A Week in Wisconsin: Wednesday

Wednesday was a fairly busy day in Wisconsin. Harper was pretty good at entertaining herself when we were at the condo. She must have spent a good half an hour trying to walk in my shoes.



At the (slow) rate her feet seem to be growing, this activity could keep her busy well into her grade school years.

Since Wednesday was a beautiful day, we took a long walk up to another park. It was on this walk that I took the picture of the unfortunate real estate sign. There were swings, slides, a merry-go-round, and various climbing structures at this park. Guess what Harper played in. . . Yes, the sand. How did you know?


We decided to take the long way around to get home, since it was so gorgeous, and our potential cranky-pants was in a pretty good mood. It took a little longer than we thought, once Harper insisted on pushing the stroller.



Harper loves to push, unfortunately she can't steer or even see when she pushes. Every once in a while she'll peek out from under the stroller to make sure we're still with her, but she's pretty much just off to the races. Harper and I have actually walked the length of several malls this way; she pushes while I steer. People laugh as we walk by, but it's a good way to kill a little time and let the Energizer Bunny run off some steam.


Wednesday ended with a nice long bath in Muga's tub. My mom showed Harper how to keep warm by keeping a washcloth on her back. They had a fabulous tea party with the bath water. Harper only drank a little.

Somebody Call Jay Leno

This is the best, non-human, thing I saw while I was in Wisconsin:



That realtor might want to rethink the sign placement. I'm just saying.

A Week in Wisconsin: Tuesday

Apparently, Sussex, WI, where my parents live, is the land of 10,000 parks. There is a park around every corner and they each have a crucial element for Harper's entertainment, sand! There are sand boxes big and small in all these local parks. The only bad thing about it was trying to convince Harper to leave when we were ready to go home.

Another downside to our outdoor adventures was the fact that the bees appeared to love Muga's hair spray and didn't want to leave us alone. Fortunately we all walked away without any bee stings.


If sandboxes were Harper's favorite Wisconsin activity, running on the deck with Grandpa was a close second. My dad spent lots of time with her, literally just running back and forth on the small deck behind their condo.


Again, Harper's least favorite part was when I put an end to that activity in favor of bedtime.


She is definitely at an age where she finds something she likes and wants to do it over and over and over again. Between playing with Grandpa and playing with Auntie Shannon (when Harper wasn't ignoring her), getting to bed proved to be a big challenge. We are currently in the process of re-conditioning her!

A Week in Wisconsin: Monday

Harper loves cars. More specifically, Harper loves cars she can sit in.

On Monday, my mom thought it would be a good idea to take Harper to Toys R Us and see if anything sparked her interest. She was hoping to find some toy that Harper was really interested in to take back to Mom and Dad's just in case Harper's infatuation with our old toys turned out to be short-lived.

Our first mistake was letting her loose in the store, rather than strapping her into a cart. A choice I will not make next time we enter a toy store!

We headed toward the baby section at the back of the store, in search of a couple of new "B's". Harper loves her yellow "B" and, after the recent stomach flu incident, I fully realized how important to our sanity it would be to have more than one. I had been looking for them for a couple of weeks, to no avail, until that day in Toys R Us, when I found two! Which made the whole crazy toy store trip worth it.

Harper did just fine until we found two rows of insanely expensive, motorized, ride-on vehicles like this one. Apparently she thought she'd landed in her idea of heaven and she never wanted to leave. She climbed in and out of car after car, looking for seat belts and asking for our keys. She turned knobs, delighted that a few of the cars had actual working radios. I'm not going to tell people how to spend their money, but if you have $300+ to buy a faux Caddie with working radio and cup holders for your three-year-old, you probably need to look into charitable giving because you have too much of it!!! Yikes!

In the end we left with a ten dollar plastic tea party/dinner wear set, which provided hours of imagination-stimulating, no-batteries-required entertainment. Oh, and a screaming Harper who, if you ask her, is probably still angry that we didn't get her a car.

A Week in Wisconsin: Sunday

Yes, I'm going to do it, give little highlights of our trip north, day by day. If you are falling asleep with boredom at the mere thought of this, then check back later in the week, when I will likely have moved on to something else.

