Princess Arial

"I'm a beautiful princess. I'm going to go swim under the sea for a couple whiles".

We pulled out Parker's Arial dress yesterday. I ordered it when it went on sale last halloween. She had fun running around the yard in it and is wearing it this morning while she eats breakfast. When she isn't wearing it, Big Dora gets to.

Painting

We've been having some nice spring weather lately. Here is Parker enjoying the outdoors and "painting" with water. I'm sure you are thinking that I'm being really creative giving her water and letting her paint the chalk board and the stepping stones, but really, I'm just too lazy to get out/clean up paint. That's what school is for.

It's the thought that... makes sense

Bob is installing a new AC until this weekend, so we have all the parts and pieces stacked up in the garage...new air handler, etc, etc. Parker walks out in the garage today on the way to the car, sees all the mechanical stuff, and says "What are all these junks for?"

Tonight when I was tucking her in, she asked me
"Will you sleep in here with me for a couple whiles?"

In other news, we have been working on leaving Blankie upstairs. Now that molars are in, ear infections are over and she feels better, she doesn't really have any excuse. She is doing really well, but she is filling the void left by not sucking her fingers with more talking. Mainly questions, but some observations, request and complaints too. And most questions that I answer are met with "why?" or "but whyyyyyyyyy?". She wants me to tell her every thing about every thing she sees. Usually I just have to make stuff up. Like driving past the guard shack, she always wants to know who is on duty, and where is the one that isn't there. "Why isn't he there? Is he at home with his mom? Is he at home eating junk food? (that was tonight, I have no idea where she came up with that). Why isn't he working? Is it not his turn? Why not? But whyyyyyyyyy?".

Two wheeling

We have made great progress on bike riding lately. She has finally accepted the harsh reality of pedaling. On flat and downhill grades anyway. If it's slightly uphill, I tow her using the red dog leash attached to the front. Up until now, she was usually too distracted by honking the horn or putting thing in and out of the basket and purse to do much actual riding.

Funny

Two nights ago, we hear coming from the monitor at 9:00:
"Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?"

Ski Trip Group pic

Here's a scan of the ski trip group picture. I'm wearing the new jacket that Bob got me for Christmas. It took about 10 minutes for the photographer to set up this shot, so enjoy its extremely posed nature.

Artwork from School

Second attemp to post this.

It looks like this one is going to stick, so here's my commentary:

This is some artwork Parker made a school Tuesday. Ok, now I'm pretty biased, but isn't this GREAT? When I picked her up from school, they had everyone's out in the hallway to dry, and hers was by far the best. Look how nicely she lined up the triangles along the back. I asked the teacher if she had help, and she said no. And later I quizzed Parker on making it and she said the teacher put the glue on the pieces and handed it to her and she put it on the paper.I don't know why she's making a weird face in this picture.She seemed to be in a MUCH better mood today (Thursday), so hopefully she's feeling a lot better. We have a pretty easy day at home tomorrow, so I bet by the weekend she'll be back to her normal busy rascally self.

Shopping at Lowes

Parker requested that Bob take her picture with his phone today at Lowes. This is how she rides in the cart now, in the basket part, and I have to pile groceries in the front part. She's quite a goose today, and has taken to calling us 'mom' and 'dad' today instead of mama and dada....although at the store, she was yelling "Carla!!" to get my attention.

Answers to comments

Emily - no the teddy bear pictures weren't professionally done, I just took a few snaps yesterday morning and did some editing on them. I have a friend that's a graphic designer that gave me a little help though.

Mom - For some reason I've had a hard time getting the artwork picture to post. It seems to work better this morning. If you still can't see it, I'll try again.

I'm just loving these pictures!

Snuggling with teddybear

Ear update

Looks like Parker still has an ear infection. She'd make things much easier if she would just tell me her ear hurts instead of making us guess. We get another 10 days of antibiotics, and these might cause 'tummy trouble' to put it delicately, so that should be fun. Parker, aside from acting a little puny, is no worse for wear. She loves going to the doctor, especially these visits when she doesn't get shots because she gets a sucker at the end.

"I'm a beautiful princess"

Following up from yesterday's post about Parker's new room.....
She spent her second night upstairs in her new room and it went well. So far, she has only slept in her bed for one nap, but she really really likes it, so I'm sure she will soon. I guess she feels more secure in her crib (crib is upstairs too). She's a little iffy about being up there by herself, but she's getting used to it. Night before last was not so good, she was up for a couple hours and it was exhausting (for me). I think it was a combination of her ear infection coming back, and being excited about her new room. We're going back to the doctor this afternoon because she's still running a bit of a fever. :-(

In other news, we got some big girl toothpaste, the kind that has floride in it and should not be swallowed, so she is learning to spit. The key to teaching a child to spit is to have them keep their mouth open, by the way.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not,but she's developed an alter-ego name Elizabeth, and likes to pretend to be Elizabeth all the time. "I'm not Parker, I'm Elizabeth...say Hi Elizabeth." Hopefully this is normal, I'm afraid to look it up. Or she likes to switch roles: "you be dada, and I'll be you", and 1 million combinations of her being someone else and us being someone else, and then having a conversation.

I'll try and get some pictures taken of her room after we get back from the doctor.

Life with Racoon

Busy busy busy.
We've moved Parker up to her big girl room upstairs so I've been super busy and are behind on pictures. She finally started feeling better last week and made up for lost time by digging through all the drawers.

