Good Times at JoJo's

Harper had SO much fun at Joanna's. He and Ella played really well together (most of the time). They played with the doodle board we gave her for her birthday.

They played in her pool and in her fort.


When Ethan got there, Harper showed him his trains and which ones he brought for them to play with. He remembered that Ethan was the one who fixed his tracks when he came to his birthday party and was excited to play with a 'big' boy.

Joanna made me a cake and Cory grilled pizzas.

They played outside on the swingset and ran until they were exhausted!


Today we got out the colors for H and Ella. Since Harper's Daddy is out of the country until later this week, I thought it would be nice to make a picture for him to have when he gets back.


Then Harper and Ella got comfy in her bed and 'read' Thomas stories to each other.

The whole way home, all I heard was 'I want to go back to JoJo's house!' No worries, bud... we will.

To JoJo's House We Go... But Not Soon Enough

Harper's known for a few days that we're going to JoJo's house to spend the night tonight. At first he said he didn't want to go, but when he woke up yesterday he excitedly said, "Guess where we're going today!" I had to repeatedly tell him that we weren't, we're going Saturday.

Friday, when I got home from work, he started packing his trains.

There... he got most of them to fit.

Well... maybe there are too many.

Better repack and try this again.


This morning has been no different. As soon as he woke up he was ready to go. I explained that we are leaving after lunch and he said, "Mommy? Are donuts lunch?" Uh, no. So we've bumped up lunch and we'll be leaving about an hour earlier. I hope they're ready for us, er, him.

Purple Glaze

Last Saturday, after leaving Petco, Harper and I met Jack and Angela at the Purple Glaze, a pottery studio on Brookside. The boys got to pick their own pottery and paint them by themselves.

Harper was pretty tired, and not in a very good mood, so we did what we needed to do and went home. He wouldn't take a picture with Jack and got mad everytime Jack called him Harper and not "Jockey". (He's been on a Backyardigans 'Horsing Around' kick the last few days.)

Regardless, we'll do it again. It'll make great gifts for family members and be wonderful keepsakes for years to come.

Harper as daVinci


Jack with his painting face on


My mug with Harper's hands on it


Harper's Winnie the Pooh

The World Might Just Turn Out OK

This isn't a Harper post, but I saw this on Twitter feed this morning and had to share. When the news seems to tell us the sky is falling every single day, when it seems there's hatred everywhere you turn and all hope is lost for humanity, along comes a dude that makes you think maybe the world isn't such a bad place to raise a child.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Watch What You Say... and Do

Harper's really into pretending to be people... Backyardigans characters, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh.... family members... Today he told Mimi that he was Nana. He went to the back door, opened it, and yelled into the backyard, "Sampson! Sampson, hush! You're driving me nuts!"

And I wasn't going to post this, but it's just so funny... (If anyone thinks it's inappropriate, I'll take it down.)

Mimi was pushing Harper on the swing the other day and he said he was "at the doctor's office with Nana and PaPa. PaPa fell asleep and farted. Nana said 'WAKE UP, PAPA!'"

Sorry PaPa, I'll edit the post if you want me to. But nothing gets past this little guy anymore!

And he has a great imagination... He'll tell me stuff that happens, that I know for a fact hasn't. So sometimes you have to go to the source after you hear a story to check the facts. He'll tell me a story and I'll text his daddy to find out if it's true. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Every now and then, Nana will call me and tell me something that he did or got to do while he was with her, so I know it really happened. That's what I call proactive.

Showerhead

Harper has been taking showers more than baths lately. He's into it since they allow more play time with his trains, because they're so much faster.

He got really brave tonight and started putting his head under the water. With no provocation from me! It was totally his idea.

And The Magic Words Are...

Harper and I went to Petco for their grand opening at the Tulsa Hills shopping center. We had so much fun petting the dogs, looking at the fish and dreaming about taking a bird home with us. Well, Harper was dreaming about it... I told him he could have one when he turns 5.

They had a clown there making balloon animals. When it was Harper's turn, he told him he wanted a yellow teddy bear. Reasonable for a 3 year old, right? The clown said, "If you want a teddy bear, you should go back to bed. I'll make you something you'll really like!" Excuse me? So we stood there and watched while he made a Spiderman. I said, "He doesn't know or care anything about Spiderman. He asked for a yellow teddy bear." So he gave the Spiderman to the boy in line behind Harper and said, "I know what I'll make." Then he goes into the process of making a green balloon ball. He puts it inside a long, clear balloon and twists it with a long black balloon. Then tops it with a green alien head. This is NOT a yellow teddy bear. We had somewhere to be, so I just said whatever and we left. Harper was disappointed to not get the yellow teddy bear, but he was happy to just have a balloon.

