Monday, December 17, 2007

Getting Ready for Santa

It has been a while, so I will try and update as best possible. Things have been really hectic for us since Thanksgiving, as I am sure they have for everyone. We went to Paducah the day before Thanksgiving, and came back to Nashville late Thanksgiving night. We spent the rest of the weekend at home and with our families. The trip to Paducah was our first "roadtrip" since we got the DVD player for the car, and it was a MIRACLE! A huge thank you goes out to the inventor of the portable DVD player, you have saved us a lot of screaming, stress and headaches :) Parker is now an excellent car rider....95% of the time! I never thought I would be one of those moms with the DVD player going in the car all the time, but hey...ya do what ya gotta do when ya gotta do it. Ya know? Here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving.



With Daddy at Thanksgiving

With Mommy at Thanksgiving

Since then, we have been busy getting ready for Christmas. We decorated the tree, which Parker really enjoyed helping with. He was very excited the first time he saw it, and loved pulling all the ornaments out and taking them to the tree. He wanted all of them to be hung on the bottom in the middle, right at his reach of course! We tried to put the "soft and unbreakable" ornaments on the bottom...just in case. He has actually done really well not messing with them, and prefers to go up and give them all kisses. We also put him in his little Christmas outfit to try and snap the "perfect shot" for the Christmas card this year. Boy it is tough to get a 20 month old to stand still in front of the tree and smile! So, then there was the trip to see Santa. I was really expecting this to be quite traumautic...for both of us. He actually did better than I thought, but it was still pretty funny. I let him walk up to Santa, and Santa asked for a high 5. Parker gave him 5, was smiling at him, laughing, etc. Santa gave him a toy to play with and he loved that too. SO, Santa said it was time to try and put him on his lap. Oh brother, once we did that parker LOST IT! He was not having any part of that. So, santa put him down and said that we would try something else. He pulled a chair up next to him, and had Parker sit on my lap instead of his. I told Santa that I did not want to be in the picture, and his exact words were "Don't worry, that's what technology is for, we'll crop you out!" What a creative and hip Santa he was :) If you look real close, you can spot a portion of me...but, for the most part, you really can not tell. I almost wish they would have just taken the screaming shot though. Every child needs a screaming Santa picture...don't ya think?
Anthony and I were able to go up to Louisville for Deon's annual Christmas party, and we had a really great time. Parker has also had some playtime with a few of his friends lately as well. He got to go see his friend Ethan when he was in town, and they had a great time playing. His friends Lana and Calvin came to see him also. It had been about 6 months since the three of them were together, so it was really cute to see them all interact now! They are at such a fun age!
My mom is still keeping Parker on the days I work, which has been an absolute LIFESAVER. We are on a couple of waiting lists for some daycares, and are also checking into some Mother's Day Out programs. We are going to look into things further after the New Year and make a decision on what to do from here. Parker is loving being with his Grammy K though, and they have gotten in their own little routine. He is very happy with her!
So, now it is a week before Christmas and I am 95% done with my shopping, so I guess I am doing pretty good. I'm pretty sure Santa is going to be REAL good to Parker this year, so I'll have to update you on that after Christmas. For now, here are some pre-christmas pictures! I hope all of you have a WONDERFUL Christmas and New Year's!!!


Checking out the tree



Hanging ornaments
Santa's Little Helper
Smiling by the tree



Being "Mr. Serious" by the tree




Picture with Santa...can you find me in the pic??? :)




Ethan kept saying "Just look, don't touch Parker." It was the cutest thing ever! Ethan is so sweet to Parker, and is so nice to share all of his toys.



Parker, Calvin and Lana. It was nearly impossible to get the 3 of them to sit together to take a picture since they are always on the go in different directions! We had to turn on the famous Backyardigans, which only Parker and Lana cared about. So, Parker and Lana are watching their show, and Calvin is working on his ABC's :) Aren't they cute though?


There was no miseltoe around, just some moms who kept saying "give kisses, give kisses." How sweet though!












Here are

Monday, November 12, 2007

Feeling the need to vent...

OK, so after I posted that last blog I realized that I could not give the month of October total justice without the daycare story. I know some of you know it, but a lot of you do not. I am feeling the need to write and vent, so here it goes.

