Wagon

Before Parker's birthday (see how far behind I am?) Ray cleaned out the cars and the garage.  We also opened up the new 2-kid wagon we got a few months before.   Maia was delighted, and wanted to take Parker for a ride.

It kept them both busy for quite a while. Parker loved being pulled, and Maia loved being The Big Sister and pulling him around.

Camping! (part 2)

While we were there, Parker got to go on his first boat ride.  He was a little sleepy, and not sure what to think of it all.  And the life jacket that goes up to 30 pounds and still fits his big sister? Yeah, he was a little smooshed.

Maia likes to go fast.  Are you surprised?

The water was about 71º, which feels quite, er, refreshing when you first get in, but doesn't take long to adjust to.  Maia swam with Aunt Kathleen for a while while I got in with Parker.  

He wasn't sure about the water (and the cold) at first.  But it wasn't long before he decided he liked the water, and started splashing.

On Sunday we headed home, missing out on the fun of The Fourth, but giving us an opportunity to get laundry done and the kids back on schedule before our work week began.   Maia decided that her artistic creativity could not be contained on paper, and used her skin as a canvas for her (washable) Crayolas.

Parker slept much of the way home, and looked at some books.

About 90 minutes from home, Maia finally fell asleep around 3:30/4:00.  When we got home at dinnertime, she asked to go to bed, so we let her.  I was convinced she'd be up at 11 pm, or maybe 3 am... wide awake and hungry.  We ate dinner and put Parker to bed.
No Maia.
Our bedtime came. No Maia.
6:00 a.m. arrived without a trace of Maia.
Finally... at 7 a.m. she finally wandered down to our room in a great mood.

Camping! (part 1)

 We went up to Interlochen to camp over the weekend of the 4th of July. Tent camping with 2 under 3. We might not be smart.  Anyway.
We decided to leave after work, stopping on the way for what we'd hoped would be a "quick dinner" but it turned out not to be as Maia's pull up (which we put on her 'just in case') was so full it had leaked and soaked her clothes and seat. Apparently she ate a lot of watermelon at school.

So as a result, the kids got to bed really late that night, although we did get our tent set up fairly quickly, thanks to Grandma, Papa, Aunt Kathleen, Emily, Adrian and Lydia all eager to help us keep the kids busy.  

Naps are always a challenge when you are a kid and are out of your routine.  And it was also forecast to be cooler at night than it proved to be, so I clearly packed the Wrong Kind of Pajamas.

Naps and bedtimes in general for both were really awful... although worse for Maia than for Parker.

Both kids seemed to do fairly well despite the lack of sleep, and off their eating schedules.  Ray and I may not have done quite as well with them being off their schedules.

But the kids got to use their chairs that I got them for Christmas, although Parker wanted nothing to do with the snack tray feature.

I'd hoped Parker would be walking by this time, hoping it might keep him a little cleaner than if he was crawling (the dirt is very dark and sandy at this campground).  But for the most part, he chose to cruise anyway, so it turned out just fine.

Since Parker wasn't quite walking, but was able to cruise with good confidence, Papa spent a LOT of time walking with Parker, and having him hold onto this re-purposed broom. (The broom had an unfortunate entanglement with a pop-up camper on a previous closing.)  Leave it to Papa to find a new way to use a broken object!

It was nice to have some cousin-time...

... and grandparent time.

Getting dressed

Instead of napping, she put together this fabulous ensemble.

Hanging out...

...in his office. His favorite outdoor place.

Gardening

Over the past couple of springs since we moved into this house, my physical condition (pregnancy, post-pregnancy/post-surgery) has made gardening prohibitive... and I do have a general lack of skill when it comes to all things green.  These photos are from about a month ago.

However, Maia is an eager helper and loves to dig with her own tools.

Parker still didn't particularly care for the feel of grass, so for this moment, he preferred stay on the blanket.

She's very proud.

Words

Along with his "Uh-ooh!", which he's had for some time now, Parker is quickly adding to his vocabulary, and is eagerly repeating words and sounds as he is able, and in his own way.
bah! (ball) a favorite, which came shortly after he got his tubes
di duh (thank you)
Nuh! (no)
Mah! (more)
Mama
Dada
Yaya (Maia)
bubai! (bye-bye) another favorite
Papa
pah (up)
Diddy (Lydie)
Ae (Ade)
Pees (please)
Weewee (Wheee!!!)
Nai-nai (Night-night!)
Yessch (Yes)
Ah-yuh (yeah)
We've also been hearing a lot of "Bee-bee!" which may or may not be baby.  There are new babies in his classroom at school.
And now: a vid from about a month ago.

Thanks...

A little trick he learned from his sister...

A very merry Un-birthday to you!

When you are almost 3, you are not limited to arbitrary dates for celebratory purposes.

Here we go!!!

Today, I walked into Parker's classroom at daycare.  He was sitting on the lap of the lead teacher, Kathy (his biggest fan).  While I went to grab the pen to sign him out, she put him on his feet, and he walked toward me.  All the way across the room, just like that!

I'd hoped I'd be able to show Ray the same event when we got home, but he wouldn't replicate it.  We got a few steps, but no lengthy walk. At least, not until Ray was in the living room, and Parker was cruising around the kitchen, and then he would let go and just start walking toward me, then drop to his knees and crawl the rest of the way.

He's not even doing the "drunken monkey" walk with his arms above his head!