'Nater behavior

20 quick Harmon quirks:

1. His tongue quivers when he cries.

2. When he sits on his chair, he sits on his leg (just like his Mama).

3. When you hold him, he grips tight onto your closest finger.

4. When he sits on the floor, he sits in reverse Indian style (just like his Nana).

5. He scissor kicks you when you try to change his diaper.

6. He talks in his sleep, with his favorite words being bippy, ball, wawee (water) and dada.

7. He LOVES to read and, when he goes to his bedroom door and says “read,” you know it is nap time.

8. He has gender confusion, sometimes calling Kevin “mama” and me “dada!” And, sometimes, no matter what, EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is Isabel (or IS-BA, as he says)!

9. When he doesn’t want to eat what you’re feeding him, he starts rubbing his eyes and acting like he’s SO tired (even if he just got up from a nap). Also, to avoid bites of food, he will whip his head to one side or act like he’s REALLY drinking a ton from his sippy cup.

10. He is afraid of his baby monitor. One day, Kevin was in his room and I was playing with Harmon on our bed. Kevin slowly whispered Harmon’s name through the monitor and it freaked him out. Now, each time he sees the monitor, he stares intently at it. And, if you do the whisper voice, he will get all afraid and start to fret.

11. If you say HAR-MON SPEN-CER (in four slow syllables), he will respond with an enthusiastic “uh, uh, uh.”

12. When you call his name, he responds with a hearty “huh?”

13. When it’s time for his bath, he sits at the bathroom door and says “bubbles.”

14. If he gets full while eating, he starts hiding food in the sides of his highchair. When you take him out, you find a buffet of food items.

15. When Harmon blows kisses or gives kisses, he makes a loud "mwah" sound.

16. When we ask him if he wants a diaper change, he'll walk to our room, get his own diaper and hand it to us.

17. When he wants to read, he brings the book to you and demands that you get on the floor with him. He then does his best to burrow into your lap.

18. He has eagle eye vision. When he finds things on the ground, even the smallest of things, he picks them up and brings them to you.

19. No matter what delicacy he has in front of him, he is always WAY more interested in what you're preparing next for him OR what you're eating.

20. When he gives hugs, he puts his head down on you and lightly taps your arm or back three or four times.

Editor's note: For those of you who do not read our blog regularly, you might be wondering why we call Harmon, "'Nater." Back in his first few weeks of life, we started to come up with the requisite nicknames you give a baby. Don't know how, but for some reason we started calling him "Harmonator." That eventually gave way to "Nater." But, it really caught on when I started calling him "Nater" and his face would sour and he would stick out his big lower lip. Of course, we thought this was great fun and did it often. He is over it now, but the nickname has stuck. Our latest variation is to call him, "'Nater potater."