alligators

Ellis: It's a wal-a-gator!
Parker: No, it's ar-gator. Ar ar ar-gator!
Ellis: wal-a-gator! A wal-a-gator in the water.
Parker: Ar-gator!

I just love that they were fighting over how to pronounce alligator and neither of them were saying it right. I love how they both say alligator. Too cute!

Girls Just Love to Talk

I've always been told that girls learn to talk before boys, and although I know each child is different, that has been true with my children. Ellis quickly started talking and her vocabulary just keeps expanding. She copys what we say, puts sentences together, and just contantly jibber jabbers all the time. I wanted to record some of what she is saying so when I'm old and she asks me how she talked when she was a baby I can look back here and tell her.

Some of the things she says:

• baaabee (baby)
• pay (play)
• I eat
• miiilllk -she draws it out like a true southern girl
• caa-ker (crackers)
• I unnn... ( I want ....)
• I unnn dat (I want that)
• kitty (cat or squirrels or anything small and furry)
• I wing (I swing)
• I unn owt (I want out)
• wa wa (water)
• choo choo (train)
• chiiiiyups (chips)- notice the nice southern draw she has
• no - one of her favs; it's her answer to almost every question
• mine - another toddler fav
• ca-car (Parker)
• ca (car)
• no (nose)
• i-ya (eye)
• eh-r (ear)

She will say more, but that is just what she uses most. I just love when she looks me in the eye and just jibber jabbers away like I know exactly what she's saying or when she has "conversations" with other little kids her age. She is soaking up so much of the world around her.

Handprints

Last night was a rough night for Ellis and therefore me as well. Ellis woke up just as I was getting ready for bed (I admit that it was really late like 1:30. I was waiting on Paul to go to bed.) She would not go back to sleep. She screamed and screamed when I put her back in her crib. I finally gave up and put her in the bed with me which meant I "slept" with Ellis on top of me practically all up on my head. At 3 am, I had enough of the uncomfortable sleeping condition and I put her back in her crib. Again, she screamed. I angrily told Paul, who had gotten some sleep during all this, "it's 3 o'clock and I haven't gotten any sleep if you don't want to hear her scream then you can go get her because I'm done." He groggily goes to get her and claims that she has a poopy diaper and angrily asks where all the diaper changing stuff is. So I angrily get up, get Ellis from him, get the diaper changing stuff, and change what turned out to be just a pee pee diaper. I hand her screaming back to him. Two minutes later he brings her into the room to try to get her to sleep in the bed with us. As he walks into the room, I angrily think to myself, "I know how this will go. I guess I will be sleeping with a baby on my face." Sure enough. Ellis ended up on me all nuzzled up on my face. At 4 o'clock, she was finally restful enough to lay her beside me in the bed to sleep. So, I got about 3 hours of sleep, but the kind of sleep where you feel like you are sitting on pins and needles because your nervous about the child in the bed with you.

You may be thinking, "what does this story have to do with handprints as the title suggests?" I said all that to understand the fatigued state this mama and her husband were in this morning. After feeding the kids, because you have to keep your children alive no matter how tired you are, I crawled back in bed. Paul got up and was taking care of the children. I don't know what happened the next couple hours, but at some point in time Paul came and crawled back in bed with me for a few minutes. Just a few minutes. That's when it happened because a few minutes later we had two precious children come in our room proudly showing off their colorful hands. Parker's hands looked like he had smacked a smurf and Ellis hands were black (although after further exploration, they were actually a deep purple). That's enough to spring a fatigued mama into action. I jumped up looked down the hall the finger paints looked untouched. I was just thinking, "did he get ahold of a marker and break it?" Then, it hit me. I let out a gasp and ran into the kitchen and found it. There lay a puddle of food coloring where four bottles of color had been emptied and mixed. Paul got to work on that clean up, and I put the kids in the bath tub really just to contain them to a single spot. After getting them in the bath, I noticed that Parker must have tried cleaning his hands off because my pretty hand towel had blue stains all over it. I got to work using the trusty rubbing alcohol to get the hand print marks off the walls. It really could have been worse. The hand prints were mostly contained to the bathroom and the sheets of our bed. For the most part the evidence has been wiped away, although a few marks still remain. I guess we are going to have to do a handprint art project so I can show the children the proper way to leave their mark.

