The Journey of Parenthood…

Monthly Summary – March and April

I did what I never thought possible, I forgot about a monthly summary post! Oops! I totally missed the month of March and once I realized it I just decided to just combine it with April…so here’s a nice long post (that 99% of you won’t fully read) to catch myself up on what Kye has been doing!

Monthly Summary: MARCH

Ice Activity: I saw SO many other moms trying this out so we did it too. You simply stick your kid on the floor with some bowls and cooking utensils and let him go to town with ice. It works as entertainment, for a little while. He gets over it pretty quickly (but he’s a boy so that’s not a shocker). I’d still suggest it especially during the summer when things can get boring pretty easily!

His favorite part was transferring the ice back and forth

Our bath: Kye was the first person to test out our new bathtub! Zach and I decided not to spend the money on a fancy jetted tub as it’s something you can always upgrade down the road and we rarely take baths anyway. I’ve used it a couple times since Kye tested it out, and it’s a nice size and I love the natural light from the window!

Going to work!: Kye enjoys announcing that he’s “going to work!” He’ll tell us bye-bye and take his little briefcase with him to start his job. I’m not sure what his official title is, but he has a laptop, 2 cell phones and must wear a stethoscope while completing his tasks.

He multi-tasks like his mama

Mr. Potato Head: Out of ALL the gifts he got from his birthday, Mr. Potato Head is his favorite. Good to note for anyone needing to buy a gift for a 2 year old! It’s under $10 and provides countless entertainment!

Puzzles: Kye can master all of his puzzles very quickly and with ease. He enjoys doing them and has also started to like the legit type puzzles where you have to fit the pieces together. Of course that type requires help from me right now, but I like seeing him focus and concentrate. I think puzzles are wonderful as a tool to prepare for school!

Cars Outside: In the spring Kye LOVED taking his toy cars outside. He’d ask everyday if he could take them out and he loves pushing them down the walkway towards the pool.

He’ll drag his basket of cars from the house

Driving them on the wall

This shake and go car is so fun!

Love this picture

Eating outside: Once spring started we also started taking meals and snacks outside. I LOVE having a covered porch and we really put it to good use. It’s the perfect place for Popsicle eating (I use vegetable juice to make the pops so he’s getting added nutrition)

We often have family feasts on the back porch too

First hamburger

Dancing: We have Spiritual Enrichment groups through church and we meet up once a month to eat and visit together. It’s a great opportunity to get to know other members at Central. On a recent meeting Bryan, our preacher, busted out his guitar and played some songs. Kye was ADORABLE. He loved it! He cheered for each song and begged for more then would dance through the entire thing. He’s the youngest person in our group and the next youngest is a little girl who is probably seven or eight. They became fast dance partners and entertained us all with their moves. It was especially cute for the elderly people in the group (it’s mostly elderly people in the group we’re in) as they really enjoy watching young kids!

Also, he’s started to dance a good bit in the car…here‘s a video of him doing some type of “foot dance” to Britney Spears.

Cars: Kye will play cars from sun up until sun down. Non-stop. It’s all he wants to do. He’s obsessed!!!!!! When he plays with his cars he doesn’t do what is typical of boys and just make them say “beep beep” and crash into stuff. He plays with them like they are people and makes them talk and such. I love listening to the conversations he makes his toys have. Here‘s a video of him playing with some of his toys and making them talk about church, precious!

Peanut Butter: He comes by it honest. I LOVE peanut butter and so does Kye! He loves it on crackers and will open up the little cracker sandwich (as he’s doing in this picture) then get all pumped to see the peanut butter inside. Can’t you tell he adores it?

“Sneakin'” Grapes: I’m a stickler for cutting things up pretty small, I’m not sure at what age you stop doing this but ever since Kye choked once (and Zach semi-panicked over it) I’ve just been careful. I probably don’t need to still be cutting up his grapes so I don’t mind that he likes to “sneak” whole ones while I’m cutting them up…here’s a cute video!

Sensitive Eyes: As a blue-eyed kid I guess it’s very normal for him to have sensitive eyes, but it can be annoying too. Bright lights or the sun really bothers him. First thing in the morning when he wakes up we can’t turn on the bathroom light b/c it’s “too bright mommy.” We keep sunglasses for him in both of our cars and he wears them often. He’ll also ask to wear them when playing outside. It’s a good habit to get into really, it’ll help minimize wrinkles for later in life 😉 And doesn’t he look so stylish wearing them?

Grilling: Kyehave to wear them whenever you cook. So silly!

