Christmas! Hooray!

Merry Christmas! We had a busy few weeks of traveling and Christmases so there haven't been many updates, but here's one from our Christmas after we arrived home! I have more videos and photos from our little point and shoot camera that I brought to Brockville and Dresden, so I'll make a separate post to go through those as well.

The one thing Parker said he wanted from Santa was an orange, so when he woke up there was a little trail of clementines leading from his bedroom, down the stairs, and into the main room where the tree and presents were. Here he is making a pit stop at the oranges.

Mmmmm... citrusy....

Counting the orange pieces.

He loved reaching into his stocking.

Yay!

Thomas trains! Hooray!

New underpants! Hooray!

Parker's big present was a kitchen play set and we put it together the night before so it would be ready to go! But we weren't really sure how to wrap it so we just threw a big sheet over it with a note from Santa. I don't think Parker even noticed it was sitting there!

Here comes Percy!

We finally took the sheet off and yelled, "Surprise! It's a kitchen!" so now when ever Parker see it he goes, "Surprise kitchen!" Here he is checking out what's in the cupboards.

Cooking some broccoli on the stove.

The kitchen even has a little light that he can turn on and off, which he thoroughly enjoys.

Calling Papa on the phone.

Parker got a train set from Lita and Grandpa and a train table from Nana and Papa! So we put them together the night before and brought him down to check it out.

"Under the bridge! Around the corner! Here comes Thomas and James!"

"That's So Funny, Daddy!"

Today was kind of a boring day at home. I was waiting for a package to arrive from UPS so we read every book in the house, played every game, tried every puzzle, made some forts, built some bridges, ate some snacks, and watched some TV. Parker really likes Toopy and Binoo, so he was pretty psyched when I came across an episode today at around 11 am. If you're not familiar with Toopy and Binoo, here's a synopsis of the episode:

Toopy, a gigantic talking mouse with ADHD, decided he needed to wake up Binoo in the middle of night to go to some sort of event requiring formal wear and fancy shoes. Binoo, a little white cat who doesn't speak, happily jumps out of bed at what I assume is approximately 3 am, and tries on all kinds of wacky shoes that aren't really shoes until they find the right pair.

For some reason, Parker thought this was HILARIOUS. He really cracked up when Binoo tried on two cakes for shoes. Are cakes shoes? Nooooo! Do cakes go on your feet? NOOOO! Parker laughed and laughed, and even afterwards when I brought it up, he'd start giggling. Who knew cakes on your feet could be so funny? It's hilarious when he laughs at stuff on his own, though. It's also super cute when he says stuff like, "That's SOOO funny, Daddy!"

Light Up The Season + Santa

Today was Amherstview's annual Light Up The Season event, so we brought Parker to meet Santa! We've been talking about Santa for the last few weeks, so he kind of knows what's going on I think. He gets pretty excited about Christmas lights and snowmen. Here he is waiting patiently in line:

"Hi Daddy!"

Meeting Santa and whispering hi to him.

When you ask Parker what he wants Santa to bring for him, he answers, "An orange." Santa thought that was nice.

Christmas Tree

We finally got around to putting up our Christmas tree! Here are some photos (along with other random ones from the last few days):

Sitting on the floor playing with stickers from his sticker box while wearing some warm, fleecy dinosaur jammies. It's getting cold out! It snowed for the first time yesterday!

Hanging bulbs on the tree with mommy.

He is pleased with the placement of that ornament.

Christmas tree! Hooray!

And here he is sporting the little shirt and penguin vest that April got for him while she was away last month. He likes to point out that there's a little penguin on his shirt.

Ready to eat some lunch in his little penguin shirt. Luckily he's a really neat eater so I wasn't worried about stuff getting on the shirt.

"Push the button?"

Mooooore Videos

One of Parker's favourite songs is "Spaceman" by The Killers, which he calls "Oh Oh Oh" because of the intro. Here he is dangerously busting a move on top of a step-ladder by the kitchen sink. I'm sure there are probably knives, open flames, and poisonous spiders around him, too. This version of "Spaceman" is from their live CD/DVD, which is really cool.

Sometimes toddlers just have really strange thoughts. Watch as he goes from moving the bulldozer thing to suddenly shouting, "Dirty cloth!!!" (which is from an episode of Toopy & Binoo), to wanting to push the button on the camera, to saying, "Great idea!"

Parker seemed really interested in putting these little elastic things on top of the box lid and flinging them off with the button. He did this for about 10 minutes.

Shoes Shoes Shoes Shoes...

Here's a funny old video from the summer (he's wearing shorts!) of Parker trying to walk around in my slippers while singing this song about shoes from Sesame Street. He likes the part at about 1:11. Who knew Neil Patrick Harris was a singing machine? We did, that's who.

I like how, when he almost trips, he goes, "Whoa! Oof!" :D

"Who's That, Daddy?"

Another thing Parker has been doing recently is asking a lot of questions. It's super cute, because he always ends his question by saying Mommy or Daddy. So throughout the day, we'll go through a hundred different questions such as:

- Who's that, Daddy? *pointing to a guy in a book or in a store*

- What was that, Daddy? *after a loud noise*

- Where are we, Daddy? *while driving around*

- How are you, Daddy? *randomly throughout the day*

- What's that, Daddy? *pointing at random objects*

His little voice is so cute! Plus he never stops talking, so there's always plenty of stuff to talk about. The only time he's quiet is if we're in a new place with new people (then he's kind of tentative and shy). But when it's just us all day long he doesn't stop!

Parker Recommends....

"The Foot Book", a Dr. Seuss Classic.

Jack's First Birthday

A few weekends ago we were invited to Jack's first birthday party in Toronto! I used to live with Jack's dad back in the day so it was cool to get a chance to see everyone and meet the families now that we're old men with babies. Here are some photos of the party (but not too many because I don't want to splash all of Jack's stuff on the web without their permission).

Parker playing with a cool blue truck. That was me who wrote PARKER on the paper, not him.

Loot bags! Boo yah.

The most delicious cupcakes ever. Parker and I may have had three.

It was a busy party with lots of people to meet and stare at!

Joel rocked out some tunes for the babies on his guitar. Joel starred in a Queen's Players show that I played drums for. He sang "Song For The Dumped" by Ben Folds Five and it was awesome.

Parker taking a photo of himself.

Big rock n' roll finish!

Thanks again for the invite! We had a great time! And not only that, but Parker loooooved going under all the over-passes in Toronto. He thinks they're all bridges and they might be his favourite things ever. Well, besides mailboxes.

Papa Nana Playing A Game

Here's an older video of Parker singing the "Nana/Papa Playing A Game" song while he eats applesauce with his thumb. It's the only way to eat applesauce, really. I think this was maybe a month or so ago?

New Nana Hat!

Here's Parker sporting his new Nana hat! I think he likes it! :D Thanks, Nana!

Brrrr!

It's getting cold out!

But Lemoine Point is still pretty nice. :D

SPOON!

One thing we haven't been very strict about is the use of utensils. Parker usually has the option of using a fork or spoon, but 99% of the time he'll just pick stuff up with his hands and eat it. Lately he's been more interested in cutlery, I think mostly because his dexterity is a bit better so he can actually do it properly. Here he is using a spoon on some cereal.