Parker is 3!

I can't believe my little Prince is three! I've been blogging about Parker since before he was born. That is crazy for me to think about.  

Current stats: 

Weight: approx 28lbs (10th percentile) 

 Height:  36" long (10-25th percentile) 

Clothing size: Wears 3T
Shoe size: 10

Diapers: Underwear!! 100% potty trained

 

At 3 years old;

... is officially potty trained!! No diapers at night or when we are out of the house. I'm so proud of him. Parker had been using the potty since before our move to Montreal, as long as he was nekkid. He always struggled with telling us when he was wearing underwear. When I finally said to my hubby that we are doing this, we are going to get him fully trained. We picked out regular underwear, some stickers, made a "train" chart and Parker was fully trained within the month. I'm so proud of him and how well he has done since.

...can say his ABC's and counts to 15 in English and counts to 5 in French

...can say quite a few french phrases like, "my name is__," " I'm sorry," " please and thank you,"hello" and "goodbye."

...starting to recognize some letters of the alphabet when you show him in books and also recognize numbers
...recognizes most shapes and colors
...working on tracing letters, shapes and numbers.
...learning to use his scissors to cut shapes.

Parker also has a wonderful imagination. I blogged about his imagination in a recent post about him last month. Though, I think our whole family has been blessed with an overactive imagination. Evenings at our dinner table can become quite interesting, and I love it!

Parker is such a smart little guy, on top of that he is a ladies man! He is always flirting with girls and seems to always have a girl around him when we go to the park. One time he had 3 girls around the age of 6/7 walking him all around the park. Taking him down the slides, swinging him in the swings and building sand castles with him. Just before his birthday we were riding on the bus and I looked over to see him holding hands with a random lady on the bus. Her boyfriend was chuckling. It's kinda odd and cute at the same time. Nolan and I always joke about it. I guess we will be keeping a very close eye on him as he gets older.

Happy Birthday Parker! We love you so much :)

31-ish days of Parker: Imagination

Sometimes I have to remember that when I don't have much to say, my pictures can speak for themselves.

Parker's imagination knows no bounds. From playing airplane to trains or crawling around the house being a kitty. He can make a plain ole' boring hat something amazing! A blank piece of paper becomes a ticket to ride the Polar Express or a ticket to visit a chocolate factory. A red rug into a lava pit and the only "safe" areas are the couches. I just love it!

31-ish days of Parker: First year favorites!

I just couldn't resist going back to Parker's first year and posting some of my favorite pictures! It was so much fun to see how much he changed.


 Parker 1st month:
 

Parker's 2 month:

 Parker had a HUGE growth spurt his first month!

Parker's 3rd month:

Parker's 4th month:

Parker's 5th month:

Parker's 6th month:

Parker's 7th month:

Parker's 8th month:

Parker's 9th month:

Parker's 10th month:

Parker's 11th month:

1 year old!!

31-ish days of Parker: Silly things he says!

Yes, yes...I know, I have missed a couple days of posting for this, but I'm hoping to get back on track.

I know I have shared this before, but Parker is a pretty silly little guy. Since he started to talk, he began to say some of the funniest and cutest things. As his speech becomes more and more pronounced his sayings get sillier and cuter.

Just today Parker was playing with his cars and shouting, "Choo-Choo!" Over and over and over. Finally, daddy tells him to use his inside voice. Parker responds, "but I'm singing the choo-choo song!"

Recently, Daddy started playing the "Guess what" game with Parker. Basically, Daddy asks Parker, "Guess what?" In which Parker responds, "What?" Daddy says, " I love you." For the first time the other day Parker reversed the role and asked daddy, "Guess what?" It was so cute to hear him be so sweet.

As you can imagine dirty diapers and potty's aren't that uncommon in our household, but having a willing person change said diaper or clean out the potty is another story. All of a sudden it seems like everyone is REALLY busy once Parker or Eliana poop. So we adopted the, "Not it" game. I bet you know how this one is played. A couple weeks ago, after Parker went poop on the potty, he walked out of the bathroom and yelled, "not it!"

31-ish Days of Parker: A first glimpse

I found out January 17th 2010, that our family would become a family of four. I think I took over 20 tests because I was so excited! I can still remember the morning I took the pregnancy test. I couldn't believe I was holding a positive test and I remember jumping onto the bed to wake up Nolan and show him. Crazy that it has now been over 3 years since that morning, it feels like it was just yesterday. 

A women's body is truly amazing. Something so tiny, at one time he was just a little blip, and he has changed our  lives forever. 