Sunday was the LONG drive up to Wisconsin, which turned out not to be so bad after all. My dad took advantage of the drive to get in Harper's good graces, by sitting next to her in the back seat and reading just about every board book we brought with us. Harper was eating it up. She can be kind of shy around people she doesn't see often, especially if she senses they really want to play with/talk to her. So now we know the answer: sit next to her in the back seat during an eternal car ride, proving to be her only hope for any sort of entertainment. You'll have a friend for life.

My sister Shannon, who has not been the fortunate beneficiary of a long car ride with Harper, had a bit of a harder time. Shannon's enthusiasm for her goddaughter was often met with crossed arms and pouty lips. Shannon -- I promise Harper will get over this as she gets older!

Hello From The Land of Cheese and Beer

Dear Internet People,

I am having a great time here in Wisconsin. There are parks, new toys, lots of people to play with, and Blue's Clues every day because Grandma and Grandpa have the kind of cable with more than seven channels. Being on vacation seems to mean that I can have more than one cup of juice in a day, get a snack anytime if I tell Grandma, "please," and get to stay up late because so many people want to play with me and some of them don't get home from work until dinner time. It is really fun here. I miss Rebound but I think he has to keep Daddy company until Daddy comes up here too. Then Rebound will keep Nana and Dziatku and Aunt Meaghan company until we all get home.

I have to sleep in the basement bedroom here. I didn't like that at first but now it is okay. Mommy lets me have a book in bed because I read it to my baby and then I don't cry too much, just a little to see if she will really let me stay up even later. This doesn't actually work.

The best parts of the trip so far have been the neat park with a fire truck play thing and a big sandbox with a new sand turtle toy Grandma bought for me.



I also liked playing tea party with Auntie Shannon. And playing with her in the basement. I like her a lot but I am pretending to be shy because I don't see her very much in Ohio. I am getting used to her and she is fun. She got me an Elmo t-shirt about being Irish and I like Elmo.

Another fun game is running races on the deck with Grandpa. But I don't like it very much when Mommy makes me come inside and so I crossed some grumpy arms at her. The running game is much better than pjs and bed. Mommy should know that.

My mommy knows that she has lots of things to write to you about like my play day with Dana (it was really great that day!) and our trip from a long time ago to the kids' museum in Indiana. She will write about these things on another day. Today it got to be my turn but now I really have to go to bed.

I love you!

Harper

Love Those Books!

Like any parent, I want Harper to grow up healthy and happy, I want her to be respectful and care about others, I want her to feel good about herself and empowered to be a positive force in the world, but I don't think to often about anything specific I want her to be or do as she grows. I think about what she might be or do, but I want those choices to be hers. I don't want her to grow up thinking she has to be a doctor (or teacher or cab driver or physicist) because we whispered it into her ear as she slept each night. I try not to have too many expectations in this area because she's already showing me that what I think she should do is often very different from what she actually wants!

But, open-mindedness aside, I really, really, really want her to love to read. I hear busy moms say, "I don't have time to read," or, "I haven't read a book in five years," and it just doesn't compute to me. That's fine if someone else makes that choice, but I can't not read. I have been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. Sure there have been times when it's taken me longer than others to read a book, but I'm always reading something.

We are doing the right things to encourage Harper to be a reader. We have books all over the house, she has lots of board books that she has access to, we read to her every night before bed, she sees us reading, we visit the library, etc. It has been discouraging that, during most days, she can't be bothered to slow down long enough to let me read her a book. This makes me extra glad that we worked it into her bedtime routine at an early age.


There are lots of times I wish she would take a little time out during the day and we could sit down and read quietly for a few minutes, but usually she is far too busy for this. Fortunately, even though we don't read as much as I'd like, lately she's been giving me some indication that she actually pays attention when we do read.

One of her favorite books right now is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. It has a nice repetitive text and features some of Harper's favorite animals. At this point, when we read that book, I can leave out about half the words for Harper to fill in for me. She always knows which animal is next, even before we turn the page. Recently, I was thrilled when a friend gave us the board book (we actually have the larger, hardcover book) because it meant we could keep one in the car. Harper loves this book so much that she has started to read it to her stuffed animals and she pretty much has it memorized.