Ellis's handprints on my bed. I was in panick mode so I didn't think to take pictures until I got to this.

Ellis at 14 Months

My baby girl is growing up too quickly! I need a pause button.

•  This little girl is unstoppable. She will walk and climb anywhere she wants.
• She continues to add words to her vocabulary.
• She loves to mimic sounds people make. She has no fear to try out her vocals.
• She believes 100% that she's a big girl now and that she can do whatever any other kid can do.
• I've seen some mini temper tantrums. I'm hoping that these don't accelerate into full blown temper tantrums as she grows closer to the terrible twos.
• She loves playing in her kitchen. She hasn't gotten to the point where she's pretending she's cooking. She likes to open and close the doors, put food in and out of the bins, and bring me some food to pretend to eat.
• She and Parker have become great playmates. Sometimes Parker instigates trouble, but I love to see them playing together.
• She loves to wrestle. If you are laying on the floor, you are fair game for some sneaky wrestling moves.
• She's so adorable. I just love to watch her in amazement. She's growing up too quickly. She's loosing the babiness and is growing in to a toddler.
• She just a sweet bundle of cuteness. I could just love on her all day.

Ellis at 13 Months

Ok...so I'm late again on posting the monthly update. So much so that I confused myself about which age, 13 or 14 months, I was supposed to be posting on. You may have noticed that I haven't done a lot of blogging lately. I'm gonna get better. I had been focusing on Paul's mission trip to Peru and then while he was gone, we distracted ourselves from missing him by spending some time in the upstate and then doing some fun activitives around home. Alrighty then, let's get to the subject at hand.

• Ellis may have struggled with weight before, but she is making up for it now. She is eating like crazy! She will eat and eat until her belly is swole.
• She finally got her confidence and started walking.
• Along with this new found confidence, she decided that she should be able to climb Mt. Everest. I thought Parker was bad about climbing when he was little, but Ellis wants to climb everything.
• Ellis is quite the talker. Me ma (pick me up), cup, ball, I eat are just some. She says all kinds of stuff that you have to listen to catch what she's saying.
• She loves to play Pat-a-Cake. Before I get to the "throw it in the pan" part, she will throw her hands up and say "throw it."
• She also loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She does the motions to it and will sing "how I." So cute!
• She has moved up to 18 months clothing. She is finally in the clothing size she should be in! Yay!
• She wants to explore her world. She wants to be down and walking around.
• She already has a little rebellious streak in her. When we tell her to stop doing something that she shouldn't, she just smiles and keeps on doing whatever it is. Oh my!
• She is such a sweet little hugger and kisser. She can just melt your heart unless you a little person. Then she will attack you with hugs as she lays on top of you on the floor. (Poor Perry he experienced this many times when we were in the upstate visiting.)
• She has a little lovey that she calls baby. She sleeps with it and will carry it around with her.
• She's so fun to be with. She loves to interact and try to copy what you do.
• She thinks she's a big kid now. It's like she thinks now that she can walk she can do anything that all the big kids do.
• Have I mentioned before that she's the most adorable little girl in the whole wide world and I love her so much more than I could ever describe?

Parker at 3 years

There is just know way I should be writing about my 3 year old boy. He just can't be 3 already! He has done so much growing up over the past year.

