No Fear

I am constantly amazed how the same two people can create two completely different children. During the last few months, I have come to the conclusion that one is not better than the other, just different. I would never want one to be more like the other, for then I would lose some of the things that I have come to love about the one. Below is just one illustration of how Parker and Eden have shown us that they are completely different.

Parker is not a risk taker. He will not try anything new without me being right beside him. I often have to just force him to try things knowing that he will like it once he tries it. He also gets frustrated very easily, usually wanting to stop something the moment it gets difficult.

Eden is the complete opposite. She will work on a task without fussing or giving up until she accomplishes it. It may take her three or four tries, but she has the persistance that allows her to keep going. I never have to force her to try something because she has usually already tried it when I wasn't looking! For an 8 month old, she has no fear! (It will be interesting to see if this characteristic stays the same as she gets older!)

A few days ago while Parker was still napping, Eden became very interested in his car. She tried and tried to climb into the driver's seat. After several minutes of letting her try, I knew that she wasn't quite coordinated to get in on her own so I put her in the driver's seat.

After sitting and learning how to honk the horn on her own, she decided that there were other things she could do in the car, like stand in its seat! Without any help from me, she figured out how to turn around and stand up. Like I said, for an 8 month old, she has no fear! I have a feeling that Eden, even though she is younger, may be the first one in our family with a broken arm!

Playdate with Jackson

I had really good intentions at the beginning of summer to have my good friend Emily and her son Jackson over for multiple playdates. But here it is, the next to last week of summer vacation, and we finally had our first playdate. So much for good intentions!

Emily and I are both reading specialists at our school. We share the same classroom and I have really missed getting to see her on a daily basis. Parker and Jackson are only 5 months apart, so it is nice to have someone who is in the same stage of parenting to go to with all of my questions and worries. I always value her advice and treasure her friendship.

Parker, Eden, and Jackson had a fun time playing together today! They are all still in the stage of parallel play where they do their own thing in the same room. There were only a few times that we had to play referee, usually because Parker was having a hard time sharing. One thing I will never understand... why in a room full of toys do they all want to play with the same thing!?!

One thing that Parker and Jackson have in common is their love of cars and driving! Jackson spent most of his time playing in the car. These two are going to be dangerous when they turn 16!!

Parker and Jackson are both going to be starting Thursday school in the fall. It would be so fun if they ended up in the same class! I can't wait to watch the two of them grow up together. I look forward to many more fun playdates in the future.

Wordless Wednesday

Jumpin' Apes

I would love to say that we had another day of nice weather, but unfortunately the heat and humidity reared its ugly head again. We still had a fun and busy day despite the fact that we could not go outside. My brother-in-law was on shift today, so Emily and the girls came to spend the day with us. We had already planned on taking the kids to a new (indoor and air conditioned) bounce house place that just opened a week ago. I took Parker last Friday to check it out and it was wonderful! It is called Jumpin' Apes and I would really recommend it to anyone in the area looking for something fun to do.


Jumpin' Apes had at least 10 different jump houses and/or slides for the kids to choose from. The ones with slides ended up being both of their favorites. I would have thought that most of the slides were going to be too big for our kids, but Addison and Parker quickly discovered that with a little help from their moms, they could go down any of the slides.

The best part about the place is that they had an area set aside just for toddlers. The area had 3 smaller jump houses that they could manage without our help. The floor of the toddler area was padded with foam mats so Eden was able to crawl around comfortably. They also had several toys that the she could play with. The area was enclosed so they couldn't escape and there were benches for Emily and I to sit on while we watched them play.

Eden in the toddler area

The kids had a great time playing jumping together today! I was very impressed with everything and we will definitely be going back again soon.

Cory got off work a little early and was able to come join us for a little while.

