My Pops

Lucy is in love with a man. Her Pops. It is amazing how much she talks about somebody she doesn't get to see very often. She tells me, "Pops is the greatest. He is a great man. He can fix anything. Do you know that he fixes things? Yep, he can. He can do anything."
The other day she was telling me how great he was and Harper started to say "Pops" in response to Lucy. Lucy looked at her very sternly and said, "Harper, he is MY Pops. He fixes things for me. You just can't say "pops" like that." Of course, Harper continued her babble. Good thing they have three grandpas- if Harper was smart she won't choose a hero, three grandpas is never a bad thing when it comes to attention, gifts, love and, of course, getting things fixed around the house.

Big Girls!

Lucy and Harper enjoying swinging together- this was followed by sliding and Harper eating mulch and Lucy "serving" her more mulch. What a fun game!

You can also see that the girls are starting to have snack together at the little table. Harper loves it and thinks she is so big. I love that her feet still stick straight out, little shorty. Snacktimes usually consist of Harper acting like she is much bigger than she is, Lucy having to defend her turf since Harper is trying to eat both of their snacks, Lucy finishing, getting down and playing elsewhere in the house and Harper going nuts because she can't get down fast enough to follow Lucy. It doesn't matter how much food she has left, how hungry she is or if I sit with her, I am no substitute for seeing what cool things Lucy is up to next.

Also Heard on Tenth

Lucy is not the only talker in our home these days, Harper is quickly catching up. While she has dropped some of the words she was saying before she has added more, and some more complicated words to her daily speak. She learned the "n" sound so now she is saying "no, no, no"- usually after she gets in trouble and she says "night night". She reserves the latter for bedtime and cuddling, but also says it to Lucy when Lucy is in her face too long, it's as though she is saying, that's enough Lucy, go to bed now.

She is also showing us her strong will. She "argues"when told no. She will mouth all sorts of things back to you and raise her voice to prove her point. These rants usually consist of "no, no, no", "Mamama" and grunting. She hits, she throws tantrums and she will beat on the girls' bedroom door if Lucy is in there and she is not allowed. Strong willed indeed.

She is saying something that sounds like "mine" although we aren't convinced that is actually what she is saying, it may just be part of that "mama" tantrum sound. She does say it at the right time though, when she is told to take her hands off of something she really wants, like computer wires, like right now.

I have been trying to teach her how to put things into a bucket, not just to empty such things. She loves it as a game, I love the idea of her being able to clean up her own blocks! I hold a block up in the air and wiggle it in my hand to get her attention and I say "Up high" then drop it into the bucket and say "down low". She has not gotten the idea of putting it into the bucket, but she does hold blocks up in the air, waving her little fist and says "high!" then she throws the block or holds it down and says my next favorite thing "Harper!"

That's right, she has started to say her own name. It comes out like a sweet little whisper "Hoppa". It's the best and she says it all the time. She has started to pat me on the chest and say "momma" and I pat her on the chest and say "Harper". Then she repeats her name. Pretty smart!

Heard on Tenth St. Feb. 2009

It has been noted that Lucy talks... a WHOLE LOT. While not every bit of info is worth an entire blog entry of its own, some definitely deserve mentioning. Really folks, we have no idea where she comes up with most of this stuff. She's smart, she absorbs everything, she has a very active imagination and she thinks she is funny. With that being said, here are a few things heard on Tenth St recently:

