mobility comes the separation anxiety typical of this age. She gets somewhere and then thinks I am gone and starts to cry for me. I was so proud of her when she learned how to "Give Mama a hug" on cue, and now she's like leaning in and giving hugs all the time (no cueing necessary). The hugs are sweet, but I do look forward to the time when Harper feels unafraid to discover on her own.

Eating Habits

Harper's decided she's done with the baby food. She positively refuses to eat it anymore and is VERY interested in whatever's on our plates. I've bought a bunch of finger foods for babies because Harper will eat those and they are the melt-in-your-mouth type that she's less likely to gag on. Until she masters the chewing/mashing with her jaw, I am always really careful about what I give her off my plate. The other night we were eating Mexican, and she had some of my beans. All night long the poor girl was tooting. Yesterday, I made cookies in the morning and broke off a piece of warm cookie for her when they were fresh. Later in the day, I was eating another and Harper gestured (shaking arms up and down) and vocalized her desire for a bite. When I didn't immediately oblige, she launched into crying! I couldn't believe it! Crying for a cookie! (Smart cookie!)

"That"
Her fourth word. Said when pointing. Over the last couple weeks she's started to really emphasize the final 't' sound, which is super cute. Sometimes said with a questioning, ascending tone.


Pulling Up

Harper is working on this trick. I have a suspicion it will be the next one because she almost has it. She can pull herself up if she is seated on my knee so that her feet are in front and below her a bit. It's harder for her when her feet aren't below her. She likes to play stand-up-sit-down over and over again on the couch with a little of my help and lots of supervision/ injury prevention. I know the bumps and bruises are inevitable and coming soon, but I want to put them off for as long as possible.

We love watching Harper's personality develop and unfold. She is increasingly understanding and understood.