This is one of my favorite belly photos from my pregnancy with Parker. Believe or not, I love being pregnant! My body, however, doesn't feel the same way.

My favorite ultrasound of my little prince. I remember when the tech talked about the cord being wrapped around his neck and how it was completely normal. I would rather not have heard something like that. I love how clear you could see his face though.

31-ish days of Parker: Singular moments

Parker turns 3 in exactly 31 days! For the month of August I wanted to try to write a small post about him everyday. Talk about how he's changed so much and how amazing of a child he is. Now, on to the first post.

I was riding on the bus heading to a doctor appointment and I noticed a father getting on the bus with his four boys. The youngest looked about 2 and the oldest maybe 7 or 8. Each of them clean and nicely dressed(other than the press-on tattoos all over their arms.) They sat down quietly, talked and giggled amongst each other. A couple of stops before my stop, they all politely got off the bus, each thanking the bus driver on their way out. I was seriously mesmerized and I couldn't help, but be insanely jealous that this gentlemen had four of the best behaved boys I have ever met! I had a flashback of all the times Parker misbehaved while we were out and I was at a loss as to what I was doing wrong as a mom and what I could do to get my child to behave the same way!

I got off at my stop and I had a little time before my appointment. The doctor's office is located in the same building where my husband works so he met me and we talked to pass the time. I told him about the father and the well behaved boys that I saw on the bus, and I brought up my frustrations about how we could get Parker to behave like that. My husband reminded me that Parker is a very well mannered boy and reminded me of all the times we've received compliments about his good behavior. He said, "You only witnessed a small glimpse, a single moment, of those boys. Sure they were being good at that time, but most likely they aren't that way all the time."

My husband was right! It made me feel so much better to think about it that way. Parker IS a wonderful child. He's polite and has great manners. He is silly, smart, imaginative and he is very loving. The moments he is being defiant and challenging are few and far in between. It's just something I will have to actively remind myself every time I'm in a situation like this. And when Parker wants to go in public wearing giant red car shoes, no shirt and dirty pants...I should be okay with it because he will only be this age for a small time.

I love you my little Prince....

Wittle People Wednesday: Parker's Wonka invitations and an update!

Can you believe it?!? Parker will be three in a little over one month!! We took the kids to the park to take some pictures. My wonderful Parker was being silly as always when he sees the camera come out. I couldn't resist sharing some of the "blooper" photos from our little session.

Just a small update on his stats! Parker had a small growth spurt length wise in the past few months. He still seems to be hovering between 26-27lbs. Crazy he has been at this weight for almost a year now!

Current stats @ 34.5 months: 

Weight: 27lbs  (5-10th percentile) 

 Height: 37" long (25-50th percentile) 

Clothing size: Wears 3T/4T

 Shoe size: size 9

I purchased the template for this invitation from this blog. When I saw the invite I HAD to have it. Within this blog post there is a button that says "buy it." Click on that button to purchase the invite. It cost $2.50 for the template. I was able to make edits to the actual invite using the free PDF software call Foxit reader. The Adobe reader wouldn't let me make any changes, so that is why I used Foxit instead. The invites were printed locally at a print shop. They did an amazing job!!

I'm seriously overly excited for this party! Willy Wonka is a show I've loved to watch for as long as I can remember. Parker now watches this movie nearly every day. He randomly sings the songs as he is playing in his room. He calls every piece of paper a "golden ticket." He is as obsessed as I am.

Finally, I was able to get a couple cute photos I could use to send with the invites!

Wittle People Wednesday: Sewing for boys

Linking up with Ramblings and Photos  for, "Wittle People Wednesday!"

It's starting to get warm here in Montreal and I realized that I had only 1 pair of shorts for Parker! I went to the store and clothing here in Montreal is much more expensive than in the states. On top of costs, most of the shorts have buttons/snaps and zippers and we are working on potty training Parker. I wasn't planning on making shorts, but I came across a cute pattern for cargo shorts. I was able to find the perfect fabric at the local fabric store and 2 yards of this fabric was less than what it cost for ONE pair of shorts at the stores.

 You can find this pattern at this ETSY shop. It was an instant download. Easy to read directions with pictures and quick to sew from start to finish. My favorite thing about these shorts is that they don't LOOK homemade. I don't know why, but I'm kinda picky about that.

 Of course, boys will be boys...they didn't last 5 minutes before Parker decided he needed a sand bath. I was far less concerned because I didn't spend a fortune making them and I loved that he was having so much fun.