It all started like this. About a month ago, Parker bit a little boy in his class. We were very surprised when his teacher told us this b/c he had never bit before. They told us to work with him at home, which we agreed to do since we wanted to do whatever we could to prevent it from happening again. The problem is, since he does not generally bite at home, it is a little hard to work on the problem. We began talking to him about biting, and every day we would drop him off we would tell him to be good and not to bite his friends, etc. About 2 weeks after that incident, Parker got bit on the arm by another little boy. He did not bite the little boy back, so we were happy with that and thought that we were making progress. They did tell us that their policy was that if they broke the skin, they were automatically disenrolled from daycare-PERMANENTLY! The director told me it was a state mandated law, and I believed her. UNTIL- I found out from talking to some friends that it was not a state law, and just their own particular law. I confronted them about and they tried back pedaling their way out of it, and said that they would know before it got to that point with Parker, and it would probably become a recurring problem, and they would work on it and not let it go so far as to break the skin. They also reassured me that they did not feel like Parker was an agressive kid, and for me not to worry too much. I felt better about it, and every day that we would pick him up from school we would ask how he did and if he bit anyone. Every single day they would tell us "No, he did fine."

I started having a few other "issues" with his daycare in the midst of all of this. Once he moved up to his new class (18-24 months), they started sleeping on cots and they would not let him take his pacifier. Parker ONLY takese a paci when he sleeps, and is VERY reliant on it. Anyone that knows Parker, knows that if he does not get his nap- he is NOT a happy boy. They started telling me every day that he screamed and would not go down for a nap, and I kept telling him it was because of the pacifier. They would not budge on their "rule" which meant that every night Parker got home he was REALLY fussy b/c he was so tired. We obviously plan on weaning him from the paci one day, but at the age he is now his pacifier is his comfort, and he does not understand why he can not have it when he sleeps, and why they would not give it to him. I just had a real problem with that, but honestly did not know what I could do about it.

Well, flash forward to October 31st...Halloween. I put Parker in his cute little pumpkin shirt, dropped him of at daycare and waved bye-bye. I was so anxious to get done working, so that I could pick him up and we could get home to get ready for our Halloween party. Unfortunately, I got a call that morning from the director saying that their had been a "little incident." (little incident- her exact words). Come to find out, Parker had bit a little boy just minutes before and had broken his skin. I was in shock at first, and didn't even know what to say. She told me that she had put Parker in a crib so he could not "harm the other children," and that I needed to come get him. For good. I started crying on the phone, and the 1st thing I was concerened about was the other little boy and if he was OK. She said he was fine, and had calmed down by then. I next asked exactly what happened leading up to this event and she said "As far as they knew, they thought Parker just ran across the room and bit the kid on the face for no reason." As far as they knew??? Why did they not know for sure what happened??
To top this all of, as I am on the phone, crying, driving and trying to get to him as fast as possible , she springs something else on me. Here is approximately how the conversation went-
"We have another issue. We put Parker in time out after he bit the little boy, and he showed no remorse whatsover. He was more concerned with getting up to go play than he was for what he did or being in time out. Most kids his age cry in time out and feel sorry for what they did. Parker does not respond to time out, and we believe this might be a developmental problem. You probably need to call his doctor to talk to him about it. We feel like he is right on track developmentally with everything else. He follows directions, plays well with the other kids, has a good vocabulary, etc. But when it comes to time-out and discipline, he is not on track." This upset me even more, and by the time I got there to get him I was a mess. I didn't know what to say or what to ask. They just handed Parker to me, with 2 kroger sacks full of all of his stuff and told me "they were so sorry to do this, but the rules are the rules. Please keep in touch though." So, off Parker and I went...we left the daycare, for good.

OK- now here are my issue with all of this. I do not think that parker biting that little boy was right. I am in no way trying to justify his actions or make him sound like an innocent angel. I know biting can be a serious thing with kids his age, and I never wanted to be the mom that had the "biter." HOWEVER, I also know that biting at his age is an age appropriate thing. Sometimes that is the only way they know how to express themselves. Some kids pull hair, some kids hit, and some kids bite. This was only the 2nd time that Parker had EVER bit, and it also happened to be the time he broke the skin. I have come to find out that every daycare has a policy about biting (which they should), but none I have found so far have one as strict as this. I feel like they basically gave up on Parker and did not want to work with him. If he had been biting frequently, and I felt like they were trying to work with him and work with us on it, and they were just at their witts end with it, I would feel different. But, how is a 19 month old suppose to learn that it is wrong, if you do not take the time or the effort to work with them on it?

