Projects with Parker

If you'll remember, one of my goals for this year is to do a fun monthly project with Parker.  So far, I've managed to keep this up!  In February I was inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest.  I had visions of making one for us, as well as the four grandparents.  However, three failed attempts before we finally made this one, I said, "Forget it!"  However, I love the end result (pun intended), so much that it is still hanging on the inside of my front door.

This month as I was loading up on Easter basket goodies at The Dollar Tree (my new fave store...everything really is only a dollar!) I spied this little Easter door hanger kit.  I knew Parker would have fun with it!  The only downfall is that the foam wasn't peel and stick, so I had to get the glue out.  Which meant Parker wanted to hold the glue most of the time, but this mommy is a little bit of a control freak and doesn't really like messes, so I won most of those battles!  ;)  Overall, Parker had a lot of fun, which is all that really matters!

Parker's Prayer

Right around Christmas time I  began teaching Parker how to say his bedtime prayers.  I know that there are several pre-existing written prayers that I can probably teach him, but since I was raised Catholic, the only prayers I ever really knew were the ones you recite.  I had a very hard time when I grew up learning how and feeling comfortable about just praying.  So, I'm choosing to "teach" Parker about prayer without the use of those types of prayers (not that there's anything wrong with them). 

The very first time we prayed, I asked him what he wanted to pray about and his response was, "Candy".  So, that night, we prayed about candy.  And by we, I mean I prayed out loud while he listened.  I showed Parker how to put his hands together and when I was finished praying I told him to say, "Amen!".  The next night I asked him what he wanted to pray about and his response was, "Candy".  So, yet again, I prayed about candy!  After a few nights, I suggested that we pray for something other than candy.  He thought this over and said, " Candy Canes".  That night, rather than praying about candy in general, I thanked God for candy canes.

About a week later one of my best friends was able to adopt her foster daughter (Hopefully a blog post about this will come soon!)!  That night I suggested to Parker that we pray for her and her mom.  That was the first time we prayed for actual people.  After that, it was game on!  I would ask Parker who or what he wanted to pray for and he would say someones name.  He has pretty much quit praying about things, which is fine.  I try to make this more about what Parker wants to pray for.  His prayer list typically includes:  Parker, mommy, daddy, Shady, Grams, Braxton, Shannon, Randy, Misty, or Tori. 

After Parker tells me who or what he wants to pray for, we will put our hands together and I pray out loud for those people or things.  When I am finished I say, "Amen!" and then Parker says, "Amen!"

A few nights ago, after he told me who he wanted to pray for, I said, "OK, Parker, you can pray.  I will let you say it."  This is what Parker's first out-loud prayer was:
"Thank you for this day, God.  Bless Parker, Shady, Daddy, Parker, Mommy, Shady, Parker, and Daddy.  Amen!"

It pretty much melted my heart.

Last night I asked him what he wanted to pray about and I got the usual response.  After he told me he wanted to pray for mommy, daddy, and Parker, I said, "OK, you do it."  This is the second out-loud prayer Parker said:

"Thank you God for Mickey Mouse, (as soon as he said this, I'm pretty sure I snorted with laughter because it was so unexpected), Jesus, hair brushes, comb (at this point I am shaking with laughter and covering my mouth so he doesn't hear me and stop), Shady, and the Grammys (can you guess what we had just been watching?).  Amen!"  I quickly composed myself and said, "Good job Parker!  God loves to hear you pray!"

It absolutely topped the charts of the cutest thing I have ever heard him say and I can't wait to hear what he prays about tonight!  Has any one published a book about adorable things children say while praying?  Hmmm....

Cotton Ball Bashing

Although I did so horrible with achieving my 2012 goals, I feel like I have hit the ground running for 2013!  I've already worked out three times in the past six days, I have gone through half of my filing cabinet and burned all kinds of paper-work (tax forms from 1996?  Really?!), and, best of all, I did a fun craft project with Parker on Monday!

