Tomatoes

Parker loves my tomato plants.  It is a constant battle to keep him from plucking off one of the large green ones in front.

So, the other day, I picked a red tomato & handed it to Parker.  He took hold of it & went at it like it was an apple.

If his teeth were a little more formed, I think he probably would have eaten it too.

But, they are not, so once he realized that he couldn't actually eat the tomato like an apple, he started bouncing it like a ball.

Yesterday, I let Parker pick a few from the cherry tomato plant.  We discovered that with his new teeth, he can actually eat the tomato whole, without me cutting it.  So, I would hold the stem, he'd put the whole thing in his mouth, and then crush it with his teeth, sending tomato seeds spewing out of his mouth.  Which is how he ended up like this:

The Fair

Several years ago, we learned to never go to the fair on the weekend, so since then, we've usually taken a day off & headed down to Puyallup.  This year we thought we'd try out the first-day free-admission.

We've since learned to never do that again.  It was PACKED, and it took us two hours to drive down (a trip that should have taken an hour).

But, traffic aside, we had a great trip.

Parker got to sit on a tractor (he didn't really care), and Keith got to show Parker his very favorite part of the fair...the Grange exhibits.

Then we headed over to the cabin.

It was so nice to just relax after a rather long week (and Keith only worked three days)!

Weaning

This week Parker has informed me, in no uncertain terms, that he is no longer interested in nursing.

You picked a poor week to do this little guy, I'm already weepy with my baby growing up and turning one, now there's really no denying that you're getting all grown-up and I'm really not prepared for this.

Although I never really had a date in my mind of when I'd stop nursing (I actually never thought I'd make it past three months), it's still snuck up on me completely unprepared.  I worked so hard to make it possible, I honestly would have nursed him forever (well, maybe).

So, this week I'm grieving the "loss" of my tiny baby and acclimating to my new toddler (though he is not yet technically "toddling").  I have a feeling that the next 18 (20, 25, ...whatever) years are going to be filled with these sort of moments as my baby boy strives to grow and I try to keep him the way he is.  Geez, they say parenting is hard, but I didn't expect the emotional upheaval as you reach each new milestone.  (Sorry to be so melodramatic, I've seriously been a basket-case this week).

In probably-related news, Parker's teeth 4 & 5 have made their appearance.  They're present, if not visible, here:

Previously, all of Parker's teeth have come in one-at-a-time with 1-2 months between each appearance.  Having two (and one more on the way) appear within 24 hours of each other has been traumatic, to say the least.  Hopefully this last tooth will come in and Parker can ease off a little on the crankiness.

Swinging!

Parker received a swing for his birthday.  Monday afternoon, Keith put the swing up.  It's under our deck, which is a great, handy place for the swing, but it makes for pretty lousy photos on a bright sunny day.  Not to mention that it is a swing, which, by definition is in constant motion, so sorry the photos aren't my best.

I'll spare you the nauseating video we also shot.

But, photos aside, Parker LOVES the swing.  I actually thought for a minute yesterday that he might fall asleep right there in the swing (no such luck).

He especially loves when you tickle his tummy as you push him.  As soon as you push him, he'll start clapping, which, in addition to clapping, is also often his sign for "more" (it tends to work both ways).

Kruger Family Camping Trip

I believe I've mentioned before that I don't like camping?  It's not the camping so much that I don't like as the sleeping on the ground in a tent that I'm not such a fan of.  I do, however, like to go places, and with our current travel budget ($0), camping looks to be our only option.  So, we thought we'd ease ourselves into the whole camping-with-a-baby idea by attending the Kruger family camping trip this year.

The Kruger family has an annual camping trip every summer. Last year we just went down for the day, seeing how Parker was 10 days old at the time.  But, if you're going to go camping, this is the trip to do, Keith's Mom does all the cooking, so we get great food without all the hassle (for me at least, not so much for Joanne).

 

Parker had a great time playing with all his cousins and getting as dirty as possible.

He even got to sit by the campfire, although he did miss out on the s'mores.

Amazingly, Parker actually slept fairly well, so maybe we'll give it another try next year.

We also celebrated Kyla's fifth birthday.  I can't believe how quickly these little ones are growing!

More Parker & Fiona

I'm a little behind on uploading photos (although you'll never know since I sneakily back-dated the post), but here are the photos from the afternoon of Fiona's visit.

I left Parker alone for a minute to take care of Fiona and found him here:

I'm learning that we need to keep the door to the den closed or Parker makes a bee-line for the computer, he loves it under there.

We didn't get around to pulling out the swimming pool, but we did get to spend some time outside in the sunshine.

I had to put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs.  As soon as we were outside, Parker was trying to climb up the stairs.

Fiona was content to cheer Parker on.

And we wonder why I have a rosemary plant on my Christmas/Birthday list every year...

Visit with Cousin Fiona

Parker's cousin Fiona has come to spend the day with us.

We spent the morning "sharing" toys, binkies, and sippy cups.  And by sharing I, of course, mean "stealing".

We had breakfast time together (thank goodness for that 2nd high chair).

It's pretty funny watching these two eat.  Fiona is a very dainty eater, taking one blueberry at a time.  Parker is eating food by the fist fulls.

After breakfast, they discovered the sippy cups and had a grand old time trading them back & forth.  I probably should go mop the kitchen floor since I'm pretty sure there is more water now on the floor than either of them got in their mouths.

It's funny watching the two of them.  Fiona is three months younger than Parker, but in many ways as far developmentally; she started crawling the same time as Parker, she has more teeth, and even started clapping about the same time as Parker, although Parker is now (finally) bigger than Fiona.  When Parker woke up they were having a clap-off to see who could clap better.

But when Parker started crawling, you could see the age difference, when he got going, he left poor Fiona in the dust.