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Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Harper is very in touch with her feelings. Yesterday, the two of us went over to the new house to meet the Blinds, Etc. staffperson who was going to measure and order our window treatments. We were playing and wasting time when Harper darted over to her favorite spot to play: the kitchen. She loves to open and close the doors, and pull out the drawers as well. The night before Daddy told Harper she couldn't play with the cabinets because she was getting a bit rough with them (i.e. trying to close a door when the drawer was extended). So when she ran over to play again, I stopped her and told her, "Daddy said we can't play with the cabinets, Harper." She shut the door she'd opened and had a saddish expression on her face. I paused and then asked, "How are you feeling?" Harper sighed and said, "Frustrated." I crouched down to her level then, and said, "Yes... do you feel frustrated because you want to play and DadaMama told you no?" Harper replied, "Yeah," and looked longingly at the cabinets. I then explained to her why Daddy had told her to stop the night before-- that she'd been playing too roughly, that she needed to be gentle with the new cabinets, and I modeled for her how to open and close them, how to extend the drawer and that it needed to be closed before trying to close the door. She watched and repeated what I'd done. I allowed her to play with them as long as she handled them gently. She, of course, did.
Harper can also tell you when she's feeling sad, confused, tired/sleepy, happy, scared, excited, and sometimes even lonely (like when my arms are full or I'm busy and she's wanting me to pick her up). I appreciate her ability to describe her emotional state like that and I encourage it by naming her feeling when she starts to get upset. This all began with a book we got from the library; I can't even remember the name of it now, but it named many different emotions and gave an example for each of why a person might feel that way. We read it many times, and began trying to make the faces for each emotion. Then, when Harper would get upset about something I would try to describe what she was feeling... "Oh, hon, you don't need to be sad. I think you're confused because..." or "Yes, you're feeling sad because she has your toy. Let's try playing with this instead..." or... perfect example!
As I was typing this, Harper was sitting in the big office chair and she tried to bounce in it. The table was behind it and it made an (unanticipated) noise. Harper said, "Harper bumped," with a sad/scared look on her face. I asked, "What did you bump?" She said, "I don't know. It makes Harper feel sad." I replied, "I think you bumped the table because it was behind the chair. Mama moved your chair so now you won't bump it. Mama fixed it. If you want to bounce again, it won't make that noise." Harper said, "Harper doesn't want to." I told her, "Ok. You don't have to, hon." Harper said, "Harper was scared." I said, "Yes, because it made a noise that surprised you. But you don't need to be scared because you're safe with Mama."
And then, a picture of an Asian baby came on the screen of her TV and she said, "It looks like Isaiah!" She's referring to our half Philipino baby friend, Ed and Erin's child. Harper is just constantly making unexpected connections.
Harper can also tell you when she's feeling sad, confused, tired/sleepy, happy, scared, excited, and sometimes even lonely (like when my arms are full or I'm busy and she's wanting me to pick her up). I appreciate her ability to describe her emotional state like that and I encourage it by naming her feeling when she starts to get upset. This all began with a book we got from the library; I can't even remember the name of it now, but it named many different emotions and gave an example for each of why a person might feel that way. We read it many times, and began trying to make the faces for each emotion. Then, when Harper would get upset about something I would try to describe what she was feeling... "Oh, hon, you don't need to be sad. I think you're confused because..." or "Yes, you're feeling sad because she has your toy. Let's try playing with this instead..." or... perfect example!
As I was typing this, Harper was sitting in the big office chair and she tried to bounce in it. The table was behind it and it made an (unanticipated) noise. Harper said, "Harper bumped," with a sad/scared look on her face. I asked, "What did you bump?" She said, "I don't know. It makes Harper feel sad." I replied, "I think you bumped the table because it was behind the chair. Mama moved your chair so now you won't bump it. Mama fixed it. If you want to bounce again, it won't make that noise." Harper said, "Harper doesn't want to." I told her, "Ok. You don't have to, hon." Harper said, "Harper was scared." I said, "Yes, because it made a noise that surprised you. But you don't need to be scared because you're safe with Mama."
