Modeling

Here's Parker modeling a hat and a sweater Grandma Munns knitted for him before he was born! We're so happy they finally fit and it's getting cold enough for him to wear them. He has another sweater that goes with the green hat, but he wouldn't let me put it on for the picture.

Here he is in some jean overall shorts from the Narines
(my Aunt Barbi, Uncle Wayne and cousin Viktoria) :

Two minutes later: "Off, please! Off!"
Oh well, at least they were on him long enough for a picture!

Visiting Family

Jake's uncle Jim came to the area for a short visit so we spent a couple hours just visiting and catching up (Jim had never met Parker before). Here are some fun pics from that visit!

Jim, Betty and Connie

Grandpa Chet and Grandma Betty

Connie (Grandma Munns), Parker, Jake, Erin & Dan (Grandpa Munns)

Funny Boy!

No more worries about Parker's lack of speech! It went from us trying to coerce him to use his words to us saying "OK, you can be quiet any time now!" He's still a pretty serious kid, but he has a quirky sense of humor starting to blossom that we're enjoying discovering.

Parker loves him some pizza!

Here he is hamming it up and singing along to a song playing overhead at Quizno's. The paper microphone came with his kid's meal.


Parker has started to string two or more words together, and sometimes will use simple sentences such as, "Mama, down please," "Mama, up please" and "Elmo Cheese Crackers, please." I put a bowl of yogurt in front of him a few days ago and he looked up at me and rambled off a bunch of things, most of which was not real clear English, but I understood him to be saying something to the effect of, "But I don't want yogurt, I want applesauce!" Needless to say, after some grumbling he ate the yogurt and then I gave him some applesauce, too.

But he's not quite ready to grow up yet. Our neighbor Carly is always asking him if he's a big boy or a baby and he still always replies, "baby." The other day he was whining quite a bit so I started to tease him and asked him if he was a big boy or a big baby. He gave me a very concerned look, and replied, "no, LITTLE baby." I so wish I had that on video. I was laughing so hard!

One of Parker's and Grandma Munns' new favorite games came from Parker's sense of humor. She and I were sitting in the back of the car with Parker one day on our way somewhere and I gave him a cracker, but he didn't start eating it right away, just looked down at it for awhile. Grandma teased him and asked, "so are you going to eat that cracker or just look at it?" He gave her a sly look and then put the cracker right in front of his eyes and just stared at it. Of course we laughed so now they love to play that game whenever the opportunity arises. This video below shows how much he loves his Grandma Munns! She has a Dr. Seuss book she reads to him when he visits her and one of their favorite parts of the story is when she reads "goo-goo goggles."

This next video is me just trying to get him to say some things on camera:

Parker has also discovered the vast usefulness of the word "no."

BOO!

For Halloween, Parker got a fun package in the mail from Auntie Sarah, Auntie Leann, Uncle Greg and Lily with Halloween stickers, a card, and the picture to the right that Parker had a grand time coloring.

The day before Halloween was lots of preparation fun. Mama and Parker decorated, made a ton of cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting for neighbors and Dada's coworkers, and that night Parker got to participate in Dada's pumpkin carving.

As you can see below, Parker ended up just having a monkey theme for his costume. Originally we had bought a cape and he was going to be Super Parker, but he hated the cape and wouldn't keep it on, so we had to be creative at the last minute. We had bought a monkey backpack leash recently to help Mama's back since she injured it and Parker's getting heavier and heavier! It's easier for quick trips in stores than carrying him or hauling him up into a cart. We thought maybe we could find a green shirt and brown pants and he could be a tree with a monkey on it, but with a lack of a weather-friendly green shirt, he ended up with a monkey shirt instead.


On the plus side, Parker LOVED trick-or-treating with Dada. At one point they came home and Parker threw a huge fit wanting to go back out. After we got him to calm down and ask nicely, we let him go back out and the boys had a grand time frolicking out in the dark. Mama elected to stay home to roast pumpkin seeds and answer the door for trick-or-treaters, but hardly anyone showed up! But it was good for Parker to get some special Dada time in anyway! Parker was apparently the first trick-or-treater at several of the houses they went to. No one complained about his costume. :) Yesterday we were at Target and Mama couldn't resist picking up a cowboy costume at 1/2 price for next year. Let's see if he'll wear this one next year! If not, maybe we can coerce him back into being Super Parker so ya'll can actually see the outfit. :)

Inventive Play

I remember as a kid all the things I came up with as far as playing "pretend," but Parker's play just cracks me up because I'm not sure where he gets his ideas.

As you've seen before, he still enjoys lining up his cars and trucks. Here are the latest pictures from that type of play.





You've also seen before how he plays with my hot curlers. Well he's invented yet another way to play with them. He takes the pins and lines them sticking up out of the carpet. Reminds me of croquet... which I know he's not familiar with in the least. ;)


And then there's the "glasses" or "goo-goo goggles," as he likes to call them, that he played with for several days before I finally had the heart to throw them out. In case you are wondering, I had gotten a new Ralphs Club card and that is the frame for the card cut-outs. As you can see, I was thrilled to have to wear them, too, as Parker and Dada took a picture.

Look at my hair! Can you tell it was long day?

Parker plays with his "glasses" while Carly is her usual vocal self:

I'm not sure why he decided to do this, but this last video pretty much speaks for itself, silly boy:

Parker eating like a doggy:

Pumpkin Patch Day!

A couple of weeks ago we took Parker to the Laguna Hills Mall Pumpkin Patch. We mostly stuck to the free things, but we couldn't help ourselves when it came to the choo-choo train and chucked out $4 for one ride. Parker was very anxious to get on the train, but mostly rode kicking back and holding on tight without cracking a single smile. Afterward, he wanted to go again, but luckily there was so much to see that he was easily distracted. The tractor and the bubbles were really big hits, too!

Beach day with Kristin and Tucker

We finally got a chance to get together with Kristin and Tucker, whom we hadn't seen since May! We had a fun time catching up at a beach near the pier in Huntington. Parker was loving Tucker's sand trucks and Tucker was really nice about sharing them. Kristin is in her second trimester with baby #2 - a boy whom they plan to name Colton! Kristin and I enjoyed the shade from Kristin's beach umbrella while the "boys" played in the sand.