The Life of Rob & Jess Plus Two: January 2018

Dear Parker,

My, oh my, how is it that you are 3.5 years old? I look at you and all I see is boy. You aren’t a baby anymore and seem to be growing like a weed. You’re tall enough to look over counters and table tops and 3T pants are almost too short (though I have no idea how we’d get anything bigger to stay up on your waist). My first born… I love watching you grow up.

You are so stinkin’ cute and logical. It cracks me up. “Mom—it’s not cold out! That means, when it’s not cold out, we can wear shorts!” Yep- buddy, we can wear shorts (Hello Houston!). You can spell P-A-R-K-E-R and know all of your ABCs. You can write PAR ER. The K is still giving you some trouble which I’m told is totally normal (A, K, V, etc are hard letters b/c you have to make your line go diagonal). You can count to twenty and are starting to recognize some words by sight. Watching you write your letters is so fun. You’ll say “long line down, circle at top” for P. What’s also funny is that you don’t know when to stop drawing your lines so your letters are always the full page of the paper b/c you stop your line when you reach the end of the paper. It’s so cute.

Each night we look up at a canvas mom made before you were born that has various vehicle sounds (Beep Beep, Choo Choo, etc) painted on it. We’ll lay on your bed and you’ll show me all the letters and then ask me to tell you things that start with the letters. Of course your favorite letter is P. You like it when I pretend I don’t know what words starts with P. You also know your numbers and can do them on your hands, too. You can count at least to 20 and when we were doing our Advent calendar you always knew where to put the star. Mom was very impressed.

You still do gymnastics once a night and you crack me up. You’ll walk out there all on your own and give be a big smile and wave. You crinkle your eyes and just smile real big. You are super cautious still and like to observe before you do anything. You’re not the first one to volunteer to go first and you really need someone to show you what to do before you do it. I totally get it baby boy. It’s so cute when you salute, too. You don’t quite hold your arm up high and instead just bend it over your head (drives your coaches crazy—who am I kidding—it drives me a little bit crazy, too. Not that I love you any less). I’m hoping you’ll get the hang of doing a cartwheel.

You have mastered your balance bike and then also this really cool scooter that requires balance. You have definitely become comfortable on a bike or a scooter and are starting to get a little fearless. You’ll go up to people’s driveway with bigger hills and go full speed down. You like playing at the park and just generally being outside. You, daddy and Andrew will play “crash-tacular” in the living room where most anything goes and you guys jump, wrestle and just, in general, act like wild boys. You all have so much fun wresting around and being wild.

You absolutely, hands down, love the trampoline best. Still want to jump with daddy all the time. You have recently realized that Andrew also likes the trampoline and we can put you two in there by yourselves and you guys will just run around and Andrew thinks its hilarious. You still prefer to jump just with daddy b/c Andrew can’t do “big” jumps, tho. You are also very good at soccer. You follow directions well and love to run. I’m excited to see where soccer will take you—I think you’re pretty swell at it for the age of 3.

Puzzles are your jam and I’m pretty sure you’re better at them then me. You also like k’nex and legos and just building things in general. I heard you saying the world “propulsion” the other day and I knew that you were just like your daddy. You like playing with trains and building tracks. You’ve started having the attention span to watch a TV show and we’re definitely still into the Twenty Trucks YouTube channel. You sing along to the songs and correct all of your friends when they don’t use the proper names for a truck. You’ll watch a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then also rocket ship videos we find on YouTube (thank you NASA for recording all of your rocket launches).

You’re still a great sleeper—go to bed at 8:15 and will sleep to around 8 or 8:30. You still take about a 1.5 to 2 hour nap each day as well. You like to sleep without pajamas and with all of your stuffed animals. Sometimes when I go to wake you up in the morning I can’t find you amongst all of your animals! Little E is still a thing around here as well as Big E. Though, what’s really taken off in the past six months has been Mickey Mouse.

