21 Months Old

This past month my little boy has become an imitating sponge!  We have noticed a BIG change in Parker developmentally these past few weeks.  It's quite amazing actually!  Here are some of the awesome things he's begun doing:

• He makes animal sounds for:  horse, cow, sheep, goat, cat, dog, pig, and duck.
• If you ask him what a train says he'll say, "Choo-Choo!"
• He began nodding his head yes.
• He imitates things that we do.  Sometimes we do silly stuff on purpose because we know he'll do it too!
• He now tries to repeat words back to us. 
• New words that I can think of are:  down (I don't really like that word though because he always says it when he wants out of his high chair or out of our grasp!), ready, fork (ork), spoon (ewn), elbow (belbow), that, plane (lane), bed (be), cow, horse (hor), turtle, room (roo), play (pay)
• He is trying to learn how to jump.  He's quite good at it on our bed!
• He began using his step stool at the bathroom sink.  He loves placing it in front of the vanity and then back in it's spot where it belongs when he's finished.
• He can put together a wooden puzzle with not much help.  Sometimes I'll have to say, "turn it around" and he does what I tell him.

It astounds me how much he really knows.  Sometimes I will ask him a question and he'll answer me or point at what I'm talking about.  I'm always shocked that he knows what I'm telling him.  Those of you who are seasoned mothers are probably laughing at me right about now!

This past month we also celebrated Christmas.  I wanted to post a blog about it, but time got away from me.  He totally grasped the concept of unwrapping a present and he had a blast with it.  One of his favorite gifts was a singing dancing snowman.  He loved pressing the button to make it dance and he would run around the room and dance along with it.  He also received a Little People Runway that he loves playing with.

Speaking of playing, he has very recently grasped the concept of being able to play in his room with his toys.  His Grams was here the past few days and I would constantly hear him tell her, "roo.  pay."  He desperately wanted her in his room playing with him!

He loves having simple tasks to perform.  I can say to him, "go put this in your room/mommy's room."  And he will!  He loves to help me load the washer as well and he likes it when I make my bed (mainly because he climbs up on it and falls onto the pillows).

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating, my little guy loves to DANCE!!!  He can shake his hips like you wouldn't believe!  I have it on video and hopefully I can upload a video on here soon.  It's a hoot!

Parker has always had the most amazing eyes.  When he was born they were a dark navy blue.  Eventually they turned to a shade of gray.  Now I'm fairly certain that they are actually GREEN!  They are really different than any eye color I've ever seen before.  They are beautiful!

He got his 4th hair cut.  And the hair dresser totally botched it.  It was so dark in the house (yup, you read that right) that I took him too that I didn't notice how crappy of a job it was until I was in some better light.  I know not to let her near his hair again.  At least in pictures it doesn't look bad!
I think I may have touched on this issue on my last post about Parker, but he has become quite the expert at throwing tantrums.  If he doesn't get his way he will let you know fast.  He bursts into tears and will hold his hands up and if I don't pick him up he doubles over at the waist and is down on the ground on all fours.  In a crazy way they're kind of cute.

To make up for all those tantrums, he does some pretty cute things.  For instance, he'll pick up a book and as he's flipping through the pages he says, "read, read, read, read".  I guess he's really "reading" his book!

I am 21 months old.  I weigh 25 pounds and am 31 1/2" tall!

Full of mischief!

One and a Half!

My little pride and joy is exactly a year and a half old today! And my what big changes he had this past month!

The most exciting being that a couple weeks ago we finally finished his nursery (OK, it's only 95% finished, but it's close enough that he can use it!) which meant that for the first time in five months he had a room to sleep in all by himself. I was pretty nervous about how it would go...and he slept just like normal! Which meant, he still woke up a few times during the night and I had to rock him back to sleep. Since he is the age that he is, I was growing a little tired of this. I decided that since we are now in a place where we plan on staying awhile, that I would try the CIO (cry it out) method.

