Parker vs. the library

The library won this round.

Calming down after the gluing session

Parker tripped in the children's section of the library and banged his face on a mean wooden toy.  He was screaming, and I didn't know whether he just needed a Band-Aid or if it required stitches.  The wound looked pretty big, so I decided to take him to urgent care.  Luckily, he didn't need stitches, but the nurse practitioner had to glue my baby's wound shut!  Poor thing. 

The actual gluing process was worse than the fall: they wrapped him tightly in a sheet so that he could only move his head and held him down on the bed.  He was screaming bloody murder the whole time.  My poor, precious baby.  Thankfully, dada was able to join us, and Parker got a hospital teddy bear at the end of the visit.  He was a total champ the rest of the day.  Tough guy!

Teary-eyed as we were being discharged

Parker also has some cuts near his eye, a little bit of a black eye, and swelling on the whole side of his face.  The wound looks pretty nasty.  I'm worried that it's going to leave a scar on my sweet, perfect baby's face.  :-(

OUCH!!

In other news, we took Parker back to the church nursery, and this time, we were actually called out of the service because he wouldn't stop crying.  As soon as we showed up, he was fine.  His experience with the urgent care staff today probably only reinforced his fear of strangers.  Oops!

Not everything has been bad lately.  Parker turned 13 months yesterday!

I'm constantly amazed at how he recognizes new words daily.  It's going to be crazy when he starts talking! 

Teething and firsts

Parker's molars are trying to push through.  He doesn't seem to be in too much pain, but teething has resulted in soft stools for a few weeks and some diarrhea that sent us to the doctor last weekend.  Poor baby ran a fever and was pitiful on Thurs.  This was all he wanted to do:

He's had a few "firsts" recently.
1) Parker's first bath in the real tub - so roomy!

2) His first time putting his feet in the river.  He wished he could get all the way in, but we weren't dressed appropriately.

3) His first time at church.  Dressed and ready and handsome (but wouldn't stay still for a pic):

Here we go!

And this is what we saw when we left him in the nursery.  The staff said he cried for a while, then would play some and alternate with little crying spells.  Poor baby missed his mama and dada!  And we missed him, too.

This week, I finally learned the signs for "more" and "done."  Parker still thinks it's appropriate to dramatically wipe all of the food off of his tray when he's done and then try to roll up his placement and/or yank off his bib.  He actually signed "more" back to me today.  He knows it means something, but I don't think he totally gets it yet.

Lately, while playing, he comes over for a quick hug, goes back to playing, and then comes over again for another hug repeatedly.  It melts my heart.

He still loves his cats.  Jules and Murray sometimes play with him while Gilligan is the only one who will let him snuggle.  Parker likes to grab Gil's tail and walk around like he's holding a leash.  What a patient kitty!

In addition to his cats, he loves all animals and squeals with delight when he sees dogs and other creatures.

He also LOVES running water.  He's so cute when he leans in to let it spray his face, and sometimes he opens his mouth to drink.  Funny boy!

My 1-year old

Parker's 1-year photos came back, and they are precious!  What a little ham!  It's hard to choose a favorite.

His new thing is snuggling with stuffed animals.  Adorable!

His walking keeps on improving

 

He had his 1-year check-up and shots yesterday.  Poor baby screamed bloody murder during the shots.  His stats are 22 lbs, 7 oz (44th percentile) and 31.5 in (91st percentile).  I find it very hard to believe that he only grew a quarter of an inch in the last 3 months.  He seems sooo long.  I demand a re-measure!

Two things we've really been enjoying are
1) car shopping carts.  GENIUS!

2) his push trike.  He thinks he's big stuff "steering" it around the park.

He got his first hair cut on Sat.  I can't say that he loved it.  He was ok at first in the car chair, but then I had to hold him and he kept wriggling about.  This "after" pic cracks us up.  He was mad because I took away his balloon.

Although I miss the long curls, he really is cute with his big boy hair cut.

Parker has had a couple of play dates and attended a Toy Story themed birthday party recently.  At the party, they had each guest dress like Woody and take a picture.  What a cute idea!

