I just realized that I never did an update for Parker on his 4th birthday and I feel terrible about it. I won’t make the same mistake this year! So here we are… Even though he is as tall as some of Thomas’ seven year old friends, it is still hard for me to believe that it has been five years since our little baby was born!
Parker is a joyful child. He is often loud and boisterous and gets easily excited. We often have to calm him down a little bit as he does tend to be a bit overly enthusiastic about many things. Sometimes instead of walking from place to place, he likes to bounce.
He has enjoyed his time at his preschool, but is excited to follow his brother to the big school next year. It’s always interesting to see how differently your children can grow and develop. Thomas has always been extremely articulate, but his handwriting takes a tremendous amount of work to be decent. Parker is doing so much better at this point with things like handwriting, drawing and coloring, but his speech is still a struggle. He is getting so much better, but we frequently have to remind him to speak clearly and not mumble.
Parker is doing well with reading. When I looked back at Thomas’ five year update, I saw that at that age Thomas was always asking about the different words he would see. Looking back now, I see he was building his sight word vocabulary because when he got to kindergarten, he just took off reading as if he had known all the words for a long time. Apparently, he did. Parker, on the other hand, is probably going to be a more traditional type of early reader. He knows some simple sight words, but usually has to sound out the things he sees. He is doing very well with his reading though. He can read simple Bob books with ease, and can usually work his way through a variety of #1 books. I read a few books to him (and sometimes he reads to me) at rest time (he doesn’t nap, but he does stay upstairs and quietly entertain himself for 30-60 minutes a day), and then usually he reads a few books to his Daddy at bedtime. I’m not sure if he has the love of reading quite like his big brother, but he does enjoy it.
Back to school, he does pretty well. For as hyper as he can be at times, I think he is relatively well behaved at school. His teachers tell me he is generally good about knowing when it’s time to play and time to have fun. According to his count, he’s only had one time out at school all year, so that’s good. :) He has been with a few friends throughout all three years at preschool and it seems they are all going separate ways next year. I know he will miss seeing them daily…especially his best girl friend, R:
This year at school he has enjoyed staying later for karate one day (which he also did last year) and Science Seekers. We probably will have to continue karate as he enjoys it and it seems to be good for keeping him disciplined and focused when he needs to be. He has earned his blue striped belt.
He has many friends, and a couple of best buddies, but his absolute favorite, best friend of all is definitely his brother. They are two peas in a pod! Parker likes to do what he does and dress like him and be with him always. And yes, he is almost as tall as him too.
I think Parker started riding his bike without training wheels before he was four. Last year we moved Thomas up to a 20” bike and we quickly realized that by size, Parker needed to move up too. That 16” bike was looking smaller and smaller. So I found a fabulous deal on a used bike at a consignment sale and we surprised Parker with it (They had been turned around facing the other direction and when we told them to turn around and see what was there, this was the reaction):
He loves it and rides it daily. Thomas likes to ride it too. He’s a bit jealous of his brother’s fancy geared bike.
Parker remains a good eater. I think he eats out of boredom most of the time, but he doesn’t miss a snack. He still loves fruits and vegetables most of all. His absolute favorite meal is chicken pot pie. But if he wants something sweet, he loves going out for frozen yogurt and loading it up with way too much candy and such. Here he was recently with his first friend, SE:
His oddest snack request is pretty funny and unexpected. If he spies a small can of garbanzo beans in the pantry, he must have them. Straight out the can. Silly boy.
Parker is a sweet boy. He loves to laugh and he gets very upset if he thinks he has hurt your feelings or disappointed you. I hope he always keeps that sweetness about him. He also has a hard time being around someone who is hurt or sad. It really upsets him. He is truly such a sweetheart.
So even though he wakes too early (usually by 6:45, if not before) and stays up too late, he’s a sweet boy and his laugh and smile melt me.
I cannot believe it was five years ago that our precious, dark-haired 8 lb, 8 oz baby came home with us. It has been a fun five years and I only hope the next five will slow down a little so we can enjoy it all the more!
Happy birthday Parkie Park!
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