And then, a picture of an Asian baby came on the screen of her TV and she said, "It looks like Isaiah!" She's referring to our half Philipino baby friend, Ed and Erin's child. Harper is just constantly making unexpected connections.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Harper's 10 word sentence today (describing the image on her sippy cup at lunch):
The piggy is putting a ribbon on the big horsey.
After Harper said this, I happened to count it out. This is pretty typical however. Harper often says things that are still pretty funny to hear a little girl who isn't even two say. When the leappad she was playing with made the wrong sound, she said "Uh oh, try again, that was random."
In addition to her great grasp of language, Harper is pretty good with numbers too. She can count to 10 in English (actually she can count to 100+ in English), Spanish, French and German; she can, by sight, recognize up to four objects (or any combination of fingers up to 10); she knows which numbers are bigger or smaller than others; she has number conservation (if you tell her to count from 13, she will start 14, 15...). She can also subtract one from numbers (count backwards - if there are seven bites on her tray and we ask her how many will be left if she eats one, she knows it's six). Harper likes to count all the time. In addition to singing millions of songs, especially the ABC's, she will often just start counting things - cars, cows, tree, butterflies, anything she can see out the car window.
Harper is learning lots of flowers and plants. She recognizes and names all the crops between our house and her cousins' house in Strathmore (corn, walnuts, grapes, oranges, olives, pomegranate) and she knows lots of flowers and likes to point them out from the car window, during walks, or in books (agapanthas, jasmine, roses, daisies, zinnias, tulips, sunflowers, daffodils, poppies, lilies, morning glories...)
Harper is also loving the new house and New Baby (aka Baby Brother). In fact, when asked her favorite thing about the new house, Harper said, "Baby Brother will live here."
Needless to say, we are having fun.
That's all for the blog for now, but we have lots more that will come soon.
-DadaMama
The piggy is putting a ribbon on the big horsey.
After Harper said this, I happened to count it out. This is pretty typical however. Harper often says things that are still pretty funny to hear a little girl who isn't even two say. When the leappad she was playing with made the wrong sound, she said "Uh oh, try again, that was random."
In addition to her great grasp of language, Harper is pretty good with numbers too. She can count to 10 in English (actually she can count to 100+ in English), Spanish, French and German; she can, by sight, recognize up to four objects (or any combination of fingers up to 10); she knows which numbers are bigger or smaller than others; she has number conservation (if you tell her to count from 13, she will start 14, 15...). She can also subtract one from numbers (count backwards - if there are seven bites on her tray and we ask her how many will be left if she eats one, she knows it's six). Harper likes to count all the time. In addition to singing millions of songs, especially the ABC's, she will often just start counting things - cars, cows, tree, butterflies, anything she can see out the car window.
Harper is learning lots of flowers and plants. She recognizes and names all the crops between our house and her cousins' house in Strathmore (corn, walnuts, grapes, oranges, olives, pomegranate) and she knows lots of flowers and likes to point them out from the car window, during walks, or in books (agapanthas, jasmine, roses, daisies, zinnias, tulips, sunflowers, daffodils, poppies, lilies, morning glories...)
Harper is also loving the new house and New Baby (aka Baby Brother). In fact, when asked her favorite thing about the new house, Harper said, "Baby Brother will live here."
Needless to say, we are having fun.
That's all for the blog for now, but we have lots more that will come soon.
-DadaMama
Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sings Songs
Harper loves singing and knows a million songs... the ones that immediately come to mind include:
Rock a Bye Baby
This is ______'s Harper Girl
The More We Get Together
Ring Around the Rosies
Good Morning to You
Where is Thumbkin?
