Right before bed

Winding down with a bit of blues clues...park has explicitly expressed that he likes Steve and doesn't like Joe...the kid is already expressing good taste!

Sweatshirt weather

The chill is back in the air again...love it.

could this be cuter?

kinda quiet...may have to turn your volume up a bit to hear.

Distraction

We found a great place in town for kids haircuts...they sit the kids on playground springy seats and turn on a cartoon of the kid's choice. Brillant. Park totally zoned out the entire time and avoided wiggling around the scissors.

He's really into animals and lately asks to watch a farm animals video constantly. I asked him last night if he was going to be a farmer when he grows up and he said, "no, I eat cheese.". Ok. Someone has to eat cheese for a living, right?

It's been a long time since I wrote a post. I'm loving this age...2 year olds are fantastic. Parker is so enthusiastic about EVERYTHING! He insists that it is "my turn!" (even when pouring the full milk container). We're working on potty training - he is so proud when he does "lots of pee" and is excited to get a sticker afterward....

Maybe I haven't posted because I've been drunk with sleep lately. We have had about six full weeks of sleeping straight through the night. I've even had DREAMS! Amazing.

labeled "for outside use only"

I figured...how hard can a 2-year-old who has never hit a baseball hit it anyway. Question answered. We're moving the t-ball outside.

mum's day!

Happy Mothers' Day to all of my mommy friends (and to my moms as well of course!). There was a time just a few years ago when I wasn't sure if I'd ever have kids (in fact the thought of it really scared me!). Deciding to be a mom was one of the most significant and life changing decisions that I've ever made....and as it turns out - one of the best decisions as well. Love you Parker.

new room

Parker's new room is adorable...but I really wish the black-out roller shades would get here already (we've passed the four week point now). The sun is setting later and later each day...and we still have to time weekend errands perfectly so he'll fall asleep on the way home and we can just put him down for a nap already out. Someday he'll just crawl into bed, say goodnight, close his eyes, and sleep. Someday. Someday.

self-discipline

Every couple of days or so I have to remind Parker not to climb onto the kitchen counter. This morning however he took matters into his own hands. I heard him say "get down Parker" as he was climbing up....and when he did get down (without me saying anything) he said "thank you Parker". Seems like the message is getting across, huh?

dreams

I picked Parker up from his new daycare yesterday morning for a visit to the dentist to see about his chipped front tooth. He was having a blast digging in the dirt in the "messy table" when I got there - I guess he'd been digging for about 30 minutes. This morning when he woke up I asked him:

me: did you have any dreams last night?
park: uh huh!
me: what did you dream about?
park: dirt. (pause)

cute. It seems like the daycare change didn't even phase him.

messy

I knew something had changed when Park put his still-chocolatey dessert plate on his head after dinner last night. This is a boy who used to ask for his hands to be cleaned at least 3 times during a meal. I was so proud.

fuzzy friends

Parker has never been emotionally attached to a security blanket or a stuffed animal. Lately, though, he's been grabbing everything in sight to carry around with him. Last week we went on a walk after dinner and he took three stuffed monkeys with him. Heading out the door to daycare, he grabbed a stuffed elephant, a mouse, a robot dinosaur, a book, and his sippy cup. Definitely getting a little possessive of stuff, huh?

snakes alive!

well, my mom has outdone herself again. she created an incredible hand-knitted 10-foot long snake for parker. it's pretty amazing and matches his new room (i'll post pictures of that soon...) parker was SO excited this morning when she brought it over. he kept saying "mine. mine. mine?"

two!

We had a small family dinner last night to celebrate Parker's 2nd birthday...



good thing the dinos didn't eat all the ham!

it's mama to you mister...

When asked who was drawn on the chalkboard, Parker answered "Pa-ka, Daddy, and Em". Jeremy - you're in trouble....

we're in trouble

this kid is all boy. he'd like nothing better than to climb on everything in sight and jump off (oh, while eating cheerios of course). I have a feeling that we're going to have to work hard to keep out of the ER over the next few years!

fun with cardboard

We got a great package from friends in Melbourne last week...an Australian weather calendar (amazing photos). While Jeremy and I were drooling over the Aussie landscapes, Parker was enthralled with the mailing tube. Two-year-olds are cute.

party in my tummy.

I just realized that I didn't post pictures from our Superbowl party. The food was delish: homemade mac-n-cheese, sliders, and individual servings of seven-layer dip. Party guests brought great sides as well! The food had to be good to make up for the fact that I only got to watch about 3 minutes of the game....

organizational skills

Again...he gets the tendency to tidy up from his dad - not me. This is how Park played with crayons on Sunday morning:

I see you...

Parker has started to play hide-and-seek, but does not necessarily hide in places that need to be sought.