Parker's First Tooth

So tonight, as I was trying to get Parker settled down for sleep, while he screamed at me for a few minutes, I looked. And there it was. Really, this time. Not a cyst, but an actual lower right central incisor. WOW. I'd noticed recently that I was starting to see the outline of those teeth below the gums, but thought that meant we'd be looking for teeth in the next two months or so. Not 1 week! He did have mildly rosy cheeks yesterday and today, and perhaps was a little more wakeful the last couple nights. But nothing like I would have been expecting for those first little pearly pokers. Go Parker, go! First Tooth: 5 months, 1 week!

The Day After

The day after Thanksgiving, Ray had to work. Ah, the joy of on-call. So it was just the three of us: Me, Maia and Parker. We had a little cuddle time in the morning. Some breakfast, and then after breakfast, we looked outside and saw... what's that... could it be? SNOW! There wasn't much snow, and it hasn't been cold enough for the ground to be frozen. So while there was no chance of actually playing in the snow... I did think it'd be a good idea to get outside and get some energy out. The process of bundling the three of us up also took a good deal of time! So outside we went. And it was cold. But:

What? No Snow!?! I was lead to believe there would be snow!

Actually, she really didn't care a bit that there wasn't any snow. She was happy to be outside. She really wanted to swing, but that's already packed up for the season. So she checked out the trees. And I tried to keep Parker sheltered from the wind. He was just happy to play a little peek-a-boo. And sticks. Yay, sticks!

I'm fishing for leaves, momma!

Oh, and in the Adventures in Potty Training saga... Maia had a pretty good weekend. Thanksgiving day she had a few accidents, but I attribute that as much to my distraction as much as hers. But we finally had a dry days the two following, including a successful poop in the potty. She has, however, decided she prefers to sit backwards on the big potty rather than using her little potty, the potty seat, or sitting frontwards. Sitting backwards allows her to get her tiny little bum settled on the smaller part of the seat, and her legs can help hold her up so she doesn't feel like she's falling in. That's going to be a fun habit to break.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all:
... and he wishes it with all his little heart! Parker's first "art project" from daycare. The feathers are from a tracing of his hand.
So this year, we hosted the four of us, my folks, Kath, Andrew, Emily, Adrian and Lydia as well as Andrew's mother Ellen, sister Sarah, sister Ann with husband Tom and daughter Julia.. Sixteen.
Morning was the usual flurry of cleaning, with only a little cooking. Parker absolutely refused to go to sleep in his crib upstairs (he's generally sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room, having outgrown the cradle a while ago!). So Ray gave up, and put him on Maia's bed, where he settled down quickly and took a good nap. Maia however... no nap. That said, I think she did remarkably well for all the flurry of activity and upset of routine.
Thankfully, my parents handled most of the cooking (Turkey, dressing, potatoes, green bean casserole, 2 pies), with Andrew doing some more of the cooking (spicy sausage dressing, 2 pies, gravy), leaving me with the sweet potatoes, re-heating the ham, burning the brown-and-serve rolls. Whoops.
After dinner, Adrian and Lydia played Tinker-Toy hockey in the kitchen. And Parker took a nap with Uncle Andrew. No, wait. Uncle Andrew took a nap. Parker didn't nap again the whole afternoon, and was still a happy boy (bless him)!

Ann & Tom's baby, Julia (8 months old) and Parker had to check each other out a little bit.

Julia and Parker

And Maia and Lydia had lots of girly fun together! Each is wearing a pair of my heels, here.

What's up, Turkey Butt?

All in all, it was a nice, but bittersweet Thanksgiving due to the very recent passing of Nick; Andrew, Sarah and Ann's father. So we were honored to be able to share our table with the extended-extended family.

Some lovely tributes to a fascinating man.

Parker Talks...

Parker Talks... ... and laughs

... and talks some more!

Enjoy!

A Little Parker (5 months)

Five months! Where did the time go?!

Parker is getting busier. Reaching, grabbing, bringing everything to his mouth. Some supported sitting. Sock pulling, hair pulling. Trying to chew on his toes. What about sleeping? Well, sleeping at daycare is great. Sleeping at home, not quite as much. We've had nights where he's up every two or three hours, even if just to get the paci back in, or because he broke his swaddle and decided he's mad about that. But usually he's in bed between 7:30 and 9:30 for the night (yes, it really varies that much!) and will sleep until he gets hungry, often around 2 am. Then with any luck, he's good until 6:30 or so. But often, not. I have to say, it drives me nuts the most when he wakes between 4:30 and 5:30... because I know that just as soon as I get back to sleep, it will be time to get up.

