18 Months

This boy. Those eyes. That sweet little voice saying, "mama". Oh my heart.

This has been the sweetest six months. Watching this boy learn and grow is such a joy. He is such a talkative little guy. Always singing and jabbering to his own tune and telling his own story.

He (finally) loves reading books. He'll get a book, give it to you and go pat the place he wants you to sit to read to him and say, "booh, booh, dah, dah, moe, moe, booh, booh, moe, dah, dah". He's pretty good about playing by himself and playing with Emerson, but still pretty much loves his momma except for the first 10 minutes after daddy gets home. Harrison LOVES the vacuum and his little trike. He's so proud of himself as he rolls around the house.

Harrison really does prefer his own little language but he's coming along with his vocabulary. He's really good at following directions and I'm always amazed at the things he understands and follows. Here's what he says, off the top of my head.

Dah/yah - yes, usually shouted: DAH!!
Mama - mommy and milk
Dada - daddy
Lala - Emerson
bapa - Papa
dama - Grandma
bye-bye - he also adds names to this, bye-bye mama, bye-bye moo etc
Bihe - bite
Bapple - apple
Diss - this
Moe - more
Booh - book
Heyo - Hello
wawa - water
baby - self explanatory
bubble - self explanatory
Oh luh - Oh Look, usually shouted OH LOOK!!
Ow-wow - owie
opah - open
dow - down
uh-dah - up
Raah - tiger, lion, bear
Mow - meow
Woo-wooh - woof woof
Baah - Sheep.. always kinda loud
Ahh oooh ahh - monkey noise
Uh-oh - still uh-oh
  Uh-oh mama - his favorite combo ;)
Mo dah - more that. usually more cheese, but more of what he's pointing at
Mo dis - more of this, usually pulling at the fridge
No no - right after he's done something wrong
Soos - Shoe.. kid loves shoes
Yewo - yellow
bwu - blue
There are more.. but I can't think of them at the moment.

Harrison is such a funny little guy. He has such unique little mannerisms. He's persistent and somewhat adventurous. He'll climb anything, or fall trying. He's also really sweet and snuggly and loves to help. He has his own little way of telling on himself and simultaneously ignoring my instructions to stop what he's doing wrong. He can eat as much as Emerson sometimes, but there are things that he just. wont. eat. no matter how I disguise them, avocado is the most befuddling. He does love: meat, coconut flakes, chomping salmon oil capsules (right!?), carrots, sardines, cheese and water from a real glass.

He likes to attempt arts and crafts with Emerson. He's okay at coloring and painting but he has a hard time following the rules like 'only on paper' and 'don't eat the ___'. He desperately loves to be outside. If he thinks that anyone might be going outside, he's on it. Grabbing his shoes and saying, "soos, soos, dah, ouw, ouw, dah, soos, dah. gabba dobba gibber gabber. ouw!" and heading to the door. When it's time to come inside... oof.. you'd better have a good distraction or be prepared for a major meltdown. Additional meltdown triggers: taking away or closing the toothpaste tube, sunscreen or chapstick.

Without further ado.. mys on whom despises photo shoots and my dear daughter who can sit sweetly with a smile for shot after shot after shot until Harrison looks and then she's taking a break ;). Ha!

One!!

How is my tiny baby boy one already!? It's been said a million times but I'll say it again. It goes too fast when it's so sweet and easy! I would take another year of poor sleep to keep him little for longer (but who are we kidding, I'll probably have another year of poor sleep anyway) ;). And since we can't change the profession of time... We have the fun first year to enjoy! All the new skills and new words and ideas. I love it! And I can reassure myself that I did everything humanly possible to enjoy and soak up all the moments of his first year.

Some of my favorite memories from this last year are when Harrison was so little and slept so much. I would almost always take a nap with him and Emerson and I LOVED snuggling up with both of them. Our daily routines were just the essentials and so simple. I loved having him in the sling snoozin away while Emerson and I painted or did puzzles or cooked dinner. And I've loved our baths with the three of us (we still do those) and Now I cherish those mornings where they both snuggle in my bed with me for just a few blissful moments. Of course there's also been a LOT of joy this past year in watching my kiddos enjoy each other too. Emerson has been such a blessing and a help this past year. She truly is a wonderful big sister! And Harrison just adores her. Loves watching her and laughing with her. As soon as he sees her he laughs because he knows it's coming anyway. She's always trying to (and usually succeeds) make him laugh (no matter the decibel or silliness required).

