p at 3

Christmas break is 1 day away. I am so freaking excited to have 2 weeks off to be with my family.  Then, when we return in January, Parker will be starting at a new school. eek!!! Totally scared. Majorly nervous. But completely at peace about this decision.  It really is the best educational move I can make at this point.  At least I hope I'm making the right decision.  My heart and my mind and my gut says that it is, so I'm going with that.  Tomorrow, his last day at Kindercare, will still be bitter sweet.  I love his teacher. I love the front office staff.  I love that my child is rarely ever sick. However, I also know that what they do in the 3's room at Primrose (his new school) is WAY different (and by different, I mean better educationally & playfully) than what I was told they do in the 3's room at Kindercare.  Anyway, the point of this post is to update and keep a written entry on what Parker does at 3 years old.  Well almost 3 that is.  We are 1 week away from his birthday, and honestly I'm pretty sure I'm not blogging anything over my break. So... here it goes....

PARKER AT 3 YEARS OLD

·         Talking in sentences now for the most part.

·         Counts up to 20, but needs a little help from #14-20.

·         Can sing his ABCs perfectly.  Still working on recognizing them by sight.

·         Knows all of his colors.

·         Has great pronunciation with his words.

·         Asks “why” to almost everything.

·         Is obsessed with making sure all the doors in the house are closed.

·         Takes 1-2 hour naps. 

·         Goes to bed around 8:15.

·         Favorite thing to do is go outside and play with his friends.

·         Knows just about every animal you can think of.

·         Favorite show is Jessie.

·         Favorite song is “The Jessie Theme Song”

·         Loves candy… especially sour patch kids and starbursts.

·         Wants to know what every animal eats. 

·         Loves to dance and sing, and will use his fist as a pretend microphone.

·         Is asking Santa for 2 things: a microphone and a Santa hat. Done. And Done.

·         Weighs approximately 26 lbs.

·         Wears size 2T in shirts.

·         Wears size 12-18 pants. Gap and Old navy are the only ones that fit him in that size.  It is almost impossible to find pants that fit.

·         Wears size 7.5 - 8 in shoes.

·         Prefers to be naked all the time.

·         Is completely potty trained with an occasional accident.

·         Still 100% a momma’s boy.

·         Best friends are Charlie, Harlen, Joey, and Ethan.

·         When you ask him his full name he says “Parker Howell Brendan”.  He doesn’t like it if you correct his order.

·         Understands and can tell you that Papa and Grandma are Mommy’s mom and dad, and that Nannie and Poppie are Daddy’s mom and dad. 

·         Has a crazy good memory.  Like crazy good.  It kinda blows my mind how good.

·         Loves arts and crafts, and has a love of learning new things.

·         Rarely has to be put in time out.  He pretty much listens after the first warning.

·         Is scared of dressed up characters.  He is fine with them if they are far away, but if they come towards him, forget it.

·         He is not afraid of heights or jumping off things.  I think he will love roller coasters one day.

·         Can turn the I-pad on and find and play with all of his apps.  Although he loves the I-pad, he would 100% rather be outside playing in the dirt. 

·         Tells me “You look cute” when I get dressed up.  Haha.

·         Likes to get his picture taken for the most part.  Will tell me to take pictures of him & will automatically say “CHEESE!”

·         Still loves to cuddle and pick at my moles on my back or pull on my ears.  I absolutely HATE his “picking” habit.

·         Started saying “UGHHHH” when we tell him he cannot do something.  It is super annoying, but I think I’ve put a stop to it for the most part.  He learned this awesome trait from our 5 year old neighbor.  Not happy at all about it.

Here are some random pictures of him lately.

 

Santa came to his school! I can't believe how well Parker did.

This what he like do in the morning while he is waiting on me to get ready for work.

The rare moment when daddy gets cuddles when mommy is around.

Major meltdown when we told him Joey wouldn't be at Nannie & Poppie's house one day.

Angel.  My Angel.

A Christmas-y Weekend

Wow, what a wonderful weekend we had.  I just love busy weekends where Parker gets to do fun activities.  He went over to Nannie and Poopie's house Saturday morning, so Matt and I could finish up Christmas shopping.  He had such a fun time decorating a gingerbread house with Nannie. So many great pictures of these memories.  Then on Saturday night we went to Life College with the Kingman’s to look at Christmas lights.  I had no idea that you could get out of your car here and roast marshmallows, take pony rides, ride a train, go to the petting zoo, see Santa, etc.  Oh my Lord, that was little boy heaven.  He had a blast, and so did we!!  THEN, to top off the weekend we went to see Disney Live! Oh so much fun my little guy had with his cousin.  Such a great weekend. And I have pictures to prove it.

The finished product.  He did an awesome job if I do say so myself.

Dancing around with marshmallow in hand.

Mommy's and our boys.

Roasting. With Mommy's help of course!

Gah, I am so in love this child.

Checking out the nativity scene.

Petting bunny rabbits. Sweetness!

Family Santa Shot.

Getting a good view of the lights.  Don't worry, this lasted about 2.5 seconds.

Train ride.

Disney LIVE!!

