I See Toe Toes and A Visit From Kellen

One of Parker's new favourite games is to run into our bedroom and hide behind the curtains. I'm pretty sure he's convinced that we have no idea where he's gone to even though it's pretty obvious there's a Parker-shaped lump behind the fabric.

He likes to jump out and go, "YEEEAAAAH!!!!"

And he also likes it when we say, "I see toe toes!!!!!!" because his feet stick out.

Here's Parker and Mommy (although he looks like he's ready to puke or something).

He didn't puke, but he DID take this self-portrait. He had the camera pointing at his face while he smiled at himself in the mirror and pressed the shutter button.

We also had a visit from Kellen and Claire! We tried to go strawberry picking one morning but the farm was closed. Boo-urns. So we went to the park instead!

I'm still not 100% sure that I like these little Croc-like shoes, but Parker doesn't seem to mind. They're pretty easy to slip on and off and they're great for water and mud!

Kellen looking at stuff.

Trying to decide whether or not to play tic-tac-toe, the only game that can prevent global thermonuclear war.

Kellen's crazy new shoes that light up when he walks! (Lighting up not actually shown in this photo)

Hanging out and being a little boy.

Parker picking up some rocks.....

.....and running away with the rocks while going, "Oooooooooo!"

Parker loves to play "1, 2, 3" while on the swings. To do this, you have to pull (or push) him fairly high while saying, "Ooooonnnnnne...." and then you pull (or push) him even higher while saying, "Twooooooooooooo...." and then you pull (or push) him REALLY high while shouting, "THREE!"

Totally givin'er on the swings.

Kellen not-so-much givin'er but still liking the swings.

.......or maybe not.

Riding the big boy swing!

Eating lunch (but looking kind of dazed).

Riding in the wagon on the way for a swim at the pool!

Thanks for visiting, Kellen (and Claire)! Come back again soon!

New Fence!

Hooray! The fence is finally finished!

And we also had a shelf built in the garage that separates the back into two tiers. Now we can throw our junk up there and still fit a car into the garage!

Parker Loves Bath Time

Mmmmm... Popsicles...

April made Parker some popsicles the other day by freezing different kinds of juice! It didn't take him very long to realize they were made with pure, 100% awesome. That was his dessert after eating spaghetti, as evidenced by his "spaghetti shirt".

Happy Canada Day!

We took Parker to Bath to check out the parade on Canada Day. They have some firetrucks and soldier guys and bagpipers and stuff, so it's pretty entertaining. We also brought a picnic lunch and ran into another mom and her kids who also went to our Kindermusik class! Here are some photos of us relaxing in the shade (in reverse chronological order -- oops).

We skipped Parker's nap so he could check out the parade. He looks pretty sleepy here but he'd perk up when ever musicians came by or a float had balloons.

Mmmmm... peanut butter and jelly sandwich.....

Check out our sweet picnic lunch! Peanut butter sandwiches, grapes, carrots, apples, some pasta, and some ham! Yum.

Blowing bubbles (or bubb-ohs, as Parker calls them).

April also got us some matching Muno shirts for Father's Day! Here's Parker sporting his new one (his other one is long sleeved, so this one should be better for summer). Every morning Parker tries to find my Muno shirt so I can wear it. It's funny because he'll drag it over to me and go, "Shirt! On!" until I put it on. Hopefully it doesn't disintigrate in the wash because I wear it almost every day now!

Back Yard Upgrade

Now that Parker is older and likes to run around a lot, we decided to have a fence built in our back yard! Here are some photos of the progress.

There's so much rock in Amherstview that they had to bring in a gigantic drill bit to cut through it all.

Hopefully it's done soon!

10 Million Videos

While April was still at work, Parker thought he'd be helpful and water her flowers. He loves playing with the hose and recently figured out that, not only can he spray the plants, but he can spray us as well and it totally cracks him up.

A funny video of Parker picking up the camera and going, "Caaaamaaaa... Caaamaaaaa..." like a little zombie.

Running down the hallway, one of his favourite past times.

The infamous dinosaur puzzle! When ever he finishes putting all the pieces in, he gives himself a little round of applause and then starts all over again. He's pretty much mastered this one but he's still not ready for the unicorn and fairy puzzle I bought at Chapters a while back. It's pretty tough, despite its benign imagery.

Giant toddler face!

He also really loves the swing outside. He likes it when we count to 3 and pull him higher and higher on each count. And sometimes he likes it when we sit on the other swing while he swings. He also likes to stay on the look-out for airplanes.

Playing with his sand table, making the boats jump around a bit.

For his birthday he got this really cool musical mat from Scott, Gemma, Milo, and Uly! It plays various Yo Gabba Gabba sounds.

More of the Yo Gabba Gabba dancey dance mat!

Parker's Current Favourite Thing Ever

A while back while I was visiting my parents in Dresden with Parker, we stopped at a store in Chatham and I bought him a dinosaur puzzle. He thought it was pretty cool at the time, but lately he's been REALLY into it. He'll sit down and put his puzzle together quietly (well, with the occasional, "DINOSAURS!!!!!") for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. He's getting really good at it, too! He can put the entire thing together by himself, even though some of the pieces are kind of tricky. I bought him a more difficult puzzle the other day but we're waiting until he's really tired of the dinosaur puzzle before we break it out.

And here he is making a wacky face in the car at something. He may have seen an airplane, which he can spot from miles away. It's like he has a Spider-Sense, but with airplanes.

I should also note that his other current favourite thing ever are the Spider-Man jammies he got for his birthday. He insisted on wearing them the other day, which is why he's in the car with his Spider-Man jammies on. We went to a playgroup to show them off and I'm pretty sure the other kids were jealous because they all had to wear REAL clothes.

New Toy: Beads + String = Good Times

Hi Vanessa! :)

Here's Parker in our garage (uhhh, think it's time to take out the recycling?) waiting for a wagon ride. One of our projects this summer is to have shelves built in the garage so we can actually put away all of our junk that has accumulated over the last few years! And now that we have a little boy we've added a big wagon, a plastic car, that purple rocking horse thing in the background, and a few other things that always just seem to be floating around in the garage.

April picked up a bunch of new things for Parker to experiment with the other day, and one of them is a bucket of beads with some string! So far he seems to think they're pretty cool.

His enunciation is also slowly getting better. When he says the words that he knows he says them really clearly and distinctly, and he's really good at repeating words even if he doesn't know what they are. In Dr. Seuss' "There's A Wocket In My Pocket" there's a Bofa on the sofa who doesn't seem to care (which seems to be, "I wish he wasn't there" in the video link , strangely enough). But after reading that page I always say, "He's ALOOF!" and Parker giggles and repeats, "He's awoof!", which is pretty funny to hear a 2-year old say.

Nana Visits!

My mom came up for a few days this week and got to have some Nana and Parker time (including a whole day while I went to Toronto for an engagement shoot)! Here are a few photos:

Parker on the move (while giggling)!

Examining Nana's GPS.

Parker has determined that the GPS needs to be updated to the 2010 maps available from Garmin.com.

Nana also brought the cool truck Parker has clutched in a death grip! It was a set of three, and when you push them across the floor they keep going for a bit and the cement mixer spins (and the other ones do stuff, too). Parker likes revving them up and pushing them off the edge of the coffee table.

Thanks for the visit, Nana! :)

Parker Loves The Slide

Well, it doesn't look like he loves it so much in this photo. I'm not sure what he's looking at but he doesn't look very impressed.

"HI SLIDE!!!!!!!"

"Oooooooo!"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Does this photo remind you of anything....?