Hot Dogs

Harper has become very fond of hot dogs. We slice the hot dog into 4 long strings and watch as she inhales them. She will literally stick an entire quarter into her mouth at one time. On this particular day, Harper enjoyed some man n cheese and green beans with her hot dog.....and insisted on rubbing some into her hair (a common occurrence). Hot dogs aren't quite the healthiest meal, but she loves them!

Music

Harper's favorite toys are her mini piano, her step-and-play and Dad's guitar. She is fond of anything that will sing her a song and will often sway to the music, clap or pretend to direct the music with her fingers. It's really cute - no way to get around it. This morning, after a diaper change in the office where the guitars are stored, Harper pointed at one and clearly said, "Guitar." Ross and I were both very impressed with her new word and I think Ross is anxious to start teaching her how to strum chords already

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15 Months Old

Little Ms. Harper turned 15 months old over the weekend. I thought the first 12 months went fast, but the last three have seriously flown by us! Some things have changed and some have stayed the same.

• Scooting and crawling. Harper has finally conformed and has learned how to crawl. She will typically crawl on carpet and then scoot when it comes to the hardwood and tile floor. She can cruise around the room while holding onto something or someone. Physically, she is ready to walk - she has good muscle control and balance. However, mentally she still needs a finger to hold for comfort.
• Meal times can be challenging. Harper is all or nothing - sometimes she really likes the meal and will gobble up an impressive amount. Other times, she would prefer not to take more than one bite. Instead of eating her food, she will often throw it down to the ground for Riley to eat. We've implemented a two strike rule - after the 2nd item falls to the ground, she is done eating. It sounds tough...but I don't think she minds since she wasn't planning to eat it anyways.
• Favorite Foods.... She really likes hot dogs right now. Bananas and pears are still considered tasty and she really enjoys Apple Cranberry juice. She has shown interest in eating Dad's cereal with milk so we will be starting to work on using a spoon soon! 
• Vocabulary. Harper is still a child with few works. Momma and Dadda are commonly used. She also tries to say Dog and Juice. Her sign language skills....are, well, not great. She will tell us she's Hungry and then immediately throw her snack on the floor. Or, tell us she is All Done and immediately eat another bite of food.
• The small and mighty. Harper recently stopped into the doctors office for an ear check. They put her on the scale and she weighed 21 lb 14 oz (fully clothed). She's a peanut! She's still in size three diapers, wearing size 3 shoes and 12-18 month clothing. One thing that is growing is her hair - we've moved to putting it up on most days. 

Missing Grandmas Cooking

Harper was spoiled with nearly a week of Grandmas cooking - she got to enjoy tasty treats at all three of her grandparent's homes! The transition to normal meals wasn't very fun for her. Although I think I'm a "fine" cook, Harper was less than impressed with anything I put in front of her. Peas (one of her favorites) - no thank you. Pork had also evidently become gross in the span of a few days, too. She thought he world was ending....until Ross brought out a piece of caramel puff corn.  She moved that thing in her mouth so fast he was lucky that he didn't loose a finger! As soon as she finished it, she instantly began crying for more. (Sigh) Life can be hard when you are 1....

 

Thompson Christmas

A few days after Christmas, the Thompson clan took over Des Moines. Grandma Ruth & Grandpa Dennis had planned a special trip for the Thompson crew as a Christmas present - a weekend in Des Moines. The whole gang stayed at Adventureland Inn and spent three days exploring Des Moines. Ross, Harper and I were lucky enough to get to tag along for part of the time. The grand-kids enjoyed swimming in the pools at the hotel, visiting the Science Center, roller skating, eating out and attending Hope Lutheran for church. In my opinion, the highlight was the Science Center - EVERYONE seemed to really enjoy playing there (and by everyone, I mean kids ranging from 1 to 60 years old!). It was a great time and hopefully we can spend more time exploring Des Moines together in the future!

 

Meal Time

Harper has a habit or throwing food off of her tray at home. Typically she is throwing the food to the puppy - I think they have a deal worked out that Riley gets a quarter of her meal in exchange for protection or something. Anyways, we constantly battle keeping Harper's food on her tray at home. Daycare typically doesn't have a problem with this....until last week when Harper returned from Christmas break. It turns out that some of her bad habits came back with her.

When I picked her up that afternoon, I was told that Harper kept throwing her food off of her the table during lunch. Harper sits at a very small table with chairs - the little kids look very grown up eating their meals at the table.  I didn't think too much of the statement about throwing her food until I looked more closely at her daily sheet where it stated, "Keeps dumping plate, then trying to eat it off the floor." Part of me was really grossed out....and part of me wanted to laugh really hard. I just hope they were successful on stopping her before she ate anything...

Toys, Toys, Toys....and Empty Milk Jugs

The night we returned home after traveling for Christmas was a lot of fun. We unpacked all of our gifts and settled down in the comfort of our own home. Harper was an extremely lucky little girl and received tons and tons of presents - she should never be bored again! However, instead of playing with all of her new toys, Harper found an empty milk gallon that was ready for the recycling bin. She played with the empty gallon for over an hour...she'd take the lid off and then put it back on. Harper would pretend to drink from the gallon. She would pretend to fill her sippy cup and then pretend to pour her sippy cup into the gallon of milk. And, of course, she would bang it on the floor and make as much noise as possible. It was really cute to see her get enjoyment out of such a simple thing....but also a little disturbing to see how much she enjoyed it while her pile of presents was stacked behind her....