Shake Your Sillies Out
Going on a Bear Hunt
Itsy Bitsy Spider (with motions)
ABC's
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Baa, Baa Black Sheep *her first solo song
Ma Nishtana (the 4 questions in Hebrew, for Passover the youngest person at the table is supposed to ask the questions-- it's a chant, really, and I taught it to Harper months ago. She picked it up right away, like any other song, and sings it in its entirety)
... and there are many more. She often surprises us with a song that we didn't know she knew.
States
Harper continues to hunger for learning. She recently inherited a LeapPad from Chloe Clark, and in a week's time she's learned half of the 50 states, including their significance (i.e. where Grandma grew up and Mama went to school = New York, where Uncle Steve and Aunt Erica live = Georgia, where Grannie's family is from = Arkansas, where Aunt D and Uncle Marty are moving = Illinois, where Aunt Erica is from = Ohio, etc. etc.) She can find them on a map, and also say the names. She says them all clearly enough, the only one that's a little off is "Bobtana", my personal favorite, Montana. She also knows Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida, Maine, Idaho, South Dakota...as well as the compass rose and the title, "The United States of America".
Better Sleeper
I have hesitated to say it for fear of jinxing, but Harper has begun sleeping through the night over the course of the last month and a half. She randomly slept in her own crib from about 9 pm to 7:15 am one day and ever since then, she has slept usually until around 6:30am in her bed. It is a very exciting change in our lives! For Harper, it turns out her sleep only got consistent after she was weaned.
Harper loves singing and knows a million songs... the ones that immediately come to mind include:
Rock a Bye Baby
This is ______'s Harper Girl
The More We Get Together
Ring Around the Rosies
Good Morning to You
Where is Thumbkin?
Shake Your Sillies Out
Going on a Bear Hunt
Itsy Bitsy Spider (with motions)
ABC's
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Baa, Baa Black Sheep *her first solo song
Ma Nishtana (the 4 questions in Hebrew, for Passover the youngest person at the table is supposed to ask the questions-- it's a chant, really, and I taught it to Harper months ago. She picked it up right away, like any other song, and sings it in its entirety)
... and there are many more. She often surprises us with a song that we didn't know she knew.
States
Harper continues to hunger for learning. She recently inherited a LeapPad from Chloe Clark, and in a week's time she's learned half of the 50 states, including their significance (i.e. where Grandma grew up and Mama went to school = New York, where Uncle Steve and Aunt Erica live = Georgia, where Grannie's family is from = Arkansas, where Aunt D and Uncle Marty are moving = Illinois, where Aunt Erica is from = Ohio, etc. etc.) She can find them on a map, and also say the names. She says them all clearly enough, the only one that's a little off is "Bobtana", my personal favorite, Montana. She also knows Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida, Maine, Idaho, South Dakota...as well as the compass rose and the title, "The United States of America".
Better Sleeper
I have hesitated to say it for fear of jinxing, but Harper has begun sleeping through the night over the course of the last month and a half. She randomly slept in her own crib from about 9 pm to 7:15 am one day and ever since then, she has slept usually until around 6:30am in her bed. It is a very exciting change in our lives! For Harper, it turns out her sleep only got consistent after she was weaned.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Name is...?
In typical Harper fashion, the girl remains inquisitive and this new phrase is one of her favorites. She typically uses the phrase not to ask the common noun name for something, but the proper. For example, we'll be looking at a picture of a chinchilla and she'll ask, "name is?" to which I'll reply, "Marjorie." Anyone reading to her has to think on their feet and get creative naming the animals, people, and sometimes even things for which Harper wants names. She already knows what everything is... yes, including chinchillas, meerkats, anything you've told her once. She even differentiates between different kinds of fish (blow fish, rock fish, angel fish, clown fish, nurse shark, jelly fish, etc.) and now she's naming different dog breeds when she recognizes them (Komondor, Visla, Toy Poodle, terrier, to name a few). Ever the sponge...
