Parker...2 years later

We celebrated Parker's 2 year birthday on Monday. I can't believe he's already 2. Here are the my Top 13 favorite Parker moments.

1. One day I was getting him some breakfast and he came in and closed the refrigerator and started hopping around saying "woo hoo!" It was the first time I heard him say "woo hoo." It was hilarious.

2. One day I was playing with him, and I started jumping, and he would laugh and laugh. Then he started trying to jump. Now he just jumps around all the time. Anytime he's happy he jumps around.

3. Parker was in a school program and he was supposed to stand on a step, but he got bored and started walking around the stage and dancing and smiling at everybody.

4. One day he was jumping in his little jumper, and I was putting his car seat together. He was crying a little bit, and then I looked over at him, and he had pooped down his leg and was jumping up and down in it. I had to clean the poop out of his toenails.

5. When he started learning animals sounds. It's hilarious to see him roar like a bear or a dinosaur. Parker making a sound like a horse is hysterical.

6. At his birthday party, he figured out that he could jump into the pool and his floaties would keep him up. He must have climbed out and jumped into the pool 20 times, and every time he would yell, "YEA."

7. When he was a little baby, he would crawl over to me and fart in my face and crawl away laughing.

8. When he started talking back to the t.v. He mostly does in on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Veggie Tales. And anytime the credits start coming he says, "Bye bye" and "see ya later."

9. At his first birthday party we gave him a cake. He hadn't eaten any sugar really before that. At first he wasn't sure if he was going to like it and he put just a little bit in his hand and took a bite. And it was as if he discovered some kind of extraordinary greatness. He devoured that cake.

10. The first time he said "da da." At the time he was just making sounds so I'm still not sure if it was directed towards me, but I tell Suzy that he said "da da" first.

11. Every morning he wakes up, and I say "I love you" and he tries to say it back and gives me a hug.

12. The first time he held my finger the day he was born.

13. When I first got to hold him after they cleaned him on the day he was born. He was so little, and I felt like I could have tossed him through the ceiling when I lifted him because I wasn't expecting him to be so lite.

We really do have an awesome kid, and I know that we are blessed to have Parker in our lives. I just hope we don't screw him up.

First-born kids really do have it tougher, new research finds

This was an interesting article about parenting children. It says that first-born kids have a tougher time on discipline than the younger kids. I knew this growing up. I always had different standards applied to me than my brothers. Also, I had a lot of younger cousins around. I was always the oldest. I always had a little more responsibility and a lot more discipline than my brother. If we got into a fight, even if he started it and punched me 10 times, and then I punched him back once, I was the one who got in trouble. If he didn't want to clean the bedroom we shared, he got away with it because he was so young. This is a couple of things I can remember. Anyways, I could go on and on, but just to let you know that this was a great article for parents. Check it out.

Top 4 Tween Tech Gifts

This was an article I read that shows what kids between 11 and 14 want. They were things that I've never even heard of, but they seem pretty cool. Here's the article.

Impress the trendy tweens in your life with these must-have presents

Paul Hochman TODAY gear and technology editor

June is around the corner, which means your tween might soon be successfully completing another grade in school. Some people rightly take this as an opportunity to reward their hardworking scholar with a fun present.

But while the old adage about it being “better to give than to receive” is true, there is an exception: It can be pretty agonizing to find a gift that a “tween” will actually admit is cool.

speedousa.com

Speedo's waterproof AquaBeat mp3 player holds up to 500 songs.

So here’s a little help: a quick list of fun, way-cool high-tech accessories that your 11-to-14-year-old will like. For one brief, shining moment, they might even think you’re, well, y’know, kind of OK. The moment won’t last long, so enjoy!

Speedo AquaBeat
If your favorite student is a water hound, they probably can’t wait to hop in the lake or the pool this spring. But until recently, they weren’t able to take their music with them. Speedo, famous for its swimsuits, has created a waterproof MP3 player that holds up to 500 songs and comes with waterproof earphones, extra earbuds and even a carrying bag. The music can be taken down to 10 feet below the water’s surface and, if dropped, will float in water. It plays music for up to nine hours on a full charge. $144.99; speedousa.com

cygnett.com This gadget will allow your tween to wake up to cool tunes instead of a jarring alarm clock ring.

