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!

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?!?!?!

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!!!!