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!!

Don't Mess with Texas

We had our first family vacation (via airplane) this winter break. We left on December 30th and traveled to Texas to visit Jeremy's sister and family. They had not met Parker yet and we were all very excited to go. 

Parker did very well on the plane. We gave him some benedryl to help with the pressure, which proceeded to knock him out for the first half of the flight. The second half was busy with cars, coloring, and watching out the window.

One of the biggest hits at Gina's house was playing with Geo Tracks. I don't understand why they stopped making these toys - even the big kids had fun building a track and playing with the trains. Parker also enjoyed watching the bunny hop around the office. He continues to talk about how the "bunny poop floor" and how Gina had to put the poop in the "garbage". He also continues to talk about the "horse poop" and "get it shovel" for the "garbage"... he is such a boy when all he wants to talk about is poop! We did get to play outside (once) as Gina has a huge park within walking distance from her home.

 

We visited the Ft. Worth Zoo on New Year's Eve. It was such a cold day that the zoo was not crowded at all, but most of the outside animals were not on exhibit.  We spent a good amount of time watching the monkeys as there were baby monkeys that were out playing. We watched the mommies chasing the babies and pulling them down when they got to high. Parker continues to talk about the "baby monkeys" and "mommy" told them to "get down".

 

The Ft. Worth Zoo is rated one of the best in the country. Although we enjoyed it, we didn't see how it was so much better than the Milwaukee Zoo. I really enjoyed this underground viewing of the crocs, turtles and fish. It was actually on the side of us as we were eating lunch at Burger King (inside the zoo?!?) and the animals looked fake! 

 

Another one of Parker's memories (and favorite stories to share) was swimming with the boys at the hotel. They were playing with a bouncy ball, and it went "clunk" on Parker's "head" and he thought that was hilarious! He also enjoyed fetching the ball when it got out of the pool. On New Years Eve, we spent the night in Ft. Worth and visited the Stockyards (while the kids stayed at the hotel). It was a great time, with quite the variety of bars and patrons!

 

The ride home was delayed and we were all tired and ready to get home (to the snow storm and below zero temperatures). Parker had a poopy diaper on the plane and so I learned the airplane bathrooms do have changing tables! As we were landing, Parker told me his "belly hurts" and then a few minutes later "belly hurts more". I thought he was hungry as it was past dinner time and he refused to eat anything. As we were waiting to get off the plane, I realized he had an explosive poopy diaper and needed a new shirt. He walked through the airport shirtless until we could get to his luggage and put on some jammies. One more nasty diaper when we got home, but was fine after that. 

 

I know Parker was happy to be home. He was very unsettled, especially going from Gina's house to the hotel and back to her house again. He wanted Jeremy or I to be with him at all times and even started crying when I went to the bathroom without him. He fought sleep times and had to hold on to me while falling asleep. He had a few cranky meltdowns, which we normally don't experience at home. But it was still great to be on vacation for a few days, even better to see our Texas family, and we are so excited to host them this summer!