21 months old!

Harper's very own 21-month selfie!
Taken at lunch on our friend T's phone

At the end of August, Harper turned 21 months old as we enjoyed the last couple of weeks of summer together as a family.  It has been a busy summer, perhaps made even busier by our busy little bee.  Here is what our sweet Harper has been up to lately:

More waterplay!  The pool has been our favorite place this summer, particularly on some seriously hot and humid days.  Harper loves the pool, especially using buckets and watering cans to transfer water.  She will tell you herself that she also loves to splash and jump in the water--oh the things she has learned from watching the big kids at the pool!  We also love the little kiddie pool that we set up in the backyard, both at our house and at Harper's Mimi's house in Western MA.  If there's water, we are so there.

A waterpark date with Harper's friend, Luke

Poolside with Great Gramzy at Mimi's house

Play dates with some of our favorites!  Harper's Aunt Annie left for law school in Vermont a couple of weeks ago, and so, prior to that, we did everything we could to soak up every last minute of her while she was still in the same city.  To say that Harper loves Annie is a total understatement; sometimes "Annie" would be the first thing Harper would say when she woke up in the morning or from a nap.  So now we call Annie...a lot.

Loving Aunt Annie

We have also had the chance to rendez vous with other family and friends over the last few weeks.  Harper has had playdates with her baby besties, and her big kid friends too.  We even have new neighbors upstairs AND next door to us, which Harper is LOVING.  The family next door has a trampoline, and little H is basically obsessed with jumping (pronounced "gumping"); as she says, "I gump with the kids!"  She would gump all day everyday if we let her.

Baby BFFs: Amelia, Harper, & George

Playing with Great Gramzy:
you would never know there were 9 decades between them!

Harper's sense of humor (and sass) is developing at a rapid rate. With her newfound love for jumping, she is currently attempting all sorts of acrobatic, daredevil moves involving furniture, standing up when she should be sitting down, and jumping on and off.  The other day, she called out my name, and when I rounded the corner to the living room, I discovered her standing on the arm of the couch; once she spotted me, she jumped down onto the cushions.  Wonderful.  It is nerve wracking to say the least, but Harper thinks it is the most hilarious thing to be defiant.  I have NO idea where she gets this rebellious streak, but she is always humorous about it.  Her love of laughing is infectious and such a gift.

Adventures at the water fountain--
lessons from our bestie, T.

Harper continues to love arts and crafts.  Not surprisingly, she has decided that crayons are far too elementary for her though; she prefers markers and will tell you as much.  We have the washable kind, but they still make quite a mess.  Harper loves it though.  She also has a special coloring ap on her Daddy's iPad and his iPhone, and she will let you know when she wants to color.  Using the ap, there are different pictures that you can color in; Harper always wants to do the "moo cow."  This is evidence that her dislike for and/or fear of animals is diminishing.

"Coloring" on Daddy's iPad--
while donning some interesting hair accessories.

In fact, when we were out at Mimi's house to celebrate my 30th birthday, Harper did really well around her Uncle Ben's two dogs, or "puppy doggies" as she calls them.  She still doesn't like it when they approach her, but she was far more relaxed than we have ever seen her with them, and she even gave Charli a couple of pats.  She must have been feeling at one with nature because we also took a trip to the county fair that weekend, and she was absolutely riveted by the ox pull.  You would think that someone who is a little skittish around animals wouldn't be a fan of the absolutely enormous and powerful oxen, but she was totally into it.  For the rest of the weekend, she liked to talk about the "oxen" who "pull"--and to use the appropriate hand gestures to indicate the very heavy stones that the oxen were pulling.

Up close and personal at the ox pull.

Loving the prize that Daddy won.

The ox pull wasn't the only part of the fair that Harper enjoyed.  Rather, her Daddy won her a pink monkey stuffed animal, and she happily carried it with her in her stroller.  She already has one monkey friend, and so she was happy to welcome another into her life. It was a fun weekend outing and part of an equally fun birthday weekend.  Mimi taught Harper how to say "Happy birthday, Mommy"--and she has been saying it ever since.  Even though my birthday was over a week ago, I'm still loving it.  The silver lining to turning 30!

My little birthday cheerleader

We have been enjoying a lot of time outdoors lately, including a trip to the farmer's market right in our own town.  We have seen signs for it over the years but always forget to go!  Finally, Harper and I put it on the calendar to make it official.  It was a small farmer's market, but there was a lot to see--and taste.  The man selling blueberries gave Harper a little extra to nibble on while we walked around, but our favorite were the homemade ice pops.  Harper and I shared a watermelon basil ice pop that was one of the most delicious treats we have ever tried.

Like I said, it has been a busy month.  Harper's growing sense of independence has kept us on our toes constantly, and by the end of the day, all members of the Wilson family are totally exhausted.  Including monkey.  We are beginning to realize that this is what the life of a toddler is like; after all, Harper is just a few months away from her second birthday, which is crazy to think about.  We may have had a busy summer, but it looks like this fall is shaping up to be busy too...

Two little flowers