Babies and Books
We go to the library's story time every Wednesday morning at 10 and Harper calls it, "Babies and Books". She enjoys listening to the stories, but prefers the singing with hand movements best of all. She knows the individual names of her fingers (thumb, pointer, middle, ring, pinky) from the "where is thumbkin?" song. Over lunch the other day, I started to sing the "bear hunt" song and only got three lines into it before I couldn't remember any more. I turned to get Harper another bite, and to my surprise, she sang out the next line (which happened to be "What a beautiful day!"). She seriously, seriously has a better memory than me. I tell people it's like she doesn't have that filter that we all use to exclude information as not-important-enough-to-remember. She takes it ALL in, and is constantly surprising me with what she knows. Another lunch time surprise recently was Harper singing the entire "Twinkle, Twinkle little star" song-- every syllable-- by herself, no prompting. It's especially surprising because it's not like we're working on it. We've sung it when we read her nursery rhyme book or sometimes when we see a star, she requests the song. I was shocked that the entire song was up there in her head! A week before, she surprised me and sang "baa, baa black sheep, have you wool? es, sir, es, sir, three bags full. one a master, one a dame, boy lane" which was pretty cute. Harper also really likes the "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
Harper also enjoys being around all the other kids at the library. She calls them "babies" most of the time (while the majority are older than her). The other day, I overheard her walking up to a kid and saying, "Hi, baby. I'm Harper. I'm good." Hilarious. I'm trying to teach her the difference between babies and big kids (so she doesn't wound any egos). I think she's starting to get the idea because she calls herself a "big girl" more and more now. Also, when asked, "where's the baby?" she'll point to my tummy. It's a start! We got her a couple of books to help her understand there's a sibling in the works, and we read them occasionally. At this point it remains abstract.
We always take home a bunch of books from each visit to the library, and by the time I return them, she's got them all memorized. You can pause when reading any of her books, and most of the time, she'll say the next word or few words. She loves to read books. She's also started to be okay looking at them "by yourself". She'll pull books off her shelf, turn the pages, sometimes narrate with her memory of what the pages say, sometimes just look at pictures.
ABC's and Counting
Harper can sing the entire ABC song, and loves doing it. She's been able to sing it for the past month and a half. She recognizes all the letters (upper and lower case). Her counting took off a few weeks ago and she clearly understands that after you get to twenty, there's a pattern to follow. It's 21, 22, 23... and so on... then 30, 31, 32, 33... then 40, 41, 42, 43 and Ethan counted to 100 with her the other day, helping her out with the multiples of ten to keep her going. Basically, she can count. She also counted crayons at her "artist table" today, putting another in her hand until she got up to ten. That was exciting for me because it means she actually gets the concept that these numbers are quantitative... not just words in a sequence.
Dada and Ducks
Today, for the second time, Harper and I met Dada for a picnic lunch at Plaza park. Harper loves eating outside, watching the ducks, and getting a little mid-day Dada love. We don't get to see Ethan for lunch since he changed jobs and works across town, so these picnics are extra special. I plan to try to make them happen more and more often as the weather gets nicer.
Bedtime
Things have officially changed during the bedtime hour. After reading books with Dad, instead of the nursing, Harper now sings a couple songs with both of us, then Dada cuddles her and sings, "This is Dada's Harper girl..." until she conks out and is laid down in her crib. Most nights since the change (about a week and a half ago) it's been Dad to put her to sleep. Of course, she usually wakes when set down and Dad or I will have to rest a hand on her back until she's back asleep and we can sneak out of the room. It's exciting that the girl is officially weaned and is also enjoying Dad's cuddles more. She's growing up!
In typical Harper fashion, the girl remains inquisitive and this new phrase is one of her favorites. She typically uses the phrase not to ask the common noun name for something, but the proper. For example, we'll be looking at a picture of a chinchilla and she'll ask, "name is?" to which I'll reply, "Marjorie." Anyone reading to her has to think on their feet and get creative naming the animals, people, and sometimes even things for which Harper wants names. She already knows what everything is... yes, including chinchillas, meerkats, anything you've told her once. She even differentiates between different kinds of fish (blow fish, rock fish, angel fish, clown fish, nurse shark, jelly fish, etc.) and now she's naming different dog breeds when she recognizes them (Komondor, Visla, Toy Poodle, terrier, to name a few). Ever the sponge...