Today she was reading it in the car and it sounded like this, "Bow beh bow beh wha see? Ah see burbe ook me." Which is actually, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me." Pretty good, huh? But the best part was when she looked up toward me in the driver's seat and exclaimed, "Ah reereg boop, Mommy!" (I'm reading the book Mommy!) Music to my book-loving ears.

Maybe there's hope after all.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I am apparently one of about 12 people in the United States who actually gets excited about preseason football. I get excited because I LOVE football season! I love it even more this year, which is probably Brett Favre's last, and trust me, I will be watching all the Packer Football I can get my eyes on. As you may remember from last winter, the brainwashing begins early in our house. The Packers didn't fare so well in their preseason opener, but I have faith, Cheeseheads always have faith. Every year I truly believe that we can win the Super Bowl, even when Matt is willing to bet me fifteen hours of rubbing my feet that you know where is more likely to freeze over than the Packers are to win 8 games this season. Oh we'll just see about that!


I have been preparing Harper for the onset of the actual football season by teaching her some important language and football actions. We are working on "Go Packers!" which may prove confusing, since she just learned "Go Dragons!" And she is working on her end zone dance:




See! She's even giving the dog a, "Yeah, I know you'd like to be as good as me, but it's never gonna happen," look.

I am so proud.

Much to Celebrate

A) Harper recovered from her stomach flu, despite a difficult next day in which she wasn't allowed to eat much at a time, or much at all, per doctor's orders. This involved a lot of her crying and screaming, "ma mo pease!" (one more please!) in fits of icky-flu feeling frustration. Fortunately we are all better now, and no adults were struck down. . .this time.

B) I FINISHED MY FIRST QUARTER OF GRADUATE SCHOOL TODAY! (Sorry for shouting at you.) This means that I successfully completed my research paper, presentation PowerPoint, handout, and had the technology work for me to present this afternoon, which I did without throwing up or making a terribly large fool of myself (I hope). I have three school-free weeks now before we start all over again in September.

C) Matt and I have a most-expenses-paid getaway to Cincinnati this weekend, during which we will relax, eat well, and just generally enjoy each other's company. This is part of some raffle/contest he won at work. We even get to have a couple's massage, which will make me feel like I'm on The Bachelor, but I won't be worried about whether they guy will keep me around after the date.

D) Harper is having her first friend over to play tomorrow. Dana, or "Deedah!" according to Harper, will come over to play for a couple of hours in the morning and then have lunch with us. I think it will be fun for the girls, I'm just hoping they won't gang up on me.


There's a lot of pressure when it comes to entertaining one-year-olds you know. Do we have enough crayons? Is our juice an acceptable flavor? Will the girls repeatedly seek out toys that there are only one of? How will the dog react to be confined so as not to knock over the company? Since I don't have to do school work tomorrow, I may even get on the computer again and let you know how it goes. This will be our first play date with two girls and only one mom. Wish me luck!

11:30 p.m., It Begins. . .

Warning: More gross content!

Does God punish students who procrastinate? I was all geared up for working into the wee hours last night/this morning, as the deadline for my research paper (the last summer assignment!) approaches. What was I doing instead of typing? Cleaning up vomit, calling the 24-hour nurse line, catching second-time-around stomach contents with a large plastic bowl, changing sheets, and doing laundry.

Harper appears to have her first stomach flu.

There is a certain blue bowl which I will never again use for food of any sort.

Banana scented vomit is an unbelievably foul thing.

Watching a one-year-old dry heave (after plenty of productive heaving) is one of the most heart-wrenching sights I have ever encountered.

Harper's stomach finally settled back down around 1:30 a.m., but only after about six rounds with the blue bowl. She's still sleeping now and I'm a little nervous about how I'll juggle the side-effects of her flu on my own because my hero, otherwise known as Matt, still had to go to work today.

I say hero with the utmost sincerity. Not only did I wake Matt up to help deal with vomit, his most feared and hated substance on the face of the earth, but he even maintained his composure when Harper let loose all down the front of his shirt. While I changed sheets and searched for a suitable replacement blankie (guess what, there's no such thing), Matt rocked and consoled Harper as gently and lovingly as ever, despite the fact that he was repeatedly forced to utilize the blue bowl. That is my kind of man.