I'm sure I did it wrong the first night because as soon as he started crying I went into his room. He began signing and saying, "milk" so I left the room to pretend that I was getting him some (I say pretend because I never give him liquids in the middle of the night. No sense in starting that habit) and went back a minute later hoping he would lay down for me without me having to rock him. That wasn't happening so I decided to leave the room. The crying lasted for 15 minutes and then he began saying, "mama, mama" so....I caved. I went in and said, "Lay down", which he did, but a minute later when he realized I wasn't in the room with him he began crying again. Within 10 minutes he was asleep again. The whole process lasted 28 minutes. This was last Monday. Here's what happened the following nights:
Tuesday-He slept the whole night!
Wednesday-He woke up (I didn't go into the room at all), crying lasted 7 minutes.
Thursday-Crying lasted 1 minute

Ever since last Thursday, he has SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT THROUGH!!! And what's even better, is he is sleeping in longer. He used to wake up around 6 and I would bring him into bed with me. He would then either fall back asleep or we would just lay there for a bit. Now he's not waking up until 7:30. This really pleases me because he only naps for an hour and a half. YAY!!! Now, if only I can get him to fall asleep on his own for naps and bedtime without me leaning over the crib patting his back. I have a feeling I'll be trying the CIO method again real soon!

Now I have to brag about how smart he is! Greg has been working with him on learning different body parts, and he now knows where his hair and his feet are. He also knows where his teeth are, and if I tell him it's time to brush his teeth he sticks his finger in his mouth and mimics brushing his teeth. Speaking of teeth, one of his bottom molars broke through the gums on Monday.

He learned to sign and say the word "please". He doesn't sign it correctly, but I know what he means which is fine with me. He'll catch on with the right way eventually. He has also began to say the words: more, golf cart (which is his absolute favorite thing), truck, juice, cracker, and cookie. There's probably more but these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Despite the fact that he is my little angel, he does have some "not so great" qualities about him right now. He has been disciplined several times for constantly putting things in his mouth that he shouldn't and he thinks when you tell him "no" that it's funny. It may not sound like much but there's only so many times he'll stick acorns (or a screw, or a rock, or a washer, etc.) in his mouth, and we tell him no, or chase him around so we can try to get whatever is in his mouth out of his mouth without being bitten, that one can handle. Lets just say he is very rambunctious and keeps us on our toes.


He has never met a stranger and wants everyone to pick him up...be it the internet service technician or the waitress at a restaurant, he LOVES people! Especially kids! I hope to find a play group to join soon so he can have more interaction with other toddlers.

We have a fake fish aquarium type thing in our living room that Parker loves. It's a tall cylinder of water that sits on the floor, and when it's plugged in the water bubbles and there are fake fish that float around. If that things is not plugged in when Parker first goes into the living room, he will let you know about it. He'll point and yell and say "uh, uh, uh" which is what he says whenever he wants something. He's even gone so far as to try to plug it in himself!

He also began making the craziest sound this past month. I don't know how to describe it, other than to say it sounds like he's saying "HA!" but with a hiss sound to it. It makes my own throat hurt when he does it. I think he does it when he does something "bad". For instance, he'll throw something on the ground and then make that sound. He'll do it repeatedly. It drives me crazy, but it's just part of what makes him Parker.

We took our first family pictures this past month. I have only seen a few of the images, but this one is an adorable picture of Parker. No..that's not a back drop. This was taken at the beach that's a short walk from our house!


He had his third hair cut this past month. He did really well considering the lady had him sit in a booster chair. The previous two times I held him in my lap while his hair was cut.


He has finally began to show an interest in more of his toys. Especially this toy dog. He frequently carries it out into the kitchen and I'll find him laying down looking at it or hugging it. He'll really love it if I ever put batteries in it!


We bought him a wagon this weekend. I can't say that he loves it, but I pulled him around on it for 30 minutes the other night. Every kid needs a wagon, right?


I am 18 months old today!!! I am 31" tall and weigh 25 pounds.