In Awe

Now that we're beyond the age of placing milestone stickers on a baby-themed calendar, I find that I don't step back often enough to marvel at all the things Harper has learned to do. To be honest, at this the endearing age of two, I more often find myself irritated by the new ways she has learned to cause trouble and talk back, which is not so much in the spirit of celebrating her development.

So here are a few recent accomplishments:

1) Harper can jump and get both feet off the floor! This achievement has been a long time coming. I was concerned enough about her lack of gravity defying power that I asked about it at her two-year-old well visit with our pediatrician, six months ago. (The doctor was not worried.)

2) Harper can independently play with her Mrs. Potato Head. Now I know that this isn't on anyone's child development checklist, but here's the thing. . . When she got the toy in November, a mere six months ago, she couldn't even put the pieces in the holes on her own. Either she couldn't line them up, or she put them in so gently that they just fell out.

Not only can she put the pieces in now, she actually puts them in the correct places. This awareness of "where things go" was totally absent six months ago. And while correct placement of body parts does not indicate a lot of creativity, she wouldn't let me throw out the empty tissue box in that picture for weeks because it was her "cave." In other words, I'm not particularly worried about her creativity/imagination.


3) Harper is learning to do things for herself and take initiative, which is a trait we all hope our children develop. Even when it is messy. The other morning I was occupied (i.e. in the bathroom) when Harper asked me for some more graham crackers. I told her she could have some when I was finished and apparently she decided she'd rather not wait.


When I saw the bowl of crackers she had helped herself to she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I got too many cwackers, don't I?"


Which brings me to my last accomplishment:

4) The things Harper can say! If you don't count the times when she is shouting, "I can't want to!!!" it is a lot of fun to hear what comes out of Harper's mouth. I delight both in her thoughts and in her ability to form sentences. Quite often the child talks in paragraphs. (Her pronunciation often leaves something to be desired, but it's kind of cute and I know she'll out grow it sooner or later.)

Tonight we were sitting at dinner while Harper gave a running commentary about the traffic she was watching through the window next to our booth. A convertible, with its top down, pulled up to the stop light and Harper exclaimed, "Yook (look) that car is bwoken!"