I had pinned something called "Cotton Ball Bashing" a long time ago, and while browsing through my "Playing With Parker" board the other day for some pinspiration (get it?  Ha, ha!), I saw it and figured we would give it a try.

If you want to do some cotton ball bashing for yourself, it's pretty simple:

• cotton balls
• equal parts of water and flour (I did 1 cup of each) mixed together
• food coloring (optional)

Coat the cotton balls in the water/flour mixture and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.



Stirring the flour and water.

I asked Parker if he wanted the cotton balls to be a color and his answer was, "Orange!"  That is his favorite color so I was not surprised.

Coating the cotton balls.

 

"Mama, my hands are dirty."

   

 

 Apparently my son takes after me in the I-don't-like-to-get-my-hands-dirty department.  About half way through he began complaining that his hands were dirty and I had to coat the last few cotton balls myself.  Oh well!  After I had all of the cotton balls coated and on the baking sheets, I baked them in the oven.  

 

 

After I took them out of the oven I let them cool for a few minutes.

 

Have you ever seen an orange cotton ball?

 

 

Now, this is where the fun part really begins!

 

Parker was ecstatic when I told handed him his hammer and told him to bang on them!

 

 

At least, that's what I thought.  I had expected the cotton balls to kind of shatter.  They did not.  Instead, they sort of bounced back into their shape.  (Wouldn't they do that even if we hadn't done anything to them?)  At first I was letting Parker bash them on the pan, then I decided to see if they would be more fun to bash if I took them off.  Warning:  Do not try to use a spatula.  Just tear them off with your fingers.  It's easier! 

 

And....they don't do anything!

 

Since "bashing" the cotton balls wasn't working out so well, I gave him some other tools and told him to go to work!

 

 

Once they were off of the pan they were a little bit more fun to play with!

 

 

The highlight was when one bounced off the island and landed right in Parker's shoe!  He thought that was awesome!

 

That smile is the reason I'm looking forward to doing these fun projects with him every month!

 

 

While I considered the project to be some what of a bust, it did keep Parker entertained for about three minutes.  Then, he was over it and I had weird looking orange balls all over my kitchen island.  While he was napping I threw them away.  When Parker woke up, he came into the kitchen, looked around, and said, "Mom, where are my meatballs?"  That explains why he tried to eat one of them...

The Childrens Place Model Search

I've entered this adorable photo of Parker (taken by his Papa) into The Childrens Place Model Search.  Please click here to vote for him!  For some reason I didn't enter his name when I was submitting his photo, so to find his picture enter his ID, which is 8930.  Voting ends Oct. 31 and the grand prize is a photo shoot for The Childrens Place along with a $500 gift card to The Childrens Place.  Thanks for your help and votes!!!

Toddler Tales

For those of you who semi-regularly read my blog, you may have noticed that I'm no longer doing my monthly posts about Parker.  I figured blogging every single month for the first two years of his life was a pretty good achievement!  But, I want to blog a few things that he's doing so that when I want to reminisce about his life as a two year old, I'll have a few milestones written down.  Because basically once you become a mommy your brain turns to mush.  I'm not kidding.

So...here are some pretty neat things that Parker (who is 2 years and almost 5 months old) is doing:

1.  He is dressing himself. Sometimes when he is finished I'll have to tell him his shirt or his shorts are on backwards, but for the most part he wants to dress himself! 
2.  He can count to ten!  I don't really get to take credit for this and have day care to thank.  He won't count on command, he basically has to want to count, or if I nonchalantly start counting he may chime in.  He will often skip the number four, but I'm not going to nag him about it.  Yet.
3.  He can feed the dog.  To be honest, I have to monitor this, because if it were up to Parker, Shady would have a dog bowl that would be filled to the brim each meal.  I'm sure Shady wouldn't complain though!
4.  He can open the fridge.  Lucky for me, he only usually does it when he knows I'm about to make him a glass of juice.  I think it's about time I move the wine bottles to the upper shelves...note to self!
5.  He can drink from a cup!  Granted, I still give him sippy cups 99% of the time just because I don't want to have to constantly clean spills.
6.  He also knows how to fill up his cup (or his toys) with water from the refrigerator.  Luckily, that does have a lock option!
7.  He knows how to wash his own hands!  He loves climbing up onto the bathroom counter to turn the faucet on.  He doesn't use soap if I let him wash by his self, and he can't reach the bathroom light, or the bathroom hand towel, but we are making baby steps in the right direction!
8.  He tries to read to himself.  I have often caught him in the act of flipping through a book that I had recently read to him and he will flip the pages and say things that pertain to the page.  His most often quoted book is "no monkeys jumping on the bed!".  He loves being read too!
9.  This has nothing to do with developmental growth, but he finally loves wearing hats!  And bandannas, too!
10.  I recently purchased flash cards and he loves telling me what objects are on the cards.
11.  His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds!