• Stats: 35.6 lbs  40 inches tall. Yep, he's a biggun. I'm going to be looking up to him one of these days.
• His interests: trains, cars, planes, generally just things that move, riding bikes, puzzles, books, hide and seek, jumping, tumbling, water, music
• Favorite shows/movies: Word World, Caillou, Curious George, Wild Krats, Cars, Thomas the Tank Engine, Toy Story
• Favorite color: green
• Favorite foods: spaghetti, broccoli, cheese, raisans, rice, salsa, tacos, black beans, corn, bananas, pretty much any fruit
• Foods he doesn't like: mashed potatoes, any potato unless its french fries or sliced thin and crispy, tomatoes (unless it's salsa)
• He loves the water! He took some swimming lessons this summer and was quite the water bug. He would jump in without holding anyone's hands. He wouldn't hesitate to put his head under water. He would have been content to stay in the pool all day.
• His speech has improved greatly especially in the past few months although people who aren't around him much might disagree. He's talking a lot more and it is becoming easier to understand what he is saying.
• He's very social. He will make friends with other children when we are out and about in places where there are other children.
• He loves music and dancing. He has some interesting dance moves. Sometimes he will even "break dance." He just roll all around on the floor and hold one leg in the air while he's in the bear crawl stance.
• He's still a daddy's boy. He tries to be just like Paul.
• That being said. I'm his comforter. I'm the one he goes to when he's upset or hurt.
• He's such a loving, snuggly little boy. He loves to snuggle up with us on the couch and wrap up in a blanket. He gives some good hugs and kisses. He makes sure you get kisses right on the lips. He doesn't settle for a cheek.
• He likes to be a helper. He does a good job helping me around the house and taking care of Ellis.
• He is such a good big brother. He looks after Ellis and plays with her. Of course like every brother and sister, they have their squabbles, but for the most part they are great companions.
• He has yet to have his first hair cut, but soon it's gonna have to happen. He doesn't have a lot of hair, but it just needs some trimming and shaping in some places.
• He's convinced that he is a six year old boy.
• Most days his attire consist of only underware. Some days I can manage to convince him to put on some clothes.
• He has a pair of green crocs that he wears a lot. I don't know what we are going to do when he grows out of them.
• He can dress himself. I just love to see what outfit he's going to put together.
• He thinks band-aids and kisses make any boo boo better. However, lately he also thinks any boo boo should warrant a trip to the doctor. His reasoning is that "doctor's fix."
• Doctors may fix boo boos. But Parker thinks Paul can fix anything that's broken. I mean anything.
• I love his little toddler sense of humor. He will just laugh and laugh at some of the silliest things. Sometimes I'm not even sure what makes him laugh.
• He loves to put together puzzles. A new puzzle can keep his attention for a loooong time. Even an old puzzle can keep him busy for a while. At church on Sundays, he will spend most of the worship hour time in the nursery putting together every single puzzle in there.
• He has pretty much given up his nap. Every once in a while he will take a nap in the afternoon, but if he does, I limit the amount of time he sleeps or he would be up waaaay late at night.
• He loves to color and is very good at it. He actually colors objects on the coloring page. He doesn't just scribble all over everything.
• He is potty trained except for at night. It may be a while before he's in underware at night.
• He just absolutely melts my heart. I could just bunch him up and squeeze him and kiss him all day long.

Dear Parker (a special 3rd birthday letter)

Birthday pancake tradition continues

My Darling First Born Son,

You simply cannot be 3 years old! Time has flown by since you were a snuggly rather large little newborn baby boy. I was looking at pictures of you the other day from a year ago and could not get over how much you have changed. You have definately lost all of your baby look and have taken on the full fledged little boy look. Even though you are now a big three year old boy, I still want to hold you and snuggle with you like were still the little 9 lb 8 oz baby, and most of the time you are willing to appease this desire. You have the ability to melt my heart with one look. You take care of me and kiss my boo boos. You make me so proud as I watch you come along side me and help. You have been such a great big brother to Ellis. She is such a blessed girl to have you watching out for her and playing with her. Daddy is one of your best buds. You bring such a sense of joy to his heart as you mimick his every move. Watching you learn and grow has been so special. You soak up the world around you like a dry sponge submerged in a bowl of water. It is thrilling to know that the same desire and curiosity you have for life now can catapulte you onto greatness as you continue to grow. You are also learning about our awesome God. We pray that all that you are learning right now about God and His creation develops into a deep trusting that His great love is the only way for salvation. You are so special. I just can't put into words what all you mean to me. I love you with 100% of my heart! What a blessing you are to our family.

Love,

Mama

Literal

Me: What did you eat at VBS last night?
Parker: nandy (candy)
Me: What did you eat for supper?
Parker: chicken
Me:What did you eat with your chicken?
Parker: with my hands   *as he holds his hands up to his face like he's chomping on a chicken leg.



Not quite the answer I was gong for. I just love how children are so literal.