This last month Harrison got really into clapping! When we sing a song, he claps, when we say 'yay!', he claps, when he's happy, he claps. He also blows kisses. That might have started last month (I can't remember!). It's so sweet. He is also saying a few more words, although not to the point that he'll say them if I ask him to, except "uh-oh" still. He says a very similar approximation of "mma mma" for mama, more and milk. And only slightly different "emm-ma" for Emerson. He mostly does that when she's not around and he's looking for her. He'll say "whoa" sometimes when it's appropriate and he says "buh" for book when we're reading, which he has a little more patience for now. A couple of times he's said "brr" when I was changing his clothes, but then he hasn't done it again in awhile. Oh and he does a kind of salute/wave to say 'hi' but no verbalizations there and nothing for bye yet ;). 

He's getting stronger and his balance is getting better but he isn't quite walking yet. He really loves being walked and he's taken a few steps holding on with just one hand but you can tell it makes him nervous. He's standing up by himself in the middle of the room and holding it for a few seconds pretty frequently But again, he gets nervous and lowers himself down. His big motor milestone this month is backing off/down things. He turns and goes backwards to get off the couch and any steps he finds. He tries to do it off the bed, but it's a little tall still. 

He also finally got his long awaited 8th tooth! I was beginning to wonder if it had gotten lost in here. 

Harrison was 29.5 inches long and 18lbs 11oz at his 12 month appt. He is still wearing some 6-12 month clothes and 9 month clothes but there are some 12 month clothes hat fit him too. Depends on the brand and the amount of washing they've experienced ;). 

He's on the second rise in diapers and has 4-6 snaps open in the front. We started potty training Emerson at this age, so we'll give it a go with him too, starting with #2 because it's the most obvious. We did give him a straw cup with water and a splash of nettle tea and he sucked it down right away, so we put him on the potty and he went!! However, he was really not engaged so we'll see if his awareness comes along or if we put it away for awhile. It's pretty laid back, no pressure training anyway. More like elimination communication kind of training.

Harrison is switching up his naps and our unruly schedule doesn't help. He used to take three naps, 30-ish morning, 1.5-ish afternoon and 30-ish early evening; but now he frequently misses his morning nap and takes a longer afternoon nap and then doesn't really want an evening nap until almost bedtime (but not quite bedtime)... so he's either really cranky during and before dinner or he takes a late nap and he's up late.. It's fun. I wish I was better about his nap schedule but if we ever want to leave the house and still have Emerson take a decent nap (which we all want) it's his naps that suffer. His nighttime sleeping hasn't changed much unless he took a late nap. He goes to bed between 8 and 9 and sleeps until about midnight for a quick snack, then he's up again between 6-7. He'd like to sleep a little more after that and get up around 7:30 or 8 but usually Emerson wakes him up before that. 

I wish I could capture all his personality, sweetness and silliness but it's hard to get all that in a split second photo. Here's what we got :)

(Not scary... silliness)

(Emerson took this)

Photo credit: Emerson :)

And a little behind the scenes shot.. Chair, window, mirror, reflector (propped up on a laundry basket).. stuff on the changing table.

Eleven Months

I missed this post really.. I'm writing it when my sweet little guy is almost one (tears, tears).

During his 10th month Harrison said his first words, "uh-oh"! It's pretty cute. It started out as "uh-uh" and by the end of the month it was more 'uh-oh'.

Harrison's other big change is that he's a food hound. He gets so mad when we're eating and not giving him any. He really loves to feed himself but he also chows down when I feed him. Right now he gets a lot of broth/meat/stewed veggies during meals and bites of our fruit as snacks. It seems to really agree with him. He still doesn't like avocado! Some of the things he's eaten at this point including what he ate last month: liver, egg yolk, summer squash, melons, stone fruits, pickles/cucumbers, stewed beef, sardines, salmon, black and raspberries, peas, green beans, coconut oil, broth, sauerkraut, stewed carrots/onions and apple. And maybe some other things I forgot ;). I'm mostly saying this for myself when I want to look back on what I fed him and when! I'm a little more loose with him trying things (oh like he tried a cashew.. couldn't chew it) but still stick to the same basic dos and don'ts.

Harrison is still sweet as ever, but does let you know when he doesn't want to do something. He's got that 'wet noodle' thing down pat. He's crawling, climbing, cruising and loves to play, play, play. He has a lot less patience for books than Emerson at this age but if there are flaps or touch and feel spots, he'll stick around longer. And he loves to turn the pages too :).