Another new phrase is "bless you"-- said after someone sneezes. Harper's picking up on the manners thing lately. When she needs help, she asks for it by saying, "Help, please." She's actually quite good about saying please; "thank you" is not as consistent yet but it's really neat to see Harper use these polite words. She is also getting good at saying "hi" to people when greeting them. She is still generally shy, but after 15 minutes or so in a new place, she starts to feel safe enough to venture around and be friendly. However she definitely wants her personal space and always stays within eye-shot of Mama or Dada.

We've already had a social weekend. Today was Avery's 1st birthday party and Harper had fun watching the little video that Tiff and Travis showed of Avery's first year. She danced to the music and shouted, "baby!" at the screen. She and Avery will be cute buddies as they get older. Last night was the Christmas Tree Auction, and Ethan and I had a fabulous time out with friends until the wee hours. Grandma babysat the girl and we had a great, carefree time. Harper is napping right now and so is Ethan. I think I'll go join them for a snooze.