Blog Is Launched!

We have a blog! I've been thinking about doing this for a while now and finally got around to starting -- I think that dropping the photo albums from monthly to quarterly was my inspiration since now several of you wouldn't get any Harrison updates for three months at a time. Sniff, sniff... I'll be updating the blog as things happen, and I'll leave it up to you to check in as frequently or as infrequently as you please. I'll still keep sending messages to tell you when a new photo album is online, and those links will also be in this blog. The blog will just give you more details than the photos and will help to tide you over between albums!

What I've done so far is go back through my memory and old e-mails and posts to my TotSite (from way back when I was pregnant) to piece together Harrison's time in my belly and since he's been born. Since hindsight is 20-20, I wish now that I had done this all along to capture all the funny things he's done that didn't make it to albums or e-mails and all the sweet moments that are buried deep in my heart. If you have favorite Harrison stories, tell me what they are and I'll add a post about them! And more historic posts may come as I remember things myself.

You can read back through old posts or just start from here and read going forward. By the way, the blog lists the most recent posts at the top, so if you choose to read from the beginning, you have to start at the bottom (or use the links to the left) and read up. We'd love it if you add comments when you have them, but know that the blog is partly for us and partly for you and partly for Harrison when he's big enough to be interested, so don't post anything you don't want him to know you said!

And for those of you who are "obsessed" with Harrison (regardless of whether that obsession has been clinically diagnosed or even personally recognized), you can sign up to be a follower of the blog. To be honest, I don't know what that means yet, but one of you should do it so you can tell me how it works.

Enjoy living our life with us!

Support Harrison's Preschool

Ms. Jackie (who runs Harrison's preschool) has entered a contest sponsored by American Express to identify and honor small businesses that are "leading our country and their local communities to a new and better way of working and thinking." Finalists in the contest will each receive a $10,000 grant from American Express, and the winner will receive a $50,000 grant and $50,000 in marketing support. Imagine how many raisins Harrison could eat if his school got $10,000!!! Or perhaps other (more educational...) things than raisins could be obtained with that money -- Ms. Jackie knows about that way better than I do.

In any event, LLIP is the school of our dreams for Harrison, so we'd love it if Jackie could win a grant to make it even better. To do that, LLIP has to receive 50 endorsements to become a semi-finalist. Then judges will select the three finalists from that population of entries (those finalists receive the $10,000 grant), then voting will select the ultimate winner (who will receive the $50,000 grant and the $50,000 in marketing funds).

For information on the contest : http://shinealight.ivillage.com/learn-more/

To endorse Little Linguists International Preschool : http://shinealight.ivillage.com/sbo-profile/?ProfileID=1626

Harrison Kisses!

Even better than blowing kisses is giving kisses! The little guy still blows kisses when you're across the room, but just this morning he gave his first mouth-to-cheek kiss. Chris went to get him from bed to get him ready for school and said, "Give me a kiss." Harrison thought about it for a second and then leaned over and smacked his dada on the cheek (smacked with his smacker, not with his hand -- that would not be celebrated).

When they came in to tell me about it, though, the magic was gone. I asked Harrison to give me a kiss, but he said, "Naw, Ma -- I got to play with your hairdryer instead -- ooh, that's hot!" "Hot" sounds like the "o" from "hot" but without the "h" or the "t." We've been practicing that word in the kitchen because the oven door gets hot when the oven is on.

Maybe I'll hurry up and be the first one in his room tomorrow in case he only has one kiss to give again!

Photo Album -- Summer 2009

Hi, everyone! We've dropped down to seasonal albums now instead of monthly -- you were all very patient with the month-to-month updates, so I thank you! This summer we visited my grandma in Louisville, went to Zoo Atlanta a few times, swam alot, went to Athens for a wedding, spent a week in St. Augustine with my parents, and transitioned to preschool! I'm still working part-time but have changed my work schedule to four short days per week, so Harrison's at school those four days until 3. And in case you didn't know, his preschool is a language immersion program, so his days take place in Spanish! Anything that happens in his classroom happens in Spanish -- talking, singing, eating, playing, getting instructions, getting in trouble -- hee hee.

Harrison's modes of transportation have expanded to include walking, rolling, and spinning – he wants to run, but right now "running" is taking lots of fast, tiny steps but not actually going anywhere, so he’s easy to keep up with. He understands tons of words and is mimicking us more and more, but he still prefers the grunt-and-point method of communication – guess he’s going to conquer the physical challenges before the verbal ones. Of course, I swear he said "agua" at when I was picking him up from preschool one afternoon (and got some water, as requested), so maybe he's just been waiting on learning something cooler than English all this time?

His cutest tricks right now include showing us where his belly is ("Harrison, where is your belly?" results in him pulling up his shirt and rubbing that big gut) and blowing kisses (new last week!). Our main objective this fall will be to teach Harrison to put his arms straight up in the air whenever UGA scores and Chris yells "TOUCHDOWN." We're practicing right now by yelling "SCORE" or "GOAL" every time Harrison drops a toy in his toybox or a ball in a bucket. He's very tolerant.