But when the clown was putting the green balloon ball into the clear balloon he had Harper blow it and he asked, "What are the magic words?" I figured Harper would say hocus pocus, since he knows those from the Mickey Mouse Club, but he didn't. He said, "Please and Thank You". Ha! The mom behind me said, "Good Job, Mom!"

Hunger Pains

Harper's new thing is after taking two or three bites of food, he says, "I'm kinda full." I know it's just his age and he has SUCH a busy schedule... but I make him eat anyway. Even if he just eats half of whatever is on his plate, I just need to know he's eating SOMETHING.

Missing My Buddy

These are from Saturday morning. Because of the holiday, the Daylight Donuts by our house was closed. We needed to go to Target for something, I forget what, but I always let him pick the regular Target or the Super Target. He likes the Super Target best. So we were going to go to Merritt's Bakery, since it's right next to the S.T., but it was closed, too. What's the deal? No worries... We went to Krispy Kreme instead, and gorged on their deep fried goodness, then headed to the S.T. Harper liked the outside swing we found. It really wasn't that expensive. It would be nice to have in the backyard.

Air Head

Mimi has rubber gloves in her room (used for self tanners and such) and Harper was trying to blow one up like a balloon. It wouldn't hold the air, so he would blow and blow and blow. Finally, he said, "That made me sleepy." So we decided that was enough of that. I could just see him passing out.

Not *That* Desperate

Last night Harper had already finished his dinner and I offered him a bite of mine. He said, 'No thanks.' Since I'm always trying to get him to eat new food, I said, 'If you take a bite, I'll give you a quarter.' He looked at it for a split second, wrinkled his nose and said, 'I don't need a quarter.'

Summer Fun

Yesterday was Jack's Aunt Elizabeth's (Beefy) birthday, so we went to have dinner with them at Los Cabos at RiverWalk.

First, let me say that Harper really impressed me last night by eating four bites of a taco and half of the rice on his plate! He's such a picky eater that I literally sat there with my mouth ajar in astonishment.

When we were done eating, the boys really wanted to dance outside to Daddy and Uncle Phil's music.

Then, out of nowhere, Harper tells me that he wants to take his clothes off and run through the fountain... Now, I know he's seen the fountains before, but I've never let him run through it, so I have no idea how he would know that he could even do that! Angela said she'd walk them down there to play, and I followed behind shortly.

Jack was a little leary... I don't think he ever actually ran through the water. Who can blame him? It wasn't exactly hot last night and that water is cold! But my son, daring when he wants to be, ran through like a champ. Or a crazy person... you decide.




You can kind of see Harper in the middle of the fountains here...

It was late when we left, 9p. That's like midnight in Harper time. But I'm trying to gear him up for Independence Day. I would like him to stay up long enough to at least do some sparklers in the backyard. We'll see... He went right to sleep when we got home and slept well through the night. Typically, he'd end up waking up earlier, but he got up at his usual time of 7a, so I'd say that phase one of Project Sparkler was a success.

Milestone!!!

Well... on Wednesday, Harper decided that he didn't want to wear a pull up anymore. He's been in underwear ever since! He and Mimi went to Uncle Steve's and on there way there AND on the way back, he told her that he had to potty when they were passing the McDonald's in Stroud.

I'm SO proud!

Even though I'm still putting him in nighttime pull ups, he woke me up at 12:30a and told me he had to potty!

I couldn't believe it. Maybe this is IT!

Mold Remediation

For those of you who are keeping track, the mold removal is still underway. They came out and tore out the walls on June 4th. Cleaned the walls on June 5th and left the air scrubber in Harper's room for 72 hours. June 9th, Liberty OHM came out to do the air quality test to make sure they got all the mold. (You want the count to be equal to or lesser than outside. So they place machines outside, in the dining room to check the "normal" count in the house, and in Harper's room.) The guy from Liberty called me on June 13th and said that the mold count in Harper's room is mostly normal, he'd like it to be a little lower, but the count in my dining room was FIVE times HIGHER than it was the first time he came out. We can only assume that the people who did the actual mold removal didn't properly remove it and tracked it through the house.

SO

The remediation company brought out this gargantuan air scrubber for the dining room and another little one for Harper's room. They've been running nearly 24 hours a day (we take small breaks from the big one during the day) for over a week.

