Dinner and dancing

Last week I was in serious need of a pizza fix from a favorite pizza restaurant, so we braved the crowds and met friends for dinner. Parker was very patient while the grownups lingered over the meal visiting, but when we were done, she wanted to go play on the lawn. She loves the duck statues and entertained us by climbing up on the mama duck and dancing. She did this for quite a while...and didn't know I was filming her.

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In other news we are plugging through the hot busy summer. I've got some CAD drawings to do in July, so Parker is going to 'summer school' 3 days a week, and the other 2 days I"m filling in with sitters and swapping out playdates. She's having fun, but between that and swimming, she's usually pretty exhausted. She's gotten very comfortable in the water, and I'm sure NEXT year will be my year lawn chair sitting. This year I"m spending a lot of time by the slide or the diving board, and I usually wind up getting drenched.


On cheerful days, Parker is quite delightful. In the picture below, she has 2 clothes pins clipped on her pants. She lifted up her shirt to show me and said "look a diaper". (I use clothes pins for chip clips). She doesn't have a concept of the old style of diapers that pinned in the middle...just velcro on the sides.


Notice the tank top. This is what she considers a tank top....which I think are technically spaghetti straps. Either way this is pretty much all she will wear, UNLESS a halter top is clean. Or semi-clean. She has 2 halters that she alternates between. Actually she has 3, but the 3rd one doesn't have sparkles on it, so it is way far off her radar. She's been bugging me for some 'tank top pajamas' and I found some super cute Nick and Nora ones at Target (pic coming soon). She told me she loves them, but what would be really great, is tank top pajamas that show her belly. I am really really dreading back to school shopping. Hopefully kindergarten has a strict dress code so she's not going to school in bikini tops and mini skirts.

July 4th and swimming breakthrough

We had a great 4th of July! Our neighborhood has activities all day, beginning with a little parade. People decorate their golf carts, mowers and bicycles and toss candy. It's very cute. After that, Bob, Parker and the neighbors went up to the pool and did lots of playing in the water. For dinner, we went to our friend's house and did more swimming (see video!) and then back to the neighborhood to watch fireworks. Everyone congregates at the pool cabana, and there's a band and dancing, and people bring their own fireworks and set them off over the lake. It's a ton of fun, and Parker lasted until 11pm! We really soaked it up this year and had a great time.

The parade

SWIMMING! At swim lessons, Parker learned to swim underwater all the way across the pool, but it's been pulling teeth to get her to do just a couple strokes under water at home. Yesterday at our friend's house, she finally just went for it, and swam over and over and over again while we cheered. She's very proud of herself.....and we're super thrilled too.

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Singing

Parker has been attending a Mother's Day Out at the Baptist church this summer. I think their influence is starting to show:


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(the word she says at the end is "bible")

ParkerStanding

(I'm a little early for Flashback Friday) I'm testing video. Here's an old one of Parker standing at some crazy early age, like 5 months or something. When she was that tiny, this was her hobby. All she wanted to do ALL DAY LONG was have someone help her practice pulling up (with straight legs, like a water skier) or hold her so she could stand. Let me know how this video works for you, I know some folks are on dialup, so you it might take too long to load for you. Post your comments, or email me: cgpost@gmail.com