• "I have a new song to sing to you guys. It's called 'Bag of Germs'". This is where Lucy began singing a song about catching coughs and Harper being stinky.
• "I hope Daddy comes back home." This is said often and pretty much daily. Lucy is obsessed with us all being under the same roof at all times. She pretty much acts as though Ian leaves for months at a time, without warning, and we aren't sure when he will return, never mind the fact that he arrives in our home by 6:15pm each and every night. (Imagine what sort of nonsense his upcoming travel will elicit from that mouth!)
• "Daddy, this is where I lived when I was pregnant." This was said while Ian took Lucy to the bathroom in a restaurant one night. Yes, she claims that she lived in a men's bathroom, in a restaurant, when she was pregnant.
• "This is what construction workers wear." While wearing a construction hat, fairy wings and a princess wand, on her scooter.
• "We can get a new house, but then we have to move back to Belle View when Harper moves out." Uhhh, maybe she knows something we don't?
• "I want to play soccer on a team. And Daddy can play, too." When I interject that it is only for kids she adds, "well, they don't know my Daddy can play soccer."
• "Those boys were really bad." This is said all the time, and usually she is right. It does seem that we often run into naughty little boys that Lucy finds amusing and shocking all at once.
• Her mealtime prayers have taken on a new vibe. She used to just say "Dear God, thank you for this food, Amen." It was said under the breathe, in 1 second flat. Now her prayers are at least a minute or two long, are free form and you never know what she is going to say. Our favorite prayers are when she starts to say one, stops and then starts all over, as though the first prayer was not living up to her expectations. She always says "Dear God, thank you for the animals, baby Jesus, the angels and God." Sometimes she adds other people, and she almost always repeats God. In other words, she is thankful to God, for God, many times over. We are just thankful that she is, indeed, thankful.

No photos, please

You may have noticed that there are not many photos these days of Lucy. That is because she will not have her photo taken. In fact, when I try to, I usually just end up with the back of her head or some sour puss face- neither of which are very nice for posting.
The one thing she doesn't mind- talking. We are exhausted by the chatter. I explained to Ian a couple weeks ago how tired I am at the end of the day because there is so much talking (mostly nonsense) all day long. It isn't that he didn't believe me, it is just that he needed a weekend to see it in full effect. Our usually chatty little 3 year old has morphed into a person who never shuts up. He now knows. I tune her out much of the time ( I just can't imagine why I care that "baby turtle is sad because he just doesn't know and that he will feel better when baby dolphin comes over to sleep in his house, where he lives with "Gnarly, the giraffe" while the groom makes everybody breakfast since they are going to school and zoo for days and days and all kinds of stuff and in time and then they will have a tea party and Harper can have a tea party and all the animals can come, except baby polar bear who has to take a nap. Hey Alex, come her bud..."- this was the conversation that Lucy just had while I nodded my head and typed her monologue word for word.- See what I mean?)
So no photos, please, but she is always available for comment.

Roosterzilla

Harper is 9 months old this week. She went to her check up yesterday, got a couple of shots (hardly even cried) and charmed the pants off of everyone there. They actually called her the flamingo since she was showing off, standing on one leg and waving one arm. The are predicting an early walker.

She now weighs 15 pounds- a lightweight with no sign of putting on weight now that she is on the move constantly. She is cruising the furniture and trying to climb anything and everything.

She also talks. And talks and talks. She is a little mimic. She will "woof" when the dog barks, she will say "dog", "duck", "quack", "hi", "bye bye" and momma, dada, and whatever else she thinks she can manage at that moment. In fact, she is starting to sing along with songs in the car- especially ones about ducks. She will even wake in the middle of the night just to talk for 20 minutes before going back to sleep. We all hear it, we just don't respond.

We call her roosterzilla because she continues to be Lucy's personal godzilla- taking down block towers, zoo set ups, train tracks, and towns in a single movement. The rooster comes from the fact that she continues to have some of the most ridiculous hair and squawks when being her most destructive.

She loves her belly button and actually had one of her cutest moments ever when she was at the doctor, in her diaper, sitting on the exam table, checking out her belly button. When the nurse came in, she just flashed her a grin and went back to her excavation. She eats, and eats, and eats. Today she discovered french toast- inhaled it, she also loves blueberries, cheddar cheese, apricots, and sandwiches. Spaghetti and meatballs became a favorite this week as well.

