wordless{ish} wednesday: we did it.

we surrendered our kid's ever-growing mullet to a pro.  

as  you can see, it went really well.  more pictures to come.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}

let's talk tantrums.

so the other night i went to this free class offered by our hospital on toddler behavior.  it was amazing.  it was taught by a clinical pediatric psychiatrist who had lots of letters after his name, so he knew some stuff. for reals, he had all kinds of smart things to say & i'm pretty much an expert on toddler behavior now, too.

: : insert about ten minutes of laughter : :

ok, i'm back.  so one class on toddler behavior didn't actually make me an expert but i did learn lots of interesting things.  like, did you know you can pretty much assess what sort of personality your kid will have throughout their entire life by the age of six months?  studies have shown that mellow babies more often than not turn out to be mellow adults & the same is true for "spirited" babies.  interesting, right?  ok, maybe that didn't knock you out of your chair but just stick with me.

they gave us lots of tips for handling tantrums, which dramatically spike between 1-3 years.  apparently if you have a girl the tantrums go wayyyyy down by the age of three.  but boys?  they have almost twice as many tantrums on average than girls & it continues on until about 4 or 5.  lame.

case in point:  this kid.  they showed this video clip & it's pretty freaking funny.  so here i am showing it to you.



you better have watched at least the first forty-five seconds.  because that kid is awesome.

anywho, one thing to remember is that tantrums have meaning.  they are a milestone & totally serve a purpose... by throwing fits, apparently your kid is learning how to deal with anger & will learn how to react based on your reaction.  so the number one rule to dealing with a tantrum?  stay.  calm.

if you freak out & try to fix everything or yell back or get flustered than your kid will most likely escalate.  so take a deep breath... count to three, ten, or maybe a hundred... and stay calm.

another fun fact i learned?  as a general rule of thumb, your kid understands about 10x more than they can say.  so parker's clearly saying like 6-7 words?  that means he understands somewhere between 60 to 70.  whoa.  i need to start giving him some more credit.  how frustrated must he be that he knows what he wants, but totally lacks the ability to tell me?  this is where i start wishing i took baby signing time a little more seriously.  oops.

so i'm totally interested in hearing what has worked for all of you.  what are some of your tips for dealing with tantrums, or keeping them minimal in general?

i've noticed some days where i feel like all i'm saying is "parker no!  no!  parker... no!"  i need to make an effort to say other things.  you know, the whole five positives to every negative.  and that's usually when i need to stop what i'm doing & give him some one on one attention.  i have really been trying to focus on telling him when he's being good & reward him for that behavior right away.

some day we'll actually set rules & try time outs.  but for now?  i'm just trying to keep him fed & napped so that when we're in public we have as few meltdowns as possible.  because as cute as his little frowny face is, i prefer this one much, much more.

your votes put a smile on parker's face every day. i promise they do.

weekday recap - {in iPhone pics} w.28

happy last full week of may slash memorial weekend!

monday marked a milestone for p-ray.  it was our official first-in-store meltdown & it happened in target of all places.  actually, not ironic.  when you go to a store three times a week i guess your odds of something crazy happening there are increased, yeah?

so these pictures mark pre-tantrum, during tantrum, & post-tantrum.  i can't blame him too much... it was lunch time, he was starving, & i was pushing my luck.  it was nothing a little squeezy pouch off the shelf couldn't quickly fix.

the reason for the tantrum?  that little red belt wrapped around his waist in the middle picture.  it really hinders his twisting around & checking out the scenery abilities.  and also, his standing up & stomping on the seat abilities.

auntie jodi came up tuesday morning to hang out with parker all day while i went to work.  that smile in the first picture pretty much captures how much he loves his auntie & how excited he was to see her that morning.  i'm pretty sure he didn't even notice i was gone.

the smiles continued that night when we discovered parker's favorite food:  lasagna.

wednesday.  i enjoyed a couple quiet hours during naptime & thought about being productive, but wasn't.  after parker woke up we hung out, played with toys, & skyped with sam... who was gone monday thru thursday again for work.  boo.

thursday started off with a run around the capitol grounds which apparently was much more exciting to me than parker {stink face}.  after our run, we hit up the grocery store where parker just played it cool.

that night sam got home (yay!) and my niece jessica & her fiance brandon got into town from an impromptu rode trip up here from utah.  apparently we were having too much fun to take pictures.

friday we showed jessica & brandon a good time around the city which obviously includes lunch at lemongrass.  we also hit up the farmer's market, some shops, & a tour of the capitol building.

parker was pretty into the stairs.  he's easy to please.

did you take your "week in camera phone" pictures?  link up!

