May 14th- June 13th & June 14th- July 13th: We have been busy enjoying summer!! Bryan spent the first weeks of vacation in class Monday thru Thursday nights, so Harry and I got a lot of mommy-son time. Bryan brought the green car, which I now affectionately refer to as Harry's car, to Back to the 50's, and Harrison spent 3 or 4 hours playing in it, pretending to drive, which is what made the trip so successful. We have spent a lot of time at swimming at the beach, playing at the park, going to the zoo/aquarium, or running errands with mommy. I can't believe it is the middle of July already. YIKES!!!
Food: SMOOTHIES!! Harrison has not been into eating breakfast lately. So, we are trying to solve this problem by making smoothies with different combinations of fruit, honey, yogurt, milk/juice and sometimes peanut butter mixed with ice :) He has become a HUGE fan, and I am huge fan of the fact that he is eating yogurt and a bunch of fruit for breakfast without knowing it. We had our raspberry harvest (the only food we currently have growing in our backyard). Harrison would play in the backyard and pick raspberries to snack on while playing. We made raspberry muffins and bread, which he was also willing to eat for breakfast.
Lodging: *warning- this section is WAY overkill this month.*
The biggest news over the past couple months is Harry's transition into the toddler bed. The morning of Back to the 50's, he crawled out of his crib and came into our room to announce "mommy, I fell out." This, of course, meant that he fell/ crawled out of his crib. And so it begins!
After going to the carshow, and heading home for a nap, he crawled in (and out) of the crib another 15 times, prompting me to call Once Upon a Child to find an acceptable toddler bed (and preferably one that was not plastic, shaped like a car, or drivable- really, how do people get their children to sleep in these beds?). We got a bed the next day, set it up, and he slept for 10 days like an angel. He didn't crawl out, he slept the same amount of time as he did in his crib. It was FANTASTIC. We were so excited that the transition went well, and we somewhat chalked it up payback for the fact that he did not sleep through the night for over a year. Well, we were wrong- OH, SO VERY WRONG!!!
One day at nap time, I fought him to stay in his bed for over 2 hours. He would get up-peek-run back to bed-REPEAT! It did not matter what consequence I gave him. For the next two weeks we fought him at nap time and bed time (unless he fell asleep in the car) to sleep in his bed. Harry would nap for 40 minutes (instead of the typical 2-4 hours), then wake up and come out to the living room, CRABBY AS ALL GET OUT, and decide he was done napping. To make matters worse, we moved our room downstairs , so we were not right down the hall. He was waking up 3 or 4 times during the night. I was convinced that this was our new normal, and that we would never sleep again. Then, we found out that Harry had Hand, Foot and Mouth (a virus) that gave him really painful bumps in his mouth, which were most painful when he was sleeping. It has only been three days since those bumps have been better, but we are all sleeping more soundly. THANK GOD!!!!
Communication: Harry continues to amaze us with his communication skills. He is learning more songs and rhymes everyday. He has recently added Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and The Itsy-Bitsy Spider to his repertoire. There are a few words, that, for whatever reason, I love hearing Harrison say- ladder (lat-ter), backyard (bak- ard), yellow (yeddow), and milk (miwk). I know there are more, but these are the only ones I can think of right now.
The more mature communication skills, skills that he will use his entire life have been developing, too. Words like mines, my turn, your turn, yep, nope, maybe... all of which will be overused in his lifetime, I am sure. Harrison has also started talking about the things that he loves, and he says it almost yelling- "I LOVE Madagascar (see entertainment), I LOVE the green car...not so much people yet, but objects, of course!
Communication: Harrison has started talking up a STORM!!! His favorite word this month is most definitely car, which, of course, makes Bryan very happy. He points at cars on TV, on the road, in books, on magazine covers, in our driveway, in the parking lot, on his wall....EVERYWHERE!!! He is starting to tell the difference between car, truck or tractor, and is actually using the correct word.
The doctor asked me, at his 15 month appointment, how many words he knows. I said more than 20, but then I wrote down what I could remember, and I think he knows even more. I posted his word list separately, and I hope to add a video soon.
We bought Harry a strider bike. We thought he would love it. The idea of a pedal-less bike made sense to the adults who watch him struggle with pedals and ultimately end up pushing him around outside for hours. He, however, had different ideas. He got the bike, looked at the bike, talked about the bike, and forgot about the bike. Lets hope that he changes his mind.
Entertainment: My mom and I took Harry to see his first movie, Madagascar 3. He was amazing! He sat completely still for the first hour, then got a little ansty, but we made it to the end. Because of the warm weather lately, Harry has become more well-versed in the area of movies, for good or bad...whatever!
Harry has become more interested, again, in trains. Now, he is able to out the tracks together on his own, and drive the trains down the tracks, so it is more fun for us to watch him create, too. I have been giving him more opportunities to make a mess...flour pits, dirt digging, playing in the sand, painting, coloring, playing with PlayDough, or shaving cream painting. All of these things only keep the attention span of a tow-year old for so long, but we will take what we get!
Since I waited to post two months at once, there are a TON of photos! Get ready!!!
Umm...yeah.
Bryan's great-aunt Marc was in town. We had a fantastic time sharing dinner and a few other events with her.
Grandpa took the left-over sprinkler heads to make Harry a sprinkler that only went 1/2 way around a circle. He LOVED that he could stand on one side, and not get attacked by the sprinkler as it came around.
With Grandma on her birthday!
Jeremiah has been at our house while Erika picks up some shifts at work. It has been SO MUCH FUN for Harrison to spend time with him at our house during the summer.
This is why Harry loves helping with laundry...because he gets a ride in the basket on the way back upstairs.
Harrison LOVES to read books.
I told you that he loves to read, didn't I?
It has been SO HOT this summer. These are just a few of the HUNDREDS of pictures I have taken of Harry in some kind of water!
We bought Harry some cloth diapers to help with potty training- feeling when he was wet (don't worry folks, I am not attempting to potty train just yet...that would only be punishment for me). Little did we know we would end up really liking them, and use them about half of the time.
Harry and Mary had an indoor play date on a rainy Tuesday at the Maple Grove Community Center. So much fun!!
We took a trip to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. If we would have brought bug spray, I think we ALL would have enjoyed it a little more. It is such a beautiful place, so we will have to go back.
Harry LOVED having forts built with blankets over his crib. It was so nice, because though he was close, he was not yet able to climb out. This meant that when he was playing in his fort, mommy could do any number of things that a 2-year old should not get into to. Sadly, days after these photos, he learned to climb out.
Harry helping Bryan take down the crib and put up his big-boy bed.
The green car (Harrison's car) made it to Back-to-the-50's this year. I did not take photos when we went as a family on Friday. So, I will have to get some that friends took. These photos were taken when Bryan brought his dad to the show on Sunday.
A trip to the zoo with Grandma.
Reading Llama Llama to himself.
Wouldn't wear anything but his rainboots...and so it is.
At
the car club picnic, the night before Back to the 50's, the group of
little kids (who want to play at the park instead of socialize with the
grown-ups) is growing!! I didn't even get everyone in the pictures
(Madelyn, Owen and Shelby to name a few) !! How fantastic will it be for
all of them to grow up together.
Jeremiah
Miss Mary
Harrison
David
The sand, with the sand toys, was obviously a very big hit!
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