Overall, he's an amazing little guy and we can't believe we've already gotten to have him for 15 months! We don't consider listing him on eBay too frequently but that might change during this second year as we see him find and exercise his baby will, so keep your eyes peeled for a good deal on a baby. I'm kidding, of course -- please don't call DFACS.

Oh, Chris and I are fine, too – thanks for asking. :)

https://www.photoshop.com/user/higginsfamily --> Drop down "Higgins Family Albums" --> Select album "Harrison -- Summer 2009" --> Click on a blue box icon to the right of the page to start the slideshow.

Where Is Harrison's Belly?

Let him show you.

Fired

Fired. Harrison. From his mail-checking job.

He had gotten a bit slack and unreliable -- often intentionally dropping the mailbox key on the way to the mailbox to see if he could get it to bounce under a bush so his dad would have to squat down and fish it out -- so we've decided to give him some time off and let him get his priorities back in order. He's still the official garage door opener/closer of the family, but let's just say that he's not our top pick to fill the mail checker position anymore. Maybe we've been putting too much pressure on his with all this responsibility at such a young age?

Harrison Blows Kisses!

Ms. Freida had been trying to teach Harrison to blow kisses, and he waited until the first week he's not with her to try it out!

The bedtime routine is that Chris gives Harrison a bath while I hang around and commentate, then we both snuggle with him while he dries off and gets his pajamas on (which he now fetches for us from across the room), then I hug him and leave the room so Chris can finish and deposit him in his bed. Well, last night when it was time for me to leave the room, Harrison waved "bye bye" and started blowing kisses! His kisses were a bit sporadic -- sometimes they came from his mouth but sometimes he got them from a cheek or an eye and then threw them to me. :) So that delayed bedtime by a few minutes as we stood there and blew kisses back and forth.

Harrison's First Preschool Incident

Well, it didn't take long...

What group of toddlers can exist without some strife? There was a bit of an incident today, and I can't decide whether to be proud of Harrison or hope he doesn't do it again! Ms. Marlen said, "He certainly is strong" when I was claiming him, which made me think, "Hmmm... What does that mean?" She was referring to his vise-like grip. Apparently, Harrison went over to one of the bigger kids (it's a class of 10 or so kids, all more than 1 and less than 2 years old -- Harrison is only 15 months, so he's in the younger half, plus he's little for his age), grabbed ahold of whatever that kid had, and pretty much took the boy to the ground until the bigger kid gave the thing up. I was a little open-mouthed when the teacher told me ("Am I supposed to tell her that he's never done that before or that I'll give him a talking to or what?"), but then she said, "The other kid took the thing from Harrison, so I just let Harrison take it right back." Oh! Well, good for you, little honey! Don't let that kid take advantage of you! :) But maybe that's wrong... Either way, makes me giggle to think about two little boys who are about 2 feet tall rolling around on the ground engaged in fierce battle over a plastic boat or something. I guess the art of negotiation follows the art of speaking, which we're still waiting on.

So wish us luck with the rest of the week -- and wish the other little boy luck that he stays out of Harrison's way! :)

Preschool!

Harrison starts preschool today! He's going to a language immersion school, which means that his day takes place in a language other than English (we have him enrolled in the Spanish program). The teachers don't sit there with flash cards and verb conjugations or anything, but everything that is said is said in Spanish (Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Let's put your shoes on. Come wash your hands. Please. Thank you.). They also have a French program and may start a Chinese program.

Chris will take Harrison in the morning, get him all set up for his day, and leave him eating breakfast with the other little ninos. From 8:30 to 11:30 they do art, have "organized" book-reading time and singing time and dancing time, play outside, and explore their room on their own. Lunch is at 11:30, then a few hours of nap. Then snack and I pick him up at 3.

Chris and I have really been impressed with all of the teachers we've met and with the facility overall. We're both so excited for Harrison to get to experience all that preschool has to offer -- learning how to lead, learning how to follow, learning how to share, learning how to interact, learning how to live in a community. I'm really nervous, of course, and feel a tiny bit guilty for taking him away from the comfort and safety of his current childcare setup with Ms. Freida and his best baby friend Elise, but I really think that he's going to love going to school once he gets settled in. The lead teacher in Harrison's room (Ms. Marlen) is so sweet and personable and real that we know we're lucky to have her with him each day.

There's not too much info on the website (the blog the website links to is much more interesting), but here you go : http://www.littlelinguistspreschool.com/

Hot babes, here I come!

Last Day With Ms. Freida

We're going to miss her so much.

Waving bye bye

Spinning, Spinning, Spinning...

Harrison has learned to spin, and he thinks it's very fun. Especially when he gets dizzy and falls down.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Harrison has also discovered log rolling and loves it when we all three roll around at the same time -- from one end of the room to the other (changing directions when we crash).