Ugly Doll

The other day I saw some Ugly Dolls (which I have always thought were pretty cool) so I picked one up for myself Parker. It's super soft and has little arms, legs, and ear-things that he can chew on in his never-ending quest to fit things into his mouth. The Ugly Doll is called "Big Toe", I guess because he's fairly toe-shaped. Here's a pic of the doll (real ones with Parker coming soon)!


Edited to add more photos.

The showdown.

More Random Photos

Here are some photos from the last few days:

Bundled up because it's getting colder!


Pensive (yet chic) Parker.


Happy Parker! He looks like Rocky, ready to get in the ring. Except for the giant smile; I don't remember Rocky smiling and being cute towards Ivan Drago (although that totally would have caught him off guard).


I think this shirt is cool because it has drums on it, and I used to play in a band (or two, or three).

Be Cool, My Babies

April is in Toronto all weekend so it's just the boys hanging out! Here's a photo of Parker dressed in his beatnik turtle-neck (although he doesn't have much of a neck, really). All he needs is a little black beret and a single lit candle and he would be ready to groove, baby. It reminded me of this classic Looney Tunes cartoon. The fact that this cartoon is even available proves that everything ever can be found on the internet. Cool, man. Cool.

PHOTO!!!!!

Hmm. I had problems merging the YouTube video with a photo, so here's the photo in a separate post.

Peas are gr055

Today we fed Parker some mushed-up peas! Mmmm. Sounds appetizing, doesn't it? It looks even worse. I took a pretty funny sequence of Parker taking a few bites and making some sour faces, so I'll post a slideshow later on tonight hopefully. I don't think he really liked it judging by the photos, but we're going to try a few more times!

As mentioned, here's the link to the slideshow. If you look closely (actually, you don't have to look that closely) you'll see a bit of fear in his eyes. Maybe some shock. Perhaps a bit of revulsion. Mmmm, peas.

http://www.garrettelliott.com/peas

Parker Bear

I think a lot of parents tend to call their kids Bear, although I'm not sure why. For us, we started calling him Parker Bear because he used to make little bear-growling noises that were super cute, and then it just sort of stuck. It's kind of funny referring to him as "The Bear", and I tend to insert "Parker Bear" into songs all the time (ie. "Ooo eee ooo I look just like Parker Bear. Oh oh and you're little Parker Bear"). If he grows up foraging for honey and trying to hibernate, I take full responsibility. Here are some photos.

5 Things We've Learned About Babies

1. Parker is happiest when he's well-rested. Sleep = good times for all. We've recently been fairly strict with his sleeping and napping schedule because we want him to get into a routine and be able to sleep on his own without interruptions or distractions. We've been rewarded with 13-hour sleeps at night! Best baby ever!

2. After you have a baby, a small rift opens in the space/time continuum, causing you to be late to every appointment you try to keep. For some reason, if you say you'll be somewhere at 10 o'clock, you don't get there until 10:30. We now operate on baby time.

3. People are super nice to you when you have a baby (this also applies to being pregnant). The other day I was at the bank with Parker, and an older woman was walking by and Parker went, "Yeeeeeee!" and smiled at her. She stopped in her tracks and went, "Oh, hello there!" with a big smile and it looked like it made her day. People love babies. Especially cute, happy ones.

4. The simplest things are the most entertaining. He doesn't really care for TV or fancy stuff; he's more interested in licking our faces, or smiling at himself in a mirror. It's pretty easy to keep him entertained and distracted. The same goes for us, too -- Parker can do the simplest thing (like just lay there quietly) but we stare at him and just watch him do stuff. He's pretty entertaining.

5. Poop stinks. Okay, so we kind of already knew that. But you don't REALLY know until you're faced with the daunting task of disposing a loaded diaper. The Diaper Genie is quite possibly the best invention ever (followed closely by GPS, and then basketball).

