Holidays

We can hardly believe that the holiday season has arrived! Harrison thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving this year at Grams and Grandpa's house (especially dessert!) and then, about one week later he had his first Christmas celebration. Gigi will be traveling this year for Christmas, so we all got together to celebrate with her this past weekend instead. Harrison received some great new gifts that he loves, especially his new food basket (he loves to "cut" the toast) and music player. He is also enjoying cuddling with his new Jayhawk pet pillow.

We are looking forward to having lots of family at our house in a few short weeks for Christmas Eve and Christmas, and watching Harrison experience this Christmas season. We are so blessed.

Halloween Rescheduled

Well, unfortunately, Halloween did not turn out quite as planned. Obi-Wan was not in any condition to show off his Jedi skills due to a nasty virus that had set in the day before. Instead, Gigi was nice enough to let us reschedule Halloween and trick or treat at her house a few nights ago. We updated flickr with some pictures of Harrison in his costume, along with some other pics from the last month.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch this morning and Harrison had a fabulous time. There was a tractor ride, a hay maze, and thousands of pumpkins! Harrison particularly liked running through the hay maze and trying to push the wagon around after we picked out our pumpkins. We all loved every minute of this experience. jack o'lanterns coming up!

Scaakes Pumpkin Patch:

http://www.schaakespumpkinpatch.com/

Words!

Harrison's language skills have skyrocketed over the last several weeks! Only a few words spoken so far, but he understands several words and phrases now and it seems like every day he learns something new. He understands a few words in sign language (the all-important "eat" and "more" and, thankfully, "gentle") and he can correctly point to many different things that we name. Right now he is cracking us up when we ask him to point to his eyes. He points to his cheek and then starts blinking really slowly. Hilarious.

As far as speaking goes, he has now officially told some perfect strangers "hi," and the other day he said "shoe." We are excited to start communicating with him and, as a result, we have the pleasure of seeing his wonderful personality shine through a little more every day.

We posted some new pictures today from the last few weeks including a trip to the petting zoo with John and our first KU football game of the season. Also, note the pics of him brushing his teeth. :) We've been enjoying this cooler weather and getting outside more!

Fun New Tricks

Harrison has learned some new "big boy" skills over the last few weeks. Here are our favorites:

1. Walking backwards ("moonwalking," as we like to call it)

2. Running in place

3. Throwing a tantrum while running in place

4. Running in place while hurling himself around Mom's legs to be picked up

5. Scooting down the stairs on his bottom (still a work in progress)

6. Brushing his teeth

7. Using a spoon and actually getting the food in his mouth sometimes

8. Saying "yum yum" while eating something he likes

9. Unlocking the iphone

10. Solving his first puzzle

So much fun right now!

So Much To Do

Harrison is keeping himself very busy these days. To give you an idea, here is list of activities he regularly completes in a 15 minute burst of activity: climb the stairs, ride toy milk truck, empty one drawer, fill one drawer, press 10 buttons, open and close closet doors, throw things, point, chase the dog, pet the dog, more pointing, bang piano keys, and help with laundry.

We're having so much fun watching Harrison explore the world, and helping him make the most of each day! We've posted several new pictures on Flickr so that everyone can see Harrison taking care of business.

Keeping Busy

As you probably guessed, Harrison started walking for-real since our last post. Just in the last couple of weeks, he has started to prefer walking to crawling and he is getting better at it everyday. He has also learned how to strategically fall when he loses his balance, so that helps too! Now that he has walking figured out, it has been amazing to watch his other skills develop by the day. His verbal skills are getting better and better, and we notice him starting to mimic us more. He is also really developing his fine motor skills and seems to really like to organize (Yay, says mom!) He seems to really enjoy putting things in their containers and then dumping them out to start all over again! And, our favorite new developments are the clap and the wave. Waving is still very new, but it is so cute and he is very proud of himself!

We have had a great time this last month catching up with old friends and enjoying these long summer days together. Todd, Ali, and Ryan were kind enough to let us celebrate Memorial Day with them at the Lake, and as you can see from the new pics, we all had a great time. Their dog Callie REALLY enjoyed all the food that Harrison was kind enough to feed her during our stay! Harrison enjoyed his first boat ride and loved hanging out with Ryan.

Harrison also got a chance to stay with Aunt Katie and Uncle Brian one night this month so that Mom and Dad could attend an out-of-town wedding. As the pictures clearly show, they had a lot of fun together and Harrison was so sad to see them go the next day!

It's been a really fun month and we are enjoying the chance to get out of the house more this summer! We are also very excited to celebrate Johnny and Owen's birthdays soon. These boys are all developing such distinct personalities and it is an honor to watch them grow up together.

