Over the river and through the woods...

...to grandmama's house we go! Harrison experienced his first sleepover at Grandmama and Zaidy's house this past weekend. In fact, he spent two nights away from home as mom and dad spent the weekend in downtown Seattle. Together, we have never been away from him like this before and I was a little worried how things would work out. I may have mentioned this before, but from about 12-18 months, Harrison would scream and wail at the sight of his grandmama because when he was smaller we would leave him with her to babysit; too often we dropped him off while he was sleeping and he would wake up and we were gone. It took several months to let the emotional scars heal and many visits in which he was not left alone without his parents!

I am happy (or maybe a little sad?) that Harrison had a GREAT time at Grandmama and Zaidy's house last weekend. Evidently, he did not throw any fits, took great naps, ate the food prepared for him and didn't ask for his mommy or daddy... not even once! This is actually quite a breakthrough and we are all happy he is getting the hang of being spoiled by them. Yes, Zaidy, I said spoiled... don't think I didn't notice that you didn't cut that fresh apple juice with water like I asked, I could smell the natural sugars a mile away! Ha!

When we called to check in Saturday morning, we were told Harrison played in the bath for an hour, until his little fingers were prune like, and evidently had a lot of fun. Later that day, he also took a trip to a nearby farm and had a grand time stomping in puddles and meeting the animals. We called to check in (yes, again!) while they were driving home and we could hear Harrison moo'ing and singing to himself in the background. Might I add he had no interest in talking to us.

It also looks like he obediently brushed his teeth when asked:

It seems he got so comfortable there that he would wander into the family room and if Great Papa (great grandpa Hugh) was not in his usual chair watching tv, Harrison would say "Papa?" and shrug his shoulders. When he does this, he usually also says "where'd-go?" really fast but in a whisper (it's pretty funny).

When we arrived Sunday morning to pick him up, I walked past the large family room windows and he caught sight of me and started jumping up and down madly (to which I enthusiastically reciprocated), and then he made a dash towards the front door. Three seconds later I am turning the handle and hear him crying like he is wounded. Once inside, we checked him out thinking maybe he tripped and fell while he was running however he was determined to be unscathed. In the end, we think he was so overcome with emotion he did not know what else to do but cry! He was excited to see us, then probably realized he hadn't seen us in a couple days, and then realized we had left him for that whole time, and then relief that we came back... what else to do but cry?! Poor guy, but he was recovered a few minutes later and went about playing and working off some of that sugar in the afore mentioned apple juice.

In the days since, driving home from day care he has asked me about the whereabouts of "gamma" and "zzaa-dee." He also declared that a passing bus was "Zaidy's bus" because he knows that firetrucks are Zaidy's (he's a firefighter) and therefore all large vehicles must be his too. I told him his grandparents would be at his birthday party and he was very excited they plan to attend.

Our big guy

Our little Harrison is in the verge, nay, the very cusp of turning 2 years old! With the arrival of his birthday just a couple weeks away, we will cease to continue counting his age in months (mostly because we can't count much higher than 24). I haven't been as diligent as I would have liked in documenting his new skills but here are a couple of things that come to mind.

Last weekend, he pointed to his new track jacket hanging on the hook and said "GEEN, GEEN" and I suddenly realized he was saying "green"; until that moment, he had never before categorized a color (although I wonder if someone told him it was green and that is just the name he has assigned the jacket... I will have to conduct some tests).

 

 He wants to be like dad! Check him out in dad's ski helmet; not pictured are the giant ski gloves he wanted over both hands.

 

  

He LOVES Elmo and Sesame Street. In fact, he will beg to watch Elmo and read Elmo books. Aunt Sharon gave him this Elmo hat and while he doesn't always like wearing it, he likes to carry Elmo around with him.

 

He has learned to eat "real food." Up until recently, there was very little he would eat that wasn't fruit, pasta, cheese, pasta covered in cheese, or bread/tortilla covered in cheese. We made a major breakthrough one night when he asked to take "a bite" of my taco and then proceeded to eat most of it. The trend continued the next several nights which included some wonton soup I made; Po Po we knew you would want us to capture his first full meal of Chinese food! By the way, he refers to actively eating and drinking as taking "a bite." For instance, he asked me for a bite of my water or he will tell me to take a bite of his soup.

Harrison LOVES Buzz from Toy Story. I recently took him to the mall and he noticed the Disney Store for the first time... hard to miss with a revolving Daisy Duck and Chip and Dale in the window! Once inside, I decided to get him a piece of kids luggage because he will be staying at Grandmama's house this weekend. Once we purchased "Buzz," he insisted on pulling it behind him the entire length of the mall. Now at home, he asks to take Buzz with him to school in the mornings as well as up and down the stairs inside the house. His interest in Toy Story 3 makes TS 1 and TS2 look like a calculus lecture... you can't tear his eyes away from TS3. As a side note, his other favorite new movie is Ratatouille (which he calls "mouse"... it is hard to tell the difference between a rat and mouse). While we were watching it one evening, he pointed at my kitchen and and then back at the cartoon kitchen on the tv; then he pointed to his red play kitchen and then back at the tv. You could just see the light bulb turn on in his brain.

There is almost no trace of baby left in his sweet self. Just look at him here, he looks like a little boy through and through. He asserts his independence (except when he whines for mommy to baby him, pick him up, etc) and he wants to be like mommy and daddy. He asks to sit on the potty like us and he will pull off a bit of toliet paper and wipe his back side, throw it in the bowl and then flush. While his body has not associated when to "let it go" he is starting to take an interest. Also like a grown up, he seems to like some privacy when he has a BM... I can't tell you how many times he has walked out of the pantry with a dirty diaper! Totally a little man! 

Book Club

In early 2006, I started a book club because I loved to read and wanted to spend more time with my friends. These woman have become some of my closest friends and I am amazed at how our club has both stuck together and grown! Getting together and reading the same material and sharing opinions brings us closer to one another than I would ever get with most of the people I work with day in and out chatting about the weather or the weekend. These girls know I hate the romantic, perfectly plotted stuff of Nicholas Sparks and know I love works of fiction that delve into societal issues while giving us an interesting plot with interesting characters. And they know I LOVE to eat, in fact we all do and tend to choose the next read depending on the type of food we want to eat. I would rather choose the book first but the majority rules.

The first book club of 2011 gathered at Melissa's house in nearby Snohomish last weekend. Since we had chosen two books with Japanese characters, we had a sushi making party and I tried my hand at yakisoba. We don't regularly take photos so I am glad I have this one to remind me of how lucky I am to have these ladies in my life!

from left to right: Ellyce, Melony, Tina, Ashley, Melissa, Brennan, Sara, Alicia and Raina