20 months old

So once again, I'm weeks behind on the monthly update.  I took a few pictures a couple weeks ago, but they were so dreadful I had hoped to try again.  But there just doesn't seem to be any time, so I'm going to go with what I"ve got before he is 21 months old.  :)  I'm going to back date this.

Anyway, on January 2, Parker turned 20 months old.  He is sweet, but he is wild, independent and laughs deviously when he is doing something he knows he shouldn't do!  He is in nearly constant motion, as evidenced in this picture.


He won't smile much for the camera, but he does have an adorable smile...if I do say so myself.  :)


Most of my attempted photos come out something like this:


You hate to say about your child that he is trouble, but I must affectionately say that my son is t-r-o-u-b-l-e.  He loves making mischief and he loves running the other way and making me chase him when I ask him to come to me.  In restaurants, if I'm so silly as to let him get out of his chair, he will run circles around the tables making me chase him to get him back.  I must say though, he laughs the whole time.  He apparently thinks he is quite funny. 

At his last doctor's visit (last week to check and make sure he didn't have a fifth ear infection in three months), he weighed 31 pounds (with his clothes and possibly wet diaper on).  He is solid, and because he tends to fight me when I'm trying to carry him from here to there sometimes, my biceps are getting quite a workout.  Who needs a gym membership when you have a Parker?  


His vocabulary is still wonderful, though he still "speaks" in one word sentences.  I couldn't even begin to list all of the words he says, and he also will make an attempt to say whatever I ask him to say.  He can, as the video I posted recently showed, say a little bit of his ABCs, and he tries to count to 10, but it comes out more like "1-2-5-6-9-10!"  He still calls Thomas "Poppy."

He's very inquisitive about the things around him.   Last week we were touring a local plantation and he became enamoured with the fleet of ladybugs living on the windows.  It was all he could talk about and he just wanted to keep watching them and saying "Buh!  Buh!" ("bug"). 


Parker, if you ever read this, I hope you know that I do say it with love when I say you are a troublemaker.  I feel confident that this is a sign not that you are going to be a future lawbreaker, but that you are destined to have a great sense of humor.  I know I have to remember to keep mine a lot lately.  :)


So yes, constant motion, wild, trouble are all words that describe Parker at 20 months.


But he is also sweet and loving. 


He loves to give and receive hugs.  Loves for you to hold him before he goes to bed.  He rests his head on your shoulder and sucks his thumb until he is ready to go into his crib.  He adores his big brother.  And when Thomas gets put in timeout, Parker goes and hugs him and sits down right next to him.  Parker loves our dog, Sully (whom he calls "Sussa") and always wants to give her food (milk bone dog biscuits or food from his own plate). 

He is still a great sleeper and all around he is a great baby/toddler.  He just wears me out a little.  ;-)  But I love him dearly and I'm extremely grateful that I can call him my son.