Kissing Harper's Feet

Harper has the most kissable feet. Both Ross and I are smitten she her little toes. Harper detests socks and is a master at removing every pair we put on her so her feet are constantly on display. She loves getting her feet kissed (or eaten as we joke about) by her dad.

Go Iowa State!

The Iowa State Men's basketball team recently played in the Big Twelve tournament. Harper got dressed up to cheer on her team! Well, technically she was asleep before the 8:30 tip off, but she did show her school spirit before going to bed.

Hello, Feet

It's so awesome to have toys with you where ever you are! Harper loves her feet!

Mouthy

We've gotten the stage where absolutely everything goes into Harper's mouth. Her hands, her toys, our hands, etc. Anything she is able to grab is immediately brought up to her mouth for further exploration.

So Grown Up

Harper has been busy learning new things! In the last week, she rolled over for the first time and found her toes! She is learning how to use interactive toys and remembers how they make noise next time she plays with them. Luckily she's not all about depending on noise making toys for stimulation. She is very good at entertaining herself (and us!). She loves to watch us work in the kitchen and has already learned many useful cooking tips.

Ross has been working with Harper on rolling over for a while - this week, all their hard work paid off. While laying on the activity mat, Ross positioned her hand up above her head - and she began to kick and lean - and eventually rolled over! After a brief rest, Ross put her back on her tummy and placed her arm above her head again - and much more quickly she rolled onto her back! She isn't a rolling machine yet, but it won't be long until she is rolling around the house!

Harper is also becoming increasing vocal. She will sit and talk to you (or herself) for 30 minutes at a time. She is learning to control her voice - high and low pitches, slow and fast. She will sometimes mimic how Ross and I are talking to her. We are sure that she is going to be a chatterbox once she gets older!

Harper also found her toes this week! She has been looking further down her leg for the past few days. Yesterday she would reach down and grab her calf. But, today, she woke up and immediately grabbed her toes! She was very excited to play with her feet. It was a challenge to get her dressed this morning because she didn't want to let go of her toes. This afternoon, she used her feet while playing on her activity mat. She used them as much as her hands and would simultaneously grab and kick at the dangling toys. She is earning her nickname of Monkey!

Cereal

We recently began trying rice cereal in the evenings. At our 4 month check up, our doctor gave us the go ahead so we've been trying to get Harper used to eating off a spoon. Since Ross and I are champion eaters, I assumed Harper would take to it like a fish to water. But, that hasn't been the case. The first few attempts were meant with scowls and a few tears - more ended up on the bib than in her tummy. We are slowly improving. She seems to like the oatmeal much more than the rice cereal. (Ross and I tasted both types of cereal and we understand why - rice is cereal is kind of gross.) Harper still doesn't understand that cereal is food, but she is getting much better at swallowing versus spitting it back out. It won't be long until we try food for the first time!

Party Weekend

Last weekend was a whirlwind for the Whittlesey family. We had the House family over for the day - it was Harper's first play date at our house! Her new friend, Quinten, is a little older, but that didn't stop them from having a good time together. We kept joking that Q and Harper will someday get married - so at least we have a cute photo in case that ever happens! I even captured a shot of Q giving Harper a kiss on the cheek. What a sweetie!

The next morning, we gathered with our family for Reid's baptism. Reid did an awesome job and charmed the congregation with his smile. He loved being the center of attention - what a ham! Afterwards, we hung out at Dave & Steph's house for some conversation and good eats! Harper was in an excellent mood and showed off by doing some tummy time in front of her cousin.