Harper's actual birthday was Tuesday. We aren't celebrating until Saturday for her party, but we did have a lot of events to help us celebrate birthday week. Some of our sweet friends came over Monday for a play date and surprised her with a little party. They won't be able to make it to her party on Saturday, so they wanted to celebrate with her. Harper loved the attention while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her. It was so thoughtful of them!
Tuesday on her actual birthday we ended up having lunch at Burger King. I wanted to do something that I knew she would enjoy and she loves their playground. Nana, Bamama, Grandaddy, Ella, Vicki, Grady, and Nanny all ended up joining us. She had quite the little party there! The girls played for over an hour and enjoyed some ice cream as a dessert treat.
That night we went back to Nana's house to eat pizza (one of Harper's favorite foods). We sang Happy Birthday (again) and she blew out her candles on her brownie knowing exactly what to do! I just adore these pictures below. I have mentioned several times how she has so many facial expressions. I feel like I finally captured some of them on camera. She is too funny!
Harper went to her 2 year old check up yesterday and was such a big girl! She was hesitant at the very beginning to step on the scale but after that she was so brave! She let Dr. Williams listen to her heart, look in her ears, and mouth, etc. We took our Doc McStuffins doctor kit with us for Harper and Payton to play with while we were waiting. Maybe that helped??? She had to get one shot and she didn't even whimper! What a big girl.
Weight: 25 lbs. 5 oz. - 50%
Height: 34.75 in. - 75%
Head: 19.75 in. -98% (of course!)
(Telling us she was 2 years old!)
Favorite foods these days: pizza, fruit (especially strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and grapes), yogurt pops, MILK (the girls loves some milk), cheese, chicken, any type of bread
Personality: She is quite the spunky little thing. If she gets hurt she usually stands right up and says, "I okay!" She can be absolutely hilarious! She knows how to make everyone laugh for sure. Her spunkiness can turn the corner also. She is strong-willed, determine to be her own self (not her sister's shadow), likes to say NO. She's not quite the dare devil that Payton has always been. She likes to check out a situation for a while before she is willing to jump in. After that, she usually loves it but it has to be on her own time. Last weekend we went to Ava's birthday party at the splash pad. She had to walk the perimeter of the splash pad for half of the party before she was convinced it was okay to play. After that, you couldn't get her off of it. Unfortunately, she has become quite familiar with time out this summer. She's definitely smart enough to understand the concept because after telling her she's going to time out, she starts screaming whatever you have asked her to do in an attempt to bargain getting out of time out. It's getting better!
Smart girl: One thing we discussed with Dr. Williams yesterday was her speech. At her last appointment I was very concerned because she had very few words that she was saying consistently. Now she has just taken off and putting together sentences all the time. I think this goes back to her little personality of taking everything in. She was just waiting until she was ready, and now she hasn't slowed down with it. She knows all of her basic colors and some shapes including: square, circle, triangle, star, etc. She loves to count and is actually pretty good! We have 17 stairs in our house so we constantly count them when we go up and down. I won't say that she is 100% accurate, but she's pretty good until she gets to about 14. We are beginning to work on letters but she is slowly getting there. Maybe I feel confident to say that she knows A and H. She has also learned her birthday this month.
Size: She wears anything from 18-24 months and 2T, depending on what we have clean. :) She is definitely tall and thin. She's wearing size 5 shoes. Her hair has finally grown out and now requires a bow at all times. It even has a little curl on the end when the summertime humidity hits it.
Big girl: She has been sleeping in a big girl bed like a champ since the end of April. She naps about 2.5-4 hours in the afternoon. She is very independent often saying "My turn" when she wants to do something on her own. Whether that be snap the car seat, put on shoes, brush her hair and teeth, the list goes on. She has gotten much better about asking for help when she does realize she can't do the said task on her own rather than just pitching a royal fit! Although we were no where near wanting to potty train, she kept giving us clues that she may be ready. I feel like we may have started a little early with Payton and I didn't want to make that same mistake again. After trying for a day and a half and our success to failure ratio being 1:13, we decided maybe we should wait a while longer! Although I think she's physically ready, she's just not that interested in yet. As mentioned, until her little strong personality decides she's ready, it is only going to be a battle.
Favorite phrases:
(I've added a lot of these as I sit here listening to her and Payton play)
"Hey, Mommy!"
"Hey, Daddy!"
"Watch this!"
"Get tummy."
"What you doin?"
"I want kiss. I want hug" (especially when putting her in bed at night)
"That tickles."
"That cute."
"I love you."
She has been saying "Thank you" for several months now and it is so precious. Just this week she started saying "Yes, mam!" and "No, mam!" Now we just have to get Yes, sir and No, sir. I have to say she uses great manners!
I honestly do think that she will make a fabulous big sister. As mentioned in a previous post, she has taken very well to babies we have been around. She will say, "Hey Baby ______!" "He/she cute!"However she can also be clingy at times so we will see when that cute baby is in our house 24/7 how that goes!
Favorite books: Her book she got the last day of school with her friend's pictures that follows the pattern of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She has a nursery rhyme book that we read almost every night.
Favorite songs: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's
Favorite activities: The girl just about skips everywhere she goes. She also loves jumping (on the ground or trampoline), playing baby dolls, cooking in her play kitchen, blowing bubbles, reading books, etc. We're working on trying to make her a water girl because she's not quite a fan yet.
This girl is such a joy to our family. We can always count on her to make us laugh or give us loves just when we need it. We are so thankful that God designed her to be such a perfect gift to fit perfectly into our family.
As I finished up this post, I couldn't help but think that July 4th was the day we brought her home from the hospital. With the second child, we were out and about that evening to celebrate with family and even pulled the car up to the fireworks to let Payton watch them for a minute. I can't believe that's been 2 years ago! We love you Harper Lynn!
