Ha!

I was flipping through the photos on our camera the other day and laughed out loud when I saw these two consecutive pictures.  Paul's patient and Kate have the same smile!  Ha!

Old Man Pablo!

Paul turned the big 3-0 last week.  Adios, 20s, this is when life really starts to get good. I offered to make any extravagant dessert that his 30-year-old heart desired, but he was adamant about having a funfetti cake.  Paul loves treats.  I'm sure he hasn't ever met one that he didn't love, but truly, his preferences are far from sophisticated.  I think probably the fastest way to win this man over is with an offering of a Hostess cupcake.  Or Twinkie.  Or Swiss Cake Roll.

In our six and a half years of marriage, there are have been only three desserts requested for his birthday: brownies (the boxed Ghirardelli mix), funfetti cake and strawberry pie.  This year I decided to make two.  Parker and I made funfetti cupcakes that we took to his work and then we had strawberry pie that evening.  I was surprised to find out that the staff at the office had also brought in some treats- an oreo cake and cookies!  I think Paul worked through the afternoon in a sugar coma.  We had planned on going out to dinner, but Kate went to bed that night at 5:00, so when Paul got home I went and picked up some fish tacos and brought them home.

Parker made a card for Paul.  I helped him write a Parker-original joke on it.  "Two years old?!  Psych!"

His parents gave him the gift of a vacation- without any kids!  They offered to watch Parker and Kate while we have a little get away.  Paul will be sure to wear his vacation shirt.  :)

I gave him two tickets to the rodeo next month.

John and Trudy also sent some M&Ms, which Parker immediately deemed as his own.

Consequences

This week started out a little rough, but I'm determined to end it on a high note.

During Sacrament Meeting on Sunday Parker passed some gas stinky enough to fool Paul and I into thinking that he'd pooped. I grabbed a diaper and wipes and was ready to take Parker to the bathroom when Paul decided to do a quick visual to make sure that Parker actually had a messy diaper.  Turns out it was a false alarm, but the prospect of potentially leaving the chapel was like dangling a donut in front of his face and then eating it yourself.  It was too much for Parker to handle.  His good behavior quickly turned sour and he started acting up.  I took him out to the foyer, but made him sit on my lap and told him that he could only get down if it was to go back into the chapel and sit next to dada and Kate.  He consented, only to be taken out again moments later. This time we had to go into a classroom because even in the foyer he was being disruptive.  In fact, people in the chapel could probably still have heard him from where we were in the classroom.  Determined to not have a repeat performance this Sunday, I pronounced the worst punishment I could think of: no iPad for a week. Paul and I have purposefully used the iPad in front of Parker to remind him of the consequences of his behavior. Hopefully it's enough to motivate him to be better behaved this Sunday.

I think Parker has given up his naps.  Today marks the fifth consecutive day he hasn't taken one.  The first three days were rough to say the least, but with an earlier bedtime, things have more or less equilibrated. On Monday he was in timeout no less than ten times. (I pray that by now he has learned to not throw things... books at Kate's head in particular.) During one of those timeout sessions, he threw something at his light switch that caused it to break.  When I told him that he'd have to use some of his birthday money to buy a new one he was devastated and when I said that he'd have to use one of the "big monies" (anything greater than $1 is considered big), he was even more broken up.

The next day he found himself once again in timeout. Usually timeout is only a few minutes long, but somehow in those three minutes he managed to dump all of his toys, stuffed animals and most of his clothes onto the floor. I remember learning in a BYU class about how children can get overwhelmed with a long to-do list; their brains can process only one thing at a time, so telling a child to just "clean your room" may be too much for them to handle.  Instead, you should break up the tasks and allow them to finish a task before giving them another one.  I've noticed that this is true with Parker in other areas as well.  If I say, "Ok, eat your sandwich and what would you like to drink?" he'll freak out and say, "No! I have to eat my sandwich! I can't have a drink."  Anyway,  I can often get him to clean up if we do it together, but it felt like rewarding his bad choices if I helped him clean up when he'd made the mess out of anger.  But I knew that he'd need a little guidance, so I told him to start with his train tracks.  "No, mama clean up my train tracks."  Ha!  Yeah right. I ended up leaving his room and shutting the door (he has a child lock on the inside) and told him that he could come out after he cleaned up his tracks.  Hello tantrum!  I went to check on him every so often, but I think it was about 45 minutes before his tracks were put away.  And then we cleaned up the rest together.  I guess we both won that one.

Grandpa Bob Visits

Since Kate's birth we have been lucky enough to have my dad visit several times.  Four times?  Five?  I can't remember, but it's always so nice when he's here.  We get to explore new places in San Diego that I wouldn't normally brave alone.  Even just going to the grocery store is infinitely easier with an extra set of hands.  Parker and Kate get spoiled to the max.  I should probably be more careful when talking about things they need/what I want for them because my dad always says, "Well, let's go get it for them!"  My dad was here for Parker's birthday weekend and it was so fun to celebrate with him.  While he was here Kate got a new wardrobe, we went to Old Town, Seaport Village, the Living Coast Discovery Center, the Gaslamp Quarter, ate at lots of fun restaurants and I finally, finally got to see Ender's Game.  Come back anytime, Grandpa Bob!

Parker Has a Birthday

We had a fun celebration on Parker's birthday.  In the morning we went to the Living Coast Discovery Center.  It's a small nature reserve that has marine animals and birds on display and it was the perfect size to hold a toddler's attention and also allowed us to see everything in between Kate's morning and afternoon nap.

On our way home we stopped and got a little treat.  (Paul has instilled in Parker a very fervent love of all things donuts.)

We asked Parker what kind of cupcakes he wanted for his birthday.  Initially he kept saying, "pink ones!" (which didn't go over very well with Paul).  We asked him if we wanted chocolate or vanilla or lots of different colors like last year.  He just kept saying pink, but eventually consented to red, which I then interpreted to mean red velvet.  Parker helped decorate them.

We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner where Parker got to eat one of his favorite foods (french fries) and play in the play place.  Afterward it was time for presents and cupcakes.  Parker elected to open presents first.  We had been trying to really hype up his birthday in the preceding weeks to get him excited.  Any time we asked him what he wanted it was always the same answer: a Lightning McQueen race car toilet.  This was a win-win all around.  It was a great way to get him excited about getting potty trained, plus, we would have gotten him a training potty anyway, so to have him want it for his birthday was perfect.  We also got him some big boy undies.  Since his birthday he hasn't shown any additional interest in getting potty trained, and I'm really in no rush, but the seed has been planted.  Soon enough, soon enough.  He got some other fun gifts too...

Turns out that Parker did not inherit my love of cupcakes; he didn't eat a single one. A kid who doesn't like cupcakes?!  Sounds to me like that should be illegal.