P.S. Upon further consideration, I decided that no benevolent God would punish me for procrastinating by making Harper vomit. If I was being punished I would have been the one in need of the blue bowl.

Not in a Million Years

Warning: Semi-gross content!

Here's a little scenario I would never have imagined for myself. . .

I walk into the living room and my foot slips out from under me because something has made the floor slick. I look down and my immediate thoughts are, "Is that smashed banana or did Harper's diaper let some poop through when she was sitting on the floor?" Upon closer examination I realize it is surprise disgusting substance number three, a little bit of dog puke.

True story.

All I can say is thank God we got rid of the white carpeting.

(And for those of you wondering how banana, poop, or dog puke would have arrived on my floor without my noticing it before I stepped in it; get yourself a dog and a one-year-old to chase all day, you'll understand.)

Zoo Photos

The Indianapolis Zoo was the fourth zoo we've taken Harper to this year. I have to say we've enjoyed them all, but the zoo in Columbus might be my favorite so far. The zoo in Indy is a "cageless" zoo, so the animals look like they are in their natural habitats. We got there early in the day which was good for two reasons:

1) The animals were more active.
2) By the time we left it was about 700 degrees outside!

Harper was a real trooper. We were there for about three and a half hours and she only rode in her stroller for about five minutes. She did not much want to be carried either. We just kept offering her water and hoping for the best. She probably could have kept going, but all the adults in our party were about to pass out. Harper would look at something for as long as she was interested and then wave/say, "Bye bye," to it, letting us know we had a green light to move on. She would charge ahead saying, "Mo more, anmoos." (One more animal!)

Harper especially enjoyed the desert area and community of meerkats. When two of them started playing and then struck a hugging pose in front of her she said, "Awww. Meetat coot!"

The other highlight was the dolphin show. It wasn't as fantastic as something you'd see a SeaWorld, but it was still fun. Best of all, it was indoors and therefore out of the glaring heat of the sun. We had to wait in our seats for about fifteen minutes before the show started and Harper was fairly content to be passed from one lap to another and watch the dolphins swim in the pool. Her favorite part of the show was when the dolphins used their tails to flip beach balls into the audience. She was impressed with that bit of aquatic athleticism.


The other really cool thing was the underwater dolphin dome, which was basically a glass room built into the dolphins' pool. You walk into it and the dolphins can swim on three sides of you as well as over your head. Here is a picture of Harper in the dolphin dome, you can see she is enjoying it, even if you can't actually see the dolphins in the photo.


Since it's only two hours from home, I'm pretty sure we'll visit the zoo again. Perhaps when the asphalt is not melting beneath our feet.

Multi-Tasker

Tonight, while in the bathroom getting ready for bed, I took Harper's dress off because it got all muddy at Auntie M's and I wanted to rinse it out. Then we got the toothbrush ready. While brushing her teeth, Harper told me she'll like her diaper off, so she could sit on her potty. Which brings me to the news I keep forgetting to get to:

Harper peed on the potty! (There is just no mature-sounding way to make that announcement.)

So there she was tonight, proving herself to be a child of the busy 21st century, brushing her teeth while sitting on the potty. Hers will be the first generation to routinely use a laptop while "eliminating."

These are pictures from the very first time Harper peed on the potty. There was lots of shrieking and clapping and exclaiming.


Look at that big girl.

Matt and I were both proud when she requested reading material.


We are not doing any kind of hard core potty training boot camp here. We brought the potty up from the basement when Harper started showing increased interest in out bathroom habits. She also hates everything about diapers and having her diaper changed, so we're at least helping her understand she has options.

A note to other moms who will eventually enter this potty training business: a friend of our recommended a book that Harper really loves, and it seems appropriate for her age. Lots of the books are geared toward slightly older children. If you're looking for good reading about learning to use the potty (not to be confused with good reading for while you're on the potty) check out A Potty for Me by Karen Katz.

What a Weekend!

We had a terrific weekend in Indianapolis with Nana and Dziatku. We spent a day at the Indy Zoo, a fun night at our hotel, and a day at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It will probably take a week to share the highlights of our experience. For now, here are some pictures of Harper enjoying the hotel.

