"Jazz Baby"

Dear Parker,

I have mentioned before that you really love books. Over the last couple days, you have been reading all (yes, ALL) the books in your room at least once a day. You will actually "read" yourself the stories. For the book "Click Clack Moo" you say "No bankets, No Milk, No Ecks (eggs), Ducks!" I think its super cute. (And super smart!)

Your favorite book has to be "Jazz Baby." I think you have a little crush on the jazz baby. You have to kiss his picture every time it appears and you get a little upset if someone else kisses him - like he's cheating on you. It's pretty funny.

You are growing up so fast. You remember things and people from a long time ago. You ask about your grandparents and aunts and uncles. You remember that Mrs. Bradley has the bugs and that Nancy lives with Chuck. You remembered where I keep my class ring from high school even though I only showed you once a couple of weeks ago. You will repeat anything we ask you to say. You will say things that I had no idea you even knew - closet, sleeve. You just start saying these things. I just can't believe how grown up you seem. You will be 18 months old in less than two weeks. Where has the time gone?

I love you baby girl. I'm sorry that the next few weeks/months are going to be crazy. I'm hoping that someone buys our house really soon so that we can both be done showing the house and move to a house with stairs! :)

Love,

Mommy

March

Dear Parker,

You were trying to march tonight. HILARIOUS! You only march with your one leg. The other one just walks. It reminds me of the drummers who carry their snares on a sling and march with their one leg and walk with their other. You just looked lop-sided. It was awesome.

In other news, you are putting together three word sentences. Today you said, "Mommy, get it!"

Okay, baby, this is a super short and rather disjunct post. But, I'm tired and need to go to bed.

I love you and am looking forward to tomorrow.

I love you,

Mommy

I forgot

Dear Parker,

I forgot to add that tonight I was chasing you around the house and you were just laughing and laughing. It was so amazing. I love to hear you laugh. It makes the rest of the world melt away and seem completely insignificant to the joy that you are experiencing. I know that these moments are fleeting and I want to remember them always.

Your mom is giving a talk tomorrow (and she's very nervous) about preserving memories through writing. I want to learn how to write your laugh. I never want to forget how it sounds.

I love you.

Mommy

Trip to Grandma's

Dear Parker,

This past weekend was a "long" one, so we drove up to visit your Grandma, Booga and Uncle. You had such a fun time! You got undivided attention from your grandparents and I was able to get my paper done. I didn't have as much fun as you did since I spent all of Saturday on the computer and not joining in the fun, but at least you were having a good time!

However, you do not sleep well when you are not at home! It wasn't too horrible, but between the time change and you not being able to go back to sleep by yourself since you weren't in your bed, Mommy is tired!

I think I need a break from my break. I'm hoping that this week won't be too crazy. I will have rehearsal until around 5:30 or 6 a couple nights, and Mom and I will have to go to her talk tomorrow night, but it should be nothing compared to the last couple of weeks.

One quick story, before I sign off. The musical this year is "Little Shop of Horrors." One of the songs has Audrey II (the plant) singing "Feed Me!" We were listening to this song in the car and you said, "Feed Me!.....Chips!" Hilarious!

I love you, bits.

Mommy

Sorry

Dear Parker,

I feel like you have been getting the short end of the Mommy stick lately. I just have too much going on. I feel like I never see you for more than a couple of hours and then I have to run off. I was really looking forward to spending time with you this weekend, but now I have to write this stupid paper. I'm hoping that I can just work really hard on it Saturday and get it done, so that we can spend all day Sunday and Monday together. I'm sorry that we aren't getting enough time together right now.

You are wonderful, you just go with the flow. I'm hoping that you won't remember the time when you never saw your Mommy. (And I'm hoping that it doesn't become a pattern!)

You are waking up, so I will go get you so that we can play for a couple hours before I have to leave again.

You are amazing and I love you,

Mommy

Pats

Dear Parker,

Somewhere along the way in your life, you have decided that "pats" are a sign of affection. It's cute, but what is hilarious is that you want to "pat" everything. Your yogurt, Kitty Maxx, Mom, Mommy, your baby, the ceiling fan. It's awesome. Everything gets "pats."

I think you are awesome and I love that you love your yogurt enough to give it "pats." :)

You are getting so smart. Today, your Mom told you that we didn't have any cookies and you asked her to "get." Then, when she was on the computer, you shut the screen and told her "no puter." It's just crazy. You are a kid. Not a baby.

I love you.

Mommy

Funny Faces

Dear Parker,

Tonight we were at dinner and you made this funny little face where you pursed out your lips, like a kissy face! It made your Mom and I laugh, so we started asking you to mimic our faces and you kept trying so hard. It was hilarious. The only two you really got were the surprised face and the kissy face, but in trying we all had a good time.

Other funny things from dinner: There was a baby at a nearby table. You kept saying hi to her and asking to giver her pats. :)

Suddenly, you yelled "Cuck!" This is what you call our friend Chuck. We were very confused. You yelled it again and I followed your gaze to an older, white haired man who was leaving the restaurant! HA HA HA! You thought it was Chuck. It was awesome.

We had a great dinner with you. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty crazy with Kindermusik and a basketball game. However, it is supposed to snow pretty hard tonight and tomorrow, so I'm hoping that everything just gets cancelled. Fingers crossed for a day and night at home.

I love you little bits,

Mommy

Dance and other ramblings

Dear Parker,

Sorry I haven't written in a couple of days. Things have been pretty busy here. We are trying to sell the house and it's been really stressful the last couple of days. We've had two showings in the middle of the day, which means we have to hide many of your toys and that you have to leave with Aunt Lauren and go somewhere else. I'm sorry. I know it's probably hard on you, but you're a trooper! :)

So, here's what I've been noticing about you lately. First of all - you say so many things and you speak so well. (I think I say that about every time I write you a letter.) You've been putting together more words than you used to. You will say "Hi Mommy" or "Love you Mommy."

You are getting much more opinionated. If you don't want to do something, you will scream. I don't like that as much, but I suppose it's part of the deal! :) Luckily, you are easily distracted and it can be contained fairly simply.

You love to dance! You will shake your little fists and run around the room. Or you will sway or head bang or just spin in a circle. It's cute.

You are a Big Girl. We had our first Kindermusik class of the semester on Tuesday. It's a class for 18months-3 years. (You are only 16 months old) There was only 1 kid younger than you and you caught on pretty well. That's not to say that you were running around with the 3 year old boys, but I think you were doing just as well as most of the kids. I was surprised. I don't know why, but I was.

You are beginning to like just snuggling. :) Tonight you were sitting on my lap at the kitchen table. I started playing with your little curls. I stopped and you said, "more!" You liked me playing with your hair. We just sat there for about 10 minutes snuggling and me stroking your hair. It was the best 10 minutes of my entire day.

I think you are amazing. We are embarking on a very busy part of the year for Mommy. We've got lots going on and we are making things more crazy by trying to move (which I think has enough emotional stuff attached to it for an entirely different post if we actually sell!). You probably won't get the Mommy-time that you deserve and I'm very sorry. I'm going to do my absolute best to spend as much time as possible with you.

I love you, baby. (BigGirl!)

Love,

Mommy