Aubrey fell asleep to the sound of the jump houses

Fun Day- Part 2

Mondays are very long days for me. It is Cory's late night at work so he doesn't usually get home until the kids bedtime. I usually go over and eat dinner with my parents on Monday nights, just to break up the day and give us something to do (and I won't lie...the extra set of hands to help with the kids is nice too!) This week, however, my parents are on vacation, so yesterday I was with the kids by myself all day.

We spent the morning playing at home and the kids were excellent. They shared their toys and played so well together. It is so fun to see them interact more and more the bigger they get. Eden is so interested in everything that Parker does, and wants to try to do whatever he is doing.

During their nap time, I decided that I was going to have to get out of the house and do something fun. Being cooped up in the house until bedtime was just not an option! Luckily, the weather was so nice yesterday. The temps were in the low 90s with a nice breeze and lots of clouds. I feel like we have been prisoners in our own house with the 100+ degree weather the past few weeks, so this cooler weather was such a blessing, both for me and the kids.

We left soon after their naps for the park. One thing that I love about Cleburne (and there aren't too many things!) is the park. It has a great park with a great playground and a stream with lots of ducks and turtles to feed.

I was a little nervous because I have never taken both kids to the park by myself before. They showed me very quickly that I had nothing to worry about. Eden was PERFECT- she sat in her stroller for over an hour and never made a peep. She propped her feet up and was perfectly content to sit and look around, play with a toy, and eat a few snacks.

Parker was just as good as Eden. He played independently and didn't even complain when it was time to leave. I am also happy to say that his fear of slides is completely gone.

After dinner, we went outside to play and enjoy the nice weather some more. Parker rode his bike and Eden sat on hers.

Doesn't that look on her face just say "I am such a big girl!"

Parker also enjoyed riding on his roller coaster.

The evening ended with several wagon rides up and down the street. On a side note, can I just say that there is nothing like pulling 2 kids up a hill in a wagon to make you realize how out of shape you are! I really need to get back to the gym!

Daddy finally got home just in time to help give baths and read stories at bedtime. I had such a wonderful day with the kids and hated to see it end. I hope the weather will stay nice for the rest of the week so we can get outside some more. This will definitely go down as one of the best days of the summer!

Fun Day

You know you've had a fun day when at the end of the day your feet look like this...

And the bath water looks like this when you start...

And this when you finish!!!

I will post later about the details of our fun day. Right now, I'm off to watch a movie with my husband!

Parker-isms

I have been so worried about Parker's speech development. At the beginning of the summer, he was still only saying a few words, and most of those were distinguishable only by me. My sister, who is a speech therapist, kept telling me not to worry, that his speech would come along in it's own sweet time.

I have been absolutely amazed at how in just the past few weeks his speech has grown leaps and bounds. He can now mimic almost anything Cory and I say and is picking up several new words every day. Yesterday he came up with rainbow, flower, and throw without any prompting. He also counted from 1 to 10 yesterday. I have no idea where he learned those...I have not worked on that at all!

He still mispronounces many words and if you heard him, you would probably have no idea what he is saying. Cory and I joke that we now speak Parkernese. I am so afraid that I am going to forget some of the funny ways he says things, so I wanted to make sure I wrote them down before he starts saying them correctly! Here are just a few of the things you might hear if you came to our house right now:

ga-key = water (We have no idea where he got this one, but he is very consistent with its use)

bummy or hop-hop = bunny

bubby= buddy

E.E. = Eden

Au-gu = Aubrey

hick = horse

hickies = more than one horse

niggy = piggy

scoo me = excuse me- he says this every time he burps. Proof that it is never too early to start working on manners.

Big guy yellow = McDonalds

Beeg = big... everything right now is BIG something-or-other (big ball, big truck, big shoo (dirty diaper) big kick, big throw... I think you get the idea!)

Oh, mo! = oh, no (He has actually started saying this one correctly, but it was so cute when he used to say it that I didn't want to forget it)

I am sure that this is just the beginning of the funny things that he will come up with over the next several years. I've waited a long time for him to start talking and I can't wait to hear them all!