Chatterbox

Harper has always been vocal but lately has become quite the chatterbox. He narrates while driving in the car, recites phrases from his favorite books, and sings along to songs. I've been told Joshua was also quite chatty, so I guess there's no surprise Harper likes to talk.

Here are some of my favorite chatty occasions from this week:

• While driving home Harper went on and on about the things he loves- "I yuv you, car. I yuv you, truck. I yuv you, momma. I yuv you, dada. I yuv you, monkey..."
• We were in the front yard so I could shovel the sidewalk and stairs when Harper said, "Momma! Right back." "Where are you going?" I asked. He turned, started walking down the sidewalk and said again, "Right back, Momma." I wonder where he thought he was going to go.
• Harper is already wanting independence. When going anywhere Harper says, "Walk!" and then wriggles from my hand. I had to hold onto his hood while walking into church Wednesday night. I thought I still had a little time before he didn't want to hold my hand, but I guess not.
• At random times Harper will exclaim, "Uh oh, dad...rains!" This is from The Bears' Picnic book, one of his current favorites. Other favorite books are anything Curious George, Corduroy, Little Bear, and a couple nursery rhyme/bedtime song books.
• It's been cute to have Harper interact with Joshua over FaceTime now that he's older. He often just wants to press the buttons, ending the conversation, but he will on his own terms say, "Miss you, dada" or "I yuv you, dada."
• Whenever I ask Harper, "Where's daddy?" he says, "airport, airplane!" It seems he thinks Joshua is spending a week up in the skies. Now that the week is almost over and with me correcting him that daddy is in California he'll sometimes respond with "Cal-wi-fown-ne-ia."
• He loves to have me sing songs with him, especially The Itsy Bitsy Spider, the bee song, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. He will fill in the last words of song phrases and can sing more of Twinkle Twinkle and the ABCs.

It's so fun to hear his vocabulary grow and be able to express himself with words. He's growing up fast!