Captain Underpants

Even though we haven't been really consistent with potty training, April has been putting Parker on the potty every night at bath time and he's starting to kind of get the hang of it.  Our goal is to have him potty trained this summer when we're both home and can chase him around the house cleaning up after him if necessary, but while we were at the mall the other day we thought it would be funny to get him some little underpants.  We went for a swim in the afternoon after his nap and when we came home I asked him if he wanted underpants on and he said, "Ohhh-kaaaay!"  Since there was only a short amount of time between wearing underpants, eating dinner, and then taking a bath I figured why not!  So here he is eating dinner in his underpants (which you can't really see):

And here he is brandishing his fancy new red underpants.

Woo hoo!

Here he is the next morning playing with an awesome puzzle that he got for his birthday from Scott, Gemma, Milo, and Uly!  He sometimes likes to put the car pieces on the wrong car and then go, "Nooooooooo!" and switch them around.

And here he is taking photos of himself.  I quite like his use of the rule of thirds.

New Table!

Parker got a new play table for his birthday from Nana and Papa!  It's really cool -- it has a spot for sand, and another spot for water (although they don't stay separate for very long) and it also has a removable top so you can put a normal table-top on it and have lunch or colour or play or whatever.  Here's Parker enjoying the table for the first time the other day!  He sat there for about 25 minutes scooping stuff and pouring it and moving his little cars around.  And every time he'd dump mud into the other side he'd say, "Oh maaaaaaan!" for some reason.  I'm still not entirely sure why, but it's kind of funny.  

"Scoop scoop scoop!"

"Oh maaaaaaan!"

Happy Birthday!

zomg Parker is two years old already!  

Parker officially turned two on Saturday the 16th!  We spent the day getting ready for a small party on Sunday, and we picked up some sweet window decals for Parker to play with.  Here he is putting his Dora and Diego stickers up, and he also has a set up Spider-Man decals that he has on another window.  

Here are Parker and Mommy opening a present!  I'm pretty sure he's smiling at the Elmo and Ernie stickers on a card that Nana and Papa got him.

And here he is smiling once he realized that his cake had Thomas the Tank Engine on it.  April said, "Who's that?" and Parker replied, "Cake!" but after a second he realized who it was and was super happy.

Here I am, feeding Parker some ice cream and taking a photo at the same time.  He loooooved the ice cream!  I think it's probably the first time he's had some!

And here's a slideshow of more photos from his party!  Thanks again to everyone who could make it and for all the awesome gifts!

http://www.garrettelliott.com/parker_second_birthday

Breakfast Is Yummy

Breakfast in his dino jammies.  Om nom nom nom...

Happy Mother's Day!

New T-Shirt

Hooray!  My camera and lenses came back.  Here are some photos of Parker -- is it just me or does he look older? -- sporting an awesome new t-shirt that we picked up at Children's Place the other day!

Brushing his teeth while he watches something on TV.  Usually our daytime tooth-brushing routine involves him laying on the bed on his back, me saying, "Open!" and then brushing his teeth.  And I usually have to hold his lip up to get the fronts of his teeth, but then he pulls away giggling because it tickles.  And then when I'm done I let him play with the tooth brush a bit, but he usually just kind of sucks on it.  Yum.

This sequence was funny because Parker would sit on my lap and we'd look at photos on the back of the camera and then I'd say, "Stand up, please, and I'll take your photo!"  He'd stand up and take a few steps forward towards the wall, then turn around and strike a few poses.  After I'd fire off a few frames, he'd giggle and then run back to my lap so he could look at the baby on the LCD.  Then we'd repeat.  :D

J Friends

This is just catchy.

Babriel!

Can you tell my camera stuff is in the shop getting calibrated, cleaned, and tuned up for the wedding season?  Here's another video!  :)

A few weekends ago we had Jeff, Kristyne, and Gabriel over for a playdate in the morning!  I think Parker and Gabriel (although Parker calls him "Babriel") are officially BFFs.  Here they are holding hands and walking down the hall!  Awwwwwww!  It was fun to see them actually play TOGETHER instead of just near each other but doing independent things!  Check out how they've mastered synchronized falling on the floor!

Here's a video of Parker realizing I'm making a video.  He likes to watch himself on the LCD (which he refers to as the baby), but I always laugh when he takes the camera and ends up making movies of his giant face looking confused.

Grandpa came over the other day to watch Parker while I met some clients, and when I came home Parker knew how to play the harmonica!  Here he is showing off his mad skillz.

New Play Structure Thing!

As kind of an early birthday present, we bought Parker a small play structure thing for the back yard!  Here are some videos of him enjoying it the first day.  Video one, of course, is a slide.

Video 2 is his little bucket swing.  Our neighbours have a gigantic dog that Parker calls puppy, so as he swings back and forth April says, "Hi puppy!  Bye puppy!"  Now when he swings on his own, he does it himself.

And possibly the best part of the play structure thing?  The little fort underneath the slide.  Parker calls it a house.