Secondly, I was very upset with the accusation that Parker had a developmental problem. I called his doctor once we got home, and talked to them for a long time. They could not believe everything that had gone on at his daycare, and were quite upset with the way they handled things. They reassured me that every child responds to discipline differently, and that it was not uncommon for time out to not work at his age. They also told me that they had never been concerned about Parker at any of his well appointments, and did not think this was a matter of developmental problems, rather a matter of figuring out what kind of discipline Parker responds to best. Not just when he bites, but when he misbehaves in general. This is something that Anthony and I are now making an effort at home to work on. I want to make sure that we are doing EVERYTHING in our power to help him to understand that it is not OK to bite, and for him to learn his boundaries and limitations.

Needless to say, it has been a huge emotional roller coaster. I think we have gone through every emotion in the book over this. I can not stop thinking about the little boy he bit, and how I wish that I knew who it was so I could call the mom and apologize. I hope and pray he is doing OK. I can not stop thinking about some of the things the director said to me on the phone, and how they handled things. I can not stop thinking about how they gave up on Parker and made me feel as if I had this evil child who just runs across the room biting kids for no reason whatsoever. I can not stop thinking about in general. There are still days that I can not believe that it even happened.

Anyone who reads this and has a child that has bitten before probably totally understands where I am coming from. You have a totally different view on biting once your child has bitten. Anyone who is reading this that has a child who does not bite, or has not bitten yet, is probably thinking "If my kid got bit at daycare and the skin was broken, I would want the biter kicked out also." Trust me- I have gotten all kinds of opinions throughout this. I will NEVER judge a mom or a kid because their kid is a biter after this incident, and I have a whole new outlook on it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I am just sharing mine. This is my child. He is not perfect, he bit 2 kids at his daycare, and sometimes he does not take you seriously when you tell him no. He is also a child who is loving, happy, thriving, and loves to give wet sloppy kisses. That's my Parker.

I have to say- we are trying now to look at this as a blessing in disguise. Due to some of the other issues we were having with his daycare, we really do feel that it is best that he is not there anymore. Who knows, maybe Parker was really unhappy there also, and it was his way of "lashing out." We will never know the whole story or have the answers we want. The bottom line is, it happened. We are currently in the process of looking for a new daycare for him. I am taking my time this time and not going to settle until I get him in somewhere that we are all more comfortable with. We have visited several places, and are on some waiting lists, so please keep your fingers crossed that we find something good. (So far every place says that they will let him have his paci when he naps, which I am happy about) Thank the lord that my mom is feeling so much better, and is able to help watch Parker. I do not konw what we would do without her right now. We are also really blessed that Anthony and I have flexible enough jobs that we can be with Parker on days that my mom can not do it. Between me, anthony and my mom, Parker is being well taken care of until we can find a new place for him.

Well, this has been the longest thing that I have written in a LONG time. I have to say, it is quite therapeutic writing about it and getting it off my chest. I hope I have not put anyone to sleep :) So, that is the story of how the month of October ended!!! Let's hope and pray that the rest of the year is a little less eventful. Thanks for listening (or reading) and thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!

Love,
Stacey

The zoo, the farm, the monkey business

I have to say that we had a very exciting, fun-filled month this October. We got to do several fun "fall activites" as a family that we all enjoyed very much! We took Parker to the zoo early in the month for the 1st time, and he LOVED it! We ended up being there for about 3 hours, and he did great the whole time. He especially loved the elephants, the monkeys and the birds! We had such a good time, that we ended up buying a membership, so I guess we'll become regular's there! We also went to Gentry's Farm with Paw Paw and Grammy K to pick out our pumpkins and have some fun. Parker had fun running around like a mad man, doing little activities, going on a hayride, and picking out the pumpkin! Finally, it was time to put him in the monkey costume and head to our next activity. We went to a Halloween festival with Giggie, Poppy and his cousins. They had a great time going around to the different tables, and dancing to the music. On Halloween night we had a little Halloween party with both sides of our family. Everyone enjoyed some food, fun and trick-or-treating! The kids had a great time- and so did the adults :) It was cute to see Parker this year a little more "into it." I know he still does not totally understand, but he still had a good time loading up his bag with candy that eventually everyone else ate :) Here are a few pictures from all of the events! Enjoy.
1st trip to the zoo








A day at Gentry's Farm




I dont know why this picture is so small, but it's basically just Parker looking at the animals!



With PawPaw and Grammy K




The fam at the farm




Our little monkey on Halloween- he's always up to some monkey business, so it was pretty appropriate!