The very first thing she did was beg to be set on the king sized bed, flopped down on the pillows, and pulled the lap desk over herself! She did not want to get down. Much to her dismay, we'd brought along the pack-n-play for her to sleep in.


The most fun was, of course, the hotel pool. We had terrific timing and went swimming when no one else was there. Perfect for a girl who is not so fond of noise.


Harper explored the ladders and the stairs, and just enjoyed "swimming" with Daddy and Dziatku. Nana and I took full advantage of the lounge chairs.


Matt perfected his splashing techniques as Harper checked out the perimeter of the pool area. She found that no place was out of her Daddy's range.


Nana and Dziatku brought a new doll along on the trip, partly to entertain Harper during the two hours (each way) in the car. Harper dutifully cared for her new baby, realizing that moms don't even get to change out of their swimming suits before taking care of the little ones!


Okay, it does look a little like she's strangling the baby in that picture. I promise, she didn't learn that from me!

Beat the Heat

On these hot and humid summer days, don't you miss a time when clothes were pretty much optional?

Onion Brief

Just in case you've been following Harper's onion experiment, the flower that we speculated about here has appeared.



Hard to believe it started as a random smelly thing on our kitchen counter.

Pretty soon the scent of onions will take over the neighborhood.

The Long Days of Summer

Between the heat and the rain, Harper and I haven't spent too much time in the great outdoors lately. Today we went through many, many, many indoor activities. It was one of those days that every time I looked at my watch, we seemed to be further from bedtime or naptime or Matt being home. . .

In the morning we drove around in the rain and looked at a couple of kennels to see where Rebound is going to spend the weekend. It was like visiting doggie jail, but Harper liked seeing the canines. After that we didn't have many exciting plans.

We played with homemade play dough.


We had a tea party (Thanks for the tea set Aunt Ellen!) in which Harper poured me tea, mixed in sugar, and added milk, about twenty times in a row. It was an elite guest list, just Harper, me, the camel and a wheeled elephant.

Harper repeatedly asked the elephant if her drink was too hot, "Esunt? Dink? Hot?" and then blew on it for her. Harper is a very thoughtful hostess.


Did you know all the fashionable pachyderms are wearing blue and yellow these days?

We read books and books and more books (which were actually the same three books over and over again). We cuddled on the couch with Rebound.


We played the "go to sleep and wake up!" game. Harper is good at fake snoring sounds, but doesn't yet close her eyes when she pretends to sleep.


We even cleaned all the baby toys out of the toy chest. After sorting all the toys we loaded the baby ones into a huge plastic tub to be stored in the basement until they are needed or ready to be donated. Each time I handed Harper a toy to put in the tub she said, "Sank oo Mommy." (Sank oo = thank you.)


After all that I looked at the clock and about twenty minutes had gone by. . . not really, but some days seem to move so s-l-o-w-l-y. Anyone read any good toddler activity books lately? We need some new ideas!

The Funniest 90 Seconds of My Life

Matt's friend had us all set up, so we did get to have Harper participate in last night's toddler race at the Dayton Dragons game. One of the employees stopped us just as we came in and asked how old Harper was. She was looking for children to be in the toddler race. We told her she was 20 months old and the lady started to say that she was probably too old. Then we told her we thought Harper was already signed up to participate. The trouble was that they want the race to last about 90 seconds and it's supposed to be funny. So if one kid runs straight to his/her parent and wins, there's less humor to be had. I really wanted Harper to participate, so we promised we'd do what we could to make sure she didn't just take off. (Sin of omission, I did NOT tell her we'd spent half an hour saying, "On your mark. Get set. Go!" and having Harper race between us.) As it turned out, we needn't have worried. . .

Harper was the first racer to arrive and she picked the yellow t-shirt to race in, which we also got to keep. It has a large "D" with a dragon tail on the back. The front says something like, "I was in the toddler race at a Dayton Dragons baseball game." Pretty cute. They put her shirt and a helmet on her and took her picture. That photo appeared on the scoreboard when they announced the participants. They didn't want us to meet to get ready for the race until the middle of the fifth inning, so we had a long wait.

