Parker's Words

Parker learning to talk is the best thing that has ever happened to him, particularly when he learned to say "yes."  I feel like his tantrums are minimal these days because he's able to communicate better.  Before, he loved to say "no!" and would say it even when he meant yes, which was a real headache come mealtime.

"Are you hungry?"
 "No!"
"Do you want a banana?"
"No!"
"Do you want some yogurt?"
"No!"
"Do you want a sandwich?"
"No!"
"Do you want a cookie?"
"No!"

"Do you want to go to Disneyland?"
"No!"

And then if we tried to feed him anything he'd throw a fit because, hello, he'd already made his point very clear.  Why weren't we listening to him?!  After his tantrum he'd then be ready to chow down.  Anyway, it was quite exhausting and in hind sight we probably should not have asked for his opinion when choosing what to feed him.

I feel like he's learning words so quickly now.  There have been several times when he says a word that I don't understand and Paul will have to translate and inform me that he learned that word a couple hours ago and I'm sooo behind the times.

I started making a list today of the words that Parker knows.  I've probably forgotten some, but here's a pretty good sampling:

Car, keys, go, hold on, come on, walk, fast, wet, rain, slide, grass, bye bye, hi, hello, work, dada, mama, dad, mom, mine, my, friend, church, Jesus, amen, shoes, socks, jacket, dark, light, on, off, yes, no, nope, peanut butter, pancakes, cereal, cheese, banana, apple, beans, cookie, water, milk, bowl, fork, Elmo, read, George, Word World, ball, basketball, football, baseball, blocks, bird, owl, pig, dog, duck, frog, lion, honk, beep beep, book, nigh nigh, sun, nose, Kleenex, grandpa, eyes, crash, hot, cold, brrrr, warm, hat, trash, back, away, home, song, Parker, fish, hey, yay, cool, what's that, who's that, where'd it go, poo poo, pee pee, bum bum, hurt, yeah, ouch, picture, hair, push, up, hug, bubbles, please, spin, baby, bag, race, buckle, chair, stuck, all done, all gone, broke.

It's really cute how he pronounces some of these.  For example, pancakes is "bee keys," water is "warr," fish is "woosh," and friend is "wenn."  It's fun to look at this list and see how completely it encompasses his world. 

Perhaps I Should Tackle This Today...

Just looking at this mountain makes me tired.  Ugh.  The last two nights I've dug into Parker's future clothes bins to pull out way-too-big-pajamas because he hasn't had any clean ones.  Ok, it's time. 

Babysitting Swap

We started doing a babysitting swap once a month with two other families that live in our apartment complex.  They each have one baby around Parker's age and they all play pretty well together.  This was our month to watch all the kids and Parker wanted to make sure they felt welcome in our home- hugs all around!

 

Splashing in the Water Feature

Paul and I had a disagreement when we first moved into our apartment about how I wanted to decorate our bedroom.  We compromised and decided that I could do whatever I wanted to the inside of our apartment if Paul could have free rein over our patio area.  Since then he has been busy at work perfecting his putting green.  I think he wants to have a grand reveal once its complete, so I'll just show a small portion.  Parker loooooves the water feature, especially after it has rained. I found out about this love the hard way (Paul was the one outside with Parker taking the pictures), when I discovered soggy footprints all over our apartment. 

 

Newport Boat Parade

One of the blessings of living near the beach: the Christmas boat parade in Newport Beach.  This was incredible and probably my most favorite activity of the Christmas season.  People spend thousands of dollars decorating their boats and then drive them parade-style through the harbor.  Some of the boats had live bands and swing dancers.  We sat in a park area near the end of the route, before the boats turned around.  This was also the choice spot of the booze cruise boats. I wish we had a better camera to document the awesomeness, but these will have to do:

Wrapping Presents

I kept telling myself that I should put the wrapping paper away, but I still had a few presents to wrap and thought that I could get to them before Parker became interested in the paper.  When I walked into our bedroom Parker had already unwrapped one of his gifts and was trying to figure out how to wrap himself. What a good helper!                

We're Gonna Make It

Parker has been sick for the last four weeks and is finally better.  It was just a runny nose for two weeks and then he started getting a fever and a severe cough; he'd cough so hard he'd throw up.  :(  In the last two weeks, I think we've watched the Winnie the Pooh movie thirty times... maybe more.  Parker is a snuggler, but the day that his fever peaked he hardly left my lap.  We knew he was really sick because he fell asleep on the couch watching his show, which hasn't happened since he was a newborn.  Sometimes he falls asleep in the car on long car rides, but other than that, he always falls asleep in his crib.  It was so cute that I had to take a picture.

Taking care of a sick kid is no fun, but it would have been alright if it was just him that got sick.  No such luck.  Paul got the flu, and then I caught a cold, which I'm just getting over.  I feel like we've been stuck inside for an eternity not wanting to pass our germs around- thank goodness it's almost over!

The last couple days Parker has been so happy and silly and giggly.  I'm so glad to have our fun little guy back.