11 Steps!

Harrison is getting closer and closer to "full on" walking after a couple of weeks of taking steps here and there. Here is a video from this weekend of him taking some steps. And doing some trademark pointing...

Best Year Ever

It's safe to say that Harrison's first "birthday week" was a success. Harrison is incredibly blessed to have such an amazing group of family and friends to help him celebrate this amazing year. In order to celebrate with everyone, we ended up with about four little celebrations. He is so thankful for all of the fun gifts he received and excited to try his new toys out! And, Harrison had his first taste of sugar and we're afraid there is no turning back now. Ice cream is an official favorite! We've posted a bunch of pictures from the past week and hope you all enjoy!

Happy First Easter

Harrison had a very busy and fun schedule this past Easter weekend. On Saturday, he had so much fun hanging out with Johnny and his aunts and uncles for a party in honor of Annie and Mike's baby girl, due this summer. This little girl is going to have lots of "big brothers" looking out for her! Harrison and John were very helpful to Annie when she opened her gifts!

On Easter, we spent the morning with Tom's dad and his siblings after discovering Harrison's first Easter basket. We attended a beautiful mass in Lawrence before resting up for Easter dinner in Topeka with Amy's family. It was a big day, but so much fun! Lots of new pictures from our holiday weekend. Enjoy!

Dinner is Fun!

With the people watching, music, and Cheerios, Harrison was VERY happy at dinner this evening. This funny video shows him bouncing t the music and chomping on some O's.

Finally, an Update!

Well, we are entirely embarrassed by how delinquent we have been in posting these last two months. Work, winter, illness, traveling, and of course, Harrison has kept us very busy. While we have tried to keep the flickr pics updated, we are definitely overdue for an update!

February brought us Harrison's nine-month milestone and our first family vacation together. We joined Aunt Brooke and Uncle Ryan on a ski trip to Aspen. As much as Harrison wished he could ski with Dad, Brooke, and Ryan, he and Amy managed to have a great time just relaxing by the fire in the cabin, sleeping, eating, and playing. It was definitely a much needed getaway for us all.

The other big development is that Harrison finally figured out how to crawl over the last week. He is having so much fun now chasing after Sydney, grabbing his toys, and trying to pull himself to a standing position on just about anything he can find. We have also noticed that when he is standing and music comes on, he starts to dance! It is so much fun to watch.

Unfortunately, the whole family has been struggling with colds and, in Harrison's case, ear infections over the last couple of months. Now that the weather is starting to warm, we are keeping our fingers crossed that we have passed the worst of it! We are all ready to start spending time outside, especially once Harrison starts walking!

We've added some new pictures to Flickr from our vacation and of our newly mobile little boy!

Almost There!

This video shows just how close Harrison is to crawling. It’s just too bad that after all this hard work, Sydney the dog got up and ran away! She still doesn’t know what to think about his mobility. In other fun news, Harrison has started to pull himself up to low couches, toys, and anything else he can get his hands onto (including people). He's so proud of himself, and does a very funny little bouncy dance every time he makes it to the standing position.

On the verge of crawling!

We have been saying for over a week now that it is going to happen anytime: Harrison is definitely ready to start crawling, he just hasn't put all of the necessary elements together yet! He is rolling like a champ, and he can get up on all fours for a few seconds at a time and rock. He scoots if he can push his feet off of us for leverage. This development has also led to another change, which is that he is very squirmy when being held! He still likes to nuzzle, but more often than not he is trying to reach for something or roll around on our laps. Also, no more waking up in his crib in the exact same spot as where he feel asleep. Invariably, we now find him in the corner of the crib in a little ball. Our little boy is becoming mobile!

Another big change over the last few weeks is Harrison's range of noises. He does a lot of screaching, but now that involves noises that sound like his own little language. We can make out "dada" and mumma" in some of these noises, but we think they are purely coincidental at this point (we can't help but feel our hearts skip a beat when we hear it, though). The funniest thing is this new sound that he has developed that kind of sounds like chuckling, but the sound itself appears to really crack him up. So he makes this sound, and then he really starts laughing! Hilarious.

It seems that everyone in our family is finally healthy, but we are ready for Spring! We hesitate to say it and jinx anything, but Harrison seems to have gotten past the ear infections. Between that and all of these snow days, we are ready to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air!

Cruising in the Jeep

Here is a fun video of Harrison cruising around in his Jeep. It is really amazing to watch his little legs work to push the Jeep around. He's even taken to trying to follow Sydney the dog around the room. She's in trouble when he starts running!

Boy Time!

Amy had to go to Washington DC for a few days last week - leaving Tom and Harrison to their own devices! Despite missing Mom terribly, the boys managed to have some fun. In fact, they got to stay home on Tuesday for Harrison’s first SNOW DAY. Instead of sledding, the guys played with "toys" and took naps all day! Maybe next year they will try sledding.