Ms. Harper Paige! While I still call you baby, the truth is, you’re not a baby anymore! You have been walking for nearly 3 months now….and you are fast. You like to runaway especially if you know someone is trying to pick you up or get you to go in a certain direction. You run away and just laugh…you think it is funny and the truth is…it is funny! You like to play with your sisters….they are rough with you…and you can surprisingly handle it…you are almost as rough right back at them. You have developed a temper recently…especially when you don’t get something you want or if someone takes something away from you like a toy or something you shouldn’t have been playing with to begin with. You have even recently started biting when you are mad or don’t get your way! The first few times it was kind of funny just because you are on the young side to be doing so, but after the first few times, it wasn’t so funny anymore. The main victims are your sisters….they are really good though and they don’t bite you back…even Avery who still sometimes has her own biting problem…the victim being Emerson. You have been known to pull their hair as well, something else they are not a big fan of! You grunt a lot…especially as a means of communication. You say mama and dada on occasion but not really with meaning. You understand pretty much everything though and I don’t think you are in a rush to talk….I guess you are satisfied with your sisters doing all of the talking. You love playing with your sisters and they adore you…they especially love to get up in your face and give you huge hugs….you’re not the biggest fan of their hugs as their hugs resemble very tight squeezes. You have learned how to turn around and scoot down the stairs…you have been climbing the stairs for well over a month now…another task that you think is funny especially when you are supposed to be in the kitchen with mommy and you run away to escape up the stairs.
Your hair is turning curly as I was certain it would….your hair is much lighter than when you were born, but not as light as your sister’s hair. You are a pretty good eater although you don’t really like vegetables….and if there is a food you have been known to throw off your tray, its vegetables. You drink about 18 ounces of cow’s milk a day now…I nursed you until about 11 months and frozen breast milk got us through just after your 1st birthday. The switch to cow’s milk was no big deal for you. Your sleeping is great….you go down about 8:30 and sleep for up to 12 hours…..you stopped getting up at 6:00 a.m. after Mommy stopped nursing you. You still nap twice a day for the most part….although sometimes your morning nap gets derailed by your sister’s ballet class or their pre-school pick-up. You still suck your thumb; although, not as much as you used to.
And while you are no longer a baby, you are still a joy. While you go to sleep unassisted, one particular night earlier this week, you woke up crying about 45 minutes after I put you down. I’m not sure what was wrong but it was so out of the ordinary for you that I went in your room and quietly picked you up. You peacefully layed your head in my body and we rocked….I forgot about the dishes that awaited me in the kitchen and the laundry that was waiting to be folded….in that moment it was just you and me baby girl!