Friday, November 28, 2014

So much to be thankful for

Parker turned 22 months old at the beginning of this month. He continues to love to dance, and when he hears music on tv, he will stop what he is doing and start bouncing and swaying to the music! He also started singing on his own. He was sitting in the high chair waiting for me to clean him up and just starts singing. After a few minutes I thought I recognized his tune and started singing "Happy Birthday" along with him. When he started smiling I knew I had the right song! (The sitter's birthday was a few days prior). We practiced that song for a few days so he could sing it for his cousin Mia at her second birthday party! He also sings ABC's and Wheels on the Bus. He mostly just does the motions for the various versus, but finishes it up with me by singing "towwwwn".





All of a sudden we are tolerating dress up clothes. This started when he asked to wear Daddy's sweatshirt, and a few days later, my vest. I bought a ton of costumes after Halloween so we have a bin full of dress of clothes. Now he mostly plays with the (broken) fireman hat, green star sunglasses, and his trick or treat bag...which he walks around the house saying "trick or treat" and asks us to place things in his bag!





The words are continuing to come and each day there is more and more. I am better able to identify his sound errors and I think that helps so I am able to understand more of his words. He loves to use his name when we talk about things (who's is this? or who wants a bite?). Since his sounds are a bit mixed up, his name comes out as "TI-per". But it's so adorable we make him say it all the time!! His favorite color is blue and he can correctly identify when something is blue. But he also tries to call every color blue, and even seems to get mad when I tell him it's not blue or we don't have one in blue! His favorite number is also two, which will be great when he turns two in just over a month!

We spent another weekend at the Dells and again, had a wonderful time. This time we visited with Mike, Missy and the girls, Joel & Jenna and Kasey and a friend came down as well.

















Parker is 100% boy and lately he prefers to play with his trucks and tractors and the play food is finally taking a back seat to the cars. He also loves trains and we occasionally go out for breakfast at a restaurant in McHenry, where the food is delivered by train. He is so entertained by the train, and will even stand up in his high chair shouting "All aboard!" as the train starts its route. I kept looking for a small train to put around our Christmas tree and Nana found one that wasn't too expensive. Parker played choo-choo all night long! We weren't allowed to turn the train off and he would just sit there and watch the train for 10-15 minutes at a time! He even went to bed cradling the remote!


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Season of Change

We took our family portraits in the fall this year. We met Aunt Missy and the girls at the park and she helped to take some pictures. Parker was not interested at all in sitting still. He would have rather climbed around with the girls. We may or may not have motivated him with some mini M&M's! Parker was 21 1/2 months old in this pictures. Definitely no longer a baby and is such a little man!


Friday, October 31, 2014

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was so much fun as a parent! Parker dressed up as an old man, with Batman suspenders, a bow tie and gray hair. I tried to find a hat for him, but he refused to wear them. Apparently they weren't cool enough, as he loves to wear baseball hats! Parker loved going from house to house getting candy! It was freezing outside today so we went trick or treating for a half an hour at home, and then another half an hour with his cousins at Nana's house. 

Getting his costume ready


Getting the hang of this

He had to walk holding both of our hands!


Got it all figured out!

He liked to put his bag down at the door!


Added gloves and a flashlight as the night got colder

Mckayla tired out quickly, but Mia and Parker kept going!



Belly full of candy!

Monday, October 27, 2014

A boy and his teddy

Parker doesn't really discriminate as he has quite a few teddy bears and stuffed animals that he enjoys. But there is nothing sweeter than watching him hug, feed and play with his teddy bear!



Saturday, September 20, 2014

Fall family fun

Enjoying a night out at a friend's wedding.
It's September and that means back to school. Parker had some difficulty transitioning to back to the sitter. There were a few more cranky moments, but the biggest issue was refusing the bath. I think the problem was that he didn't want to be isolated upstairs away from dad & his toys. He just didn't want to stop playing & had missed his house all day. But a few new bath toys & a change in bath time helped break the cycle and we haven't had a problem since.


He still loves being at Ms. Ginny's and has to give hugs goodbye to all his friends. One time he stood in the doorway & shouted "ma ya" and Amalia came running in to give him a hug goodbye. He even gently grabs around Peyton's (8 mo) neck and gives her a hug. Good to see him so gentle around the babies! Although he has also started biting and we have three documented cases of biting....hopefully that goes away as fast as it started!


Parker loves trucks & tractors so we went to the tractor charity event at Stades the first weekend of September. 









The second weekend of September we went with Jason, Stephanie, Ethan & his cousin Kendra to the Wilderness in the Wisconsin Dells. It was amazing to see the increased interest and ability, when we were just there about 5 months ago. We had so much fun that we've already booked another stay in November!
















Parker continues to love to be outside. He walked by himself halfway down the street to go play in the sand at the beach-what a big boy! Last summer I carried him in the Ergo to listen to the waves to out him to sleep...where did my baby go?