Eddie Munster or Teen Wolf??

As I stated in a previous entry, Matt is usually in charge of bath time these days while I'm cleaning up our mess after dinner. The past couple of nights, poor Grace has come out of her room looking like this..................................................

Matt likes to call it her Eddie Munster look, but I think she looks more like Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf! The expression on her face resembles a dog who is upset after getting shaved at the groomer! We couldn't stop laughing! Don't worry, her hair didn't stay like that long because we all know you can't have your bangs dry weird!! haha I haven't captured her "Donald Trump" look that Matt has mastered but I'm sure that picture will be coming soon.

And this is how Grace came out of her room after Matt put her jammies on last night...................................

Poor thing!

"Of You"!!

Ok parents, you've all experienced those little moments when your child says or does something that absolutely melts your heart. Well Grace officially melted my heart tonight. I got to hear her say "of you" (I love you) for the first time as Matt was taking her to bed!! Talk amongst yourselves while I pull myself together! I try to live in the moment while I'm experiencing a new event/word/crawl/step with Grace. Everyday passes by so quickly. I'm afraid I'll blink and the next day she'll be graduating from high school. It is so easy for me to get caught up in our day-to-day lives and I don't always appreciate the little things that make my life so special. I can assure you that this is one day I won't forget!! Of you, Gracie!!

Duck Whisperer??

On Thursday afternoon, Grace woke up early from her nap so I decided to load her up and have her snack time at the park. This was a big deal since she got to sit at the picnic table all by herself and eat her snack like a big girl!

As usual, Grace started attracting all of the park wildlife. I don't mind the occasional duck, however, there are some that are rather sickly and have a mysterious liquid oozing from their eyes!! Yummmm sure made me want to join Grace at snack time!! She ran a good couple of miles trying to keep up with the big kids and still won't give up trying to climb up the slides. And then as we were gearing up to leave, the "incident" happened..............................

Grace wanted to say bye-bye to the ducks one more time. She bent down in her usual Grace stance with her hands behind her back as if she was about to have a lengthy conversation with the red-faced duck sitting in a pool of its own drool. She put her hand out I guess to shake its disgusting "hand" still covered in mysterious ooze. All of the sudden, it leaned towards her and bit her finger!! I don't know if it was the actual bite, the calm way I reacted and screamed so loud the entire park heard me, or that she realized she is not in fact the duck whisperer but it's safe to say she was pretty heartbroken. She didn't start screaming. She just whimpered while gigantic crocodile tears streamed down her face! How pitiful! Next time, I'll be bringing my water gun and taking care of that dang duck!!

Mother Goose

Grace and I have been taking advantage of several of the free programs that Knoxville has for kids her age. Every other Thursday, we head out to the Mother Goose program at a local church. We sing songs, play games, meet new friends and work on memorization, learn body parts, as well as, all 5 senses. Here are a few pictures of Grace in action.

She might have a slight problem with sharing! As you can see in the top right picture, Grace got so excited so excited about the room full of bouncy balls, that she apparently started to levitate!

Here is an action shot of Grace stealing the poor baby's pie pan. Who knew pie pans could be SO much fun!! Lord help any mother who had a headache today! :)

And finally, Grace's new thing to do is to use her "me" as a pillow while I change her diaper. If she's having a slight meltdown and doesn't want to get her diaper changed, all I have to do is get her "me" pillow and all is well in the world again! I guess a little creativity with an 18 month old goes a long way!! I even got a picture of it below for your viewing pleasure.

18 Month Check-up

I can't believe it, but in two days my baby girl will be 18 months old! We had Grace's check-up today, and it appears she is right on track. She is now a whopping 23lbs, 4.5oz and measures 31.5 inches long (that's 50th percentile for weight and 60th for height). I once again was cracking up when Dr. McColl said her head circumference measured just above the 90th percentile!! We all have big heads on the Harding side, and I have fond memories of my mom cutting the sides of my sweaters so I could fit my big melon through them!! If I remember correctly, there was even an incident that involved plastic wrap......but I don't need to get into that one huh, mom!! hahaha I've always laughed silently to myself at Grace's previous appointments when her doctor would say, "We don't need to be worried until she surpasses the 95th percentile!" But today I just couldn't hold it in! After I told Dr. McColl why I was hysterically laughing he said, "You know some people like to make excuses and some people like to own it. I like it that you're owning it!" Needless to say, we had a good laugh! Way to go Harding genes. I like to see us "big heads" living on!! Anyway, Grace didn't seem mind her appointment today. She kept saying, "there you go" after every poke and prod from the nurse and doctor. She did get two shots today, but only cried for a minute and got immediately distracted by her Dora band-aids! I also asked the doc what he recommended for discipline at this stage in the game. While I knew what was about to come out of his mouth, the "Lifetime movie" part of me thought he would say just count to 5, click your heels together 3 times, and sing the hot dog song and you shouldn't have anymore problems. When in all reality he said redirection is my best bet!! WHAT! I guess I'll have to deal with toddler fits like the rest of the world.......I hear a good cage and dead bolts do wonders!! :)

