Cold winter months

It has been a cold & snowy these few wintery months and we've been stuck in doors many days. We have enjoyed a few days playing in the snow. Parker loves to shovel the driveway for us, and even in the coldest days, he will ask, "Shovel...minute" meaning just for a minute he would like to shovel!

Another one of my favorite Parker-ism. He likes to tell us to "stop it." He will says this when we are doing something he doesn't like, but will also sarcastically say it when we are being funny. He will laugh and say "stop it" with a sarcastic twist. He also likes to put up one finger and wave it in our faces and say "no no no" in a high pitched voice. Just like he's talking to a dog or a baby! We also had Parker's two year check up. He is now 33 inches (15th percentile) and 27 pounds 4 ounces (55th percentile).

We also had to say good bye to my grandpa (my dad's dad), which is so unfortunate. But we know he is in a much better place, as his health and mental well being had been declining over the past years. Parker is also very much into cartoons and will be rather demanding about what he wants to watch! He discovered Bob the Train on You Tube. As annoying as Bob is, Parker now practices his counting, labels some letters (O is his favorite) and is pretty good about identifying all of his shapes. 

We are taking a class once a month at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It's an hour on a Saturday morning and set up like a Montessori school. A couple different stations that he can choose to go to when he wants. Then circle time with a story, song or an activity. He loves to go and is so great sharing with the other kids (unlike some of the others that are there!). He loves the green houses and is quite comfortable walking around on his own. He even remembered when we went to the orchid exhibit, that the last time we were in that room, we saw "Thomas" from the Christmas exhibit (three months ago!). He was only slightly disappointed that Thomas wasn't there!

Start each day like it's your birthday!

We celebrated Parker's actual birthday at home with a few presents, breakfast for dinner and a chocolate birthday cake. He did really well with the candle (unlike on his first birthday!!) We had been practicing singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candle. He was already blowing as Jeremy brought the cake to the table! But his breath wasn't strong enough and we had to help him out. He loved his chocolate cake and asked for it frequently throughout the week!

We had his family birthday party at the Treehouse in Lake Zurich. We need a place big enough to host the family (30 people for close family & friends!) and that didn't break the bank. I would highly recommend hosting a party here and we may do it again in the coming years. The kids played, enjoyed pizza and a quiet corner to socialize. It will be nice next year when he can play on his own and I can enjoy the family a little bit more. But I also enjoyed not having to do much prep before or clean up after the party!

 

 

Parker was up at 5am so was tired and hungry as we left for his party. He saw the cupcakes at home and had a major meltdown when he couldn't have one. When he saw them at the party, he had no patience for the singing and the candle - he just wanted to eat his cupcake! Very thankful to my friend Christine with Benjamin's Treat Box for these peanut free cupcakes - they were a big hit!

Parker spent a good amount of time in the baby section, probably because he could handle everything on his own. According to the sign, he has just three more weeks to be in this area, so he had to make the most of it!

 

Here's to another year with this fantastic little guy!!