Cygnett GrooveToons
Apple owns over 80 percent of the portable MP3 player market, which means it’s very likely your nephew, niece or grandchild has one. One of the best accessories I’ve seen for the iPod is the GrooveToon, a cool-looking alarm clock that works with the first three generations of iPod. It even doubles as a speaker system, and, since it’s very compact, will fit on a desk or a bedside table and do double duty as a personal stereo. The best part: Your kidlet can wake up to their favorite tunes instead of the insistent beeping produced by most alarm clocks. It even charges your iPod while you sleep. $49.99; cygnett.com

Hercules Mobile DJ MP3
For kids who consider themselves music aficionados, you’ll probably shock them with your latent coolness by giving them a Hercules Mobile DJ MP3. Basically, what it does is allow them to be their own disc jockey and mix together music playlists that they can play at sleepovers or parties and prove their coolness to their friends. Lots of effects buttons, made possible by much cheaper processing technology, lets them “scratch” and cross-fade and even synchronize different tracks. It’s powered by two C batteries and — here’s the kicker — it even works wirelessly with your PC. $99; hercules.com

FlashFlight SpokeLit
Some of us still remember the days when it was cool to attach playing cards to our bicycle wheels with a clothespin, making the card chatter out a “rat-a-tat” as the bike picked up speed. Here’s something that’s frankly a lot cooler … and safer, too. FlashFlight, which has been making safety lights for Halloween for years, now makes the SpokeLit, a spoke-mounted, water-resistant LED light that installs in seconds on any bike spokes and makes the bike rider much more visible at night. This fun, easy-to-use add-on glows or flashes a spooky green light(just press a button to choose), lasts for hundreds of hours. $9.95; niteize.com

The Rap on Rap

The Parent Television Council put out a study about the content that is coming out on television programs that play rap videos. They looked at it and saw how these programs are showing children huge amounts of adult-themed content.
Unfortunately, it seems that is what is selling in the rap music industry. You have to have the parental advisory to sell well. You have to talk about girls in a degrading way and talk about the drugs you're going to smoke and the people you're going to hurt. The people in this industry are helping to raise a culture of kids who think this is reality. It may be reality to a small percentage of inner-urban communities.
Bill Cosby just put out a hip-hop album as well. It's trying to put something else out there to promote positive things, such as education. I think the leaders of this market need to do something about this, but parents need to be aware of what their kids are listening to and what they are watching. Hip hop is very popular across the board. It doesn't matter if your in rural Nebraska or inner-city Chicago, rap and hip hop are what kids are listening to. This article gives a good look at what kids are looking at.

17 month old Reading

Whatever, Parker can say "uh oh." He can also let you smell his foot. And...whatever, Parker's cuter.

25% of Teen Girls have STD's

This was an article that was just released that says 1 out of every 4 teenage girls currently have an STD. This is huge...and super scary. Teenagers have the notion that nothing bad can happen to them, and so they sometimes partake in some risky behaviors. This is happening across our country and it's important for parents and teens to be aware of this.
Here is the article.

Parents and Discipline

This was a video I saw on yahoo this morning. It's about a 2nd grader who kept getting in trouble at school and how his mom was going to discipline him. He had to do a public apology by holding a sign about the things that he did wrong on a street so everybody could see what he did and how sorry he was. I thought it was creative.
The one thing that I liked about this video is that there was a mom out there who was willing to discipline their child so that they can get an education at school, without beating the snot out of him. I don't know if I would ever do that same punishment to Parker, but who knows what I'd do if he finally put the straw up there that broke my back. But go see this video and let me know what you think.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/251.7/popup/index.php?cl=6358220

Parent Survey

I got an e-mail this morning from a guy who wants to write a book for parents of teenagers. It's about how the media affects the lives of teens. The authors name is Brooks Gibbs. His website is brooksgibbs.com. I hope you will take this survey if you have time to help him with his research for his book. It's only for parents who have teenagers now.
Thanks.