Friday, December 7, 2007

3 Months Old and Working Man

Josie is 3 months today!! She smiles so much now, but we've only heard her laugh one big laugh and that was in her sleep (one of the many benefits of sleeping with your child). She is pretty happy to be held by anyone, but her favorite people to hold her are mom and Parker. Dad runs a distant 3rd right now. Dema is a source of entertainment and she loves to watch him play. Both boys sing to her and she loves it. She still seems to be a pretty serious, introspective person, but she has lots to say and can't wait for the day when we can understand her. ECing has its good days and not so productive days. She will pee in the potty 99.9% of the time if I set her on it, but I'm not so great about giving her the potty option when I get busy. She hangs out in a shirt, diaper and babylegs most days. I have to say, I love the babylegs. They are so much more convenient than taking off pants or tights ever time I potty her or change her diaper. The boys love the babylegs too and wear them under pants to keep warm.

We had quite a bit of snow today and Parker was so excited to go outside. I was not. I am a watch the snow while sitting by the fire type person. The getting all bundled up to get wet and cold is not worth it to me, but I need to get over it for my kids. Parker can get all bundled up by himself and that is so incredibly helpful so he was outside long before I was able to get Dema dressed, then undressed to go to the bathroom again, then bundled again, and then dress Josie, put her in a carrier, then took her out of the carrier to change her diaper, then put her in the carrier, put the babywearing coat on, put my boots on, etc.

When we came outside, Parker was shoveling our neighbor's walk and she was outside. She explained to me that she had seen Parker shoveling the sidewalk at the park from her window and had decided to ask him to shovel her two walks (she owns two houses side by side now). Parker was doing a great job and looked very happy to help out. She kept saying he had done a good enough job, but he obviously did not get his shoveling genes from me (I am Miss Half-A** shoveler and think one little line through the snow is sufficient) and was insistent to get the entire walk clear of all snow which he carried over to the street instead of just dumping it on her yard. I see a city job in his future. Anyway, as I chatted with the neighbor she said she was going to pay Parker $10 for shoveling. I said, "no, he is only seven and doesn't need $10 and he should shovel the walk for fun and the feeling of helping out not for money". She insisted and even gave Dema $2 for cleaning off her cars. Parker told me later that he tried to talk her out of paying and he was a little embarrassed at getting paid, but it was his first paid job so he did feel pretty proud of that fact. He sells his artwork, but so far only to my sister so it doesn't really count.

Dema thought the snow would be a perfect place to ride his Like-A-Bike. Actually, it wasn't too bad since it is a balance bike and has no pedals. He was able to maneuver better than Parker on his "real" bike. He had a great time "off-roading" on his Like-A-Bike in the snow drifts.

Parker did our walks after the neighbor's for free and was happy to do it. He must get this from my dad since he still does all the neighbors' snow removal at 71 years of age. We came inside and had vegan hot cocoa with vegan marshmallows in our favorite vegan mugs to warm us up. I added some Nutriva Chocolate Hemp Shake to the hot cocoa and it dissolved better when warmed and tasted pretty good and added some nutrients.

Parker is a working man now and so grown up!.

2 comments:

Shawna said...

Linda,
What as sweet story about Parker. I know you are so proud of him! Can I buy those vegan marshmallows locally? NOt that I use them much, but the kids like them with cocoa and I am trying to avoid corn syrup too.
--Shawna

VeganLinda said...

I have seen them at Strawberry Fields from time to time, but I'm happy to buy some for you next time I order.