We enjoyed the first few innings of the game in our seats with Nana and Dzaitku. Fortunately, Harper was pretty well entertained by the action on the field, the music, and her snack cup full of pretzels. I was glad she didn't need to get up and walk around because I was very anxious about rogue peanut shells. One gentleman at the end of our row did open a bag of peanuts, but Ann politely asked him just to keep the shells in his space. I'm sure he thought we were crazy, but I'm wasn't taking any chances.



It was nearly 90 degrees here at game time, which I know is cooler than many places in the country, but we still tried to keep Harper hydrated. Her cheeks were flushed and her nose was sweaty all night.


It finally came time for us to meet for the toddler race. I left our camera with Mike and Ann to take photos, even though they'd be pretty far away. Once all the racing toddlers had been assembled, we got to go down into the under regions of the ball park. We walked down several long hallways and stopped just outside the one leading to the Dragons' dugout. Harper was the oldest of all the racers, there was also an 18-month-old (blue shirt) and a 13-month-old who could hardly stay on his feet (red shirt). We waited until there were two outs in the bottom of the fifth, then we got to go stand just outside the dugout where, horror of horrors, there were peanut shells everywhere! I had a moment of panic and then just tried to breathe deeply and held her very tightly!

After the third out they started to announce the toddlers and we were hustled out into foul territory on the third base line. It was very strange to see Harper's picture on the huge screen. I went to the starting line with Harper while Matt waited at the finish. There was a little bugle music and they were off! Sort of. Remember, Harper was wearing yellow and was in the lane closest to the dugout.


The start was less than thrilling. There was a ton of noise, but none of the toddlers went very far. If I had initially told Harper to run to her daddy, she probably would have taken off, but we were so worried about her being too fast, I didn't really encourage her. Harper took about three steps, then turned to look at me and sat down.


Then she laid on her back. Then she started kicking her feet. I was laughing so hard I was crying. I couldn't breathe well enough to tell her to turn around and get moving. Which was fine, as she wouldn't have heard me anyway.


Then Harper turned her head to the side and noticed the ballplayers staring at her from the dugout. She went into a sort of trace, apparently mesmerized by all those athletes! Eventually the little boy in red started playing with her sandal, which broke her trance. She finally heard me yell, "Go to Daddy!" So she rolled over and started to crawl. Crawl! Harper only crawled on her hands and knees for about three seconds of her life, and now she was crawling in a race. I don't pretend to understand.



For a few seconds it looked like she might actually make it to the finish line first, but about two feet short she laid back down and the little girl in blue was persuaded to cross the line. Oh well.

After all that excitement, we decided to head home. It was already about an hour and a half past Harper's bedtime, which may have had something to do with the fact that she fell into a trance when she should have been racing.

The Dragons won the game 2-1 in the 14th inning, when we were all alseep!

Disconnected

It appears that Blogger is experiencing some technical difficulties and will not let me upload photos. So no cute pictures of Harper today, try again soon! I have some fun items to post about, but I really don't want to tell the stories without visual aids.

We are headed to a Dayton Dragons baseball game tonight. It will be the first one we've taken Harper to since the discovery of the peanut allergy. We will all be on the lookout for peanuts and their shells. It makes me a little nervous. We are lucky not to have any seats directly behind ours, so at least we don't have to worry about people behind us throwing shells down into our row.

The Dayton Dragons are a really family-friendly organization. There is some sort of entertainment, not only between innings, but also in the middle of each inning. A friend and former colleague of Matt's works for the Dragons. She has arranged it up so that Harper will be part of the entertainment tonight. They do a toddler race. There is a mat rolled out onto the field that looks like a piece from a running track. Three toddlers don helmets and race from one end of the mat (and one parent) to the other. It should be fun! We'll see how Harper feels about the whole thing. She'll either love it and be a totally ham, or cling to one of us and refuse to participate. I promise to let you know how it goes.

This Isn't a Salon

What are we going to do with Harper's hair? This is a question that troubles me. Not that I'm overly concerned with how she looks. I'm not the kind of mom that always wants her child to look just so, but I also don't want her to look like we haven't bathed her in a month!

Harper's hair is just long enough to get all messy and stick out in unfortunate directions. It is not, however, long enough for pigtails. Though this didn't stop me from trying. Last weekend I all but wrestled her to the ground trying to twist little elastics into her hair. The results were not that pleasant.


