The Gregory Tribe: Harrison- 13 Months

June 14th- July 13th: I seem to get farther and farther behind on these posts! ARGH!!! There is just so much to post when it is only once a month! I am loving being a stay-at-home mom for the summer, and all the fun adventures it allows Harrison and I to take on a daily/weekly basis. I know it will be hard to go back to work next month.

Food: LOVES: asparagus, blueberry waffles with cream cheese, cottage cheese, ANY cheese really, oranges, tomatoes, pita bread and, of course, hummus.
We have stepped backwards on the bottle thing. When we tried to just do sippies of milk during the day, Harrison was not drinking close to enough. He also did not like to drink milk with his meals, when he would much rather have water. Since this is not a bad habit to form at meals, I am giving him a bottle of milk twice a day, as his morning and afternoon snack. Not sure if this is the "right" thing to do, but it is the right thing for us!

Lodging: Harrison went a couple weeks this month where he completely refused to sleep for one of his naps. We were pretty sure that he was giving up a nap, which I was not thrilled about. Many days he would give up his afternoon nap, which meant he would be awake from 10 or 11 am until 7 or 8 pm. WAY TOO LONG for a 13 month old! We have since figured out that he has very definite 'windows' during which he needs to be put down for a nap in order for him to actually sleep. This sometimes means he wakes up at 7:30 am, and naps right before 9am. Hey, whatever works!

Communication: Harrison has been vocalizing more, and I am sure that he has words for almost everything...we are just not always speaking the same language! Words we have picked up this month are shoes , more, done, baby, no, close, ball and bye-bye. He makes the monkey sound and occasionally agrees to do the lion sounds. He also says what sounds like "hi titties" to all the kitties at my parents house, so that is hilarious!
This month, Harrison started to point at things that he wants. This form of communication is alright, but fails miserably when what he is pointing is not something he can't have (like the butcher block full of knives).

Transportation: Not much new here. Harrison is walking, running and climbing. He is just getting faster at it each month! He still refuses to hold our hand, as it is FAR too restrictive of an activity for a little boy. We are hoping he will soon learn that there are times when he has no choice!

Apparel: Harry is in 18 month clothing, and 18-24 month, moving right on up to 24 month!! So, I have been searching consignment hops and garage sales to prepare for fall! Luckily, last year I bought his snow pants and jacket in a 2T. I think it will fit perfectly. I know the growing slows down a bit, so I have been trying to "guess" what size he will be come next summer. Hopefully a 2T-3T fits, 'cause that is what I bought :)

Entertainment: The most popular toys/activities of the month were the popper, mini-vacuum, big-person broom and swing. Harrison found my old popper at my parents house, and he loved it so much that he had to bring it home. He even stands in front of the closet I put the popper in and cries when I will not give it to him. We are not talking a small cry, this is a "my world is going to end if you don't gimmie that" cry! He does this for almost anything with a handle at least 2 feet long!

He is most definitely a water baby!!! Over the fourth of July, at Bob and Suzanne's house (aunite Enin's parents), he swam with me in the lake for over an hour. I have brought him to the splash pad a few times, and he runs in with no fear. He loves sprinklers and kiddie pools, in any combination. We had a play date with Mary and Jeremiah with his new pool, and a sprinkler play date with Grace and Alex. Anytime there is water, he is happy!!!

New(est) favorite movie: The Incredibles

Other News:
Many of you read our last post about the loss of a dear family member, our dog, Rosie Mae. Rosie was gentle, but protective, and always concerned with how Harry was doing. She was patient with him crawling all over her, and had just trained him to feed her from the high chair.
She will be missed by all three of us!

A picture this past month with Rosie.

"The first taste is the sweetest!!!" Harrison grabbed a chunk of chocolate chip cookie, so we went with it! Needless to say, he is my son and loves them.

Harry is really good at holding onto things, and picking things up with his feet...kinda funny!

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by while uncle Eric was helping with the Pontiac.

We took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo with Jeremiah and Erika. The boys loved the Sea Otter, who seemed to be performing for them! The bears, cows and leopard also seemed to keep their attention, which is the most challenging aspect of visiting the zoo at this age!

Harrison is starting to LOVE reading books. I walked into his room to see what the quiet was (as it is usually a bad thing when he is quiet for any amount of unsupervised time) and he was surrounded by books.

We spent a couple hours exploring the Elm Creek Park Reserve. WOW!!! I think we will frequent this place once Harry is a little older!

Harry spent almost an hour climbing in and out of his camp chair and trying to take my camera...TYPICAL!

Harrison has chosen a favorite blanket- SPOT! This obsession is a little less, as he switched over to needing "lambie" at nap time, but still lights up for this blanket!

After a quick snack, Mary, Jeremiah and Harrison had an impromptu swimming play date!

This is what happens when I take a quick shower, and lock him in his room!! Don't know where he was hiding Dad's Crocs?

Harry wanted Peyton's pink hat...hehe!

4th Of July at the Pitsor's!

I forgot that I had my small camera in the diaper bag, and had captured some other events to share from last month! Here are the additions.

We had a sprinkler play date at Grandma and Grandpa's house with Alex and Grace. It was the perfect place to relax and lets the kids loose.

We met Jeremiah at Cedar Lake Beach for a little release from the heat. The boys loved swimming, and playing in the sand. O.K., lets me honest Harrison ate the sand and Jeremiah played.