Winter Wonderland

Santa Claus!!

Mama's Boy??

What about this says "Mama's Boy" to you?? Ha.

Mama's boy...

David, guest blogger here.  Just writing a quick little update so I can firmly remember what it was like when Parker was in his "mommy stage."  Obviously, she's the better looking and more intelligent parent - but Parker, I am fun too, even if I don't smell as good as her!! 

Nobody soothes a tired and sad child like being held by mama, which I get.  What I don't love though is this latest trend of when I'm trying to put him to bed, he pushes me away and says "Papa, bye-bye!" while he cries for "Mama Read Book!!!"  He's always willing to give me a kiss and hug goodnight...so long as I am getting out of the way afterwards so he can snuggle with his mother. 

Photographic evidence of this unsettling trend...



Exhibit A:  This is him running away from me at the beach.  The weather was fine, the views were gorgeous...but a simple pose in our Go Cougs gear was too much to ask for. 

 

Exhibit B:  This is what look I get when I ask him for a smile so we can show mama how much fun we're having on our run.  Hands full of fun, a face full of displeasure.



Exhibit C:  "Hey, Parker?  World's Best Dad wants to take you out to play on your bike, sound like fun?!"  Sure...fun enough to put on some golf pants and a helmet and then....RUN.  His vocabulary is getting better, here was his quote:  "Catch me if you can old stinky man."

Exhibit D:  "Want to sit with Papa, nice and comfy on his lap to read a book?"  The response:  "All done sitting on people."  Actions say different - look at this lounger on mama!  Argh!

Exhibit E:  "No, I refuse to cuddle with you Pap...wait a second, this is kind of comfortable and nice." 
 

Wow, how did that picture sneak in there?!  Is that MY son cuddling up in my arms as we walk back to the house?!  Are those my arms he loves wrapping himself up into?!  It's true, that's true!  He does love me, he does love me! Okay, false alarm I guess....for now anyway. 




David and I were very lucky to be able to travel to Puerto Rico recently on Microsoft's dime. I should really say that I was lucky as David actually earned the trip and was nice enough to choose me as his travel companion. :-) We were blessed with beautiful weather (most of the time), great food, and lovely accommodations.  

 

This also meant that Parker got to spend some quality time with family while we were away. He had so much fun I'm not even sure he noticed we were gone.

 

 

 

Halloween

For Halloween Parker dressed up as Barcelona's star soccer player, Lionel Messi, who happens to be David's favorite soccer player.

Although trick-or-treating with his friends was fun, Parker's favorite thing about Halloween was the plastic jack-o-lantern he used to collect candy. He wasn't too interested in the candy, but he does love using it to transport his cars around the house.

 

 
 

Pumpkin Patch

 

 

 

 

Sun, Sand, and Surf

 

To celebrate Sarah's early 30th birthday we took a much anticipated Johnson-Totten family trip to the beach. We were a little nervous about what the weather would be like on the Washington coast in October, but we really lucked out. While it wasn't necessarily warm (see Parker in his stocking cap) it was sunny and dry for most of the trip.

 

 

For some reason, Matt is obsessed with digging holes and putting the kids in them. I predict that we'll have many more pictures with kids in holes throughout the years to come. Oddly enough, Parker thought it was great fun to be in the hole. He did not enjoy the water, though. He really wanted to walk down to it, but as soon as it would come near his feet he totally freaked out. Just another way he takes after Olive.

 

 

That's right Parker, Matt is hilarious! You laugh now, but you're going to be in that hole you're helping him with in a minute.

 

We took a little drive to Cape Disappointment and its lighthouse - a bit windy, but beautiful! 

 

  

Yep, that's my kid putting his cars in a perfect line. David is worried about OCD, but I keep telling him there's nothing wrong with being organized.

Parker the Baker

 

One of Parker's favorite and most frequent breakfasts includes a muffin. Up until now, I've made the muffins on my own while Parker naps, but today Parker helped me. He thought it was very fun to dump the different ingredients into the bowl and stir them up. He actually probably stirred them for a good 15 minutes. Every time I asked him if he was done stirring he pushed my hand away. It's a good thing these muffins are more appropriately called pumpkin cups and they use oatmeal instead of flour because otherwise I'm pretty sure this batch of muffins would be fairly tough after all that stirring.

Cuddles

 

One of Parker's new favorite things to do is to play and cuddle with his assortment of stuffed animals. Sometimes he pulls out a blanket and sets them all up on it like they're having a little circle time together. Sometimes he piles them all up and rolls around in them, which he refers to as "cuddles". Sometimes he insists that each family member has his or her own dog to "cuddles". In this case, Parker is in charge of handing the dogs out to each person. It has soon become clear that when we are each cuddling with a dog, we get the same one every time. Parker always gets the dog he sleeps with at night, which he calls Brown Dog. Treva always gets the biggest dog, which Parker calls Black Dog. And David is always handed the tiny little dog, which at this point doesn't have a name. Parker then proceeds to use his dog to act out all the different things he knows dogs do. He makes his dog pant, he makes it lick his face and he licks it back, and he makes it bark. Apparently that is where his knowledge of dogs ends. Olive is pretty lazy so I'd be amazed if he has actually witnessed her doing more than one of these. In fact, if his knowledge of dogs in based on Olive, the only actions he should know are sleep, eat, and bark. Either way, it's pretty cute.

Hi guys! This is my new bike!

Cousin Bath Time

Come on! How cute are Parker and his cousins Philip and Samantha?!

Parker Turned Two (a month ago)!!

Yes, I am a month late in adding a Happy Second Birthday Parker post. Oh, well. So yes, he did in fact turn two. Yes, he did get a bike/strider (terribly cute pictures to follow in a later post) and lots of other fun things from our way too generous family and friends. Yes, he did enjoy his cake. 

How is it that our little Tiny Tots is now two years old?! If I do say so myself, he gets cuter, smarter, more fun, and of course more bossy every day. His newest phrases sound something like...Mama sit! Mama jump! Mama read! We're working on at least adding the word please to those commands. Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy.



And yes, I do realize that it looks like the construction vehicles are digging in snow instead of dirt and that it would have in fact made more sense to have brown frosting. Again, oh well. Lesson learned for next time we have a construction/digger themed cake. Hmmmmm.



Parker didn't seem to mind that what was suppose to look like dirt looked like snow. That is a child in sheer bliss. Not pictured: licking the plate.