7 months

dear mobile little creature,
hello! tomorrow you turn 7 months! over half way to a year, little parks! congrats buddy. you are a bucket of fun! if i could describe your personality right now, it would be a mix of a mellow fellow and bulldozing lion. you stick everything into your mouth--still love those feet, fingers, paper, toys, mom's hair, necklaces, etc.

you are in between the scoot and crawl, but we have to keep an eye on you because you move all around the room. tonight you even crawled from the living room to kitchen when i was out of the room for 2 minutes. good job, parker! it is so cute to see you get up on all fours and rock back and forth and then inchworm your way around.

your vocabulary consists of "ga-ga-ga-ga-ba-ba-ba-ba-cooo--ahh--goooo-arrrhhhhhhhh!" someday you will say "mama" or "dada," and someday you may get teeth. still no signs of anything yet (which means that they will be healthier, right? that is what everyone keeps telling me).

you tried several new foods this month--peas, carrots, sweet potatoes and squash! this was your first month to eat anything besides rice cereal and oatmeal. you are getting much better at opening your mouth and swallowing when we feed you, even if you always make a huge mess.

you said goodbye to daycare when dad finished rookie school, and mom cried the whole way home. mom really liked your teachers there and was sad that you had to leave your "friends." your class made you a super sweet going away card with a picture of each of your friends inside, a framed picture of you with your name on it, and some books and toys. mom knows this is just the beginning of watching you grow up. don't do it, parks! stay my sweet little 6 month old forever!

you went on your first hiking trip at horseshoe canyon this month. the leaves were beautiful, so beautiful that when we tried to go to hawksbill crag it was so overcrowded that we decided it was not worth the traffic problems even though we drove all the way there. we spent the day at horseshoe instead. it was not exactly our weekend as granola-fest was happening the same day. right before this picture was taken dad saw a young woman with full armpit hair belaying another climber. needless to say, he doesn't look overjoyed in the pic.

you, sweet thing, fell asleep in the pack. and that is how i will remember your sixth month. sweet smiles, laughs, and tons of fun. love ya little guy!!!

love,
momma

rahhrrrr!

before it is way too late to post halloween pics, here are a few of parker the (cowardly) lion. all week we worked on his growl and it was so strong, but then he froze up on halloween. i guess a cowardly lion is better than a crying lion so i can't complain. we had a wonderful, full weekend. didn't quite get as much laundry or cleaning done, but i'd rather spend time with friends than have a spotless house.


where's parker? he must be staying warm under his costume!

all bundled up. thankfully it was 61 degrees, but parker's hands were still chilly

"mom, why did you bring me to work?"

trick or treating with dad around the neighborhood

hope everyone had a happy halloween! (and yes, parker was going to be a football, but the lion costume fit his personality much better and it was only $5 at a second-hand store and james' and my costume were borrowed. yay for recession 2009! :)) love yall.