Preciousness

Pseudo Stay-At-Home Mom

I had a week off last week for Thanksgiving break. It was A-MAZING. I love "pretending" to be a stay-at-home mom when I have days off, so I do things that stay-at-home-moms are stereotyped to do.... Like paint ornaments on playdates, make a mess in the kitchen from baking cookies, run errands, lots of laundry - LOTS OF LAUNDRY, and cuddle a feverish child. Obviously, real stay-at-home moms do a lot more and their job is NOT easy at all, but it doesn't go without saying that I would give the world to join them in their club just so I could raise my child. Instead, I had to send my baby to school today crying because apparently another kid in his class "scares" him. Awesome. Oh, have I mentioned that my kid is now scared of things now... like his giant life sized giraffe "Albe" (totally makes sense), and his monkey "lovie" now scares him (weird), and his Elf "Jiffy" use to scare him (but now I think he likes him). Anyway, I wasn't surprised to hear that THAT was the reason he was so upset this morning, but it doesn't make it any easier dropping him off to place where a child scares him. Luckily, this child is not really in his class. Just the class next to his, but sometimes they join the two classes and Parker is stuck with this kid.

Oh well. Only 2.5 more weeks and I'm off for 2 weeks. I can do this. Parker can do this. WE can do this. Then, come January, Parker will be moving schools. It will definitely be hard for him, but at least the "scary kid" won’t be there.

Here are some pictures from our time together over the break.

Cookie After-math

So.Much.Fun!!!

Playdate with the Kingman boys

Thanksgiving Evening. I think Parker is teaching Nannie about the apps.

Thanksgiving Breakfast with Uncle Adam!

Cousins on Thanksgiving

Tree decorating. PRESH!!

"I hiding in the Christmas Trees, Mama"

First Movie to "Frozen".  Lasted almost 2 hours. With 3 potty breaks.

Ended the weekend for Sunday Dinner, and bath time with his favorite cousin.

Matching Jammies are the cutest.

"I Hilarious"

Our little guy is cracking us up lately with the things he is saying.  His sentences are coming together and he is adding to them everyday.  It is crazy to watch his language grow from pretty much non-existent to finally being caught up to his peers.  I never thought that day would come, and putting tubes in his ears almost a year ago changed our lives forever.  I am so grateful we did it.  I'm having a hard time remembering all of the funny things he is saying, but this one happened last night, so it's fresh on my brain.

Parker randomly busted out singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" last night.  He was actually saying the entire sentence instead of just parts of it like he use to do.  I was able to catch a tiny bit of it on video (see below).  Every time I would play it for him afterwards, he would belly laugh harder than I've ever heard him belly laugh.  Then, out of nowhere, as he is cracking up watching himself, he says to me "I HILARIOUS!"  I just about died.  I wish I had that comment on tape.  By the way, I tried chiming in and singing along with him, but he would get mad and say "no singing momma".  Then he would carry on happily on his own.

Then, on Sunday night, after dinner with my parents, we got home and I was putting away some peaches that my mom had given us.  Parker asked where we got them and I said Grandma gave them to us.  His response.... "Oh, Grandma is very nice!"  Again, this is like no big deal to most parents who kids have always been on-track in regards to language, but for a Momma who's kid didn't speak until after 2... this is HUGE. 

Oh and one more new thing is doing... Having opinion on what he wears AND having to put his underwear and pants on by himself.  OMG! This can be frustrating when you're in a hurry.  For the most part, he is actually pretty good at it, but it is him having an opinion on what he wants to wear that drives me nuts. 

Cali Wedding

Well we headed out west again a couple weekends ago for Matt’s cousin’s wedding.  I was not nervous about the flight this time, because Parker proved to me last time that he is quite capable of behaving on a 5 hour plane ride.  He was a perfect passenger on the way out there, and slept the entire way back since we took the red eye home.

We had such a great time spending so much time with Matt’s immediate and extended family.  Parker just loved all the time he had with Joey.  We spent Friday at the Monterey aquarium, and the then pebble beach and the wedding on Saturday.  Then on Sunday we drove up to San Francisco for the day, so Matt and I would be in the city to catch our late flight.  San Fran was great other than having my North Face jacket stolen right off our stroller.  Thank goodness that happen at the end of our trip b/c it pretty much ruined my mood for the rest of the time.  Other than that incident it was a wonderful weekend.  Parker was so well behaved the entire time, and he couldn’t have made us more proud.  Sure, the only meal he ate was breakfast, but regardless… he was the greatest.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

Bright eyed and ready for our 8:30 flight there!

 

P was still on ATL time, so he woke up super early, so we took a drive down the coast to watch the sunrise.

Just got to the aquarium. So exhausted.

And of course, he's got to sleep with one hand down my shirt.

At the Monterey Aquarium.

Cousins

Pebble Beach. Beautiful!

SOOOOOO Sleeping.  Preparing for a night of dancing ahead.

So handsome. I'm obsessed with the tie. 

At the wedding. Perfection.

Tired little guy taking a break on Poppie's lap.

Checking out the San Fran sea lions

And he's out.... the entire plane ride home.