Happy 2nd Birthday, Parker James!

What a year it has been! Yet before we recap, let’s take a moment to look at where we’re at right now, July 28, 2014. It’s a Monday, which means dad is at Valley Medical Center, working away in his first year at residency. He’s gone really long hours and every third or fourth day, is gone from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Those days are long for everyone, and as much as dad doesn’t like missing out on our evening routine, you are a resilient little man, which continually inspires and challenges me to try to be independent and resilient, too. Today, you and I spent the morning at your favorite local park, The Sammamish Commons, splashing in the water fountains, swinging, eating blue sprinkled cupcakes and playing with a few of your all-time favorite tots.

We celebrated your birthday this weekend by inviting all of our family to our new home, which you always refer to as “Paker’s howse”. We sung happy birthday, ate your favorite pink cupcakes, opened colorful presents, and let you run wild and free while scootering around the park with your idolized big cousins. T’was a fun day spent in a townhouse packed full o’ cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, grandparents, and great grandparents, who all love you very much.

This year for your birthday, dad and I got you four things. 1. A new home with your own bedroom + playroom - which we moved into last month and are absolutely loving. 2. A new sibling - who should debut sometime in late February and absolutely rock your world. 3. A new book, The Wheels on the Bus, which you are beyond obsessed with. And 4. A new bucket of sand toys – which we put to good use with our friends at the splash park this morning. I'd say these gifts do a good job of representing where you're at in your interests, as well as where we're at as a family...

It’s been a really big year both in your development, and in our family’s story. Early into your second year, probably a week or two after your first birthday, you conquered confident walking and we haven’t stopped chasing you since. Your language development has been my favorite part of watching you grow this year, and just a couple months ago you started saying hilarious, extra-nasally three syllable words like “chem.-bu-cals” as you float around the hot tub, and “temp-a-ture” as you carry the thermometer around your playroom and take the temperatures of your stuffed animals. I’m not sure if this is a sign that you will one day follow suit and become a doctor like your daddy, or if you’re just a little more science brained than your mama. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

This year was also big because your dad graduated from medical school. "Whoohooo cowege!" as you often loudly cheer with both fists pumped into the air. In May, we drove to Yakima and attended his graduation ceremony at the Capital Theatre. We were sitting in the middle of a crowded row, in the middle of the stuffy and uncomfortably warm auditorium and let me tell ya kid, I absolutely feared the worst.  It didn’t help that the ceremony took place in the middle of your naptime – and that we were jumping into the adventure completely sleepless – yet you rallied and blew my low expectations right out of the water by enthusiastically clapping, quietly cruising through iPhone pictures, eating goldfish and patiently sitting on my lap throughout the two-hour ceremony. Should have never doubted your ability to rally when times get sleepless, as you have been the proud conductor of the Sleepless Train since day one. I may never fully understand, nor fully appreciate, your high energy paired with your sleepless antics, but it sure does amaze me.

Your dad and I celebrated his graduation a few weeks later, by leaving you at Nama and Papa’s house to play with the aunts and cousins and indulge in your first McDonalds cheeseburger and fries! During this time, we spent five days exploring the lush, green lands of Austin, Texas. I stopped nursing you the week we left and felt absolutely terrible leaving you behind, but I think it was a healthy and positive experience for all. I had to keep telling myself, although this little guy is attached to me now, one day he’ll be leaving his mama behind and running off to college, to travel the world, to get married, or to begin a career, and I won’t be able to keep him all to myself. Since we cannot stay attached buddies for life, I figured it would be a good growing experience for me to jet off with dad and enjoy five days sans plastic toys, diaper duty, and sleepless nights. You’ll have to trust me when I tell you how excruciating it was for me to kiss you goodbye and walk out the door en route to the airport. It is probably a feeling you will not fully understand until you have kiddos of your own, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one. Leaving you in loving hands and jet setting states away was a really difficult decision…a difficult one, but a good one. During those days, your dad and I traveled new lands, ate delicious BBQ, did tons of fun things like ropes courses and zip lines, watched the colorful sun set and rise over the rolling hills of Texas, dined on farm-to-table cuisine like kings and queens, swam in infinity pools, soaked in the summer sunshine, read books, practiced yoga, and cheersed to your dad’s great accomplishments. As our relaxing week away came to an end, we excitedly hopped back on our plane to Seattle, and snuggled you like we’ve never snuggled before. It was fun to carve out some mom and dad time, but it was equally as fun to touch down in our very favorite state, and smooch our very favorite boy.

