The Baby Blog

Harper is developing quite the smile with a grand total of six pearly whites (4 bottom, 2 top). Although only the bottom four are really visible at this point, giving her my finger to mouth is no longer an option. She is standing like a champ and pulls herself along our coffee table to check out various objects of desire, such as remotes, newspapers, and tissue boxes. Crawling on all fours, she now looks like a little baby machine as she scoots and wiggles her way around the house at what can only be characterized as alarming speeds. Her expertise has expanded to crawling up and down the step into our living room. It’s really quite impressive. She’s had her first cookie and has developed an affinity for the word (and by word, I mean a loose tonal association) uh-oh. This she uses to describe pretty much everything- toys, food, mama, papa, and occasionally the correct usage when something drops.

The most amazing part is that she is doing all of this and being her usual awesome little self while STILL in the throws of what is either the longest ear infection known to man, or a series of several, extrememly persistent and annoying infections. We are now on our 5th round (it is horrifying, I know) of antibiotics and are scheduled to see an ENT (ear, nose, throat for those of you blissfully NOT in the know) later this month. We are also looking into homeopathic treatments and considering taking her off dairy. It’s been really frustrating and worriesome, but her attitude is so fantastic and she is overall so happy and healthy-seeming, that the stress of this hasn’t really set in yet. The biggest drawback is that Papa Hog is going to have to cancel her swim lessons… Sigh.

All in all, however, we are all doing well. I have a great feeling about the Spring (aka the end of flu season). I can’t believe Harper is almost 1! It all seems to go by so fast…

The holidays involved Brooklyn, a couple feet of snow, over the river and through the woods to Hopewell and New Jersey. Here are the much delayed photos to prove it! CLICK HERE

While Papa Hog is away in Nashville of all places, I thought I’d take a moment to share some intriguing developments. Harper is slowly but surely starting to use her feet for their intended purpose, that is to say, standing. She has pulled herself up once or twice, but is still more interested in being assisted and then just hang out and hula dances. Today she even began scooting down the coffee table in search of batteries to chew on…

The other funny development is a new favorite book, which is funny because it’s a book called Art. It has silly little pictures and names of museums, movements, artists (moma, dada, bau haus, etc.) all catered to a baby’s eye. She particularly appreciates the Dali page in which a baby doll sports a Dali style mustache. This is the first book that she has requested be read multiple times, and by requested, I mean groaned/cried until I read it again. So I read it three times and then had to move on for sanity’s sake- she didn’t much like that! Looks like we have another art historian in the making, oh brother!

Oh, and tooth number 3 has made its entrance next to the other 2 on the bottom row!

Sorry for the delay in posting holiday photos but we’re oh so tired from all the activities, we needed to snooze for a moment. We’ll have updates soon!

We have just survived what can only be categorized as the worst Thanksgiving ever. No, the turkey did not fall on the floor, nor did any major blowups ruin a lovely dinner. Rather, Harper experienced what will henceforth be known as the trifecta of baby discontent: teething, constipation, and a cold. The cold, of course, soon became an ear infection. Unfortunately, we were unaware of this development because all Harper would do was stick her hands in her mouth, which we misinterpreted as a reaction to the teething. It went from bad to worse, and on Monday we were horrified to learn that she had a ruptured ear drum (we know we aren’t the worst parents ever, but we must be a very close second).

At any rate, with some good drugs, Harper quickly reverted back to her naturally cheerful and smiley self. With one exception, she is still teething! An unexpected and hilarious result of this is what you see in this picture: her tongue is almost constantly sticking out of her mouth at this point. I think that she is feeling her one little poker coming up on her bottom gum with her tongue. Whatever the cause, she’s definitely looking a little gangsta these days…

Another development of note is her chatter. She has begun to say recognizeable syllables, my particular favorite being ahmamamama. To which I respond, “Yes, I am your Mama.” No papapas as of yet, but I did hear a baba this morning, so hope is not lost, Papa Hog.

Although Harper is diving into the world of solid foods with aplomb (some current favorites are black beans and pears), she is still wrestling with constipation on the regular. This past week and weekend she has been going through it yet again and last night during her bath, I was flabbergasted by the size of her over-stuffed, backed-up tummy. Watching this giant belly with a baby attached to it reminded me of a particularly hungover visit to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia where I queasily learned of the man with a 50 pound colon. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get to that point…

Although we have been reading to Harper since she was about three months old, she is really starting to get into the whole project. Her current favorite book is called “What Color is Your Underwear?” and it is, of course, a flip-up book. She loves to get her hands on the book and knows to lift up each flap to see what kind of funny underwear the animals are wearing. She gets very excited to see what lies beneath and has already ripped the arm of a cactus shielding Mrs. Moo’s “udderly” sensible blue underwear. Some other current favorite books are “Are You There Baby Bear?” and “Good Morning, Good Night,” all of which are flip-up or touch-and-feel books.

One of the most amazing aspects of Harper’s interest level is her forceful expression of boredom or dislike. When I begin reading a book that she is not interested in, she immediately lets me know by squirming, whining, moaning, or any other variety of other irritated expressions. Of course, these books are generally more interesting to ME, but she’s the boss, applesauce! If she can’t have flip-up pictures, she insists on turning the pages of her other favorite books such as, “Goodnight Moon” and “Brown Bear.” Incidentally, this makes story time go much faster…

In other news, the crawling has begun in earnest. Harper has her commando thing down to a T and must now be watched at all times. She has enjoyed crawling across our huge rug towards Meemaw and Peepaw on skype. Speaking of Meemaw and Peepaw, they sent her a fabulous Radio Flyer walker/wagon that she just discovered last night. We put all her toys in it and watched as she maneuvered creative ways to get them all out, including pulling herself up onto her feet and ultimately laying herself across the bed of the wagon. She is one determined little chica and this feat just warned Tom and I of how close she is to walking. It all seems to be going by so fast, at least she still looks like a baby. A giant baby (she is already 3/4 the size of her little daycare buddy who is about 8 months older than her), but a baby nonetheless.

Sorry, was running through my image library and couldn’t help but love this one in particular: (March 23, 2009, Day