As for other updates, Grace had one more tooth pop through and has 3 more that have almost made their appearance. I'm assuming this is why she has been getting up at 6:15am and taking naps that are less than one hour. If not......we have a problem houston!! :) I'm pretty sure her middle name should've been SASSY with a captial S because she is full of it these days! She LOVES to throw food off of her highchair directly after smashing it in her hands and watching it ooze out of in between her fingers......good thing Matt is in charge of bath time these days! :) We generally undress Grace on her changing table and let her walk into the bathroom for her bath. (Of course, this is after she gets her entourage of stuffed animals into the bathroom and arranges them on the toilet and sink so she can have an audience!) Occasionally, she likes to take a pit stop and leave us a little surprise on the carpet! I always know what has happened when Matt yells, "Clean up on aisle 4!" There's nothing cuter than watching her naked, little bum run towards the bathtub though!! I'm happy to report that her "Mick" obsession has calmed down over the past few days. I was about to start searching for some 12-step programs to get her enrolled in! Grace also loves to play outside. I was finally able to find a cozy coupe car at a consignment sale last weekend, and she has absolutely fallen in love! Let's just say when it's time to come inside, I generally feel the need to count to 5, click my heels together 3 times, and sing the hot dog song!

That's about all I have from this end of the world. Happy half-birthday to Gracie!!

"There You Go!"

Grace officially has said her first three-word phrase. For the past two days, she kept saying something and Matt and I couldn't figure it out for the life of us. She was saying it after she got dressed, handed us something, grabbed a toy, etc. Finally, today I realized what she was saying, "There you go!" I can't imagine why she has picked this phrase........um I believe I also say it ALL THE TIME! :) Way to go kiddo!

First Visit to the ER

Well it was bound to happen eventually, but I didn't think Grace would have her first emergency room visit at the ripe age of 17 months!! She started fevering on Saturday, and we were able to bring it down to 100 by that evening. After a sluggish couple of days, she woke up at midnight on Monday morning with a temperature of 104!! Yep, that was enough to scare the life right out of me! Two vomiting spells later, we arrived at the ER. Unfortunately, she got sick in her carseat as soon as we pulled up. I rushed her inside while poor Matt went back to the house to get us ALL a few outfit changes......just in case. Don't think I'm a horrible mom. I had her all snuggled up in her blanket until the doctor told me she was burning up and didn't need it......ok so I thought it was her safety net! Grace was such a trooper and only cried for a second when they took her blood and inserted an IV line! You can see her checking it out in the last picture. By 4am, all tests came back negative and we were told she simply had a virus and it needed to run its course. While we'll likely pay a few hundred dollars for the doctor to give her more Tylenol and Ibuprofen, there's nothing like the feeling of relief when he looked at us and said she would be fine!! AHHHHHHHHHH!

The next few days involved lots of cuddling, napping, and watching every known episode of The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at least 5 times (I'm quite sure Grace has developed a slight addiction to "Mick"). Hey, if that's what my sick baby wants, that's what she's going to get! Instead of movie quotes, Matt and I now speak "Mickey Mouse" and walk around the house doing the hot dog dance!

Needless to say, Grace is on the mend and even got to enjoy her new cozy coupe today!!

4th of July

We headed north to Bloomfield for the 4th of July this year. We packed in 3 days full of fun over the holiday weekend. First up was Jack's birthday party. The party ended up taking place at the park after the public pool was closed 3 hours before the party was scheduled to start! We had a good time noneless running off all of our energy and feasting on cake, ice cream, and the smorgasbord of deliciousness Laura had prepared!

On Saturday, we were off to the parade in Linton. Grace LOVED it and, much to our surprise, wasn't scared at all with all of the commotion going on around her! Her favorite part was the marching bands. She clapped and danced as each one passed. She also discovered a new love for NERDS and tootsie roll pops! Great! Let's just hope she's not like Matt after loading up on sugar! haha We were soaked by the end of the parade, but glad we stuck it out. After the parade, we went to a cookout and continued to "play" in the rain. After the great food and a glass or two of sangria, the rain didn't seem to bother us. :)

Finally, on Sunday we had our last cookout of the weekend at mom and dad's. We left all fattened up and ready for our trek back south. Grace didn't get to see any fireworks since they got rained out so we just might have to have our own fireworks show in Knoxville this weekend!

Shout out to Papa!

Grace has just learned what she'll be doing in 12 years during the summers months!! Ohhhh the memories!