Notes on Harper

Just a few thoughts about his little lady:


Her hair bears an unfortunate resemblance to Krusty the Clown (particularly when she does her own during-meal styling):


She is a menance. I've said it before. I'll say it again. And it will be true every time I do. She regularly eats dust bunnies. You know, clumps of dust and hair? Yeah. I gagged a little too. And that's not even the worst thing she's put in her mouth. I won't tell you the others because, believe me, you would no longer be her friend.

She does a better job folding her arms for prayer than Elliot. (Note to self: work with Elliot on folding his arms for prayer.)

She says hi, bye, and all done. And I swear she said "here you go" when giving me the remote the other day.

She loves Sesame Street, Elliot, reading Moo, Baa, La La La (over and over and over), and Vanilla Joe Joe's.

She does not like walking (or when we try to encourage her to walk), being sick (my patient patient is long gone. A cold now makes this girl CRABBY), diaper changes, and when we refuse to read Moo, Baa, La La La for the twenty-second time in a row.

She drives me crazy. She is an absolute joy.

You may or may not want to watch the following:

Trip to the Firestation

Elliot's class took a trip to the our local fire station this morning. It's only two block from our house (so close that I figure, hey kids, go ahead and play with those matches. We're covered!) It was fun to get to meet all of Elliot's friends. Plus, they all had to wear the most ridiculous (and therefore adorable) white hats with the name of their school on the front.

The firemen did a great job with their presentation. Elliot, however, was not the most attentive pupil.

I learned:

1) In an emergency, call 911.
2) Don't hide from scary firemen wearing their oxygen masks.
3) If you are on fire, stop, drop and roll.

Elliot learned:

1) A fireman's hat is really heavy.

Picnic in the Park

We celebrated Harper's birthday with a picnic in Central Park with friends. It was a beautiful day -- and Elise brought her camera and captured it all. (Thank you!)

Here are some thoughts on parties in New York:

Sometimes you have to share your space with some random people. Like professional ballroom dancers doing a photo shoot. And pot smokers. (To their credit, we were in Strawberry Fields).

You can scare away said random people if you give enough kids whistles and Chinese yo-yos.

Your stroller is almost better than a mini-van (Don't believe it? Check the photo at the bottom).

(Sorry for the weird formatting -- these are actually scrapbook pages).

This little lady

Somehow managed to turn one. What?! I'm still not sure how that happened.

Here's ten things about Harper on her 1st birthday.

1. She is a menace. For instance, last week I was in the kitchen doing dishes when Elliot started yelling, "Harper's doing a no-no!" I came running to find her standing at the toilet, playing in the water while Elliot was peeing into it. Menace, I tell you.

2. She is loud. And talkative. All day long, we hear "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" And I love it.

3. She adores her brother. When he walks out of his "room" (if you've been to my apartment, you know why I put that in quotation marks) in the morning, she practically jumps out of my lap to greet him.

4. She's easy-going. Sure, she hates it when I take something from her she's desperate to put in her mouth (legos, anyone?), but once she's sure she's been heard on the issue, she drops it. And I love her for it.

5. She's a picky eater. A recent development, I'm afraid. Luckily, she doesn't know who she's up against. I am perfectly happy to put the same bite of mashed potatoes into her mouth ten times, if that's what it takes. (Clearly, I do not share her lovely, easy-going personality).

6. She spends 75% of her time in the stroller. Or at least it feels that way. Is it the same with babies and carseats in the suburbs?

7. Though she loves to be upright and cruise along furniture, she is not in the least interested in walking.

8. She has the most adorable, big, gap-toothed smile ever. Well, adorable on a one year old. One a 14 year old, we'd probably be talking headgear.

9. Her favorite playground pastime is climbing up slides. And she's pretty good at it. Today she made it all the way up a slide without a single push from me.

10. She flirts with men in our elevator. Usually they flirt right back. Occasionally they ignore her and I am offended for her.

This seems like years ago-

First Day of School

If anyone had told me a year ago that I'd send Elliot to full-day, five-days-a-week public pre-k, I'd have laughed.

Yet, here we are. And look how excited he was! I could hardly get him to hold still for a picture.



So even though my heart is breaking a bit to let my baby go (why don't I have $15k on hand for private, part-time school?), I think he's ready.

More Week in the Life

Here is Wednesday:

Elliot Says

After watching the Backyardigans Polka Party:

"Mom, I want a tuba for my birthday. A big tuba. I really love the tuba."