Hockey

Yesterday we had a fun grown up day - we went to a hockey game! We haven't done that since before Parker was born. Bob's friend Nick and his wife have season tickets 2 rows up from the glass and invited us to go with them. In this picture that Bob took (w/ his phone again), they just about to score. About a second after he snapped this, someone passed the player the puck and he shot it in!

Parker had fun too. She stayed home with the sitter, but she got a souvenir and Bob has taught her how to yell "score!!!!!". It's hard to see in the picture, but the stick is pink.

She starting to feel much better after being so ill and grouchy w/ her ear infection. We had a rough few days, especially when she decided 4:45am was a good time to wake up on Saturday morning. She had the following observations, complaints and requests:

Are you wearing Dada's shirt?
Your hair is long
I'm hungry
I'm thirsty
I'm hot
I'm cold
I have to potty
I'm not comfy
This pillow is funny
I want to sleep in your bed
I need my covers
You are in my way
New Baby is bothering me.
etc, etc, etc until I gave up at 6 am.

But feeling better presents a whole new set of problems. She is so super busy all the time and such a rascal. As I'm typing this, Bob is trying to get her in the bathtub and she keeps running in here saying "wait, I have to tell mommy something!".

Today, when Bob called from Target to get my list of what I needed, Parker asked to talk to him and had her own list prepared. She rattled off several things she thought she needed too....chocolate milk, a monstitor (monitor for her room upstairs), and some cereal. She apparently doesn't care for my selection of cereal.

Gotta run, it's my turn to read stories.

Bob and Nick

Here's Bob and his friend/boss Nick. Pretty good picture especially considering he took it himself using his phone while 100 ft in the air on the ski lift.

Toddler Tranquilizer

Nothing drops Parker faster than bubble wrap. The angle of this picture is weird, but she's laying on the kitchen floor, in the exact spot where she was handed bubble wrap. This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, she's not feeling picture-worthy lately. She's had a cold for a week, and that has turned into an ear infection, so as of yesterday she is on antibiotics for 10 days. So after a week with her Gigi, and now being babied because she's sick, I should have quite a little dictator on my hands next week.

Action shot

Ski pics

We just returned from our ski trip to Steamboat. We had a wonderful time and the skiing was awesome. Bob is a great skier, but I'm getting to the point that I can at least keep up with him. Parker stayed home and her Gigi (Bob's mom) came and stayed with her.

Switched at Birth?

Yesterday I put our lunch plates down, a slice a pizza on each, and in a seperate dish was steamed broccoli. I went outside and got the paper and when I came back her plate looked like this. Parker had reached across the table and served herself some broccoli. Bob is not a big fan of broccoli or any green veggies for that matter, so it was pretty surprising.
I know for sure she has some Bob genes though because today at McDonalds she wanted to see the wrapper her Happy Meal toy came in to see the 'decoration'. She meant the instructions. Then she compared the scale drawing of the toy to what she got to make sure it had all of its parts.
It is also pretty normal for her get the Fry's ad from the newspaper, look at it, and then say "do we need a camera?"

Closeup

Let it snow!

It's snowing here! I wish I had waited a bit longer to go outside because now the ground is covered. I'm afraid if we go out again, I'll never get her back inside!

It gets better....

So after several requests of
"I wanna go get a chocolate shake! I don't wanna pretend, I wanna go!!! I wanna get in the car and go to MichaelDonalds and get a chocolate shake! I don't wanna pretend!"
Bob went into the kitchen and made her a real chocolate shake w/ blue bell ice cream and milk and the immersion blender. He poured it into a princess cup with a straw and presented it to her. She was very pleased and took about 4 good sips
and said "I'm all done."
Bob: "That's all you wanted, just a few sips?"
Parker: "Yes."
Then, pointing out the window at the red bird, "LOOK! A cardinal! A cardinal!"

Quick catch up

We're had a rough couple weeks of teething again. Lots of grumpiness and not sleeping and not eating, so I'm low on pictures. She's had a great day today, so maybe we've turned the corner.
I think maybe her appetite is coming back too.
"I wanna go get a chocolate shake! I don't wanna pretend, I wanna go!!!"

And, I almost hate to mention it, because I'm afraid I'll jinx it, but I'm pretty sure we have turned the corner on potty training. She's been 1/2 potty trained since summer, but she's been wearing undies most of the time for a couple weeks now, and she seems motivated to keep it up! She's turning in to such a big kid!

Puddle splashing version 2

I can't decide which one I like better

Puddle splashing on sunny Sunday

More Sunny Sunday pics

Sunny Sunday

"I picked a clovie fover!" (four leaf clover)
We had the first sunny day in what seems like forever. We all had a nice time outdoors soaking up the sunshine.

Summer Trip to San Diego

Here's another look back at our first family vacation. Parker had a ball at the zoo.

Observation

"Dada, your head looks like a ball."

Quiche!

I got some little bitty quiche pans for Christmas and I tried them out yesterday. I cheated and used Pour-A-Quiche and store-bought dough. They turned out really really well. Maybe when Parker is in first grade, I'll try making them from scratch.

Multi Media

I hope you weren't expecting ice pictures.
Here is one of her making a multi media collage. This is what she loves to do with stickers. She carefully puts them on the paper, and then selects markers and colors over the top of them. Not the greatest end result, but she loves doing it and it makes the stickers into a much longer process.

Weather report again

We woke up this morning to a surprise layer of sleet! Parker is already having a tough morning with teething. She has sent her breakfast back twice (chocolate mile - too chocolatey. Poptart - had holes in it.) . This might be a loooooong day.
Check back later for some pictures.

Weather report

No weather to report. All the freezing rain and ice they predicted never materialized. We did get a ton of rain though, so we are thankful for that.