The Walker

We’re on a video roll here…

So we tried to get Harper to use a walker Erica’s dad bought for her birthday.  She loved pressing the buttons and putting stuff in and out of the basket but she didn’t really show much interest in actually using it as a walker.  That changed about a month ago when she suddenly figured out what the thing was supposed to be used for.  Now she spends a few minutes every day going back and forth with it.  She has really been enjoying it a lot.  Check out her progress over the last month in the video below.

It is funny how babies really are like Benjamin Button – they grow old in reverse.  I can just see her walking around with a little walker with some tennis balls on the ends.  Watching her get older I feel like I’m seeing a window into my future.  You know Depends now makes his and her diapers?  At least I won’t have to deal with unisex diapers.

Harper's new hobby

I told my Mom about Harper's new hobby on the phone earlier and she requested a video, so here it is. Harper is doing so many new things lately, it's been so much fun!

You’ll never guess the subject of this post

So we have this daughter named Harper.  Its been awhile since we posted some videos of her so I thought we would do that. 

Harper is a big talker but she doesn’t really speak any words anyone can understand yet.  However, her understanding of our words is growing at leaps and bounds.  The first video illustrates her growing vocabulary, as well as her continued love of the swings.

 

Harper can communicate in many ways, just not with the spoken word, e.g., pointing, screaming, grunting, etc.  Her latest (to our consternation) is the head shake.  Any suggestion that Harper doesn’t like is met with a stern head shaking.  I’m not sure where she picked this up.  Don’t be fooled by her sweet demeanor in this video.  One of these days I’ll record a full on temper tantrum, complete with ear piercing screams and stretched out arms in the air, slack bodied “pick Harper up resistance.”

Whew

I just received word that the CA Bar’s ridiculously expensive  (to a poor recent grad such as myself) background check has given me a clean bill ‘o health.  Also known as the Moral Character Determination test, this is the kind of thing that lets in reformed killers but not someone with unpaid parking tickets (no really).  As you can see, the bar (depending on how you look at it) is quite high.  I wonder if I can skip judgment day and just head straight to the pearly gates where I’ll show Peter the letter they sent me.

Griffith Park

On Saturday Harper and I went up to Griffith Park for a few hours. Our wonderful friend Jean has organized several field trips for this summer and this is the first one that we have been able to attend. Harper is a little young for most of the activities, but she had fun playing with her little friends and riding the trains:And crawling around and playing with rocks:
It was a little warmer than Harper is used to and she ended up very pink. Actually, I think that the last time she was this hot is when we went to a picnic in Malibu with the firm Tom worked for last summer. It was fun to visit with some friends and we are looking forward going on a few more field trips this summer.

Happy Fourth of July - a shameless excuse to post more photos!

Well - Tom here, just taking a "quick" break from my hard work studying for the bar. We got back a few hours ago from a little 4th of July get together we had with friends from church. I have no proof that those friends exist because I didn't really take any pictures of them. We're more important so I guess that's OK.

Harper liked the Oreo Klondike Bar

This is what happens when you take away Harper's Klondike bar.

I really like this picture of my gorgeous wife.

Here are some more photos we took from the last couple of days.

I may be cute, but I assure you that I am in fact a Grade A stinker!

They can show that on television?

If wonder what it is like to wear a shirt.

Harper likes to look at the tub fill up while she waits for her bath time.

She may drive us crazy, but she also makes us laugh. No really, we're going bonkers around here. UPS is going to show up one day to deliver a package and all that the delivery guy is going to hear is maniacal laughing coming from the other side of the door.

Redlands

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have dinner at Tom's Aunt Judy's house. Tom's cousin Julie and her friend Alex were here visiting from Utah and they cooked a delicious Hungarian dinner for us.We love going to visit Bob and Judy because (just like Tom's parents) they are very welcoming and there is always really good food. Harper got to see her cousin AJ and they had loads of fun. I had a hard time getting a photo of the two of them. These were the best ones.This was our first attempt at pigtails for Harper. Her hair isn't quite long enough so she ended up with two little ones sticking straight up. I couldn't believe how much older it made her look. Her hair has started to make her look like a puff ball, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Here is a "puff ball" photo from this morning.

14 Months

Harper is now 14 months old and she is doing new things every day. Some things that are currently going on . . .

• As Tom mentioned, Harper now loves to point. She likes to point at random things and say something that resembles, "what's that?" She likes to point when she wants something. And if you ask her where your nose or your eyes are, she will point to those too.
  
• She has also recently discovered shaking her head. I have gotten in the habit of asking her questions like, "do you want to take a nap?" or "do you want to put your shoes on?" but I think I need to change that because now she shakes her head and gets upset.
• She loves to give hugs. And to try to grab your glasses, beware.
  
• She loves raisins. When we were in Utah and we went to lunch with our friends Jaime and Emma, Jaime gave Harper a raisin and I was SHOCKED that she ate it. She doesn't usually like things with much texture so I had never given her one. She is now obsessed with raisins and wants to eat them every time she is in her high chair. The really strange thing is that she also loves the box that the raisins come in. She crawls around with it all day and even wanted to take it with her to her nap the other day (don't worry, I didn't let her).

Utah recap

We've been back from Utah for a week now and I'm finally getting around to making a post. I think Harper misses my mom's dogs, but she was excited to see Tom and is happy to be home.

Some things we enjoyed while in Utah . . .

• Visiting with her cousin Hailey and meeting her new cousin Gavin (who we didn't even get a picture of, shame on us).
• Hanging out with my sister's and cousins. She loved the attention.
• Hanging out with my mom (by the way, Happy Birthday Mom!) and laughing at my stepdad. I have no idea what she thought was so funny, but every time he looked at her she started laughing.
• Having dinner with my Dad and visiting him at work.
• Getting together with her friend Emma. While we were in Utah we were able to get together with my friend Jaime who used to be in our ward here (but now lives in Texas where her husband is a dentist). Emma and Harper were born a few days apart and haven't seen each other since they were a few weeks old, so it was fun to have them play together.

We're looking forward to our next visit . . . in less than a month.

why can't i get anything done again?

I blame Harper for my incredible lack of focus.

Also, in the last day or so, Harper has figured out how to point at what she wants....HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I should add - this has somewhat replaced simply screaming at the top of her lungs when she wants something)

the bar exam

There is something to be said for the saying, "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." When it comes to attempting to learning the massive volumes of material that the bar examiners expect you to know, it is a matter of deciding how much fear you are comfortable with. This is definitely a process no one would want to repeat, even if jobs and future well being wasn't on the line. Being a serial procrastinator doesn't help me any and I'm doing everything I can to psych myself up so that I don't waste valuable time. Right now I am diligently attending my bar prep class that meets five to six days a week and telling myself this is why I took it easy for two years, so that I can push hard now that it matters most. The next blog post will illustrate why that has been trickier than one might otherwise think.

My support crew:

We're in Utah

Harper and I are currently in Utah visiting my family. Tom has been having a difficult time focusing with Harper crawling around all over the place, so we thought we'd give him a break for a few days. So far we've been having lots of fun. Harper LOVES playing with my parents' dogs and I am loving having my sisters to help with Harper. I did not love that she screamed the entire way here on the plane. Here is Harper playing with the dogs:

Harper with the dogs from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.

And Harper putting on a show for us last night. She loves to be the center of attention.

Harper dancing from Erica Jackman on Vimeo.