A monkey, more cousins, and other fun stuff

Harrison is pretty independent. For the most part he doesn't want to hold your hand, except if he wants you to come with him. Normally that's just so he can show you a piece of trash on the ground that he wants you to pick up for him...not my favorite activity.

So, when we go to the grocery store, Costco, etc. he is either in the shopping cart or stroller. It would be nice to just be able to have him walk in with me on a quick errand and not squirm to get down and then run away.

Because of that I finally caved in and bought a harness. Yes, I am now officially "that" mother. The one who has her kid on a leash.

But, he doesn't seem to mind it, and definitely likes his freedom. His first experience with it was at Lowe's, and he just ran as fast as he could down the aisles. We passed through one with little bins of small parts all along one side, and of course he couldn't wait to grab one of everything as we went by. I attempted to put things back where they belonged but I am sure someone will end up with an ecru light switch cover when they swore they picked one from the "white" bin.

So, the lesson learned is that we will not be utilizing the harness anywhere like the grocery store, or that could be a disaster. But, it is good for quick outings and places like the zoo. Here he is on his first adventure with the monkey.





Speaking of the zoo we went to the Dallas Zoo on Saturday. We had gone up to visit Mark's parents, and his sister Alison and her family were there as well. Despite the fact that it was over 100 degrees out, we decided to go to the zoo. Harrison's poor cousins normally reside in a more temperate climate in Washington state, so they were really hot. But, they all had a good time checking out the zoo, and even posed for a picture with Harrison.

Here are Aaron, Makenna and Maicie with Harrison:


Checking out the new giraffe exhibit:


We have a new obsession around here, and it is golf balls. If you heard him say it, you would know what he was looking for. Anytime we go into the garage now he looks for the golf balls. I won't let him bring them into the house because he could cause some serious damage the way he throws them. I really don't want to buy any new windows or a new TV anytime soon.

But, he does enjoy playing with them in the grass along with his little golf clubs set his Aunt Amy, Uncle Steve and cousin Clarisse got him for his birthday. Thankfully the clubs are plastic, because he has gotten a hold of a real club and it is dangerous to be near him with the way he swings that thing around. He will definitely need some lessons if he is going to pursue this sport. Here he is outside last week:




Harrison gets a wild hair every now and then and decides to go crazy. Apparently he thought it would be fun to drag the bin with his diapers and diaper trash bags around the room. Then he threw all of the diapers out and unrolled twenty trash bags. Why do I even attempt to keep this place in order? Argh.




And here he is climbing at the playground. Harrison has been working on climbing this for a while and seems to have it down now. He even did it with a golf ball in each hand, so I was impressed.




We tried coloring last Wednesday since it was so hot out. I was looking for an indoor activity. It went great until once again he bit the tips off of all of the crayons. I thought we'd be safe with these little crayon holders, but nooooo. I know they say non-toxic, and hopefully at some point you can't ingest enough colored wax for that to change.



And last Thursday he didn't make it through his show to bath time. He soaked his shirt spitting water on it at dinner so I took it off him. As I was cleaning up the kitchen I noticed he wasn't commenting back to the TV, so I peeked around to take a look...