Food Separation

I posted this on a forum but thought I'd add it to Parker's blog as well.

Am I the only crazy that does this? When Parker eats his meals, I always make sure to separate all of the different foods into their own distinct piles. Maybe I'm creating a mini-OCD monster.... but I'm convinced he likes it this way. :)


Here's Parker sporting some more new clothes (I think this outfit is from Aunt Claire, Uncle Shawn, and Kellen)! The pinstripes are gangsta.


Sometimes Parker and I chase eachother around the living room and into the kitchen. He turns around to see me coming, squeals, and then keeps going. It's pretty funny. Here he is making sure I'm chasing him.

Here he is reacting after I caught him.

And here he is being silly.

Parker rules!

Parker's Boy Band Debut

Here's Parker in one of his new birthday outfits! He's also practicing the choreography for his upcoming music video.

It's Gotta Be The Shoes!

The other day Parker and I went shopping for shoes! He has a number of different pairs ranging from little baby shoes to toddler shoes, but none of them seem to fit his feet quite right. His right foot seems a bit puffier than his left foot, and it never actually fits into a shoe. So I took him to Kiddie Kobbler where he was measured and fitted for his first ever real pair of little boy shoes! He has size 5 wide feet, and we ended up picking out a super cool pair of Stride Rite runners. The best part about Kiddie Kobbler was that they took a photo of us buying his first pair of shoes and printed it on the spot! It's pretty sweet. Here are some photos sporting his new shoes as well as a new birthday outfit.

Day At The Park

The Kingston and District Safety Council held their third free child car safety clinic today, so we thought we'd take our stuff down to get it checked out. It turns out that Parker is tall enough to have his seat facing the front instead of the back! Yay! So here's a photo of Mr. Faces-The-Front in his car seat enjoying the view of the front for a change! Yay!



We also went for a nice walk at Lemoine Point today! The weather was perfect and the trails are pretty nice (and easy for a stroller to ride along). Here are some photos of us getting our walk on:



Lemoine Point has plenty of trilliums. We didn't let Parker near them, because he'd pick them, try to eat them, and then have to go to jail.


It's hard to see (I didn't want to get too close) but there's a tiny chipmunk on the top left-hand corner of this giant rock. Parker likes chipmunks. And birds. And cheese.

The Official Weigh-In

Parker and I went to the doctor the other day because he was supposed to have his final immunization shots, but he's been a bit under the weather lately so we re-scheduled the appointment. It turns out that Parker had the roseola virus. He started getting a fever just before the weekend, and then he developed the little rash on his body and arms. It didn't seem to bother him too much, though, because he still had a great time at his party. I think it's finally clearing up because he's starting to get back to normal Parker! Yay!


We weighed him and his official weight at 1 year is 25 pounds, 3 ounces. I guessed that his weight would be around 27 or 28 pounds because he feels pretty heavy, but he has always felt heavier than his actual weight. His height is just over 31 inches, so he's getting tall, too! It's really noticeable when he reaches at things (like the doorknobs, or the items strategically placed in the middle of our table-tops that are no longer as strategic).

Photopalooza!

Yesterday for Victoria Day, we took a trip to the park to feed some ducks! They were kind of shy, and I think I know why -- the seagulls are total badasses. They swooped in and took all the bread before the ducks even had a chance! Oh well. At least some form of feathered animal was able to eat our left-over bread. Parker also enjoyed some swings! It's nice having Mommy home on Mondays!

Going for a little stroll with Mommy's help.

Parker looooves the mirror in the front hallway. He spends a lot of time making faces at himself, kissing himself, smacking himself, and dancing for himself. He's a one-man show!

Before we went out, Parker thought it would be fun to walk around under the table for some reason. He's juuuuust small enough that he can stand upright without hitting his head! There are my legs, hard at work updating Parker's blog.

Parker checking out the water with Mommy. The ducks were shy.

Aren't they cute together?

Evil seagulls snatching delicious breads from starving ducks.

Parker loving the swings.

Parker loving Mommy's swing-pushing skills!

Parker Looks So Old!

I stole this photo from Kellen's Blog because Parker looks so old! He looks like a little boy! And Kellen looks ready to party like it's 1999.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Yay! Parker is officially a one-year old now! His birthday was Friday, May 16th! I was out of town shooting a wedding, so April's mom came over to babysit for the day, and then we had a family birthday party today! I'll post some pics in a bit. Thanks everyone for making the trip to help us celebrate! Here's a slideshow of photos from the afternoon:

http://garrettelliott.com/blog/?p=24

And here are some individual photos as well (pretty much in reverse chronological order -- sorry!):

Aunt Tracy is craaaaazy! And Parker likes crazy.

Parker sporting his new Nana sweater/jacket! It kind of looks like chain mail! Thanks Nana!

Parker testing out his new tow truck walker thing! It has so many buttons and makes the craziest sounds..... I think I spent more time playing with it than Parker.

Parker's cousin Connor is good at sharing! Yay for sharing!

