theparkerfamily.org

Author: evancparker

  • found: birthday cake

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  • birthday party

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    birthday party

  • artwork: painting explosion

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    sparklet has been going through a burst of painting activity lately — dare i say a renaissance?

    apparently our nanny-share partner (el español caliente) is still on two naps a day, which means that sparket and The Nanny have a dedicated hour and a half for arts and crafts each morning.

    our refrigerator is begging for mercy.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    artwork: painting explosion

  • fredbeth’s birthday

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    fredbeth’s 2nd birthday

  • coin

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    maybe sparklet CAN be saved.

    groomsmaid is in town today with her son, and we spent the day at the natural history museum with her and her family.

    on the ground floor, they have one of those penny mashing machines which (for some reason) got sparklet super excited. so, we dug around in our pockets for the $1.01 needed to feed the machine, and let sparklet crank out a spider.

    son of groomsmaid saw what she had done, and walked over to her pretty excited himself — she looked at him, looked at the penny in her hand, and gave it to him — then skipped off across the lobby.

    maybe we’re finally getting away from demanding restraining orders on her playmates for daring to touch her toys…

  • pregnant — not fat

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    yup, she’s pregnant.

    no, not sparklet — that’d be mommy, with the belly sticking out behind her. we’re about 13 weeks in and, if we’re honest, we haven’t been able to hide the baby in mommy’s belly since about week eight.

    sparklet doesn’t have a clue what’s in store for her quite yet, and each time mommy tries to explain the baby bump, sparklet lifts up her dress to show us that she’s got a belly, too.

    here’s the pregnancy so far:

    obviously, it’s still a bit early for a gender — that’ll come in about a month, assuming God doesn’t smite my wife for insisting that she already knows it’s going to be a girl.

  • sleepin’

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    sparklet woke up from her nap today and played quietly in her bed for a few minutes.

    and by “play quietly” i mean she stripped down naked, took off her diaper, put all of her stuffed animals to sleep using her clothes (and diaper) as bed sheets, and then used HER bedsheet as their blanket.

    i wish i was making this stuff up.

  • out: natural history

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: natural history with the groomsmaid

  • found: hanging in lamont park

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  • edgar and emily: caterwauling

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    one more edgar/emily story, and then i’m done.

    fast forward a couple of years from the last story, after the “previous administration” and i had moved up to savage, maryland (2000?) and into a little three bedroom house across from the historic Savage Mill.

    we known since day one that Edgar had a rather robust set of vocal chords, and had a constant struggle trying to get him to shut the heck up. (Emily, for some reason another, was as quiet as her brother was annoying.)

    shortly after we moved into the new place, the problem escalated to the point that he was waking us up at 2am every morning — just parked outside the bedroom door, caterwauling in what was obviously an attempt to raise the dead.

    after about of month, we finally got fed up and talked to the vet out of sheer exasperation. she calmed us down, and recommended we get a spray bottle, fill it up with water, and put it by the door. each time Edgar caterwauled, we were to open up the door, give him a squirt or two in the face, and firmly say: “No.”

    she said within a week or so, Edgar would learn.

    that very night, i woke up at 2am to Edgar caterwauling — i grabbed the bottle, i opened the door, i gave him a squirt, and told him “no.” the next night, i did the same. and the next night. and the next. two weeks later, i was still getting up, still opening the door, and still hosing down the cat. (NOTE: my way of saying “no” may have become more crass as the days turned into weeks.)

    by the third week, i had developed insomnia (wonder why?) and was up working on the computer in the front room when the 2am caterwauling began. caught completely off guard, i ran towards the bedroom just in time to see …

    … Emily caterwauling …

    … the bedroom door handle turning, Emily running off, the door opening, and finally Edgar getting hosed down with the spray bottle for the 21st consecutive night.

    It had been Emily all the time.

    Interesting to note that Emily was smart enough to run away when the door started to open, and Edgar was stupid enough to sit there and get hosed down each night. He probably though we were giving him a bath.

    The next night we started sleeping with the bedroom door open, with Emily asleep (soundly, quietly) under the foot of the bed.