The reconstruction crew came out and put up the sheetrock, retextured the walls, and put up the window sills, but I haven't seen them in a few days.

The guy from Liberty is going to come out at some point, this week I think, to do another air quality test. And since it costs $740 each time he does one, the remediation company has offered to pay for this third one. We have no definite answer as to why the count is higher, but they're taking responsibility, which I appreciate.

I just want Harper's room to be fixed. HE wants his room to be fixed. Everyday, "Is my room fixed yet, Momma?" He's tired of sleeping with me. I'm tired of him sleeping with me. That child kicks! I've been putting a pillow between us, and for three weeks, it's been great. But the last couple of nights, he sticks his feet under it, or over it or the top half of his body is on top of it... all the while kicking me, pushing me, falling on top of me. Oy oy oy.

I'll be calling today to get the scheduled finish date. Please PRAY that it's this weekend at the latest!

Scorcher

It was hot when we woke up Sunday morning, so we decided to break out the pool. I guess we hadn't been punished by the sun enough on Saturday. But we had a mini good time. Harper splashed and had a popsicle, then decided to dry out on a towel with my sunglasses. Not his. It's okay... I've been looking forward to corneal cancer for a while now.




After his nap we went to Jack's house to swim and officially break in their new pool. Maybe Angela will post some pics or send some my way so I can put some up here. The boys had so much fun... for a while. Jack had too much sun and was out for the last couple of hours we were there. Harper was good about letting him rest and played quietly in the living room, or kicked the soccer ball in the backyard with Brian and Ryan.

When it was time to go, before we'd even left, Harper starts saying, 'I want to go back to Jack's house...' Yes, yes. I know. It was all I heard the rest of the night. And this morning.

Birthday at the Zoo

My sister, Shari's birthday is tomorrow, the 22nd, so we took our families to the OKC Zoo for the day. It was a gorgeous morning, but let me tell you... the first day of summer is a ridiculous day to go to the zoo. It was so flaming hot that I threatened to go home. A lot. The OKC Zoo may be missing a few things... a decent train, elephants, but the one place it has the Tulsa Zoo beat, is the misters. God Bless 'em. I love misters.

Me and H checking out the ducks.

Uncle Steve and Kenzie Ann. Doesn't she look pretty in her dress?

Aunt Shari, neice Ashley and her son, Conner.

Harper's first time on the carousel.

Watching the sea lion show.

Jaylee, Conner, Shari, Andrea, Me, H, Steven and Kenzie

Harper, Caitlyn and Kenzie watching the sea lion from inside the aquarium.

Harper, Mimi and Kenzie

Do You Hear What I Hear?

So Harper's really into learning new words and seeing what they look like written down, etc. Last night we were reading Winnie the Pooh for the umpteenth time and and I say "Somewhere deep in the Hundred Acre Wood..." and Harper says "Where does it say Hundred NAKED Wood?"

Who knew Pooh and his friends were hedonists?

Taking the Cake

Zeta's party was last night and Harper had SO much fun! I'm sure that no other pool will ever compare to the one at this party. Harper got the hang of it pretty quick, put your foot in the blue hole and hold onto the red handles. It was keeping him from climbing up the slide that was a challenge. The kids were going down this thing non-stop!
Zeta's in the pink suit on the left, and that's Avery in the front. After we ate and the kids were done swimming, they got to hit the pinata. Now I've mentioned before that H isn't the most athletically inclined. After last night, I think I'm going to need to get a t-ball kit or something, just so he can get some practice. It was pretty late (for us) when Zeta started opening her presents, and about 8p, Harper turned off the light in Zeta's room, closed the door (that was when I followed him in), and got under the covers. I said 'What are you doing bud?' He said, 'I'm so tired, Momma. I'm going to sleep.' So I scooped him up and we headed home.

Independence

Harper's sleeping with me right now because his room is "broken" (the mold was removed, but he still has no walls). After I laid him down, I went to wash my face and brush my teeth. I peeked into my room and it was light enough I could see, but dark enough that I couldn't tell if that lump in the bed had him in it or if it was all sheets. I had to get right up on it to see that he wasn't in bed. I looked around and saw the light on in my bathroom. I tapped on the door, "Harper?" He opened the door, pull up down to his ankles, sleep shorts kicked off and he had been going potty. I couldn't believe he did that all by himself! But it's a good thing I was there when I was... He's not really gotten pulling up his pants by himself very well. I helped him get redressed, then put him back in bed. He's getting to be such a big boy!