9 months has gone by awfully fast. I'm sure as soon as the weather turns warm for good her birthday will seem right around the corner. In the meantime, we will continue scurrying her away from Lucy's tiny toys, taking dog food out of her mouth, and letting her explore things like mulch, grass, ears, and bathrooms.

Bed Bug

Harper is trouble. She is also in trouble quite a bit these days. She likes to crank up the stereo, steal Lucy's things, play in the dog's food, stand in the bathtub and most of all, stand during her naptimes.

The latter two are the two things she knows she will be disciplined for, and she still does them with a wicked little smile on her face. Numerous times she has been brought out to me at bathtime because she wouldn't listen to Ian and sit down. That slippery little fish insists on standing in the tub. After many warnings to sit down and many attempts to keep her sitting, she is whisked out, kicking and screaming and unhappy that Lucy gets to stay in the tub. She is deposited on my lap, wet and angry and determined to get back to the bathroom.

And naptimes are not any better. In fact, they are worse. She and I battle it out each and everyday. It starts with a sweet sleepy little baby, sucking her thumb, reaching for her bed. Then it ends with me repeatedly going into her room and laying her back down. She now sees me coming and instantly starts screaming and throwing herself backwards. This would be fine, except that she forgets to look behind her and routinely throws herself into the side of her bed, bumping her head and making the entire situation much worse. She will finally give up and whine herself to sleep, knowing that the quicker she falls asleep, the faster she can resume her naughtiness.

The Baptism

Lucy is obsessed with planning a baptism for La La. This primarily includes filling many bags with random things- "things to do in church, things to eat in church, a change of clothes and some toys for the party". For days our family room had a designated spot where all these bags had to remain. Finally, I had had enough. Not only was the house being overtaken by bags, but we were quickly tiring of the baptism discussion. She used the word "baptism" no less than 5o times an hour. So we set a time, and the holy waters began to flow.
The baptism included the lighting of a candle, a prayer, pretending to hold La La over a fountain and pouring water on her head and (as Max did in church at his baptism) taking a bottle to "keep her calm". La La also had the neccessary oils rubbed into her head and a final prayer.
La La is now annointed and there is no more talk of a baptism, and that my friends, is a truly blessed event.

Polar Bear Hunt

Now that Harper is crawling, Lucy has a victim to play any and every crazy pretend game that she dreams up.
Right now Lucy is exhausting herself by trying to get Harper to follow her so they can go on a "Polar Bear Hunt". Lucy is saying things like, "Come on, Harper. Why are you moving so slow? Don't you know that Polar Bears will eat you? You must not care that Polar Bears will eat you. Come this way and you won't be scared. Come on Harper. Come this way, Harper. And I won't be angry with you. Santa will be there and Mrs. Clause will be there. Do I need to leave you here at the North Pole? If you don't come with me you will miss the fun. Come on!" Harper stops every time she hears her name, sees something she wants to play with or to rest. Or to dance. She has moved maybe 5 feet in 15 minutes and Lucy is perturbed. Oh, and Lucy is wearing binoculars around her neck, a fireman's hat and is trying to get Harper to wear another fireman's hat, which, of course, obstructs her entire vision while wearing. But Harper is playing. Smiling and saying "daddadadada" over and over and following the leader.

On the Move

Harper is a full-fledged crawler now. It is still somewhat slow going and most of her crawling is just to get to something so that she can pull up on it, but she is a girl on the move. Lucy has met the challenge of having to keep all little, teeny (I mean, teeny, teeny, tiny) little toys off of the floor and has mixed emotions about having a little sister that can chase her. Chasing Lucy is, afterall, the next best thing to pulling up on something to stand. Lu thinks it is hilarious that Harper can play little games with her and can follow her to do something. She does not find it amusing that Harper can (and will) now wreck all games, scene set-ups, and perfect little worlds that Lucy sets up all over the house. Harper is Lucy's personal Godzilla.