My little OCD helper

The last two weeks have been anything but normal. We have packed up all of our belongings, moved them out of our house, moved in with my parents, and prepared our house for renters (this would have been a lot easier if we wouldn't have procrastinated on the landscaping while we lived there). Now that the renters have the keys, I thought life would be easier, however, now we have to sell our cars, get international banking, and go through tax consultations. All of this has meant lots and lots of errands while I am home with Parker. I am loving spending more time with him, but I'm worried that maybe I should have let him play with his friends a little longer at daycare instead of dragging him everywhere.

Though all of these changes, Parker is always there for a good laugh. Lately, we have had some obsessions with socks ("focks,"say the singular version out loud and you will understand why this is a problem) shoes, and mittens. First, he is now overly obsessed with his tennis shoes. His first request in the morning is to put on his shoes and I can't get him to wear any other pair--update, as of this morning, P put on his other shoes when I told him they were Mickey's favorites--hooray! Also, Parker now wants to wear mittens all the time, aka socks on his hands. My favorite is when he uses his "mittens" to play in the dirt...apparently, I'm raising a particularly clean baby (last week he asked me to wash his plug three times before he would go to sleep).

Here is a picture of parker with his "mittens."

One of my other favorite parts about staying home is getting to take him to see grandmother Millie more often. She is almost 104, and I feel so grateful that Parker gets to spend time with her. When we go see her, Parker goes straight to the jar of m&ms. Friday, when I told him he could only have one, Grandmother told me, "Kim always lets him have more than one." How could I argue with that? Apparently, no matter how old I get my mom is still the boss:).

Lately, he has been very helpful around the house. For two days he said, "I mow the grass" over and over and over again. By then end of day two, I found myself in the checkout line at Target with a play mower...it even has bubbles! He was so excited! The entire way home he said, "I cited to mow grass!" Translation..."I'm excited to mow the grass!"

I couldn't help including the picture below. He has been acting so big lately and trying to do everything we do. Today, he put his napkin on his lap during lunch. This is him adjusting it after wiping his mouth.

We have also been to the zoo a lot lately. On Tuesday, the giraffe "kissed" Parker. P cried...a lot...if he was potty-trained, I'm pretty sure he would have peed his pants. After, I thought he was traumatized, but all he could talk about Tuesday afternoon and yesterday was, "I wa feed jaffes." Translation..."I want to feed the giraffes." Today we went back to feed the giraffes and he was still scared, but he didn't cry! So proud of my big boy!

I am so thankful that I have this little man to make me laugh every day. He is the absolute most wonderful part of my day. He calms me in the middle of one of the most dramatic things I could be experiencing, and reminds me that our little family is all that matters.