Close up, the pigtails were the tiniest bit adorable, but the overall effect left something to be desired.


Mostly to entertain myself, I also tried to put an elastic in Rebound's hair. He was a much better customer than Harper.


Maybe next week I'll try painting everyone's nails.

Still Growing

Do you remember the onion?

After a little while it did get kind of slimy on the bottom, start to grow things besides roots and shoots, and generally started to stink. Still, it seemed a shame to just throw our very first science experiment away, so we planted it in an abandoned pot outside the kitchen door. Do people plant onions in pots? Probably not, but it seems to be working just fine for now. I'm not really sure what our goal is, which is where our science experiment falls apart. If we're really scientists, we're supposed to have a goal in mind, right? I repeatedly asked Harper to formulate a hypothesis, but she refused.

The former first grade teacher in me really, really wants to get out a ruler and graph how tall the onion plant is growing. Sadly, if I did that, Harper and Rebound wouldn't appreciate it, and Matt would just end up with concrete evidence of how strange I am.

Harper loves to water her onion, so it is serving it's purpose, despite its uncharted growth. I will ask her, "Harper, do you want to water your onion?"

She jumps up and says, "'Mon* Mommy!" Then runs to the cabinet where we keep the watering can and tells me, "Wa-wer, wa-wer, wa-wer!" We tried watering the plant with a cup of water, but Harper mostly ended up watering her feet. She has achieved greater accuracy with the watering can.


After she waters the onion, she likes to dig in the wet soil. Then we go back inside and I spend the next fifteen minutes digging the dirt out from under her nails. This is not her favorite part of the proceedings.


Do you see how ridiculously big that is getting? It has a little bud-type thing on the top, which looks as though it may produce a flower. Are there onion flowers? I guess we'll find out.

* 'Mon is a new addition to Harper's vocabulary. It is her contraction for "come on," and, accompanied by a little waving arm, is one more tool in the arsenal of weapons she uses to rule her universe. It's so cute to hear her say, "'Mon Mommy, 'mon Daddy," that we almost always follow her. Unfortunately, Rebound, who never pays much attention when we say, "Come!" has not been one to jump up and follow when Harper says, "'Mon, Doggie." Harper, who knows she is above Rebound in the pecking order, is undaunted by his lack of obedience. She just walks over and pushes on his rear until he moves.

Super Dad

I'm thinking of renaming this blog. Okay, not really, but something like, "Funny little weirdo: cracking you up since November, 2004," seems more appropriate lately.

This has been a really busy time with school, as two of my summer classes wrap up this week. That means two finals, two huge projects, lots of reading and not much sleep. Fortunately, Matt came home at a perfect time. He didn't have to work last Thursday or Friday, which meant he went on Harper duty all day and left me to go to the library and work on the computer. He even watched Harper while I had a little free time Friday and went to watch a movie at Mary Ellen's. When I got home Friday, a delicious dinner was ready!

Matt also took the majority of toddler time on Saturday and Sunday. During all this Daddy-daughter bonding time, Matt and Harper discovered a new game. Actually, I think it would be more accurate to say that Matt supervised Harper's discovery of a new game.
The game goes like this:

1) Find rocks in the yard.

2) Place rocks in cement block patio wall.

3) Dig in some dirt.

4) Consider rock placement carefully.

5) Strategically, or just for kicks, move rocks to new places.


This game can be played pretty much alone, no one but Harper would likely be allowed to move any of the rocks, not until she can tell you where she wants them anyway. A responsible adult must be present to prevent dropping-of-rocks-on-feet or throwing-of-rocks-at-dog. Supervising from the safety of a patio chair suited Matt just fine.


Whose kid thinks this is fun? Apparently, ours does! Should I be worried? Nah! As long as we provide safe yard debris, Harper is very good at entertaining herself.

In other cute news: when we were at Mike and Ann's Saturday, celebrating Dziatku's (Mike's) birthday, Harper followed me into the bathroom. This is a reality of life with a toddler. While waiting for me to finish up she sat down on the floor next to an air-conditioning vent. The vent was blowing cold air onto her right side, she covered her ear with her hand and said, "Win-nee!" (Windy!) That's one way to put it.