The Sweet Taste of Success

Yay!!! Parker reached an important milestone yesterday--let's just say that he's finally one step closer to potty training. We are so excited--Jared had promised him that if he...used his potty for...well, number two...that he could choose any chocolate to eat from our box of See's candy. Every day for the last couple of weeks he would peruse the candy box and imagine which chocolate he would eat when he finally did the deed. So, I made sure to catch his celebratory indulgence on film and in some pictures--here's the video. However...we also had to make a special trip to Toys R Us after this to pick out a new tractor. That, in fact, was the real motivator that finally got him to accomplish the big one--I promised him that afternoon that if he used his potty, he could go to the toy store and pick out any tractor he wanted. Now, Parker is REALLY into tractors right now, so he wanted to get a new one SOOO badly that it was what it took to finally make this happen!

Pool Time!

Now that we have a pool in the back yard again, it feels like summer is officially here! Actually, it means that June is over, so now we finally get to see the sun again and it's warm enough to get naked and start splashing! Although, Parker seems to be a bit unclear on the concept of a "swimming" pool, as the first thing he did was throw every single toy he could find in the back yard into his pool until it was completely full, and then proceeded to throw every single toy back out onto the grass. No wonder his swimming classes aren't going so...swimmingly.

Snoozing in the Red Bed

Mimi (Dee) passed an adorable little toddler bed on to us last week, and even though we weren't necessarily ready to move Parker out of his crib (he has always slept great in it, and has never seemed to want/need to move on to a regular bed), we thought it'd be fun to set the toddler bed up in his room to help him eventually transition to a "big boy bed." Well, Parker didn't pay much attention to the "red bed" for the first couple of days, but then after asking to take a nap in it one afternoon, he has been sleeping in it since--both for his naps and at night time! He somehow made the transition instantaneously--I think he has been sleeping in the red bed for about three full days now, and hasn't asked to go back in his crib yet. We still have the crib set up in his room, so it's a little crowded in there--at some point I think we'll just have to accept that he has moved on and take the crib apart! He sleeps great in the bed, too--actually, he has been napping for almost three hours now, and I can't get him to get up!! Honestly, I think that he hasn't realized that he can get out of the red bed anytime he wants to--he still calls for us to come get him up in the morning, and we have to call back that he can just get up!! So, we haven't had to deal with him getting up a hundred times at night when we're trying to get him to go to sleep--and hopefully it stays that way! Now I'm just a little nervous about the prospect of him getting up and wandering around at night while we're asleep...!!

New Fishing Pole

At 2 years, 4 months old Parker is on his third fishing pole! He got really good at casting his old one, but the reel finally broke and his dad decided that moving up to a new pole made the most sense. So we checked out a few "kid sized" poles, but Parker had his heart absolutely set on the "Bat Man" pole! It came with his own little tackle box, which we filled up with some of his very own lures. We headed out to Lake Morena in the Scripps Ranch area just to check out a new lake and find a place for him to try out some casting. Didn't catch any fish, but he started getting used to his new, longer pole; there is also a paved/unpaved trail around the lake, which is about a 5-mile long bike ride. The weather was beautiful and we got some much-needed exercise.

Sugar Cookies

For some reason, I had been obsessed with the idea of making sugar cookies with Parker (with colorful icing and all). We found some cool cookie cutters--a dinosaur, fire truck, and lobster--and went to town. Parker is really into wanting to do everything himself lately, so he got a try at the rolling pin, cutters, and of course the icing. He gravitated to the black icing right away, and decorated each of his cookies with a huge swath of black! (It took me a little while to realize that I had to just let myself go and let him have fun, since that's what the activity was all about!) Yummy!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a super fun Father's Day in San Diego this year. Dee and Niki scouted out a perfect hang out spot on a little beach in the bay on Point Loma looking out at Shelter Island. Nate, Lisa, Alex, Kristina, Jim, Lanea, Diana, Grayson, Grandpa Don, and Andrew were all there, too, and we spent the whole day playing in the sand, splashing in the water, going for boat rides (Jared brought his boat and beached it right at our spot), and eating lots of food and cake (it was also Alex's 8th birthday!). After weeks of heavy June gloom, the sun came out all day and we had a gorgeous San Diego Sunday. Can't wait to do it again!!

Kiss Your Catch

Parker is seriously mastering his casting skills! He's going to be amazing by the time he's four. As soon as he gets on the boat, the first thing he wants to do is cast, and he just does it over and over and over. We went out for a quick boat ride while Uncle Ian was in town for Paige's graduation, and had some beautiful sunshine and warm weather. Jared caught a few small bass, and Parker isn't shy about checking them out. Be sure to release your catch after you kiss it!!