Harrison made a new friend!

Snowmageddon 2013

After what appeared to be another very wimpy winter, we got about a foot of snow last week!  School was closed on Thursday and Friday and the entire family took shelter from the storm at home.  Between epic snow storms, new words every day, and potty training, we have been having a blast so far in 2013.  

But, most importantly, we welcome a new cousin into the family: Avery Eileen was born in the middle of a blizzard last week.  She and Aunt Brooke are doing great and Harrison was very excited to meet "Johnny's baby"!  

You will see in the new installment of pictures Harrison's continuing independent streak (favorite phrase lately: "Don't help me mommy, I want to do that by myself!"), and his wicked sense of humor.  As his language expands, so does his ability to crack us up.  One example: we have used a baby gate in his bedroom doorway for several months now or he would be running all over the house instead of sleeping.  Today, when he was supposed to be napping, Tom heard him call out, so Tom said, "I'm going to come get you in a second."  Harrison responded, "No, Daddy, I'm going to come get you."  Much to Tom's surprise, here comes Harrison tiptoeing into our room.  He said with delight, "I opened the gate all by myself!"  

Happy New Year

The three of us are trying to settle back into normal routines after an amazing few weeks of family and holidays.  Thanks to the first snow of the year, Harrison’s winter holiday started a bit early – keeping him out of school for almost two weeks!  A healthy mix of holiday time-off and planned vacation time for Tom and Amy provided a rare opportunity for us all to relax together.  We had fun at the park in the snow (impossible to keep Harrison off the slide), attended various Christmas gatherings family, and had an unforgettable Christmas breakfast, which was “prepared” by Harrison in his new play kitchen.  Harrison is especially fond of his new trucks and trains, always lining them up.

We had to get pretty creative after the first several days home with Harrison, and Tom and he had a few fun adventures.  One day they went to the aquarium so that Harrison could see the fish, stingrays, and lobsters (he really liked the lobsters but called them “grasshoppers”).  Another day, they went to an indoor gym center for kids.  This was two hours of climbing apparatuses, hula-hoops, trampoline floors, and watching other little kids going berserk!

As sad as we are that this amazing winter holiday season is coming to an end, we are all very excited for what 2013 will bring for our family!

Santa!

Harrison went to see Santa today. No tears and he seemed to really enjoy!

Harrison had a fun and festive month of November, enjoying time outside, celebrating Thanksgiving, and preparing our house for Christmas.  We enjoyed our Thanksgiving in Wichita with Tom's dad and grandparents.  And Harrison enjoyed a fun sleepover with Johnny while his parents celebrated their 10-year anniversary!  Last weekend,we trimmed the tree together, which Harrison absolutely loved.  Turns out, he is really good at it!  It was a great month with lots of fun new pictures to enjoy. 

Happy Halloween

The little Train Conductor had several successful stops last night. He picked up on "trick or treat" very quickly...

My new room

We are so excited to celebrate the fall with Harrison.  This past weekend was beautiful in Larence and we took a nice walk with Sydney and collected leaves.  Amy and Harrison are also baking up a storm together---he has been under the weather and home a lot, so it is something they can do inside to pass the time.  He LOVES mixing up the cookie dough and pouring muffin batter into the pans.  He is so proud of the results.

Harrison now has  a new "big boy" room, with a real bed.  He's not quite ready to sleep in the new bed yet, but he is very proud of "my new room" and we read books together and get dressed in there.  For now, he is still adjusting to the freedom of his toddler bed.  Keeping him in that bed has been a struggle---he likes to get out and sing and generally try to coopt us into to staying with him.  About 30 seconds after putting him to bed, we usually hear "Oooooh, Mommy!"  And now that he can reach the light switches, he sometimes just turns on the light after we leave him.  Hopefully, this is just a phase! 

For those of you who haven't heard, Harrison was fairly accident-prone this last month.  He fell off of a tricycle at school, biting his lip, which required stitches and loosened his two top front teeth.  Four days later he tripped and fell off of a porch step and lost one of the loose teeth.  He will unfortunately be without that tooth until his permanent one comes in a few years down the road.   We were heartbroken for him, but thankful that he was not more seriously hurt.  As you can imagine, we are following him around like helicopter parents lately!  One encouraging thing, and indicative of our Harrison's personality, is that he hopped right back on that tricycle the next time he went outside at school---completely unphased! 

Given all of this chaos, we don't have quite as many pictures to post as usual, but at least a few to enjoy.  We'll post more from Halloween and hopefullly, we'll get a trip to the pumpkin patch in soon!