Yogurt: Like peanut butter, Kye could eat yogurt every meal if I let him. He is very into dipping his fingers in it and licking them off…awesome.

Here‘s a video of Kye enjoying some yogurt and saying “mmmm it’s goood”

(it also shows how often he says “huh?” SO annoying!)

During the month of March Kye was also doing the following:

  • He can kinda sing, both the “clean up” song and “happy birthday”
  • Gramma has been teaching him how to do somersaults
  • He is becoming very good with his manners, saying “thanks” and “thank you” on his own very consistently
  • Has become VERY attached to Mommy. He’ll cry and cling to me when I go to leave and has a hard time leaving me for Bible Study class on Wed and Sun
  • Daddy has taught him how to wash himself in the bathtub with his rag and how to scrub his shampoo in his hair
  • He’s starting to communicate that he has to use the potty. We RUSH when he says it to get there and we often make it before he wets 🙂 He is wearing underwear to bed and during naps now and does pretty well…he’s had a LOT of accidents but it’s normal and expected since his body can’t hold a full bladder for too long. Sometimes he wakes up wet but we’re working on him telling us if he has to go.
  • Kye can now pray on his own for meals and he will say: “Jesus, thanks. amen”
  • He knows actual character names now from his movies and will talk about Bob, Larry, McQueen, Mater, Buzz, Woody, and all the other Toy Story gang
  • He begs to go in and out of nite nite time non-stop throughout the day
  • He’s started throwing mild fits when we turn the tv off (which is the reason we’ve started the timer and it really helps!)
  • Still enjoys coloring and can draw circles and zig-zag lines along with straight ones
  • He’s started loving to be held and will follow me around saying “hold you mommy” over and over. It’s sweet but can also get annoying!
  • His “friends” have become very important to him. Since we weaned from the paci he’s been allowed to carry them (a big toy story blanket, decorative pillow from his nursery, and his monkey) around the house. They can’t leave the house. They can’t go outside. They can’t go upstairs. But I think the lack of paci has created a greater attachment which is fine!

Monthly Summary: APRIL


Popsicles: Kye has now mastered sucking the juice from the spout on the popsicle thing. We had this same set when I was growing up and I have such fond memories of waiting for the popsicle to melt so I could drink the juice 😉 It’s fun to re-live such memories through my sons eyes!

Sand: We set up the sandbox in the backyard and Kye has enjoyed playing in it! I put several seashells we found last summer in it along with his beach toys and just let him go to town. Unfortunately, he doesn’t last too long because the gnats are SO bad!!! They practically swarm the poor kid 🙁

This picture shows how much his teeth have changed, he has NO gap between his top two teeth anymore (here’s a post showing how big it used to be)

gnats starting to swarm…

time to go in 🙁

Bread: Kye’s current food obsession is bread. We eat the Nature’s Own Whole Wheat kind (soooooo yummy!) and he’ll eat it by the slice. He especially loves open-faced sandwiches (Sedgley lingo for a piece of bread with peanut butter on it…). He’ll typically use his finger to eat off all the peanut butter then eat the bread. Here‘s a video of him eating his bread (and asking for the movies he wants to watch while saying “huh” a thousand times haha).

Straws: We still use take and toss cups for Kye. They are cheap, easy to take on the go, and disposable when they get yucky. I don’t plan on changing anytime soon, but we do have Kye use a straw when we eat out (he always gets a kids sized cup of water) and when I make smoothies I’ll give him a cup of his own serving. He always feels like a big boy when using a straw, can’t you tell?

“look at me!”

“I’m too cool for this”

Teething/Swim Exhausted: During this month Kye started teething (I guess he’s getting in his 2 year molars but I still don’t see any yet…although he complains about them hurting very often) and we were going to swim lessons every day (very detailed post to come!). Those two weren’t a good mix. Poor kid was constantly tired and worn out. We were out running errands and for the first time since he was a tiny baby he fell asleep in the car not during nap time. It was like 11! Nowhere even CLOSE to nap time! It was so sweet though I ended up driving around and letting him sleep as long as he needed. It was a little cat nap, but a cute one. Especially since he had drainage (thanks again to teething) and had some awesome snoring going on!

Here‘s a video of the action!

Movies: Kye goes on a favorite movie kick (typical for this age) and for a long time it was Letter Factory. During the month of April is was Veggie Tales and now it’s Toy Story 3. Here‘s a video of how crunk he gets when the Veggie Tales song comes on! I’ve been letting him choose the video he wants to watch during his video time (I set a timer for 30 min while he watches so it doesn’t matter if the video is longer) and he enjoys the process of selection. Here‘s a video of him choosing!

