happy boy

My little man is growing so fast that I can hardly believe it.

He's already 5 months old! Yikes ... that's almost 1/2 a year.

Little P,

I know I say this in every letter I write you ... but I love you more and more all of the time.

I really mean it. I love watching you grow, learn, and explore. You're no longer into your once beloved mat or your swing, you've moved onto bigger and better things ... your bouncer. You love to grab all of the toys on this thing, and you really love all of the noises that it makes. You're getting a lot stronger and you can roll from your belly to your back. You can move from your back to your side, but you haven't figured out how to get all the way over. However, I know that you're not too far from being able to roll both ways. In the past month, you've learned how to grab things on your own. I can put your toys out in front of you and you can grab them ... and of course everything goes right into your mouth once you get it. You're favorite thing to do it grab your blue elephant and very hungry caterpillar toys that hang from your car seat. They're velcroed onto the handle, and you love to pull them off and play with them. You always love to be moving. You love to kick your legs and fly around the house like an airplane (of course you can't really fly, but Daddy zooms you around like a little plane). You kick your legs so much that you've really become a pain to dress. I put one leg in your pants, and before I can get back in you've kicked the other one out. You smile and love this game, but I do not love it quite as much as you. You also move all around in your crib at night. I'll find you turned side-ways and holding onto the rails of your crib. Although you like to move around a lot, you still love to sleep in my arms. You take almost all of your naps in your crib (you take 2-3 naps right now), but there are still times when you fall asleep in my arms and I can't bring myself to put you down so I just hold you. You're also eating all kinds of new food. I've been making you all kinds of food, and I'm determined to help you from becoming a picky eater. So far you've tried peas, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bananas, avocado,  spinach, carrots, pumpkin, clementines, and parsnips. Sometimes you'll willingly eat whatever I give you, but other times you cry and spit it back out. So far your favorite thing is bananas and avocado mixed. Your least favorite is probably butternut squash. You've been sick on and off with several colds, and you get a real bad cough when you're sick. It breaks my heart. I think that you catch them from daycare. Sometimes when you're sick I wish I could stay home with you everyday, but I also know that you will do well interacting with all of the other kids and learning to trust other adults. I love you so much Parker. I love going to get you from your crib with you wake up. You always smile so big when you first wake up. You daddy makes fun of me because I always look into your crib and say (in a surprised voice) - "oh there's a little man in there. He's kind of cute too." I don't know why I say that ... I guess it's just something that has stuck. I guess I'm always still a little amazed that you're out of my belly and in the world. I am so thankful that God gave you to your Daddy and I. We thank God for you every night and pray that you will never know a day that you do not love the God who created you.