19 Months

I've been a bad blogger. Memorial Day weekend was spent in Columbus swimming in pools, eating El Vaquero (four times), visiting the science center, and a million other fun things. Add in the awesome time at our three mile away from home beach and the damn yardwork and garden at home that could consume my life if I let it get the best of me, which I won't, and I've been MIA.

But now I'm back with Parker's 19 month report just mere weeks behind.

It's been another month of word explosions. Parker tries to pronounce everything we say and a lot of the time the words end up sticking in her vocabulary. This month she mastered:

-nose
-belly
-ah-pit (armpit...random, I know, but she's obsessed with mine)
-boke (broke)
-nuk (milk)
-cunchy (crunchies, my name for wheat germ. I get all excited about CRUNCHIES!!! Parker, do you want CRUNCHIES?!?! and sometimes it's all the push she needs to eat. I felt like a genius the day I figured out the power of wheat germ)
-care (chair. Parker is all about her booster seat and pushing in the "cares" after we're done eating)
-suck (stuck. Everytime we stop the car Parker lets us know that she's "suck" in her car seat)
-snap. Boy do we love to be snapped into things...the booster seat, the wagon, her trike...if it's got a snap, it's got Parker's name all over it
-Seba-a variation of our last name. Sometimes I add our last name when I'm yelling at Sydney to stop barking and it's caught on with Parker.
-duh (door)
-yuck
-asty (nasty, lol)
-ghos (gross)
-bee
-dirty
-kiwi
-oh no-
-sage (massage. Parker has this little thing that attaches to her vacuum that I massage her with. She will lay down on the couch and ask me to massage her)
-i sorry. If Parker bites us (yup, she's in that phase now) and I tell her that it hurts me she sometimes says "i sorry." Sometimes she laughs.
-uhstairs (upstairs/downstairs)
-eh-side (inside)
-down
-birdie
-papeh-toilet paper
-names of her friends at school

Just when I think the girl can't surprise me any more she starts with multiple word sentences. It started off with "up on mommy lap" and progressed to "it okay guh guh Sydney" when Syd was scared at the vet to everything else in between.

Parker walks down stairs by holding onto the stair railing. I didn't get the memo that you're supposed to teach kids how to safely go down stairs until a few weeks ago. Not that Parker would have been down with that. She hasn't been called a risk taker by daycare on occasion since 9 months for nothing.

We've graduated to the mattress on the floor and it's going okay. Parker still wakes up a couple times a night and usually ends up in bed with me. I was missing the late night cuddles though so I'm liking it. Plus I feel like we're making progress so it's time to go shopping for that toddler bed. I don't necessarily expect Parker to sleep through the night by the time baby girl #2 arrives but I would like it if she would let Kris lay her down. Baby steps.

We're working on colors and she knows yellow and purple. She's digging her blankie now and it's about on the same level as Baby Stella. She's into transferring things, like at El Vaq the other night. Parker needed to move the rice between two different plates, That was fun until the plate fell and broke. She loves when we sing Baa Baa Black Sheep and read the $17 paper copy of Brown Bear Brown Bear. If you take anything away from this blog let it be this--do not buy your toddler, or toddlers you know, expensive paper paged books. Unless you like crinkly and torn pages. In that case, knock yourself out.

I can't forget to mention the curls that have been around since 14 months. Oh how I love them.

The pigtails still get me every single time, though I don't like how they make her look like such a big kid.

We've experienced the picky eater side of Parker since around 14 months. I was 100% positive that since I fed Parker homemade, organic/natural food from the get go that she wouldn't stray from my culinary delights of steamed kale and sweet potato fries.

I was so wrong. Some days she suprises me though, like yesterday. I made Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Parker demanded the plain garbanzo beans. She ate a huge bowl. Parker also strayed from her vegatarian ways on Monday and dined on a few pieces of steak. And last night she ate the pasta I made with whole wheat spaghetti, crab, olive oil, green onions, garlic and red peppers. I just never know.

But one thing I do know is that she will always eat corn.

See that thing on the bottom of her plate? It's a Zucchini Tot--delish!

Slow down, pumpkin, you're growing too fast!