Harper Time

We made our annual spring pilgrimage to the arboretum when my mom was here two weeks ago. I was sad to see the tulip area was under construction, thus ruining my plans for yearly Harper + tulips photos, but we still enjoyed the beautiful grounds.

Michael has gotten the lion's share of attention lately, both in our day-to-day life and here on this blog, so I thought I would take some time to share a few things/stories about Harper today.

I totally took advantage of my mom's willingness to feed/hold the baby to spend some extra time with Harper. One afternoon we made muffins. I have a 1/4 c. scoop I keep in the flour canister so I told Harper we'd need 7 scoops of flour to make the muffins. She helped count as we added the flour to the bowl. After putting in four scoops she looked up at me and said, "We need three more!"

Smarty pants.

Later that day we were eating the muffins and Harper said, "These muffins are great Mom! They taste just like you and me!"

Huh?


We ate dinner on the patio the other night and Harper was just thrilled about it. As we brought the dishes back inside she exclaimed, "That was a great feast!"


Harper has transitioned into a gymnastics class in which she goes in on her own. Previously her class involved teachers giving instruction and then parents helping their own children through the stations. We weren't sure how the transition would go, but Harper LOVES it. She tries things she wouldn't attempt when we were helping her and she is apparently very well behaved. (Whew!)


One gorgeous night last week I took Harper and Michael to the park after dinner. There were a couple of other kids there and Harper immediately went to make friends.

"I'm Harper and over there (gesturing to the picnic table where I sat with the baby) I have a nice baby named Michael."

The girl replied, "I'm Emma and I have a toddler named Cameron."

Michael should be flattered, she used to introduce herself and then immediately tell other children that she had a dog named Rebound.

During the same park trip I had reminded her not to climb up the slides. Harper and Emma were playing some sort of follow the leader game when Emma started climbing up a slide and told Harper to follow. Harper said, "My mom told me I have to go up the steps," and turned and ran in the direction of the stairs. I know it's a small thing, but I feel like Harper spends a lot of time purposefully doing the direct opposite of what I say that I was really proud of her for not blindly following the other child. On the way home I told her how proud I was. It is nice to have that kind of interaction. I need to remember to pay attention and "catch" her behaving more often.


At dinner the other night we were telling knock knock jokes, sort of. Harper doesn't totally get it and will just use two totally unrelated items in her jokes. For example:

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Cow.

Cow who?

Cow grass! (Cue hysterical laughter.)

I told a joke that went like this:

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Dwain.

Dwain who?

Dwain the tub, I'm dwowning!

Harper didn't actually find that joke funny, but some part of her understood it was supposed to be funny and so she tried to adapt it to her own jokes. For the rest of the night her knock knock jokes ended with, "sinking in the bathtub!" So her first joke would go like this:

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Cow.

Cow who?

Cow grass (long pause) sinkinginthebathtub!!!!

(Sigh. As I type I realize this was so much funnier in person. You'll have to take my word for it.)


I wish more of you could know Harper in person. I think you'd like her. She drives me crazy sometimes, but is impossible for me not to be crazy in love with her.