Gettin' Ready for School

Connor will be starting the Day School in about 2 weeks (did I just type two weeks, YIKES!). So, we've been spending the last few weeks picking up a few items he will need, including a preschool backpack and "play clothes." It wasn't until I was told that he will need to come to school dressed in clothes that were "okay to get dirty" that I realized Connor didn't really have many play clothes. You see, Connor spends most of his time playing in a diaper or completely naked--something I'm sure wouldn't fly with his new teacher. I've been stocking up on some of the funny logo t-shirts from Wal-Mart. Our favorite so far is one that says, "It wasn't me." I don't think I'll be too worried about the shirts getting dirty, after all, they're only $4 a piece.

As far as the backpack goes, Connor needed one large enough to carry a change of clothes in case he has an accident, a few diapers, baby wipes and a disposable drink for snack time. I let Connor browse the Internet with me and pick out the backpack he liked most. He ended up choosing a cow backpack. It arrived this past Friday and he loves it. He immediately packed it with some of Parker's finger foods just before leaving to run errands with Jimmy. I thought it was kind of funny, especially since Jimmy has a habit of taking a long time to run errands. I guess Connor felt he needed some sort of survival pack. He's brought the backpack to me a couple of times this weekend and said, "Cow, moo! I wanna pig. Oink, oink." Then he tries to make me get on the computer and find a pig backpack. I'm amazed how much Connor's speech has picked up over the last few months. I can only imagine what he'll be saying by the time he finishes one year at the Day School. Next on our list, haircut! Please pray that Connor doesn't end up looking like a "blind person cut his hair." Jimmy is always so mad at me when I return with Connor after getting his hair cut. It never fails, they always cut it uneven or just completely buzz it off. I'm not sure if I should blame it on being only four miles from Mexico or the air force base that is just as close.

On a side note, Connor went with me to do my weekly grocery shopping last night. While we were there, we picked up a play-doh birthday party set. I let Connor play with it while I unloaded the groceries and put them away. It was his first experience with play-doh and he loved it. However, he was a little confused by me calling his creations names of food like cupcake, cake, cookie, etc. and attempted to eat a piece he thought was a slice of cake. He was terribly disappointed by the taste and immediately spit it out. It was so funny. I've never seen a kid try to eat play-doh, but then again, I've never seen a kid use it to make things that look like food either.

Oh, Parker turned 8 months old last week. I took a couple of pictures of him today while I fed him lunch. I was amazed at what he tried and liked. He ate tiny pieces of roast beef, carrots and mashed potatoes--a complete big boy meal. He only ate a small amount and topped it all off with his favorite, rice cereal and squash with apple juice. He's been pulling up for a while now and is starting to try to move from one piece of furniture to another. He stood for a few seconds this afternoon without holding on to anything for support. He even slowly lowered himself to the crawling position. I've started introducing him to the sippy cup. He didn't like it at first, but is starting to get the hang of it. He prefers the Gerber soft spout, but has even been taking the Playtex soft spout too the past few days. He's getting so big. I decided to try a few of Connor's 18 month sleepers on Parker the other night, and to my surprise, they fit. Connor didn't wear them until his was at least a year old and even then they were a little big. I've missed out on the opportunity to dress him in so many of Connor's old clothes because Parker has already outgrown them by the time I decide to try them on him. Arghhhh.