I've kept a word document with letters to Harper each month. Most are ridiculously long and detailed (I wanted to capture every little thing!), but I've condensed them post-one year. I figured I would share this here today, along with some photos of life these days. And yes, we sometimes call her Tater Kate. Here's what she's up to this month:
Tater Kate,
You are on the move, and
boy are you wearing me out. But I love
being able to watch you learn and grow and develop each and every day. The months are flying by now. Soon you will graduate from high school and I
will be devastated. But until then, here’s what
you are up to:
- You crawl so fast! You will zero in on what you want, and you
are off.
- Still no walking yet, but you walk
really, really well behind your wagon and you pull up on everything.
- You've started trying to stand on
your own. You will only do it by pulling
up on me, and then slowly removing one hand, then the other, to balance. You fall over almost immediately, but you get
such a devious, excited look in your eye when you are about to try and we both clap together afterwards. I’m excited for you to start standing up
without pulling up.
- You are testing boundaries. I've seen you crawl towards a no-no object
(like the fireplace bumper), look back at me, then touch it anyway. I get to say No quite often. You get so upset when I tell you No in a
scary voice when you touch things like outlets, but really you are just mad you
didn't get your way. You are so
self-determined and opinionated!
- You still love to dance. When one of your favorite songs comes on the
radio, you make excited noises and pump your one hand to the beat. And yes, you have favorites that don't quite reflect my favorites (anything JT, Hey Ho, Summertime Sadness, Safe and Sound).
- We decided your official first
word is “dada” – but “mama” was a close second.
You say dadadadada around your dad, and whine mamamama when you want
something from me.
- You’ve started pointing a lot,
especially when you want something. You
point and grunt, sometimes saying “a-Da” over and over
- You can point out Roxy and Dad,
but have no clue who Mom is when asked
- You can point out noses and mouths - just not your own.
- You love to clap, always when we
ask you to, but sometimes when you are just proud of yourself.
- You were sick again this month
(stupid school!), waking up with eyes crusted so badly you couldn't open
them. Turns out, you had a double ear
infection. You never pulled at your
ears, so I had no idea. You were pretty
sick for a few days, but got better shortly.
However, we are still dealing with the fussiness and off-schedule-ness of
post sickness. You are quite the whiner!
- You’re teething too (top eye
teeth, making #13 and #14 in there), which doesn't help. Our happy
baby has become a fussy, cranky, screaming mess. You hate to be put down or have your diaper
changed or be put in your car seat (you name it). I know it’s just a phase, but I want my happy
girl back!
- My amazing eater has turned into a somewhat picky eater. You love strawberries one day, then the next you won’t touch them. You used to eat mostly veggies, now I have to convince you to do so. You do eat a lot of what we eat too, though.
- You have definitely thinned out,
but you are still a thick girl at 26 pounds! I can’t
find any jeans that actually fit over your thighs and aren't a foot too
long. Leggings, it is! (or no pants, usually)
- You seem to love school. The teachers say you have a great time and
you only get fussy if you get a little sleepy.
I’m glad you get to interact with other kids!
- We are bottle-free!! I found a transitional sippy that you would
actually drink milk out of, and within just a day or so, we were done with
bottles with little effort. Hooray!
- Your morning nap is waning. It only lasts about an hour now. I miss that two hour nap!!! So now you sleep about 7:30 pm– 7 am, with a
one hour nap from 9-10 am and a two hour nap from 1-3 pm.
- One of my favorite things about
the stage you are currently in is your curiosity. You find the tiniest things on the floor and
examine them. You will push a door
closed and open over and over again to watch how it works. You bang things together to hear the loud
noise. You love to rip up paper or
magazines. You will even pick up many things now and just study them instead of eating them. You still love to chew on shoes though, which I think you picked up from Roxy...
- You love to stand at the storm
door and watch the world go by.
- You will clap to “If You’re Harper and You Know It” and you attempt some hand movement when I sing “Itsy Bitsy
Spider"
- You are my perfect little girl,
even in these rough patches!