He normally turns his hat around and wears it backwards.

Parker's favorite things are:  going to the beach, boat rides, whistles, running, being read too, Caillou, the movie Cars, fruit, balls, Frisbee's, playing with other kids, sunglasses (although if you ask him where his sunglasses are he will tell you that they are in the lake.  Which is true.), playing "wakeboard" (this is where he pretends he is wakeboarding...his daddy couldn't have been more proud!), and suckers!

This was captured the first time I over-heard him reading to his self.

Hard at play.

He loves sitting next to his daddy on the boat.

 

 

Parker's 2nd Birthday Party

Parker's 2nd Birthday Party was over three months ago and I'm just now blogging about it...which is proof that the two's keep a working mom BUSY!  I showed my inspiration for his party on this post.  Here's how the party turned out:

Party favors!  The train shaped crayons were purchased at Red Elm Designs.

Snack Station.

Marshmellows AKA Choo Choo Smoke!

Choo Choo Fuel was delicious Almond Tea Punch.

The party favor bags.

His custom birthday shirt made by Great Stitch

The concrete was slightly damp, so my train tracks didn't last through the afternoon :(

Parker's train birthday cake made by my friends from Two Sweet Sisters

Playing with one of his favorite cousins, Hillarie.

Enjoying a piece of choo-choo smoke!

Present time!

He was going through a major train phase, and he loved this travel sized Thomas the Train!

Where's my cake?  I'm ready!

The wonder in his eyes speaks volumes!

Trying hard to blow out his birthday candles.

Enjoying his first bite!

Dig in, everyone!

Cake brings everyone together!

Hitching a ride from his friend, Braxton.

Outside play time at its finest!

Trying out his new toys.

These two cousins are crazy about each other!

Post Birthday Party Dinner:  He was beyond tired and wouldn't even eat!

Flip Flops!

One of Parker's favorite activities is to walk around in mommy or daddy's shoes.  Literally!  He especially loves walking in our flip flops.  I had asked him on multiple occasions if he wanted a pair of flip flops and he would always say yes.  While grocery shopping in Wal-Mart on Saturday I wandered over to the toddler shoe aisle with hopes of finding a pair of flip flops for Parker.  Either none of the sizes fit correctly or they were just plain ugly (as in neon green).  Luckily he didn't break down crying when we left the shoe aisle without a pair of flip flops in the shopping basket.

Yesterday we went to Old Navy because I just knew they would have a pair of flip flops that would fit him well.  I was right!  Parker was over the moon at the sight of the whole wall of flip flops!  After trying on the pair that fit, I asked him if he wanted to wear them or put his sandals back on. His response was a joyful, "yes!"  All day long he would proudly look down at his feet and exclaim, "flip flop"!

Last night, as soon as he got out of the bathtub, he was asking for his flip flops. I explained to him that he couldn't wear his flip flops because he had to put his jammies on, but I assured him that he could wear them when he woke up the next morning.