No Walk in the Park

As I've said before, Harper is still potty training. The little man just doesn't have control over his bladder yet. He's getting there... a little progress is better than none at all. And cooling pull ups are really helping!

However, one of my friends (Deanna. Grr!) said that what worked for her was just taking her daughter out of pull ups. Just put her in panties and Caitlyn was suddenly potty trained! Yeah, well... that's not how it worked at my house.

I've been going back and forth with pull ups and underwear. On Harper, of course. Sillies... Anyway... Yesterday, he'd been running around the back yard, half naked, most of the afternoon. When I got home, I took him potty and just put him in some underwear. We were about to eat, then take a shower. He's been telling us that he needs to go, so I wasn't worried about it.

However...

He had just sat down, and I was getting his dinner and he said, "I have to go potty." I said, "Okay," and as I reached down to help him out of his chair, he was already going. And going. And going. It was like a small stream. I just started saying "Stop! Stop!" But he couldn't. He just doesn't have control over that yet, I guess. So instead of tracking pee through the house just to get him to the toilet in time for him to be done, I just had him stand there and finish. It. Was. Awful.

But I got him, the floor and the chair all cleaned up and figured it would be pointless to scold him. I just told him that next time he needs to go, to wait until he's on the potty before he unleashes the geyser.

I figure that when he's wearing his cooling pull ups, he's alerted that he has to go before it's too late. But he didn't have that warning last night. It was just his underwear and the sensation that he had to go RIGHT THEN.

Athletically Inclined?

Not so much... check out that grip on the bat.

And... is that how you hit the golf ball?

I mean... it's not his fault. The boy will grow up with an interest in music, reading and will probably be a pretty good student. As for any kind of sport, he'll need coaching from someone other than his parents. We're pretty worthless when it comes to that stuff.

Magic... All the Way Around

We had such a busy weekend.

Friday night we had a slumber party in my room. We watched 'Happy Feet' and drank chocolate milk. H was asleep before the end of the movie.

Saturday morning we rode bikes I pulled Harper in the trailer behind my bike to the bakery and we got some donuts. Then we went to see 'Kung Fu Panda'. (Really cute!) Harper was great through most of the movie. But by the end of it, he was ready to be done and he started singing 'Troublesome Trucks' and dancing in the aisle. Fortunately, the theatre was packed with parents of children Harper's age, so they all got it. After Harper's nap, we played in the pool in the backyard for a couple of hours. It was a very fulfilling, fun, happy day.




Saturday night, he performed his greatest magic trick yet. We're still working on potty training, so he wears pull ups at night. Around 1a, his head was on the body pillow in the middle of the bed and I went to move him to his pillow. When I felt him, he was soaked. His legs, the sheets, the comforter, the mattress... but not his pull up. It was completely DRY! I had to lay down a waterproof pad for him to lay on, pull off the sheets and comforter, and find new blankets to cover us both. He went back to sleep alright, but I was laying there stressing out that I didn't have a waterproof mattress cover for my bed. Sunday morning we had breakfast and rolled out the door to Target to get one. I was not going to have that worry again.

I rubbed the mattress down where it got wet with some hydrogen peroxide. Other than that, I have no idea what to do.

Next, let me tell you what a sweetie pie little man is. Since the tree fell on the house during the ice storm, there has been mold growth in Harper's room. It's being removed this week, but his room is inaccessible for the time being. Therefore, little man is sleeping with me.


Normally, I don't allow this. My brother (sorry bro) slept with our parents until he was 11. I do NOT want that happening with Mr. Harper. Fortunately, he really likes his room. And while this is going on and his room is quarantined, he says 'Is my room fixed yet, Momma?' 'Can I take a nap in my room?' :( Poor guy. He just wants back into his little sanctuary.

He's been doing well sleeping in my room. I have a bed rail up on his side of the bed and I put a body pillow between us (that boy kicks!). I was mostly worried about naptime, but so far so good. We lay down, I read a couple of stories, snuggle for a minute and head out. He goes to sleep just fine on his own. He does in his room, too... but with it being a different place, I was kind of worried.

Sunday naptime, I actually fell asleep. I didn't know I had, until I was woken up with a snuggling boy and kisses. As I woke up (he didn't know I had), I felt him wrapping his hands around mine and he kissed me on the eyelid. Then he kissed me on the arm. He patted me and said I was a sweet Momma. Then he rolled over and went to sleep. I guess he's not the only one who gets tucked in.