The Big Gift

The Beachy's came over for dinner one night last week for a mini-celebration for Parker's birthday. They brought the biggest package Parker has ever seen, so nicely decorated by the kids (also cleverly decorated with Cubs logos--booooooo). It was a wagon!! Parker has been living in it. He can get in and out himself, which is a blessing for me, and he eats his snack in there, reads his books, plays with his toys, talks to himself....basically, he loves it. Thank you, Beachys! (They also provided these pictures for me in hopes that I may post a blog entry or two in the future--it worked)

Parker's 2nd Birthday

I have not blogged in some time, and yes, I've been very much reminded of this. So, here goes the last several weeks. I will be going backwards!

Parker celebrated his 2nd birthday last week! Crazy! It was a very busy month, but we did finally have a family party for him on Memorial Day. He had a blast, and it's fun to watch him enjoying the attention. I made two cakes, as you can see in the pictures. The big one for the general public, and one small vegan cake for our little boy with allergies. I made him a dairy/egg-free applesauce-spice cake. Some people actually chose to eat that along with him, which I enjoyed. It made me feel like his allergies won't keep him from enjoying delicious things all of the time. He has been practicing blowing out his candles for the right moment, and he did an excellent job. :) Parker opened up his first ViewMaster with pictures of Disney characters. He immediately figured out how to change pictures with his finger and also that he could see better if he held it up to the skylights :)

Learning New Words

Parker made up a sign and sound effects for when he has a dirty diaper. Lately, he uses this sign every time we change him. One day, I told him "There's no 'yuckies,' just pee-pee." He laughed hysterically, and that has been his new word he likes to use. Craig was home alone with him a couple of days ago, and they were going through all of the words and people's names he knows (including pee-pee!), and halfway through, he fortunately thought to grab the camera. This is our little boy laughing about his new potty talk.

More Reading

Parker has been entertaining me by choosing some reading material for himself from the bookshelves and magagine racks and curling up in his chair for some light reading. These are some of his latest choices:

50 Degrees, Please!

Daddy Would Be So Proud

Yesterday, Parker went over to the magazine basket, carefully selected his mag of choice, and climbed up in his chair to browse. Like father, like son!

Parker at the Office

I was doing some work on the computer in our office, so Parker set up his own office next to me!