The JCC was closed Monday Oct 27 for professional development so we decided since one of us would need to take the day off work anyway we should make a visit to the Johnson family in Pittsburgh. It just so happened that they had a Halloween party planned for the Saturday night. Parker's costume was decided a couple months ago but now that we had a party to attend we needed some adult costumes as well. Parker kept saying she wanted Daddy to be the Prince, so we made it happen. Graham was a pumpkin and I was a mouse (Parker insisted that I was Gus the mouse). The costumes turned out pretty good, with the star of the ensemble, Cinderella, being by far the best.
As always, Parker had so much fun with her cousins, Clare (the witch) and Cate (Rapunzel).
Gennie and Eric had a group costume with their neighbors and good friends, the Collins. They were Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, & Squiggy.
Sunday was a gorgeous day so we spent some time in the yard and then took the kids to a playground while the guys went to the Steelers game. It was Graham's first time in a swing and of course he loved it.
These girls had so much fun and Parker was already telling me she wanted to go back on Tuesday morning.
Mr. Graham is 1/2 a year old! He is an active guy and even his teachers at school comment on how he moves around all day long. That is why he has five bottles a day, each 8 oz of formula (except the first bottle of morning, when I usually just give him 6 oz), plus three meals of pureed fruits, veggies, or oatmeal! After we added the third meal at dinner time, Graham is much more consistent about sleeping through the night. Most nights he is in bed by 7:30pm and wakes around 5:30am. Most nights he will wake at some point and I need to go in and give him a pacifier and he falls right back asleep, but I really never need to feed him in middle of night anymore. He is loving all kinds of food. I am making some of the purees (including sweet potatoes, peaches, blueberries, pears, peas, butternut squash, carrots) but also buying the organic pouches with interesting combos like spinach, mango, & pear. We have gotten in the habit of going out to dinner every Tuesday after Parker's dance/gymnastics class so the little guy is getting lots of practice sitting in high chairs at restaurants. Here is his first go at it during lunch a couple weekends ago:
We had Graham's 6 month check-up this week and he still in the high end of the averages, clocking in at 19 lb 9 oz (75%) and 27.75" (90%). His head is more in line with his height now at 18 cm (90%). Graham can very solidly sit up now and is starting to army crawl a bit. He moves all over the floor, particularly if he has a toy as a goal. It won't be long before he is crawling.
Graham loves his sister and loves his dog. If either of them are in eyesight, he is mesmerized. He also gives lots of sloppy kisses to Mommy and Daddy. He does a lot babbling but not a lot of solid consonant sounds yet. I swear his voice is a BOY voice though, it just sounds deeper to me than I remember Parker's baby babble voice being.
Graham's eyes are still blue, although more of a slate/grey color. His hair is pretty blonde and keeps growing, although at a very slow pace. He does have the baby bald spot on the back of his head right now.
Parker's third birthday was last week and we had a lot of fun celebrating. Grandma and Grandpa drove in from St. Louis for a long weekend.
On Parker's actual birthday (Friday), Greg and I went to work in the morning while G&G took Parker to a make-up gymnastics class at The Little Gym. She did great, walking right in to a different class with a different teacher. Then, I met them for lunch and then Greg met us for a boat ride on the Erie Canal. The boat is called the Sam Patch and does a 90 minute cruise through a lock on the canal. It was a very nice day with leaves just starting to change.
Friday evening we had pizza for dinner and cupcakes from Dolce Cupcakery that Parker helped pick out earlier that afternoon. Papa G and Sandy joined us and it was a nice time.
The next day we got ready for Parker's big party. We rented a bounce house but didn't tell her about it in advance, in case we needed to cancel due to weather. It rained in the morning, but cleared up enough for it to arrive around lunch time.
We just invited our immediate family and our small group of friends who all have kids. Even though Parker is the only girl in the group, she had so much fun bouncing with her friends.
They left the bounce house overnight so after everyone left, Greg and I had a very fun (and exhausting) bounce session with Parker before bedtime. Then she got to use it again Sunday morning.
Following my sister's lead, we did our first annual birthday interview. It would seem Parker is a little confused about her age and tells some people she is three, some she is four, and some even five!
Parker is an energetic, sweet girl. She loves to give hugs and kisses to her brother and always talks about her family (cousins, Grandparents). Despite our efforts to avoid princess-mania, she officially has it. Most of the day while we are at home, she is wearing her "princess dress" or one of her frilly dress up skirts. She has also taken to wanting to wear her hair "long", which means not up in a ponytail. We have acquiesced, but hope that she also continues to love playing sports, being outside, riding her bike and other non-girly things. Parker has no problem communicating her wants & needs, her vocabulary is pretty impressive. She is getting better at using her manners. While "thank you" has been pretty consistent for awhile, we are working on "May I have...please?" rather than "I need...". Parker loves books. We still read two books to her every night at bedtime and often times she will sit down with a book to just look at the pictures, or if it is one she is familiar with, sometimes read her own interpretation aloud. She is also very into painting or drawing right now. She likes to color a picture in completely, leaving no white left on the page. Here is her first self-portrait:
Parker continues to do great at school. Her favorite job to be assigned is Line Leader and she loves her weekly swim lesson. She tells us each Monday how she went under the water but did not want to jump off the side of the pool to the teacher.
The potty training is progressing. She has been wearing underwear rather than pull-ups for over a week. She has had some accidents, but does pretty well. We put on a diaper at bedtime still because I am not sure a pull-up will hold it all.
Every day I am amazed at what a beautiful little girl she is becoming. Her baby chub is making way to gorgeous little muscles. She is going to be a looker!
We had Parker's 3-year check-up later in the month and she is 33.6 lbs (90%) and 37.5" tall (75%). They did a vision exam along with all the normal tests and questions. They also took her blood pressure (88/54) and calculated her BMI (16.8), which are both within the healthy ranges. That's our healthy girl!