Visiting Dresden

Parker and I went to visit Nana and Papa in Dresden recently because we hadn't seen them in a while and we were overdue!  So here are some photos from our trip!

This was actually a few days before the trip, but it was on the camera so I thought I'd post it.  Parker looking stunned by the point and shoot camera!

Once we arrived in Dresden, Aunt Tracy, and cousins Connor and Mason came over to play!  Here are the boys looking out the big window at the birdies (or "bubbies", as Parker calls them).

Again, Parker looks mildly stunned by the camera.  It's weird what a difference the P&S makes vs. an SLR!  Connor and Parker have a nice lunch at Nana and Papa's!  Mmmmm, ham.

After lunch, they sat down to watch some Barney, one of Connor's favourite shows!  They look funny because they're so little on the couch.  Anyone remember Wrinkles?  Awww yeah, that was mine.

Zombified by TV.

We went to the park to check out the swings and slides!  Boo yah.

Climb climb climb!

Nana helps!

Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Roaming around with a broken zipper on his jacket!  Hooray!  :D

A video of Parker going down the big green slide!

Last slide!  

Counting In Spanish!

Here's a video of Parker counting in Spanish.......with a bit of help from Mommy.

I Love Yooooou!

Here's a video of Parker emphatically telling us he looooves uuuuus!

First Trip To The Dentist

I took Parker to the dentist for the first time ever the other day!  There are a lot of mixed opinions as to when you should take your kids for their first checkup -- some dentists say 1 year, some books say 2, others say 3.  I called our dentist and asked, and she said any time after their baby teeth are in is fine because it will help them get used to it anyways.  He was pretty psyched to go see the dentist and was really happy about it in the car.  I kept saying, "Want to go see the dentist?" and he would reply, "OKAY!!!!!" and clap his hands.  Here he is in the car.

And here we are at the office.

Luckily they have a few little toys to play with in the waiting room.  Even though we didn't have to wait long, it definitely helped to have new things to mess around with!

The checkup was kind of funny.  I had to sit across from Dr. Taylor, with our knees touching and making a little chair.  Parker straddled my waist (facing me) and laid his head back on a little towel on her lap, so she was looking down (upside down) into his mouth.  He was okay until she put the mask and rubber gloves on and then he got a bit freaked out.  He kept saying, "Up, daddy!  Up!  Bye bye!" while crying, but crying was actually good because she could get a good look into his mouth!  She said his teeth were spaced apart nicely, and everything looked pretty decent.  His last molars are almost in, and his bite is aligned a bit to the left.  Here's Parker after the checkup, looking mildly confused with a mirror and a sticker:

After the dentist, we went to Toys R Us because we wanted to get Parker a portable booster chair thing for when we travel (something that we realized would be really useful when we were in Pennsylvania earlier).  Parker calls Toys R Us the Star store because of the big star on their logo.

Here he is in front of a wall of Yo Gabba Gabba stuff.  We ended up getting this booster chair.  Thanks for the recommendation, Lisa and Andrew!

Parker likes to run across to the neighbours' yards and transition from their driveways to their grass while saying bump BUMP!  

I had to call him back in though because we were about to eat lunch.  Oh, we also bought a little firetruck at Toys R Us (in his hand).  Not having snow on the ground is the best.

New Old Post!

This post is out of order because I actually started it a few days ago and then didn't come back to it (videos take a while to upload).  But check here for some video action!

http://parkerelliott.blogspot.com/2009/04/video-overload.html

Playdate!

Parker hosted his first ever playdate by having two friends over to our house this morning!  We invited Kristyne and Gabriel, and Lisa and Andrew (who we know from our time at the Early Years Centre, and also a few forums)!  I think everyone had a great time, which was awesome, because I was a bit nervous having people over!  We're hermits and don't have many guests over, so it was fun to have new people for Parker to hang out and share toys with!  Here are a bazillion photos!

Gabriel playing with a little wooden owl (I think) from Parker's name puzzle.

Parker laughing at something funny Kristyne said.  After this, he probably tried to steal her glasses.

Andrew with some GIGANTIC BLUE EYES!

Trying to steal my camera from me!

Gabriel seemed to dig the fridge magnets!  The alphabet letters are really cool!  I think they've really helped Parker learn the ABCs!

Andrew getting ready to show off his vertical and do a slam dunk.  The basketball net was a huge hit and we might have some future all-stars on our hands.

Gabriel checking out some Grumpy Bird action.

Time to colour!  Apparently Gabriel always goes for purple, Andrew always goes for orange, and Parker seems to go for yellow.  Weeeeird.

Gabriel went right to the Yo Gabba Gabba book!  It's a sign!  He wants to be a fan!  Even Andrew is like, "What's that awesome book you're reading?"

Gabriel with the two-handed slam!

Reading some Dora.

ZOMG THERE R PEEPZ @ MY HOUSE!

Thanks again for coming over!  Parker went to sleep in about 5 minutes after everyone left!