This morning when I heard him calling my name on the monitor, I went and rescued him from his crib.  I took him to my room and sat down on my bed with him and asked him if he wanted to lay down on mommy's bed.  He said no, which is rare.  He then proceeded to get down off of my lap and he went and sat on his alphabet train.  Thinking he was content, I went back into my bathroom to finish fixing my hair.  Next thing I knew I could hear Parker talking.  I poked my head into my room to see what he was doing (since his dad was still sound asleep!) but he was nowhere to be found.  I then realized that I was hearing him over the monitor that I still had in the bathroom.  He had gone into his room (which had the door shut, because his cousin was sound asleep on his bedroom floor) and as I approached his room, he came running out the door with two objects in his hands: his flip flops!  Apparently he remembered that he could wear them in the morning (the memory of a 2 year old never ceases to amaze me)!

He tried to immediately put them on, but I told him he had to take his jammies off, first.  He hesitated a second (this is usually a morning routine battle), said "OK", and immediately began taking his jammies off.  Once he was down to his (saggy) diaper he sat down and put his flip flops on.  I tried to help, but he stubbornly yelled, "I do it!" when I tried to lend a hand.  And, he did just that.  I would have taken a picture then and there, but then he began saying he wanted a shirt, and I was afraid if I took the time to search for my camera, the saggy diaper would be whipped off and I would have a large puddle of pee somewhere other than inside the toilet.

Off we went for Parker to go pee-pee in the potty wearing only his shirt and flip flops!  Shortly after I finished getting him dressed, I snapped this picture of him sporting his new flip flops.  Now I'm starting to think I should have bought more than one pair!

The Big T-W-O!

I can't believe my sweet angel is TWO!  Where did the time go?  It seemed like the previous month really showed me how much he is learning and growing!  Almost anything I ask him to try to say, he will!  Which also means we have to be very careful about what we say, too.

One of the best highlights of the month was this little conversation we had on the couch:

Me:  Who's this?  (pointing to Greg)

Parker:  Dada

Me:  Who am I?  (pointing to myself)

Parker:  Mama

Me:  Who are you?  (pointing to Parker...obviously)

Parker:  Parker

Me & Greg:  *GASP*

Prior to that, I had never asked him what his name was, and I hadn't ever tried to get him to say it, either.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Now I can ask him, "What's your name?"  and he'll say, "Parker".  It's adorable.

Once he got his name down, I figured he better learn how old he was.  I didn't want to confuse him by teaching him "one", and then a week later telling him he was two.  Luckily, he learned quickly, and on his birthday if someone asked  him, "How old are you?"  He could say, "two".  Granted, that doesn't mean he answers every time!

Some fun things that happened this past month for him were:

He began potty training!

He went to the circus!

He saw a real live turtle for the first time!

The easter bunny visited him!

Money he found in an egg left by the Easter Bunny.

He got to play in the rain!

A neighbor gave him all kinds of "new" outside toys...we put this one up in storage because it's too big for him still, but I love this pic of him!

Parker is still sleeping really well!  He takes naps in the afternoon and at night he never fights me about going to bed.  Although he has never tried to climb out of his crib, I plan on converting it to his "toddler bed" in the very near future.  We'll see how things go once that happens!

He still has the combination of straight and curly hair, which is sometimes a little wild-man looking, but I love it!

At some point this past month, he began getting his back top molar in.

Parker's favorite things are:  bubbles, trains, running, playing outside, and chips!!  (Not too proud about the last one, but oh well!)

On his actual birthday we went up to Norman to stay at Parker's Nana and Papa's house.  We had his birthday party there the following day (post to come!).  We had a celebratory lunch at Braums on the way there, complete with Birthday Cake ice cream!  He was out cold for the entire journey there.

One interesting thing that happened shortly after our arrival was that we had to take shelter in my in-laws storm shelter.  A tornado touched down a mile away from the house, but luckily we were safe and no damage was done.  How many kids can say they got to turn two in a storm shelter?!

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY, PARKER!  I love you more than you'll ever know.  There are days when I'm ready to tear my hair out, but then you can look at me with a huge grin and a loud laugh, and I'm reminded again of how precious you really are.  You are smart, sweet, energetic, and so fun to be around! 

I am TWO!  I am 26 pounds!