First Freckle: Did you know that you’re not born with freckles? I never really thought about it but it makes sense…you don’t see babies with a bunch of freckles everywhere! I guess the develop over time?  I noticed Kye’s first one near his ear and it’s so cute to me. It just is a little something to make him, him ya know? I love that someday that little freckle will be something no one even notices but that I’ll always know it was the first 🙂

Dancing Machine: Now that he’s night trained and wears underwear to bed we don’t really dance anymore after bath so he enjoys doing it at random parts during the day. Here‘s a video of one of our dance sessions. It cracks me up whenever I watch it!

Golf: Since moving in the new house it seems like we don’t get outside as much as we did at the old house (kinda strange seeing as we have a WAY bigger yard!). I try to encourage Zach to play golf with Kye when he can as I really do like the sport (at least better than all the others!) and like that Kye enjoys it so much. Zach took the time to take Kye out recently and he still enjoys it, but not as much as he used to. He was more into throwing the balls and playing with the balls than actually perfecting his swing, but they had some good guy bonding time!

 I love that my husband is learning to take pictures during activities!!!

First Bath Together: I’m not a believer in bathing with your child. I am cool with being naked around him (if you know me personally, and you’re a chick, then you’ve probably seen me naked yourself…I’m not overly modest about it) but I just think bathing together is strange. I’ve never bathed with Kye and Zach has only done it a handful of times when he’s been dirty too and needed to shower off. I have had Kye in the shower with me before, but never the bath. Kye wanted to randomly take a bath in our tub at like 10 am, sooo not bath time. I was sleepy (hello early pregnancy!) and thought why not? So I put on a bathing suit and hopped in with him. It was pretty fun, for the 10 min it lasted 🙂

Here’s what else Kye was up to in April:

  • He can now also say his prayers before bed and I LOVE it. He will say “Jesus thanks…” then list people. He says Colt about 50 times per prayer. I need to try to video it! 
  • The Parker competitive streak is starting to show as he loves to race and will say “ready…set…go!” then he’ll say “I’m gonna beatcha!”
  • FINALLY!!! After 26 months on this earth my child can say “LOVE YOU!” he still doesn’t say “i love you” and will only say it when we tell him too but whatever, I’ll take it!
  • After we tuck him in for bed at night he’ll talk and talk and talk to his “friends” or to himself. It’s pretty funny!
  • He is in his big boy bed and does wonderfully (post to come soon on that!)
  • We’ve started having Kye help clear the table and he’ll take his plate and cup to the sink after we eat. It results in a lot of messes, but I think it’s valuable for him to learn young that he needs to share in the household responsibilities
  • One of the cutest expressions he says is “it’s better.” If he gets hurt he’ll have me kiss it then say “it’s better” I love that
  • Sometimes he has a rude streak that we’re working on. He likes being the center of attention (wonder where he gets that?!?) and will interrupt and say “SHHH!” to get the floor. Not cool!
  • We no longer do Magic Breakfast 🙁 He got too smart for it. I’ll be doing a post on that soon!
  • As I mentioned earlier, he’s very obsessed with Toy Story 3. He calls it the choo-choo movie (as the opening scene is a choo choo) and can quote it!
  • We use a timer constantly around here for things, especially for video time
  • I think he’ll be a good big brother as he LOVES to share. He will try to get us to eat his food non-stop. 
  • Kye’s favorite part of the day is eating meals as a family. He always wants to eat together and I’ve started to eat with him during all his meals instead of using that time to get things done. He loves talking and sharing and just sitting together. I love that we are instilling those values so young!
  • My favorite word he says is “outside” because he says it soooo country and it makes me laugh. He says it like “outsiiiiiiiiide” haha
  • His top lip is permanently (or at least it seems like it) split open. He messes with it ALL the time. And it’s tough to heal b/c it keeps re-opening. We’ve tried putting chapstick and such on it but nothing helps. I guess time will heal it!
  • He’s starting to understand the concept of time and will commonly use the phrases: “in a little bit, in a minute, later, etc” He may not fully understand it but it’s a start!
  • Kye and I have our own routine before he goes to sleep (for naps or night). After our prayers we hug and kiss and say “one more” a bunch of times to sneak in extra hugs and kisses. It’s one of the highlights of my day as I know he won’t be wanting to hug me and hold me forever!!!

There you have it! It doesn’t hurt my feelings that majority of you won’t read this b/c I know my mom will and I know Kye will someday too 🙂 I’ll get more on track with this, I promise! 

Emily Parker
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