Growing Up, a Little Monkey Time, a Fight and a Bloody Lip

I haven't been doing a very good job of blogging lately so I decided I needed to catch up. Parker is just one week away from turning one years old. I just can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Over the past couple of weeks I've really noticed that Parker is loosing his babiness. He has really gotten walking down. He even attempts to run sometimes; he hasn't gotten that down yet. Personality has really developed. He is beginning to express his independence. Although he still eats a lot, he has become a little picky in what he eats. I have to start with the veggies first in hopes that he will eat some. I've begun the weaning process which I think is more emotionally hard for me than him. And with all his new found mobility and independence, Parker got his first busted lip last night. The accident that caused the busted lip wasn't that bad, but trying to get it to stop bleeding was awful. I'm going to have to buy some popcicles to have on hand for the next bloody lip. Today, we took the children's group from the church to Monkey Joe's. It is a nice, air conditioned place full of inflatables. Parker had a blast exploring in the toddler zone, which I think they call the Mini Monkey Zone. He crawled, walked, and climbed all around the pint size inflatables. He even met some friends and one enemy. That brings me to the fight part as the title suggest. Parker got into his first scuffle with a mean, bully kid. I had turned away for one minute to take a picture of the other children who were eating near by and when I turned back to check on Parker I see this kid, I'm guessing around 18 months or so, tackling and scratching my precious baby boy. I quickly put my camera down, took off my shoes, and jumped into the inflatable to safe my child. He wasn't crying, but he had a look of distress that said to me "Mommy, please save me from this thing." Poor thing had scratches on his face and neck and even lost his sock in the process. A minute later I noticed another mama jumping in the inflatable to save her child from the mean, bully toddler. Of course, the bully's mama was over playing cards with her girlfriends and was oblivious to all of this. Parker's getting tougher and being a little boy, I know these won't be the last of his injuries.

I tried to get a picture of his boo boos but it's hard to tell from this picture. This was after a lot of the redness went down so it doesn't look that bad.

P.S. I tried to upload some more pictures but it was taking forever so I gave up.

Weathering the Storm

This afternoon was quite a scary adventure for Parker and me. I went to Sumter to do my usual weekly grocery shopping. I saw on the radar there were some storms in the area, but they were small cells. First stop was CVS. When I left there it was beginning to drop rain. I said a prayer that Parker and I would make it inside Walmart before it started to pour, and I prayed for a good parking place near the buggy return. The Lord answered both of the prayers. While in Walmart, it started pouring and popping lightning. Then I got text alerts for a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado warning. I called my sister to pull up the radar so I could know what to do. She told me that the worst was yet to come and I should get out of Sumter. I emptied my buggy. I hate to just put stuff anywhere in the store, but I made an exception today. I was just outside of Sumter when it started pouring again but this time with wind. My sister called to see where I was because she saw on the radar more stuff developing. At that point, I pulled over at a gas station which was open. I crawled in the back seat, got Parker out, headed through the torential rain and wind, and as I got to to the door the lights went out. I thought the power went out, but no, the store had just closed! So I headed back through the torential rain and wind put Parker back in his seat, who is now scared and crying. Next door is a Chinese restaurant, but I'm was not sure it was open. At this time, I knew from talking to my sister that they were reporting rotation in the area. I was too scared to stay in the car so I took the chance and got Parker back out of his seat and ran through the torential wind and rain again into the safety of the Panda House. When we walked in the door, there were four Chinese adults and one child who immediately went "awwww" and started saying something in Chinese. Then one of them quickly brought paper towels and started drying Parker off. They were so nice and were understanding of why I invaded their store. They even offered Parker a little miniture cup of jello, but I politely declined. Finally it cleared enough to set off for Pinewood. I did get into heavy rain but no wind. I was so grateful to open the door to our house and be safe inside. Now I got to go back to Sumter tomorrow to do my grocery shopping since I only came back with two sticks of deodorant and some peptobismal.

10 Months Recap

• standing a lot more on his own.
• took his first steps, which made him oh-so-proud of himself.
• uses "dada" for both me and Paul.
• understands the word kisses and gives the best open mouth, slobbery kisses.
• eats like a horse. I don't think he would ever stop eating if I didn't stop giving him food.
• loves to push his train and John Deere gator around. In fact he likes to push anything around-laundry baskets, chairs, strollers, toy basket.
• grinds his teeth! This one is very aggrevating.
• still loves to look at books and play with balls.
• is very observant when he is in a new environment. He will sit still and check everything out.
• has become a daddy's boy too.
• likes to be chased.
• likes to climb.
• still the most precious thing ever!