Parker checking out the mini-birthday cake.

Parker clapping after eating a bit of cake, although I don't think he really liked it. Strangely enough, he prefers peas, brocoli, and watermelon.

This cake is made of PEOPLE!

The big, main cake, complete with Happy 1st Birthday Parker in Times New Roman font. Okay, it's not Times New Roman. But it still looks nice. And it tasted nice, too!

Super awesome card from April's cousin Ali! Thanks Ali! Parker was thoroughly impressed.

Parker coming in from the deck with Mommy with a funny look on his face and sporting his birthday outfit! Hooray for argyle vests!

Parker and Mommy opening a present.

Parker testing out the new chair he received from Nana and Papa! It matches our furniture, which is kind of scary. Now he can recline and watch the NBA playoffs with me!

Thanks to everyone for coming and all of the awesome gifts and for making Parker smile so much! There will be many fashion shows (masculine ones, of course) in the near future with all of the new clothes!

Things I've Learned About Being a Stay-At-Home Dad

Here are a few random things I've learned since being a stay-at-home dad with Parker. Most of these things would have never crossed my mind before we had a baby, but now you notice the weirdest things.

1) When grocery shopping, the best parking spot in the world is right next to the cart-return-thing. It doesn't matter if the cart-return-thing is in the far corner of the parking lot; it's still the best spot. When you get out of the car with your baby, you can grab a cart quickly, put him in, and toss his bag of goodies in as well. Then, when you're bringing your groceries out, you don't have to go far to put the cart away while your baby waits in the car seat ready to go.

2) Line-ups suck. I was at the post office today with Parker in his stroller, and 5 seconds before I got there some guy with a 7-foot box showed up. All 3 employees were helping him, but none of them seemed to be doing very much. They didn't seem to know how to mail it. Eventually, one of the employees said, "I'll keep working on this, you help all the other people in line," because by now there was a 10-person line-up. The entire time, I was hanging out with Parker and giving him drinks of water and making goofy faces, but in my mind I'm thinking, "Don't have a melt down! Don't have a melt down! HURRY UP POST OFFICE PEOPLE." Luckily Parker very rarely has crazy fits in public, but that still doesn't quell the paranoia. Plus, babies can smell the fear.

3) Babies eat a lot. Now that Parker is almost one year old (his birthday is this Friday! Yay!) he eats soooo much food. I think he eats more than we do. Well, maybe not. But he eats a LOT. It seems like we're always going to the grocery store or CostCo to get more supplies. It's good to get out and do things, though, especially when we have pretty limited time inbetween naps. Going places helps the time fly by!

Here are some photos of Parker outside on the lawn in his John McCrea (from Cake) hat.

Thanks Nana and Papa!

Here's Parker sporting his Myrtle Beach onesie and mugging it up for Nana and Papa!

(Try to ignore the water stain on his shirt -- it's not puke, or food, or dirt, or anything like that. We bathe him. Honest.)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day to all the moms out there! Parker is hoping April likes the gifts he picked out for her!

Tallest Baby In The World!

When Parker was little (as if he's still not little) I used to stand him up on my shoulders and spin him around going, "Taaaaallest baby in the woooooorld!" in a 1920's Barnum and Bailey circus voice. He'd always laugh and enjoy being 8 feet tall, but now it looks like he actually might be the tallest baby in the world. Well, okay, maybe not the tallest, but he's definitely growing. Check out what he can reach now.





And check out what the reaching and straining does to his feet. BEHOLD..................THE CLAW.

Walking Around Outside, Crawling Around Inside

Since the weather was so nice, we went outside again this afternoon (we actually went for groceries earlier in the day, but I didn't bring my camera.....plus I've probably already taken enough cart photos for now).

Here's Parker touching the grass.

I tried to take a photo of him standing as fast as I could, but apparently it wasn't fast enough for his liking. He still doesn't like the grass as you can tell from his expression.

Walking with Mommy!

More walking with Mommy........this time with ONE HAND! Ooooooo....

Parker inside, being pensive. And sporting some left-over yogurt on his mouth.

He loves hanging out by the baby gate. His new thing is to throw things down the stairs and giggle after they make their way to the bottom.

This is his mischievous smile. Since I was busy taking photos, he didn't think I could stop him from getting to the radio to push the buttons. But I did. I'm like a ninja.

Reading by himself.

Some more reading.


Some more new things for Parker: he points to things with his index finger now. He puts food in our mouths if we bend down near his stash while he's eating. He seems to get a kick out of that. He's saying a few more words now, like mama, book (sounds kind of like cock), quack quack (for duck, but sounds kind of like cock cock), and Ming Ming (which sounds like Cock Cock.....no, just kidding. It sounds like Ming Ming). He's also getting a bit pickier about the foods he eats. Sometimes he just doesn't want to eat certain things, so we're trying to introduce some new things. He loves walking with his Walk-And-Ride and he loves chasing balls around the basement. Oh, and he also loves birds. I think he'll be saying bird soon (or, at least, cock).