Halloween Party at Preschool

Parker's "preschool" had a little Halloween party today, which was lots of fun. He dressed up as a "construction guy" ("Parker the Builder?" "Handy Parker"?), and did a great job wearing his costume--he seemed to be really happy about it. It helps that he's already pretty stoked to wear his tools when he's at home :) The kids made "goodie bags," and the moms all brought "treats" to fill them. We had a little costume parade and took lots of pictures. Parker broke into his goodie bag as soon as we got in the car, managing to stuff his face with a delicious blueberry muffin before we even made it home. Fun times!

Off to Pre-Preschool

I started taking Parker to a really great parent-toddler "preschool" in our neighborhood this fall, offered by our local community college. We go once a week for about two hours; Parker gets to experience a preschool-type of structure, while still having me there with him to help ease him into the process. I also get to listen to really helpful "lectures" given by a very experienced early childhood educator, so it's a win-win for both of us! We are both really enjoying it, and I really believe that Parker is blossoming just from the little bit of structure, stimulation, and interaction with other kids. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that Parker is definitely ready to start preschool--I'm going to start researching and hope to find him a great school to start at next fall.

(He was excited to bring his backpack with him to school today--he put some of his favorite race cars and his brachiosaurus inside.)

p.s. Finally got him a haircut! He's looking so handsome.

Finally, Some Major Progress!

Yippee!! Finally, things are coming together in the bathroom. The tile was completed last week, I sealed the grout this weekend, and then Parker got to take his first bath in a nice big beautiful tub in our own house! Awesome. I'm sure we'll be finishing up lots of little details over the next month or so (like installing a sink, for example!), but life is finally beginning to return to normal around here :) And I'm happy to say that everything is coming together beautifully.

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 :)

Feeling the Strain

Once we finally took out the toilet, we became unable to spend 24 hours a day at our house. We have been extremely fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time at Paige's parents' house in Carlsbad, but this also means that we spend quite a lot of time coming and going from different places, which has really thrown off Parker's schedule and has been exhausting for us all! One evening, the extent of Parker's exhaustion finally showed--he had refused to take a nap this day, and as I was busy in the kitchen making dinner, I looked down to discover that he had absolutely fallen asleep right on the kitchen floor!! It was so sad. He was so tired. And we now have indisputable proof that he definitely still needs a real nap every day!!

Not Part of the Plan...

Last week, as Jared began to take down the last remaining wall in the bathroom, we encountered the first in a string of many surprises! Parker and I were playing outside in the backyard when I heard an "uh-oh" from in the bathroom...I ran inside to see what was wrong, and discovered that a sheet of plywood was all that separated Parker's room from the bathroom! The wood was in fact the back of an old built-in bookcase in his room...needless to say, the entire bookcase was torn apart, and Parker's room had a surprise "en suite" bathroom for about a week! Roomy :) It also contributed to additional mess, craziness, and work, as we had to move most of his belongings out of his room and cover up the furniture that was left so it wouldn't get too dusty. However, I'm seeing this as a positive development, as I can use it as an opportunity to repaint Parker's room with some new "big boy" colors!

Freckle Kiss

I never realized I have so many freckles! :)