Since he first started eating, we've been trying to teach Parker the sign for "eat."  I'd love to teach him more signs because they supposedly help cut down on the frustration toddlers feel when they can't communicate, but I haven't made the effort to learn other signs.  Anyway, today Parker signed "eat" for the first time!  It was really cool for him to be able to tell me what he wanted.  It made me want to learn and teach him several more signs ASAP, so I'm putting that on the agenda for this week.

Since he's turned 1, I think Parker has become even more snuggly.  I'm not complaining!

Birthday Boy!

Parker had an awesome 1st birthday celebrating at the pool with his grandparents, aunt and uncle, and friends!  What a wonderful year it has been!  We've had fun looking through his baby pictures and reminiscing this weekend.  This baby fills us with so much joy, and we can't imagine our lives without him!

He LOVED his first taste of cake

1!

So happy Auntie M and Uncle Shane could attend

Happy birthday, precious baby boy

What a mess!

Parker had helpers while opening presents

Fun Mickey Mouse birthday

Lily and Parker are too cute for words

Silly kiddos!

Pre-birthday dinner at the lake with the grandparents

We adore his curls, but now that he's one, it's time for a hair cut

Perfection

Busy and learning

Watching a baby learn and develop is an eye-opening experience.  I'm continually amazed by the things Parker knows and does.  It's pretty miraculous how the world starts coming together for a previously helpless little blob of an infant.  

During these last few weeks of his first year, it seems like Parker learns something new every day!  Recently, he's learned to identify nose, eye, ear, hand, foot, clock, and hat.  He does some of the hand movements to songs like Skinamarinky Dinky Dink and Itsy Bitsy Spider, and he has started trying to snap which is absolutely adorable. 

He understands that the remote turns on the TV (we have a few songs recorded from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Yo Gabba Gabba, Sesame Street, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates that he loves to watch/listen to).  He has a funny little bounce dance that he does a lot.

Besides "mama" and "dada" which he says all the time for different things, I guess his first word was "uh oh."  He says it when he drops something and sometimes BEFORE he drops something.  Silly boy!  He's tried to say cat for months, but it usually comes out like "dat" or "dada."  

He pulls up on everything and walks all the time.  It's cool to see where he wants to go and what he wants to do now that he is mobile.  He's still hilariously wobbly, but he's getting better at catching his balance and not falling down. 

Parker is a total mama's boy and still wants me to hold him a lot.  Now, he crawls or walks over to me and holds onto my legs and cries until I pick him up.  This is the face I get when I can't pick him up right away.  Pitiful!

He's generous with his snuggles and kisses for me, Himal, his cats, stuffed animals, and touch-and-feel books with fuzzy pages.  He's also very friendly with others.  He waves to everyone and often tries to snuggle with or kiss other kiddos.

We've been staying busy lately traveling, hanging out around town, and playing with new toys.  We visited my family for the 4th,

and my parents' mini horse had a baby mule while we were there! 

It was neat to see Parker enjoy the old toys from my childhood.

Parker loves books and has us read the same ones over and over.  Here is Mr. Big reading one of Parker's favorites to him for about the 10th time in a row.

Locally, we've been hanging out at the zoo, pool, and library. 

Well, hello, Mr. Gorilla.

We attended Lily's first birthday party, and the kiddos were too cute together.

Parker got a swing set from us as his early birthday present, and he loves it! 

 I made his Pack N Play into a ball pit.  He enjoys standing in it and throwing the balls out and saying "uh oh."

Parker's first birthday is in a week and a half!  On one hand, it's hard to believe he's already a year old; on the other hand, it's crazy that we've only known him a year.  He's such a sweet, easy-going, funny little guy who is the center of our world now.  We are so blessed!

11 months

Parker is 11 months old!  I can't believe we only have 1 month to go before his 1st birthday.  That's craziness. 

In the last week, he's started crawling AND walking, so he's into everything now.  He still prefers to hold onto one of my hands while walking, and he enjoys bending down and picking up objects to carry around in his other hand (generally, the largest item he can find).  He points to things all the time, and he's super-friendly waving hi and bye to everyone we see.  Love this Little Man!

Have a happy 4th of July!  It's Parker's last first holiday.