theparkerfamily.org

Author: evancparker

  • video: strollering

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL6y1sPQNVI

  • ohthankgod

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    our washer/dryer came today, ending a 44 day drought (not that we were counting). if this isn’t the absolute happiest day of our collective lives, it’s darn near close to the top.

  • video: dancing

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGNR8cLIafE

  • theater: true grit

    over christmas, the lady sparkler and i went to our first movie together in the last 15 months.

    and by “together” i mean that she decided to stay home and sleep, and i went to see “true grit” with my father and brother instead.

    and by “went to see” i mean that my brother is a fancy pants movie reviewer (examiner.com, twitter, radio show) and so i tagged along when he and my father decided to go.

    i’ll stay quiet on my own thoughts because my brother’s review is better, and heck friend/slash/literary illuminati robert lalasz’s review is better, too.

    but, i overall i’d give the movie three kumquats and a banana — it was better than Cats!

  • “i hear the pope wears a cereal bowl, too.”

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  • found: danger!

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: simon and dani’s birthday party, bowl america, falls church, va

  • out: tricycle in lamont park

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: tricycle in lamont park, mount pleasant, washington, dc

  • sleeping beauty

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    shhh … it’s 8:44 am and sparklet is still asleep.

    she’s been snoozing much better since we started the last round of sleep training — which we sorta had to do after a month of sleeping with her in our room (houston, costa rica, williamsburg) because the putting-her-down process was getting dreadfully long.

    so, starting about four days ago, we’ve been giving her a bottle, reading with her, saying good night, and then walking out when the bottle ran out (with a mandatory smooch on the noggin’, natch).

    we won’t talk about the first night, but by last night we had just four minutes of fussing before she settled down and put herself to bed.

    it’s pretty incredible how quickly babies adapt.*

    * = don’t try this at home. results not typical. professional driver on a closed course. before attempting sleep training, please check with your doctor about possible side effects (on you, not the baby) from sleep training. the author assumes no responsibility for, well, anything.

  • help

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    most of these pictures can stand without commentary, but there is a story around the last.

    today, i got home from work with sparklet under one arm and three packages under the other. i tossed my keys on the hall table, the packages on the couch and then dropped sparklet down on the floor.

    she immediately ran over to the hallway, grabbed my keys off the table, ran back to the couch, and started trying to saw the tape open on the box — just like she had seen daddy do with packages all December long.

    kinda make ya proud, doesn’t it?

  • excessive laundry

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b_D9DUG7SY

    about a month ago, our washing machine went kaput — and decided to flood the unit below ours.

    oops.

    the guy who lives there came up and told us, and was pretty chill about the whole thing.

    “oh, the last time this happened …”

    huh?

    turns out the previous owners of our unit flooded his apartment … as did the owners before them. actually, one of them did it twice, apparently.

    and, when we i pulled the washing machine out from the closet to see what the heck was going on, there was a half inch gap between the wall and the floor — so any time water splashed out of our machine, it went right through to the ceiling of his unit.

    so, i spent last weekend patching the open space — wood, plaster, caulk — and spent this weekend painting everything up nice and spiffy.

    and, while the lady sparkler was buying us new laundry equipment to complete the mini-renovation, baby sparklet was discovering the joy of automatic doors (see video, above).

    priceless.