With his cousins Hannah the scary Vampire, and Ethan the pumpkin!




With Giggie and Poppy at the Halloween festival










Friday, October 5, 2007

Life with our 18 month old!

Well, it's official. Parker is 1 1/2 years old! I can not believe we are half way through his 2nd year. If the next 6 months go by as fast as the past 6 have, he is going to be 2 before we know it! I can't believe it!
As many people know, and have told me, he is ALL BOY!!! I use to say that he was such a laid back baby, and so easy going. Now, the boy does not stop. He is like the little energizer bunny and just goes, goes, goes all day long. He is constantly exploring, playing, or getting into something. He can also be Mr. Serious at times too. He is a very curious and observant little boy. You know when he is being this way because he immediately puts his Mr. Serious face on. Anyone that knows Parker well, knows exactly what face I am talking about :) He has also learned SO much since he turned one. His vocabulary seems to increase every day now, and he amazes me at the things he knows and says. He understands pretty much everything we tell him to do, and some of his favorite tasks are throwing things away in the trash and putting his toys in his toy box. Each night before bed we tell him that it is time to put his toys away and go night-night. He gets SO excited to put everything away, and puts his toys in there one by one. When he is done, he is ready for his bath and to go to bed! We are very lucky because he has alway been such a good sleeper. He still takes 2 naps a day on the days he is home with us, and still sleeps 12 hours at night. We can not complain in that department for sure!
Now, I have to be honest here and give this little blog some fair balance. Yes, Parker is still our little Munchkin and he is amazing and fun MOST of the time. BUT- we do have our really hard and challenging moments with him too. For instance- THE CAR. Parker HATES riding in the car. This all started right after he turned one. Everyone told us it was a phase, and it was just because he was so active and did not want to be confined like that. Well, here we are 6 months later, and he STILL hates it. We are really starting to think that this is not a phase! We have tried EVERYTHING we know to make him happy in the car, but we are open for suggestions as well! We are also starting to deal with the full blown temper tantrums and him testing our limits. I thought this didn't start until the terrible two's???? We are doing the best we know how to control these, but it is hard at this age as well.
So, there you have it. There is a summary of Parker at 18 months. Our all boy, mr. serious, talking and learning, great sleeper, terrible car rider, temper tantrum throwing little munckin!!! You gotta love him!!! I know we do!
Here are a few pictures from the past month or so!
Parker still LOVES being outside. This is at the little playground in our neighborhood. We really enjoy taking him over there and letting him get some energy out!

Just another cute picture from the playground!!




I'm pretty sure he learned this trick from his mommy, driving and talking on the cell phone. He loved playing in this car at his friend Jake's house!



Oh, the things that they find to play with. This is an empty package of computer paper that he managed to pull from the trash and decided to wear as a hat. He found himself quite amusing! (Please excuse the massive drool on his shirt. We are having an outburst of teeth coming in right now!)





Parker decided to go on a late night drive in his PJ's in PawPaw's Miata. Don't worry...we made him wear his seatbelt :)



We took a trip up to Louisville this month to visit some friends, and Parker got to play with his friend Ethan. Ethan is 10 months older than Parker, and this is the 1st time they have really gotten to "play together." They were SO adorable. Ethan was so nice to share all of his toys with Parker, and they had a blast together!





This is the most recent picture of the playgroup kids. They are all walking now, I mean running, and it is CRAZY when we all get together! It has been so fun to watch them grow and change. We love getting together with everyone and still try and do it once a week!




He LOVES going to Anthony's softball games. He even started saying the word Baseball! His friend Kaleb lets him use his ball and bat, and we have been working on his throwing and hitting skills. After he hits the ball (with assistance from his mom of course) he loves to go chase it! I guess we are going to have to get him a bat of his own!







"

Friday, August 31, 2007

Parker's true love...other than mommy and daddy of course!

