Object the Snail

Perhaps you have ascertained by now that Harper Anne is a pretty funny kid. She says funny things all day long and sometimes I write them down and forget to give context, so I'll find a scrap of paper and it will have a quote like "I don't WANT to be my own independent country! I want to be Lightning instead" scribbled on it and I won't for the life of me be able to remember what in the world she was talking about. She has resurrected her strong desire to be called Lightning after having kind of forgotten about it for a few weeks. If I forget to call her Lightning she will (after having been told she is not to correct me again because I gave her the name Harper Anne and if I want to call her Harper Anne I will because I am the Mommy and that is that) click her tongue and find the "Cars" dvd case and tap on it while raising her eyebrows and whispering dramatically, "You mean....." When I do remember she is delighted, so I try to remember. She found a tiny little snail shell at the park a couple of weeks ago and named it Object the Snail. Object was actually an appropriate name because the shell appeared to be full of dirt and not slug, though Harper insisted Object was just taking a really long nap. Object took part in many fun activities before being abandoned for Car the Pumpkin, a small stuffed gourd she has been tending to since Sunday. This morning when she awoke she came into the kitchen as I poured her oat milk and gently reminded me that he had been up for 5 whole minutes and I still had not told Car the Pumpkin "good morning". So I did. I even gave him a good morning kiss.

It's been a full week so far. On Monday we went to the new and improved Children's Museum. The outdoor water extravaganza was incredibly popular with Harper and Hudson. The grocery store in Kidtropolis was also a hit.
My mom has been here for a couple of days while the husband is out of town deposing. Yesterday morning we went to the park. I took lots of pictures one-handed because Helena insisted on being cradled in the other arm. This park is HUGE and yet we kept ending up right at the perimeter--why is that?
And today we went to the zoo with our friends June and Trammell. We rode the train and just generally enjoyed being outside on such a lovely day. There were MANY field trips which made Harper cranky and when I asked her why she was bothered she said, "There are too many school children and I think if Helena starts crying they might try to hit her." After I assured her that I could probably protect Helena from a kindergartner with a pugilistic bent, she was able to enjoy herself somewhat. Here is a picture of that girl who is growing so fast.