The Fly Hunter

If they had a show about a little boy who hunted flys, Parker could be the star. He reminds me of a cat when he spots a fly. He will follow it all around watching it and waiting for the right moment to attack.  He actually has pretty good reflexes and has killed some flies with his bare hands (yes, it is gross). One time he had injured the fly to where it couldn't fly but it was still alive and he carried it around in his hand. I didn't know whether to be proud or just grossed out. I was a little of both. I don't know where his interest in flys comes from. He actually is interested in all kinds of bugs. I'm so excited that he likes to pick up bugs and bring them to me to check out (please note the sarcasm). I guess the classic poem is true. What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails.

Six

Me: Parker, how old are you?
Parker: Two
Me: How old are you going to be on your birthday? (which is eleven days away!)
Parker: Six

Parker is determined that he is going to be six on his birthday. We've had this conversation many times, and he always says six. Six is his favorite number right now. Whenever he can get a piece of candy, marshmallow, or some kind of little treat, he always negotiates for six. That little booger! I don't know what it is with the number six but I'm sure glad that he's only turning 3.

Spaghetti and What?!?

While watching the latest Olive Garden commercial about the 4 course special, they explain that one of their entrees to choose from is spaghetti and meatballs.

Parker: I want bootballs.
Me: You do? Those meatballs look good don't they?
Parker: Uh huh...I want bootballs.

I'm not sure how delicious bootballs would be but Parker really wants some. We've had the above conversation several times. So, today I opened one of those nasty (ok they aren't terrible, but when I think about how unhealthy they are I just think nasty) cans of Aldi brand spaghetti rings and meatballs. You really can't compare the two, but Parker really enjoyed his "bootballs."

By the way, Ellis was not impressed with the spaghetti and meatballs. Apparently, she has a sophisticated palate and is holding out for the good stuff.

Little Chef

Parker loves to be in the kitchen with me, and he loves to help me cook. To be honest, I'm not always welcoming to these loves of his. Certain meals just aren't condusive to having little toddler helping hands, and therefore, I can get a little stressed and just maybe a little irritated and just maybe I might raise my voice at him.

Anyway, today I let him help me make super. We made pizzas using tortillas. This was an easy meal for us since Paul was working this evening, and this was a perfect meal for Parker to help me make. He helped me stir the sauce. [This is a little free information here. I make my own pizza sauce using tomato paste. I just add water, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, sugar, and italian seasoning and you have it. Whenver I have left over tomato paste, I freeze it in ice cube trays so when you need a little bit for a recipe you have it there without having to open another can. These were also handy for making pizza sauce for two mini pizzas.] He put it on our "dough." Then, we had fun topping. He put his pepperonis in the shape of a Mickey head and adding some olives, mushrooms, and onions.

There was a moment when we were putting together our pizzas that I thought about one of my prayers of that morning. I prayed for God to help me be a good mother and to have a good attitude toward my children no matter what they do. There were moments that day when Parker was doing something that he shouldn't be doing where I could have handle the situation by yelling at him, but God helped me to diffuse the situation and to reroute him to good behavior. Blessings from God! God helped me to show grace to my baby boy and to love him unconditionally. Then, there I was enjoying this sweet moment cooking in the kitchen with my little chef. I couldn't have answered that prayer better by orchestrating my day myself.

Potty Training...Almost There!

Parker has been going pee pee in the potty for a while now. The only snag has been pooping in the potty. He flat out refused to go in the potty. I think it came about because he was constipated so it hurt when he went and he associated the hurting with the potty. I finally took a break from getting him to poop in the potty. I told him if he had to poop to tell me and I would put him in a diaper. He wears underware unless we are out and about for a while, but for pooping the diaper was his comfort. At first, he would freak out about pooping no matter if he was in his diaper just because he was scared of it hurting. After a while, that stopped so my next step was to get him to poop in the bathroom. He just had to stand in the bathroom in his diaper to poop. I told him that we poop in the bathroom and soon he will be pooping in the potty just like mommy and daddy. He got that down good. So finally, I told him no more diapers when he had to poop. He was not too happy with me when I wouldn't put his diaper on for him to poop. He kept handing me a diaper and saying "biper." I stayed strong and used distraction. I told him I would go get the special potty book to read if he sat on the potty. We read Usborne's Potty Time book.