Babies and Books
We go to the library's story time every Wednesday morning at 10 and Harper calls it, "Babies and Books". She enjoys listening to the stories, but prefers the singing with hand movements best of all. She knows the individual names of her fingers (thumb, pointer, middle, ring, pinky) from the "where is thumbkin?" song. Over lunch the other day, I started to sing the "bear hunt" song and only got three lines into it before I couldn't remember any more. I turned to get Harper another bite, and to my surprise, she sang out the next line (which happened to be "What a beautiful day!"). She seriously, seriously has a better memory than me. I tell people it's like she doesn't have that filter that we all use to exclude information as not-important-enough-to-remember. She takes it ALL in, and is constantly surprising me with what she knows. Another lunch time surprise recently was Harper singing the entire "Twinkle, Twinkle little star" song-- every syllable-- by herself, no prompting. It's especially surprising because it's not like we're working on it. We've sung it when we read her nursery rhyme book or sometimes when we see a star, she requests the song. I was shocked that the entire song was up there in her head! A week before, she surprised me and sang "baa, baa black sheep, have you wool? es, sir, es, sir, three bags full. one a master, one a dame, boy lane" which was pretty cute. Harper also really likes the "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
Harper also enjoys being around all the other kids at the library. She calls them "babies" most of the time (while the majority are older than her). The other day, I overheard her walking up to a kid and saying, "Hi, baby. I'm Harper. I'm good." Hilarious. I'm trying to teach her the difference between babies and big kids (so she doesn't wound any egos). I think she's starting to get the idea because she calls herself a "big girl" more and more now. Also, when asked, "where's the baby?" she'll point to my tummy. It's a start! We got her a couple of books to help her understand there's a sibling in the works, and we read them occasionally. At this point it remains abstract.
We always take home a bunch of books from each visit to the library, and by the time I return them, she's got them all memorized. You can pause when reading any of her books, and most of the time, she'll say the next word or few words. She loves to read books. She's also started to be okay looking at them "by yourself". She'll pull books off her shelf, turn the pages, sometimes narrate with her memory of what the pages say, sometimes just look at pictures.
ABC's and Counting
Harper can sing the entire ABC song, and loves doing it. She's been able to sing it for the past month and a half. She recognizes all the letters (upper and lower case). Her counting took off a few weeks ago and she clearly understands that after you get to twenty, there's a pattern to follow. It's 21, 22, 23... and so on... then 30, 31, 32, 33... then 40, 41, 42, 43 and Ethan counted to 100 with her the other day, helping her out with the multiples of ten to keep her going. Basically, she can count. She also counted crayons at her "artist table" today, putting another in her hand until she got up to ten. That was exciting for me because it means she actually gets the concept that these numbers are quantitative... not just words in a sequence.
Dada and Ducks
Today, for the second time, Harper and I met Dada for a picnic lunch at Plaza park. Harper loves eating outside, watching the ducks, and getting a little mid-day Dada love. We don't get to see Ethan for lunch since he changed jobs and works across town, so these picnics are extra special. I plan to try to make them happen more and more often as the weather gets nicer.
Bedtime
Things have officially changed during the bedtime hour. After reading books with Dad, instead of the nursing, Harper now sings a couple songs with both of us, then Dada cuddles her and sings, "This is Dada's Harper girl..." until she conks out and is laid down in her crib. Most nights since the change (about a week and a half ago) it's been Dad to put her to sleep. Of course, she usually wakes when set down and Dad or I will have to rest a hand on her back until she's back asleep and we can sneak out of the room. It's exciting that the girl is officially weaned and is also enjoying Dad's cuddles more. She's growing up!
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