first haircut

Harper has had her haircut before.  I have cut it and my sister has cut it, but it has been particularly unruly lately and Tom needed a haircut so we decided that Harper needed a trim too so this was her first haircut by someone we don't know.  We were a little worried that she wouldn't sit still, but she actually did a really good job.  I think she felt grown up.

Harper has definitely been catching on to things lately and the other day we were picking up Tom from work and she started to ask me about dying.  She was concerned that some of her friends that she hasn't seen recently had died.  I don't think she really grasps the concept at all, but it was interesting that she brought it up.

She is also very aware of her allergies lately.  While I was getting her ready for bed today she started to list all of the things that "make her itchy."  She said, "Pineapple, yogurt, and ice cream all make me itchy."  Unfortunately, those are all things that she really likes to eat.  So far we know that she is allergic to peanuts, hazelnuts, eggs, milk, soy, pineapple, and strawberries.

Having two kids is definitely a lot harder than having just one, but I think that these two definitely make up for it by having so much fun together.  They do fight over toys sometimes, but they also chase each other around the house and make each other laugh constantly.

Jonah has a really funny personality.  I don't know quite how to describe it, but he is definitely very goofy and he loves to try to make people laugh.  One of his favorite things is to play with sunglasses.  He just laughs and laughs.

14 months / 3 yrs 4 months

Jonah is now 14 months!  He has changed a lot in the past few weeks so I want to document what he has been up to.

• He is very verbal, much more so than Harper was at this age.  He says Mama, Dada, wawa (water), Oooooh (Elmo), no, ball, hi, uh oh, and a couple more things that I am forgetting.  He also does the signs for "more" and "all done" although it usually takes me a minute to figure out what he's doing.
• His favorite food is chicken tikka masala, but he also really likes enchiladas.
• He loves to give kisses to everything.
• Still no interest in walking, though he is cruising around the furniture and he can stand for a few seconds at a time.
• Loves electronics, particularly the iPad, but also anything with buttons.
• Finally has two teeth!  He had a rough time teething so I am not looking forward to the rest of them coming in.
• While he is still a happy baby, he definitely has more crabby moments lately.  I think he gets frustrated when he can't communicate what he wants.
• Throws lots of little tantrums, which consist of him pouting, whining, and falling to the ground with his head on the floor.  It's so cute I have a hard time not laughing when he does this.
• Loves to be my shadow and follow me around the house.

• Harper loves to tell Jonah what to do.  Tonight while we were eating dinner Jonah was playing with his food and Harper kept coming over and saying, "Baby Jonah, eat your dinner."
• She is getting better about eating new foods, but it seems like every time we get her to eat something new she has an allergic reaction so that has been really frustrating.
• She loves to paint.  She asks to do this about ten times a day.
• She loves mint ice cream.
• She loves to spend time with Tom, and if Jonah gets close while they are playing together, Harper will say, "No, it's my turn."  
• Insists on having a sippy cup with water by her bed at night.  I only mention this because Tom does the same thing.  These two definitely have a lot in common.
• She is 90% potty trained.  She still wears a diaper for naps and bedtime.  I pretty much gave up on potty training a few months ago and just waited until she started asking to use the bathroom, so she pretty much potty trained herself.
• I'm not going to lie, Harper drives us nuts sometimes.  She loves to ignore what we are telling her, steal toys from Jonah, and throw giant fits.  But she can also be very sweet, especially toward Jonah, and she is generally in a good mood.  We just have to keep her very busy.
• She loves to eat plain Crispix.  She also calls them "hexagons."  
• Her diet consists mostly of fruit, chicken nuggets, and crackers, but she does eat a lot of fruit so I don't feel too bad. 
• Occasionally we will pick Tom up from his office at the end of the day.  I usually wait for him in the valet area, and I always tell the valet that I am, "waiting for my husband," so they just wave me through.  The last couple of times we have picked Tom up, I have rolled down the window and Harper has yelled, "She is picking up her husband."  I didn't realize she had picked that up. 

update

I haven't really felt like updating our blog lately, so I'm just going to post a few things so that I don't get too far behind.

Harper feeding ducks at the park.  She is wearing her swimming suit under her clothes because there used to be a splash area at this park, but it was broken :(

On Wednesday mornings I have been trying to take the kids to the farmer's market in Santa Monica.  It is so much fun and there is a wonderful stand that sells baked goods including these amazing chocolate walnut cookies.  It was probably the best cookie I have ever had.  And it was big (and rich) enough that we all split one.

We had to take Tom to get a root canal in Westwood last week.  While we waited for him, we went up to UCLA and walked around.  Harper got tired so here she is taking a little break.  Her red shoes are the same shoes that she wore for Halloween when she was Dorothy and they STILL FIT.  She definitely did not inherit my big feet.

Jonah has been loving Tom lately.  They are so sweet together.

Almost every afternoon we walk over to the mall by our house and they kids play for a few minutes.  They have this play structure that is kind of like a treehouse and Harper loves it.  You can kind of see his bottom teeth in this photo.  He seems happy to finally have some teeth and puts them to good use when he is eating.

On Thursday my friend Rachel invited us to come over to her place and play in a little pool.  The kids loved it.  Rachel has a little boy Dean who is the same age as Jonah and they are so funny together.  Jonah is cruising on the furniture a little and will occasionally stand on his own, but appears to have no interest in walking.  Harper didn't start walking until she was 15 months and Jonah will be 14 months on Monday, so I think he will probably start walking around the same time.