Oh well. These days go by so quickly, and it's a fair trade for spending time with a lovey, cuddly baby. Assuming he's not screaming.

Parker loves his big sister, and watches her wherever she goes. He reaches out for her now, which just melts my heart. She, for her part, continues to be fairly protective of him. Making sure that strangers don't talk to him, especially when he's in his car seat. Making sure he's coming with us wherever we go. And she's a wonderful big sister when it comes to finding him a toy or a paci to keep him occupied for a few minutes.

She'd really like to pick him up, but I'm thinking they're probably within about a 5 pound weight difference these days. So they had to settle for watching a little TV together. I was putting some things away when I turned around to see this: Here's the best pic I've managed to get of him sitting. It's often brief, as he'll reach for something and topple over, or just kind of melt off to one side or the other.

But he's really good at waving his arms around, and reaching for his toes!

And he's still a very happy baby! At least once a week, someone at daycare tells me that they wish they could clone him. He's a cuddly lumpkin!

And I love him!!

Art O' The Month

I think I may have a million this month. First up... a little theme. This first one is entitled "Maia fine motor." I think her teachers are trying to prove to me that stickers are educational and beneficial to fine motor development.

"Maia fine motor"

Which is good... ... because in Maia's case...

... she seems to be practicing a lot.

A Lot, a Lot.

Perhaps stickers should be the incentive of choice, these days.

...

! Finally.

On to the finished product of Maia's "Leaves Falling Down" drawing of a few weeks ago.

Leaves falling down

Seeing a common thread here with her marker strokes? They're so deliberate!

Sometimes we play little "follow me" type games when we're coloring together.

And now she's starting to fill the paper edge-to-edge.

And as before, lots of circles.

A work of MaiaArt, Parts I and II.

Well, that's colorful!

And now we've switched to scribbling with chalk.

and back to crayons...

A beautiful crown. Which sits nicely on top of the head.

Ah. Halloween art. Looks like a ghost in the middle to me....

Apple. With Lots of Paint.

Large Acorn.

Bat with sparkly wings and googly eyes! Fun!

Pumpkin.

Love this one. Very textural white paint on a white paper ghost.

One very very busy Jack-o'-lantern!

You've been warned.

And the infamous Glitter Glue session with Mommy and Maia. Maia LOVED it. She'd grab the tube and "squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze it Mommy!" then get that glittler glue all over the paper, her face, my hands, my arms, my face.

And I have to say I rather enjoyed the glitter glue too... although I did spend quite a bit of time cleaning up. OOoooOOooO! Sparkly!

Sometimes, it's about necessity...

Maia tends to be underfoot... literally underfoot, when I cook. She's desperate to be there for every bit of it, and I routinely trip over her. Sometimes she'll hook her little toes into the panel at the bottom of the dishwasher and try to see and/or grab whatever is on the countertop (watch out knives and breakables!) While I can often have her do little tasks for me (bring her plate and fork to the table, condiments, etc.), she can usually complete them very quickly because her goal is to see what I'm doing, and maybe play in the salt cellar on the lazy susan and see if she can drive me crazy. So, out of necessity, I've had to start including her in dinner preparation. It definitely takes some thought, patience, trust and creativity to figure out what she can help me with. So tonight, she helped me put the butter, spices and brown sugar into the squash. And I learned that those carnival (or whatever they're called ) squashes don't need that much sugar. They're quite a bit sweeter than Acorn Squash. And as she 'helps' she tastes. "MmmmMMmm! I like it!"

Tearing the lettuce. This one was good. Kept her busy for quite a while, although she did occassionally throw entire leaves into the bowl.

And yes, she tasted this too. And ate some more.

The Food Network espouses the idea that if you cook with your children, or engage them in choosing the food, they will be more likely to eat that food and eat more diverse food. All I can say so far is that sometimes that's true for Maia. Sometimes she'll eat some while preparing, and eat more of it at the table. Sometimes she'll eat some while cooking, and not eat much of anything at the table (too much snacking?).

A Little Cuddle Time

A little tummy time Hangin out with his toys. Accompanied by Dio (thanks Daddy).