Hereare some photos (but not of poop). This is Parker's new game with Mommy. It's called "Row Row Row Your Boat". They both sit on the floor facing each other, and as Mommy sings the words, they kind of sway back and forth a bit. He seems to like it!

Elliott Boys

Here's the Elliott boys being cute.

Well, one of us is being cute, anyways.

Random Observations

1. For about two (or maybe three) weeks, Parker was completely obsessed with rolling over. Every time we would put him down on his back to play (he has a little play mat thing that has been in a few photos in the past with Sheepy and Buggy and other y-named friends) he would try so hard to roll himself over, straining and grunting and breathing hard. He could get his hips across, but could never figure out what to do with his arms or head. He finally figured it out last week and you could totally tell he was super proud, because every time he would roll over he had this huge happy smile. He rolled over at the drop of a hat, spinning to his tummy every time we turned our heads for two seconds, like a ninja ready to strike (but using cute smiley faces instead of shurikens). He even taught himself how to do little baby push-ups and was able to push himself backwards a bit using his arms. So, now that Parker has figured out how to roll over, he's completely dis-interested in it. It's funny how laissez-faire he is about the whole thing, like rolling over is something for 4-month olds, not 5.5-month olds. If we put him on his back, he just stays there, all content knowing that he could roll over.......if he wanted to. But he doesn't. Even though he can. It's kind of funny because he tried so hard to figure it out, and now that he can do it, he doesn't care.

2. His real-boy hair is coming in. He had a mohawk when he was first born, with a strip of pretty thick, reddish-coloured hair on the top of his head. It seems to have fallen out (or maybe dispersed? His head is a bit bigger now) and thicker hair is growing in. It feels cool to rub your hand across his head.

3. He's waaaay better at standing now. If we tried to balance him on his legs before, they would crumple into a pile of cute mush. Now he bounces up and down a bit and can hold himself up (with a bit of support) for a while. We think the Exersaucer that April's mom dropped off has helped a lot. As soon as he can balance on two legs, I'm totally teaching him how to dunk a basketball.

4. Eating with daddy is much messier than eating with mommy.





5. Parker somehow manages to get cuter and cuter every day. Awwwww. :)

This was a long post! Hi Tiffany!

Scary Hallowe'en!

Here's Parker in his first Hallowe'en costume ever! It's ultra-scary, so if you have any young children around you may want to avert their eyes.

He didn't really like the costume that much so we only kept him in it for photo evidence that he was a giant pea pod.

Flashback Photo

Here's a photo of one of Parker's earlier adventures. He was in the womb in early December, chillaxing in some amniotic fluid.

Hi Jennifer M!

Spoon!

Parker ate his first solid foods today! We picked up a high-chair recently, so he was hanging out in the kitchen being all cute, and we decided it would be cool to see if he'd eat solids or not. April picked up some rice cereal at the grocery store and it was a huge success. April was saying that a lot of books and forums say babies don't like to eat solids at first, but Parker took to it right away. He didn't even make much of a mess, which was a nice by-product of his successful grown-up-style eating. It was kind of funny, though, after the first few spoonfuls because he seemed to get impatient when April would have to reload for more. I guess that's a sign that he liked what he was eating! Personally, I thought it looked like the bowls of single celled proteins combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals in The Matrix, but maybe to Parker it tasted like Tasty Wheat. Oh, he also ate a little biscuit thing called a "Mum mum". Anyways, here are the photos, complete with baby-thought captions:

"I love Nikon cameras! And also solid foods."

"This is.......different."

"I'm trying to eat and you're all up in my business!"

"I could get used to this spoon thing."

"Eating is good."

Parker Suave

I just think this is a funny photo. Parker likes the ladiez. With a z. From Scott & Gemma's Kingston reception!