You aren’t as big into Thomas the Train anymore—you’re love is Mickey Mouse. And I have no idea where it came from. But, you love him nonetheless. We have 4 little Mickey Mouse stuffed animals and then 2 GIANT (3.5 ft tall) Mickey and Minnie. You love ALL OF THEM. They all sleep with you and come downstairs every morning. It’s so sweet. When I got you big Mickey and Minnie I had them sitting downstairs one morning before work/school and you came down the stairs and saw them. So, with a look of pure joy you said “Mom! Mickey is looking at me!!!!” You slowly walked up to them and gave them a hug and were just so excited. You give them a hug and kiss each morning before we leave for school. You were also Mickey for Halloween and you sometimes where your Mickey costume just for fun at home.

When we go for walks in the evening you call me Minnie and insist on being called Mickey. You’ll yell down the road, “Come on Minnie!!” and I’ll say “I’m coming Mickey!!” Parker, I will always be your Minnie. I know one day that you’ll find a whole new Minnie to love. I know you will dazzle a future Minnie with your big cheese face and sweet heart. But, for now, I’m going to cherish being your Minnie.

You have some good friends at school and I like hearing you talk about your friends. You’re learning that you have to share with Andrew more and more as well as with your friends at school. It’s sweet to hear you talk to your friends and Andrew. We’ve had friends over so you can play with them and, well, what it boils down to, is you’re just growing up! You will play with Andrew more and more each day and you love following him around mimicking everything he does and Andrew thinks it’s really fun.

You still eat yogurt every morning as well as some pancakes or a waffle. You also love yellow bars (nature valley soft baked peanut butter bars), goldfish, oatmeal bars, and applesauce for snacks. Otherwise, your eating habits are about the same--- sometimes you eat great and other times you don’t. You love spaghetti, steak, chicken, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries. Fajitas with rice and beans is your jam.

You talk about the beach a lot—could be because we went to the beach 3x last year. I’m already planning our next trip in late March (hopefully!). You really, really love the beach. You can just be free and we don’t have to tell you “no” a lot which is why I think you like it so much. You are always talking about, “When we go to the beach….” You also experienced two snows since turning 3! You were fascinated by it and thought it was so cool. Can you believe it snowed in Houston (and I didn’t even get to experience it b/c I was in NY!). Then, it also snowed when were back in Arkansas where you got to more legit play in the snow.

Me and you had one of the best days the morning we put up the kids' Christmas tree. You helped me every step of the way and were such a good helper. I had bought you some special Mickey ornaments and glass displays and you were just floored. We wore light up Mickey mouse ears just for fun and I hope its something I can remember for forever. True mommy/son time. You also really helped me put lights on the columns when we were doing the outdoor lights at Christmas. I believe your words were "You can just call me the helper!" And boy did we. You were all over the place helping us with lights (Andrew preferred to just put the lights in his mouth).

Our evenings are filled with reading books, pushing trucks around, and just overall being silly with brother. We still refer to it as “giggle time.” You and brother play best while in the bathtub each evening. I’ll be honest in that the bathroom is a wet mess every evening but I try not to get onto you guys too much so that you’ll play together. You both love splashing and just being silly in the bathtub. Bubbles are a hit in the bath as well.

You also went to the dentist for the first time! (I know, I’m late in doing this, but I didn’t think you’d handle it very well until recently). And boy oh boy you did so awesome. We checked in at the front and were surprised to find your classmate Zeeland there, too! I think this helped immensely. But, they called your name back and you grabbed the nice lady’s hand and walked back without me! I felt like I was watching you go off to college. SO BIG. I stayed in the waiting room while they cleaned your teeth. I came back to find you playing quietly with toys while the dentist explained everything to me. Then, she asked you to hop in the chair for her to do one more quick exam. You shimmied up into the chair laid back and followed her directions to a T. It was awesome. I was so proud.

Parker, these last few months have been so much fun. There have been moments for sure where I’m convinced that you can’t be my child, but every evening when you give me a hug and wave to me from your bed, I know that all is right in the world. Mom and dad love you sweet boy, always and forever.