Dressing Himself

As Parker approaches the "Big Three" year-old mark, he's becoming noticeably more opinionated about what he wears! Usually he insists on wearing his Chargers jersey from Grandpa Niki day in and day out (it's a definite favorite), which often means that he is disappointed when it's in the wash. Today was his first day of our second semester of parent-toddler "preschool," so he chose this festive number himself for the big day! I was kind of saving it in the back of my mind for a future Tahitian or Hawaiian or Fijian adventure, but I guess preschool in Oceanside will have to do!

Et Voila! The Piece de Resistance!

Well, here it is! The bathtub is finally in!! This is basically the biggest reason that we began this whole bathroom remodel--to take out our yucky old shower stall and replace it with a lovely new bathtub. Above all, this means that Parker will finally be able to truly enjoy a nice, fun bath! (Although, I can't wait to take a nice bath myself, too!) We picked out a tub that's a little on the deeper side to make it comfortable for grownups, too :)

A nice man at Home Depot gave Parker his very own kid-sized orange apron (it even says, "Hello, My Name is Parker"!), which, along with his tool belt and hard hat completes his construction-guy outfit nicely :)

Just Cuz He's Cool

Hand-Me-Downs

Some friends of ours gave Parker a big bag full of some of their son's outgrown clothes--Parker was so excited to have so many cool new things to wear! He was particularly enamored with this t-shirt of the superhero called "The Thing" and wanted to wear it today. He also insisted on wearing a nice pair of brown sneakers, even though they are about four sizes too big for him! He seems convinced that they help him to jump really high. He wore them for most of the morning, but then took them off at the end of our visit to the music museum, admitting that they were in fact a bit too big for now :)

He has also been talking with his stuffies a lot more lately, and requested to bring his "puppy" along to the museum. He pretty much forgot about puppy the entire time we were there--I ended up being the one to tote puppy through the museum--but then as soon as we got in the car Parker realized that puppy didn't get to play any of the instruments. Maybe next time.

Little Explorer

A huge Thank You to Grandpa Niki for putting this awesome jacket together for Parker with patches from all of our stops on our Great Alaskan Tour! Parker looks like such a cute outdoorsman in it, and we will be sure to keep adding patches from all of our future travels. I'll hopefully be putting some photos up here soon from our Alaskan cruise that we took a few weeks ago, stay tuned!

Daddy's Shirt

This shirt used to be Jared's when he was a little boy! I didn't realize that Parker had already grown into it! We'll have to see if we can find a picture of Jared wearing it when he was little.

Puddle Jumpers

After several weeks of on-and-off rain, we finally bought Parker some snazzy new rain boots! He was so excited to stomp in all the puddles with his new stegosaurous boots, although we quickly realized that they tend to slip right off his feet pretty easily! I guess that means he won't be outgrowing them too soon, which is always a good thing. The rain stopped and the sun broke through late this afternoon, so we headed to the backyard for some photos, baseball, and tractors.

(In case you're wondering, Parker's holding his new favorite obsession--mommy's dainty "do it herself" hammer that he loves to bonk things with! We'll hopefully be phasing this particular "toy" out of his realm of consciousness soon...)

The Start of a New Year

2009 got off to a good start! The weather was pretty cold, so we got all bundled up to play outside...or just took the fun indoors!

Going for a Winter Walk

Here's Parker all bundled up for an evening wagon ride/walk to check out the Christmas lights in our neighborhood.

It Keeps Getting Better

Just when it seemed like Parker already had the most awesome sunglasses ever, these came into our lives...

Go Take a Long Walk...

...on the Oceanside Pier! We got all bundled up and went for a walk on the pier tonight. We watched some night surfers and checked out the creatures that the night-fishermen were pulling up--some fish, rays, and starfish. I think Parker looked pretty cool in his warmies.

It's Election Day!

Whoever wins this election could potentially be President until Parker is almost 10 years old. I hope that he can grow up with a notion of who a president can be, and what they can be like, that is different from what any generation has known before him. I can't help but think about how this election can impact Parker's childhood, as he learns about U.S. history and government in school some day... Don't forget to vote!

His Future's So Bright...

...he's gotta wear shades. Got Parker some new sunglasses today. 'Nuff said.

Happy Halloween!

I was SO proud of Parker for wearing his costume and accessories today! He's usually not a "dress up" kind of guy. We pulled together a pretty good cowboy outfit for him, and he had a ton of fun playing with his friend Emily and learning all about trick-or-treating (that is, learning that he doesn't actually get to eat the candy...I guess you could say that's the trick). In fact, I think Parker has been having so much fun lately that it's about time he had a boring day at home and fell asleep early.

Work It!

Parker really likes trying on everyone else's shoes right now. He picked these out from my closet himself--hey, at least he's got good taste!

Surf's Up!

We went to the beach after work tonight for some sunset play time. You can definitely tell that "summer" is officially over: the beaches are empty, it's getting dark earlier, and the air is much cooler on the water. Parker caught his first wave today! He's also saying surfboard now instead of calling it a boat. Thanks to Grandpa Niki for the cool new rashguard suit--I really think it helped to keep Parker warmer!

Relaxing With a Good Book

Sometimes, the house gets very, very (eerily) quiet. A quick peek from the kitchen discovers that Parker has climbed up into this big chair all by himself and is sitting very quietly "reading" to himself. It's wonderful!!