Parker-Proofing Our House

Sooooo...Parker is getting REALLY good at rolling over and moving around a bit. He used to be just a cute little lump that stayed in one spot but now he's doing little baby push-ups and trying really hard to crawl. If we turn our head for two seconds he flips himself over and giggles a bit. Since he has Batman-esque physical prowess, we should probably baby-proof our house a bit. April and I keep talking about it and kind of laughing because our house is pretty much anti-baby right now. I took a quick survey and here's what I think needs to change:

1. No more bear traps in the living room. Sure, bears will run rampant and probably ruin our carpets, but it's probably not safe for a crawling baby.

2. Crazy computer wires need to go. That's not an actual photo of our desk (I'm not even sure what that equipment is) but suffice to say, ours looks pretty similar.



3. No more home-based laboratory in our basement. Even though we're super close to inventing some pretty colourful potions, it's just not that safe for Parker. They look like Kool-Aid! Ohhhh yeah!



4. The electric fence around the perimeter of our house should probably go. Or at least be turned down a bit.




Hopefully we can tidy up the house a bit in the next few weeks as Parker gets closer and closer to crawling!

Parker and Abuelita Time

Last week April and I went to New York for a nice vacation so Parker got to stay home and spend time with Abuelita! Unfortunately I don't think any photo evidence exists, but I think there are some puke-soiled shirts as proof. Parker was telling me earlier he had a really fun time and hopes to have more visits soon! He also got to spend the day with Aunt Claire and Uncle Shawn on Saturday while April and I went to a friend's wedding! It's been a busy week for traveling and staying with new people for Parker, but we think it's really good for him to get used to others and have different experiences. He seems to really like people and tends to be in a pretty good mood most of the time, so hopefully he's an easy baby to look after! It's also good practice for Claire and Shawn, since they're expecting a baby next spring!

Edited to add photos! Claire and Shawn took a few while babysitting!

Sometimes you just have to fall asleep on your uncle's chest in front of the TV.

Parker didn't eat any Cheetohs, but he was pretty interested in the crinkly noise that the bag made. Claire and Shawn have a pretty funny video of him playing around with it and reaching for it and stuff.

Sweatpants and no shirt! Ha!

Parker and Daddy Time

Some people have complained that there aren't enough photos of me and Parker (I won't name names but you know who you are) so here are two photos that April took the other day. When you work at home, you can stay in your pajamas all day (which we sometimes do) and you can also have Dragonball Z hair and nobody will know. Until you post photos on a blog.

Thanksgiving Slideshow

Here's a slideshow of photos from Thanksgiving in Brockville.

http://www.garrettelliott.com/thanksgiving

Parker likes people!

Naked Baby Photos

I guess it's pretty obligatory that these exist since everyone seems to have them. Or, rather, everyone's parents seem to have them because if their kids ever got posession of photos of their own little bums, they would all be promptly destroyed. Here's Parker before has bedtime routine tonight.

Random Photos & Stuff

Parker continues to be his normal funny self. We were saying the other day that his smile is so endearing, probably because it's so sincere. When he smiles at you (especially first thing in the morning) his face lights up and he's super cute. A lot of times we'll wake up and hear him cooing or giggling in his crib, and when we enter the room he's just laying there on his back smiling and looking at stuff. When we peek over the side he has a big smile and is always so happy to see us! It's pretty cute. Here are some random photos from our trip to Dresden, some from a few days ago, some from yesterday, and some from this morning!

Here's Parker lounging with Grandpa D:

Parker wearing his Pooh Bear sleeper and holding the keys to his Parker-mobile, Parker-copter, and Hinden-Parker. He can also chew on them for teething.

Looking wistfully into the distance.

Hanging out in the back yard with Nana, eating his hands a little bit.

Parker doing his best Jabba the Hutt impression: "Bring me Solo and the Wookiee!"

April reading to Parker about kittens. Thanks Scott & Gemma! :)

Reading about fish. I didn't bother posting the photo of Parker perusing James Joyce's "Ulysses".

Parker's favourite sleeper with Spider-Man on the front! Yay!