Peek-A-Boo

For quite a while now, Richard and I have been playing peek-a-boo with Anderson.  For a while, we would cover our faces, say "Where is Daddy?" move our hands, and say, "There he is!"  We moved from that to covering Anderson's faces, saying, "Where is Anderson?" moving the object, and saying, "There he is!"  From there, Anderson began taking a more active role in the game.  He would cover his own face, wait for us to say, "Where is Anderson?" move the object himself so we would say, "There he is!"  Well, we had to one-up ourselves to keep his attention, so we started ducking behind objects and popping up to surprise him.  I guess Anderson has decided to be a participant on the other end of that now.

Ha!  I love it!  It is just as fun to watch Richard's reaction as it is to watch Anderson move up and down!

All About Kids (Take One)

I cannot even put into words my excitement about All About Kids.  A big thank you to Jenny G. who made us aware of "open gym."  Anderson loved every minute.  He crawled across soft floors, onto squishy mats, through bouncy trampolines, and into a pit full of balls.  He smiled and had a fantastic time! Richard and I enjoyed following him around and helping him up and down (and up and down, and up and down) the slide.  I would recommend this place to anyone, whether or not you have children.  It was AMAZING!
Anderson got in the ball pit and would pick up one at a time, examine it, and then throw it as hard as he could in whichever direction it went!  The ball pit was a favorite and it makes me very happy that we are getting him one (well, the balls to make his pack and play into one) for his birthday.

He also enjoyed pulling up next to, and moving the beads on the wires.  He watched another kiddo do it and it was like a tractor beam.  He immediately went for it.

Surprisingly, Anderson was not impressed with the rocking horse, but he gave it a try.  He was not going to dismiss something too quickly that the other kids were willing to fight for.

We ended our time there for today, but - not to worry - we will be back at the following times.

Easter (the first one)

Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, Anderson is one lucky boy!  The Easter Bunny visited him at three different locations and brought a basket with goodies to each place.
At our house, the Bunny brought a new giraffe toy and Baby Mum Mums (a favorite in our home).  Anderson was so excited to get into the Mum Mums that he had two and just took bites off of both of them.

At Great Grandma Garrett's house, the Easter Rabbit brought him a dollar (which he has since put in his bank account) and some fun toys.  After opening his Easter basket, we went outside to hunt for eggs.  While he wasn't interested in the egg hunt, he was very interested in the bubbles he got in his basket.  We had a great time at Great Grandma Garrett's house!

At Nana's house, the Hare brought him lots of fun toys and stuffed animals.  He was excited again because Mum Mums were also a part of this basket...BEST DAY EVER!  We got out more bubbles because they were such a big hit before.  He loved them just as much.

Finally, we rounded out our Easter festivities at Grandma's house.  Skipper (their dog) was thrilled to see Anderson and the feeling was completely mutual!  Anderson would throw the ball for Skipper, Skipper would chase the ball, and Anderson would chase Skipper.  We tried to explain to Anderson that he didn't have to chase the dog as he would bring the ball back to him.  Anderson was uninterested however, in our attempts and continued his predatorial dance.
It was a day I will not soon forget.  I would say it was the perfect day, in fact.  I got to spend time with my family of three all day and we traveled around to spend time with our bigger families.  We are blessed beyond our understanding.

Just another day in the life...

On Friday, March 31, Anderson was diagnosed with his first ear infection.  Oh...make it a double.  That's right a double ear infection with conjunctivitis in both eyes.  We Parrott's do not underachieve!    The doctor prescribed two antibiotics - one as an eye drop for the conjunctivitis (twice a day for 7 days), and the other a liquid oral medication for his ears (twice a day for 10 days).  Well, we made it through the 7 days of eye drops, but it was not pretty.  He fought, wriggled, and screamed through almost each dosing until Richard gave him the medication and did not tightly restrain his arms.  Hmm...Anderson hardly squirmed.  It wasn't the eye drops like I assumed, it was having his arms held down.  Lesson learned.  After the first seven days of the oral medication (amoxicillin) Anderson began growing spots - little red pen-mark ones - all over his back.

This also happened to be a Friday so I called the doctor to see if they could fit us in on Monday as I was sure it was not urgent.  When they replied with, "how soon can you get here," I sheepishly replied that I could be there in 15 minutes and vowed to call CPS on myself upon returning home.  Well, it turns out Anderson is allergic to amoxicillin and that caused the red bumps.  They switched his antibiotic and decided it would be best to start this one over and give it for another 10 days.  Well, it could be worse.  Anderson would drink this stuff from a straw if I would let him.  He is disappointed when it is gone each day.  Ha!

Cabin Fever

Well, we try to get ourselves out of the house so that we don't get cabin fever and start doing crazy things.  I fear it is too late.  We went to a yard sale with Anderson's Great Grammy and Nana the other morning and we bought a set of bowling pins with a ball.  Anderson has found that he doesn't need the ball at all.  He just bowls with his hands.  He knocks them over and his smile that follows seems to be evidence of  him feeling pretty proud of himself and his accomplishments.  And...as you can see below, after he finishes hand bowling, he must see what the pin tastes like.

Hand bowling is not the only sport in our house.  It is also not the only bowl in our house.  Anderson has recently discovered the wonder that is...the cat's water bowl.  He plays and splashes in it as though it is the country club pool.  By the end of the sessions (that's right, I said "sessions" as in, I have let him do this on several occasions), he, along with our floor, is very wet but very happy.

He has also started drinking out of straw, which thus far, has probably changed our lives the most (ok, well maybe not the most, but it has been GREAT!).  We tried the sippy cups and he would never tip them up, so straw it is!  He looks so big drinking from it.  When we are at home, we lug it around with us because you never know when this active boy will get parched.

Anderson has also discovered that the cat can be a great toy.  It moves around and bats at him and is super fun to chase around.  While attempting to climb the staircase for the first time, Richard knew that seeing the cat would be a good incentive.  This led him to put pieces of sausage on a step, which made Ziggy (the cat) climb up and sit to eat it.  This gave Anderson just enough time to climb the couple steps necessary to catch Ziggy.  Once he caught the cat, Richard would place a couple more pieces of sausage a few steps up.  The cycle would start again.  In the end, Ziggy was full and Anderson had climbed a full flight of stairs.  Love it!!

The cat is not the only toy in our house.  We got rid of most of the dog remnants in our house, but it turns out we missed a couple.  The dogs' bones were on the bottom shelf of our DVD holder and guess who found them!

Although we enjoy the time in our home, sometimes we look out on the vast outdoors and say "GET ME OUTTA HERE"!