there's only one rule to linking up:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

optional:
grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog .  if you wanna be really cool, post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.  the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=90390" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:



start the holiday off right with a couple clicks to vote!

wordless{ish} wednesday: whiney mc-whinester.

we've been seein' a lot of this scrunchy little face lately, accompanied with a fake little whine.  apparently parker has turned one & has decided to go straight into the terrible twos.  anyone else go through this?  my sweet little baby has turned into quite the complainer.  maybe it's teething.  but small tasks often turn into little battles.  and?  he even threw his first in-store tantrum at : : gasp : : target.  i guess this is part of my little baby turning into a little boy, yeah?

he's lucky he's so darn cute throughout all of it.  and the fact that he has learned how to give big wet kisses helps a bit too.

turn p-ray's frown upside down & click twice to vote!

vacationing

woah.  i'm experiencing serious blogging withdrawals friends!  we've been in utah since friday visiting family & that has meant every single second has been filled with good old fashioned family-time goodness.  but don't think i haven't been thinking about all of you.  i have reallllly missed sitting down & visiting all your blogs & typing out our day's events.  i guess this means i'm officially addicted to blogging.

so yeah, i don't even know where to start.  we have done so much & i have taken so many fun pictures.  i don't have my usual editing software which means i'm not quite as efficient at  working through all my shots, so i'm just gonna pick a few of my favorites to post for now.  but dontcha worry... there will be plenty more from this trip to come.

for now, here's some p-ray cuteness.  just in case you were going through withdrawals too.

when you're on vacation you gotta be flexible, & this meant a new bath place for p-ray... my mom's kitchen sink.  not sure he was into it, but at least he looked freaking cute, right?

also?  we sent sam on a plane back home this morning because he has to work the rest of the week.  boo.

that's all.


even though we're on vacation, doesn't mean we don't still love your votes. your votes are dreamy.

the forty five minute intruder

today was one of those days.  i guess karma owed me a not-so-good day after all my bragging of how great my life is.

we fought the "forty-five minute intruder" today.  anyone dealt with this?  supposedly it's legit, & it rears its nasty head during nap time.  it's when your baby just can't seem to sleep past forty-five minutes without waking up & screaming.

some theories say that at 45 minutes, your baby is switching sleep cycles & gets woken up.  some say it's hunger.  some say it's a sign that they were overstimulated before being put down.  i'm convinced parker is acting out a well-constructed plot to keep me from being happy, productive, or well rested.  whatever the reason, i'm at a loss.

i coulda timed my watch today to when parker would wake up from his nap.  forty-five minutes to the minute both times.  and a baby that isn't napping well, is like... well, see that picture above?  'nuff said.

at least i made a ridiculously good dinner tonight.  wanna hear about it?  well read on & i will tell you all the juicy details.  i know, this is front page stuff right here.

super-duper, easy-peasey, crock-pot cream cheese chicken & rice.

trust me, remembering the name of this one is harder than actually making it.  and if you're the dieting type that runs at the mention of cream cheese, just know that i "dieted" this one down a bit.  i'll give the full fledged, totally creamy substitutions at the end.  like how i baited you there?  i'm suspenseful like that.

ingredients:  package of boneless skinless chicken breasts, half a stick of butter, one cup chicken broth, package of italian seasonings, package of non-fat cream cheese, & a can of cream of chicken soup.

directions: combine butter, broth, italian seasonings & chicken in crock pot.  cook on high for three hours.  then, dump in the package of cream cheese & the can of cream of chicken soup.  mix it all up til it's nice & creamy-like.  trust me, i used fat free versions of both these items, & it was still super duper creamy.  set it on low for another half hour or so & then eat it over rice.  i used brown & it was delish.

lastly, you have to jump in front of your husband's football game & make him take a picture of you eating it.  oh wait, just me?  ok then, never mind that last step.

oh, & to make it super fatty-like {don't i make it tempting?} use a whole stick of butter instead of the cup of broth & use normal cream cheese.  i make fun because i'm jealous.  i'm sure that version is d-to-the-e-licious. 

and in closing it should be said that even on his worst days, p-ray is a pretty cool little man.  i'm sure tomorrow will go much better... but i won't be around to find out.  tomorrow is my day in the office & i'm actually looking forward to it.  don't hate, ya'll.  it's just that i have a hot date with my stereo in the morning, & a to-do list that doesn't include dishes.  well, not until five o'clock at least.

know what would turn this frown upside down?  your vote!

wordless wednesday... with a few words

little man was having way too much fun that night, & was a bit upset when i pulled him off the dance floor.  p-ray knows how to get down.

more pics to come.