Just like last year, and I don’t imagine it changing in this next year of life, every single day while your dad and I are with you – eating dinner at the table, walking around the block, kicking the soccer ball at the park, or watching you discover something new – I turn to him and say “HE IS SO CUTE! Isn’t he SO cute?” And you are, buddy. You really are. But you’re not just cute.

You’re really funny. Your sense of humor is wicked and your sense of direction is nothing short of incredible. If my GPS ever failed me I’m absolutely convinced you’d be able to direct me right where we needed to go. You’re bright - really, really bright – as you count to ten, identify your colors and sing your ABCs. You are physically strong, and sometimes use that strength to push and bite both loved ones and strangers alike, but for the most part your kind and tender heart brings a huge smile to my face as you say “eye yov you” and lean over for “tugs” and “tisses.” You’re in love with the Disney musical Frozen, and will empty the toilet paper holder and grab it to belt out “Let It Go” in your makeshift microphone as you dance on your bed in nothing but a size four diaper. You’re also up for adventure, and this year alone have traveled to Disneyland, the cabin at Billy Clapp, Newport Beach, California, Sunriver, Oregon (twice), Scottsdale, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada and all across the highways in Washington state. We’re thankful to get to take you to new places and experience so many fun moments and memories together as a family. They’re certainly not memories that you’ll retain, but your dad and I will! Like the time we strolled you, our 1.5 year-old son, all over the Las Vegas strip. Who takes a toddler to Sin City? Your weirdo, wanderlust parents do!

I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for us, as you make new friends in our awesome neighborhood, and evolve into your new role as a big brother. I’m currently just a few months pregnant, yet you already talk constantly about “bebe Popsicle” who you promise is a gurl, and you kiss my tummy at any chance you can get. I’ve got no doubt you’re going to be a fun, kind and protective big brother and I can’t wait to watch that happen. I love you so much, buddy, and am really grateful for all the quality time you and I get to spend together.

These days, as we sit around the table munching on a snack or sipping on a smoothie, you’ll often notice we’re enjoying the same food or beverage and you throw your fork/spoon/cup/pancake in the air and say “Cheers!” with a big cheesy grin on your face. Cheers to you, little man!

I love you,

Mama

Bumps, Bruises and Chipped Teeth.

Today my crazy baby was trying to keep up with his older cousins, and fell down some wooden stairs while trying to get down from a treehouse at our local children's museum. It looked bad and sounded bad, but Parker was already running a fever [insert judgement here] and had been up from midnight-5:30am with a terrible case of croup, so honestly, the fall didn't really seem to faze him. His already glazed eyes just got a little bit glossier, and his already runny nose just ran a little bit faster. Did today feel like a train wreck from start to finish? Absolutely. But don't most sleepless days? And the show must go on!

So on we went.

Honestly, I was a little caught off guard when Parker didn't cry post-fall. Then I was a little more caught off guard when I got him home and realized he had chipped his front tooth. My not even two year old had chipped his damn front tooth.

Something about seeing that baby pearly white chipped at the corner just about ruined me. I think it's because newborns come into the world absolutely perfect, and I'd like to keep my kid so fresh and so clean for as long as I can. But then I also want to expose him to new things and encourage him to run wild and free. One of the great tug-o-wars of parenthood, perhaps? As I watch my newborn turn into a baby and then quickly toddler his way into early childhood, I've noticed quite a few bumps, bruises, scars and chipped teeth along the way. 

"It just comes with the territory, Laura. He's a rough and tumble boy who is growing up,"  my husband explained to me tonight, as I glanced at Parker's scratched up legs from our recent Denny Creek hike, and his freshly chipped tooth. Both serving as visual reminders of memories well made with my independent and adventuresome kid, as well as the reality that my perfect and blemishless baby has somehow transformed into a boy. A rough and tumble, and not-yet two-year-old boy.