Holiday Happenings

Like most toddlers, Parker has frequently changed his mind about what he wants for Christmas. First it was a remote control car, then a monster truck. For awhile, he said he wanted a "present". Then, just 4 days before Christmas, we visited Santa & Parker asked Santa for Skye from Paw Patrol & the Lookout Tower. We spent days looking for Skye & finally had to overnight ship her so she arrived in time.

Opening presents is quite the experience. As he rips open the wrapping paper, he says "What is it? What is it?" Parker still enjoys opening a present & asking for it out of the box immediately to play with. It makes the gift opening a lengthy process, but it's still so fulfilling to watch the magic in his eyes.

Some funny Parker sayings ... 

On the way to breakfast, in the car, said "it's going to take ages to get my breakfast!"

As his cousin tried to tickle him, "Hey - what's the big idea?"

Parker is also quite the little comedian. He loves to say "mommy?" And when you answer "what?", Parker says "nothing!". And if you do it back to him, he'll say "oh you got me!". He also loves the high five joke (up high, to the side, down low-too slow!). 

Last year, Parker would sit for hours watching his train go around. This year, his construction vehicles are there constantly breaking & fixing the tracks! 

Jeremy's sister visited with her family for a few days. Parker was so excited to play with the boys that he had to show him all of his toys. He quickly took to them and even invited the boys into his bedroom to read him stories! Uncle Joel cooked dinner for all one night. Since there weren't any toys at Joel's house, the kids managed to be entertained for hours with pillows & blankets, tossing them at Parker so he was hidden below them & laughing hysterically! 

Grandpa (Jeremy's dad) had a stroke the day after Thanksgiving. He's made a remarkable recovery & gets stronger every day. We've spent some time visiting with him in Chicago, and who doesn't love a train ride!?! 

Jeepers Creepers

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with my husband ...

Parker: (interrupting) No one wants to listen to you, mom.

Me: ?!?

In his defense, we may or may not have told him the exact same thing when he was whining/crying and carrying on for quite some time. Apparently, that is also what my voice sounds like!

Halloween was quite a magical time in the eyes of this toddler! He LOVED answering the door for trick or treaters and passing out candy. He stood on the front step singing a little made up song "Trick or treaters come today! Trick or treaters come today"

Daddy spent a really long time working on his costume and it was AMAZING! The boxes were constructed to fit over his wagon. We even had a friend put a clear coat of paint to seal it from the rain. A month later and Parker's digger is still intact (under a tarp) in the front yard!

Pumpkin carving was "yuck" and "gross stuff". It was really mommy & daddy carving the pumpkin, which was still fun!

A few other Parker stories from this month: 

Parker just asked to be rewarded with a "treat" & chocolate milk from Starbucks. What is it about this store that even toddlers crave it?!?

We've always had a rule in our houses, even growing up, that you eat the meal that was served - no separate meals will be made. Parker comes running to the dinner table, takes a look at his plate & says "aw, me wanted green beans". And then I broke those rules & made him a bowl of green beans! (He ate the corn on his plate, too!)

Apparently the lunar eclipse = one scared toddler. Who would have thought?!? He cried for about an hour trying to go to sleep, then spent the night in my bed, tossing & turning and crying on and off All.Night.Long.

By early November, we've also taken on potty training full time. We tried almost 2 months ago, and was met with some resistance. This time he is ready and happy to try. Yeah for no more diapers! 

Stay-cation & Easter

First day of break began with 5 inches of snow. Parker was so confused as we had just worn sandals and tshirts the day before! His sandbox was a little hard to play in when it was covered in snow!

We spent the night at Timber Ridge, because we were able to get a great deal on the room. The water park was fun and Parker probably spent a total of 8 hours swimming. We had swim lessons the next evening and he was so done with the water!

We also went to the Round Lake Children's Museum and Artist at Heart's Artsy Tot class, and of course some shopping at the mall. 

It's amazing how quickly a week can pass! I planned for a relaxing week at home (full of cooking, cleaning and laundry!) and all of a sudden it's the weekend again and time to get ready for the work week. But it's always a good time with family, and this energetic two year old sure keeps us busy!

We went to the Lindenhurst Egg Hunt Saturday morning. It was quite chilly and wasn't busy at all. I think last year he only got 5 eggs - this year his basket was full! Next year he can move on to the 3 year old section, which means there are other neighborhood hunts he can join. As we were waiting for the festivities to begin, Parker told me he was going to get a blue egg. Once it started, he grabbed the blue egg and came running back to me! I told him to go get more and off he ran! He was very excited to see "chocolate" inside the eggs!

Last year at the same egg hunt....

We also took a picture with the Easter bunny. I could sense his apprehension and so I asked him if he wanted to sit on his lap or stand next to him. He chose to stand, took a picture and went about his day. So proud of this little guy with his outgoing personality! No tearful holiday pictures for us!

And last year's photo with cousins!

At one point this week, Parker started talking about Santa. I told him no Santa, but the Easter bunny is coming. He looked at me, cocked his head to the side and said "presents?" I said yes, the bunny brings presents. He asked "You too?" Nope, Easter bunny brings presents just for kids!

Parker woke up Easter morning and immediately asked me to move his Easter basket and present off of his changing table. He wasn't too excited until after I changed his diaper! He really got into the egg hunt at the house. Basket over his arm, he walked around and you could literally seeing him scanning the room with his eyes, looking for eggs. He would get so excited when he saw one - OOO! ... and then "silly Easter bunny!" He would find a handful of eggs and bring them back to the floor to open them all. He did a nice job sorting his candy out! There are quite a few eggs still around the house, so that will continue to be fun over the next week or two.

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!