I can not believe Parker is 17 months old today. I truly do not know where the past 17 months have gone. So much has changed over the past 17 months, but one thing has remained the same since he was about 4 months old. Parker's love for The Backyardigans. Thanks to a great suggestion from Deon, we started tuning in and recording episodes on our DVR. Even back then he was hooked! He would just sit in his swing and stare at the TV throughout the whole episode. We tried not to put him in front of it all day or anything, but it sure was nice when we needed to get something done or if he was fussy. We could ALWAYS count on Pablo and his friends to save the day. Parker's love for this show has not gone away, it has just gotten stronger. He now gets so excited about the show that he lets us know when he wants to watch it. The TV will be off, and he will point to the remote, then point to the TV, and then go grab Pablo and show it to us. He sometimes even says "Pablo." Even though it sounds a lot more like "Pa-bo," but we get his point. When the music starts up he squeals, gets so excited and immediately starts dancing. He likes to spin around in circles like they do in the beginning. Every time there is music, he has to dance. The rest of the episode, he will just stare at the TV in amazment, and smile or laugh at parts that I guess he thinks are funny. There are certain episodes he seems to like better (and ones that are mommy and daddy's favorites too), so we really wear those out and watch them a lot. Some may say that letting your children watch TV is a bad thing, but I personally believe that letting them watch the right programs, for the right amount of time, is a great thing...for the kid and the parents! We are all fans of The Backyardigans at the Collins house, and they have saved the day on more than one occasion, and I'm sure they will do it again! I think his love for Pablo is adorable and very entertainig, so I just thought I would share it with you!!



Here he is back in the day when he could still fit in his swing! This is the Surf''s Up episode, which is a favorite for all of us!!!


Dancing with his pacifier




Dancing with Pablo







When there is no singing going on and he can't dance, he gets as close to the TV as humanly possible!




Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Uh-Oh Spaghetti Oh's I'm so cute!

So, we are trying to master the art of "self-feeding" these days. Up until now, feeding himself with his fingers, or us feeding him with the fork or spoon, seemed to work just fine for him. For several months we would scoop the food on the utensil and then let him put it in his mouth. Well, now Mr. Independent has decided that we CAN NOT feed him anything, and he must do it all himself. It has been a messy experience letting him explore and try on his own, but a funny one as well. We have let him feed himself lots of different things, and he is actually doing really well and picking up pretty fast. Before you know it, he is going to be an "official self-feeder!"
SO- "Spaghetti night" has always been a favorite for Parker, so you can imagine how excited he was to do it all on his own for the 1st time. So, we gave him a "big boy bowl" of spaghetti, a Go Diego Go fork, and let him just go to town. I couldn't believe how fast he shoved that spaghetti in, and how big some of his bites were!! Needless to say, Cooper had a field day trying to lick up the scraps afterwards from the complete mess Parker caused. It was so worth it though, because he was just so darn cute! Of course- the camera was close by to document "Spaghetti night!!

Here he is stuffing spaghetti in as fast as he could. He would open his mouth SO wide in anticipation of the next bite!

It takes such concentration to become a self-feeding individual!!


Who wouldn't be proud of such a big accomplishment, and a big sloppy mess that they created?!?!?!








Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Moments from around the house

He took a really bad fall early this month as you can tell from the first picture. I had just opened up the fridge, when he came running towards me, tripped over my feet and hit his head on the side drawer of the fridge. OUCH!
It was his "biggest bump" yet :( He was a trooper though. It was mommy that couldn't calm down afterwards :)


He has also found a new love for corn on the cob. Not corn off the cob...forget it, he wont eat that. He'll go to town on the cob though!
HE LOVES IT!!!





"I did such a good job!"





I have to give Cooper some major credit, he is SO good with Parker, and Parker just does whatever he wants to him. Aside from tugging on his ears, climbing on top of him and pulling his tail, Parker also enjoys giving him big hugs!








These are just 2 of the many faces of Parker that we see on a daily basis. The first one is the "I'm sad because I just threw my paci on the floor on purpose so my mom will pick it up" face!




AND...This is the "I got my way, my mom did what I wanted" face!


You gotta love him though!!!!



Sunday, July 29, 2007

This time with pictures

Here are some pictures to catch you up from his 1st Birthday until now!!

Parker's 1st Birthday- a big celebration for everyone!

Checking out his basket from the Easter Bunny



Memorial Day Weekend at the Lake


Parker's friends Lana and Calvin!




Playgroup- Maria, Jake, Parker, Charlotte and Gray. They are all good pals, but the moms enjoy getting together a lot more than they do at this point :)






Cool Parker in the car





Our family in Mexico Beach, FL this June....a WONDERFUL vacation!







Enjoying a little fun in the sand!









More fun in the sun!







Parker LOVES Cooper. Cooper is so great and gentle with him. He pretty much lets Parker do whatever he wants to him. They are so funny together!











4th of July at the Lake- headed to watch the fireworks!











Parker at 16 months- the most recent cute shot of him :)