It worked! That calmed him down so I went to get another book to read. While I was gone, he pooped in the potty!!!!! I made a big deal about it. You could tell he was very proud of himself. Then later on in the day, he had to poop again. This time there were no please for his "biper." He just sat right down on his potty and went. I am hoping this is the start of being completly potty trained. Well, at least during the day. It might be a while before he's diaper free at night.

NO!

I've had so many conversations like these recently.

Me: Parker, let's go brush your teeth.
Parker: NO!

Me: Eat your supper, Parker.
Parker: NO!

Me: Is Ellis your sister?
Parker: NO!

Me: Do you love your mommy?
Parker: NO!

Me: Parker, put on some clothes.
Parker: NO!

I could go on and on. Parker's new favorite word is no.  Apparently, he thinks it's fun to be contrary. I'm just working on ignoring it and not getting in a back and forth no/yes argument. Oh the joys of toddlerhood.

We love Daddy!

I couldn't have asked for a better husband and father. Parker is quite a daddy's boy. Ellis loves her daddy too although she's still attached to me. This evening Paul was cutting grass with the pushmower around the edges. Parker got his Bubble Mater and started "cutting grass" with Paul. He followed right behind Paul and did everything he did, even to wiping sweat off his face when Paul did.
I'm so glad that Paul is such a godly man for Parker to look up to. Now, it's cutting grass, but I know that it's so much more. He's is looking up to Paul learning how to be a man of God, a good husband, and a great father.

Mr. Fix-it to the Rescue

While walking along on plastic railroad ties type thingies that hold in the sand at our local playground, Parker stopped when he came to one that was cracked opened.

Parker: It broke.
Me: Yes it is broken.
Parker: Daddy fix.
Me: Do you think Daddy can fix anything?
Parker: uh huh (with a cute little head nod that made him look like a bobble head doll)

After Paul fixed Parker's overhead light in his room which hadn't been working for months, Parker thinks that Paul can fix anything that is broken. I think it is so sweet that he has that confidence in his Daddy.

It makes me think about my own faith and trust in God, my heavenly father. God certainly has the power and authority to fix any problem I face. Of course, it is not always in my best interest for God to fix all the problems I face and tie them up in a nice, neat package. Problems, trials, difficult situations, and pain all remind me that this world is not my home. When I face troubles, I have to put my complete trust in God for Him to carry me through in a way that brings Him glory. He is my Mr. Fix-it; although most of the time, He is Mr. Fix-me.

Where's Parker?

I went to wake Parker up from his nap. I looked at his empty bed and around the room until I finally spotted him. See if you can find him.

 See pictures below for hint.

Apparently it is really nice to sleep in a tube on the floor. He has taken several naps and even slept the entire night in this. Hey, as long as he's sleeping it is fine with me.

This is what you get...

...when a two and a half year old who still needs a nap but refuses to nap finally sits down to watch a movie. And I finally got to cook supper in peace!

This is what you get...

when you are potty training and you need to wash a load of laundry.

I laughed so hard when I put the shoes on Parker so he could go take off the trash with Paul. I laughed for about 10 minutes. Is it bad to laugh at your child like that?

Speaking of potty training, things are progressing. We are having few accidents. He did really well on Sunday although I thought he wouldn't since he was wearing a pull-up. I think he was excited to have a new audience to tell that he went "pee pee" in the potty. We are still having trouble with him pooping in the potty. He goes and gets a diaper when he feels like he needs to poop, and most of the time he poops when he's in his diaper during nap time or before bed. Well, it's a process.

Day 2, 3, and 4

So I have to admit things aren't going as well as I hoped. Ellis is quite the stubborn little thing. She cries and cries before she will finally fall asleep and still only sleep for maybe 30 minutes. Of course, I haven't helped. The past 2 days I have gone over to my sister's for supper, so therefore she has taken her evening naps in my arms. I know that consistency is the key, and that doesn't help with the consistency.
As far as Parker goes, yesterday and today he's been in diapers. He wanted to wear diapers so I let him. You maybe thinking, "You're the parent. It's not about what he wants."  Yes, that's true, but I also know that toddlers love to do what you don't want them to do and hate to do what you want them to do. So, I'm playing it cool on the potty training thing, like it doesn't matter to me if he wears diapers or underware.  We'll try again in a few days, and see what happens.