Sweet Parker Bear,

Today you are four years old. FOUR. How is this even possible when I can remember the moments you were born like they just happened last week? I will never forget those precious, short minutes that I got to hold you as a brand new life. And now, you are this big, silly kid and I just can’t believe how fast time passed.

You have changed so much this year!! Four is such a milestone year. You go from being part-baby, part-big-kid to all big kid. You have grown up SO much this year. Looking back at your pictures has me all teary for how fast it has happened.

I can’t even believe this is you only a year ago! Look at those chubby baby cheeks! In so many ways, you grew up this year. You started doing more and more on your own and now, for the most part, you can pretty much do everything on your own. There’s still a few exceptions (which you LOVE to remind us of – you still need to be babied sometimes!), but you have become fairly independent.

You LOVE Awana. Love it with all of your heart. You graduated from Puggles this year and moved up to Cubbies and loved it even more because you got to have weekly homework like Nathan. Anything that makes you feel big like Nathan is always a big thing for you!

You have become slightly more brave in new situations. We’ve been so proud of you! You are still our more introverted one. You tend to disappear by yourself and that’s when I know you need a little bit of downtime. Nathan and Eisley are both incredibly loud and extroverted. You are the perfect balance to them. But, you also can get VERY loud and crazy too – it just has to be in your own home with your own family, most of the time. 😉

You LOVE to swim. You live for swim lesson day. You are like a little fish in the water! You have learned so much over the last few years swimming! We are so proud of how you always try your best in the pool. You just started t-ball and you are doing great! You love to do anything that seems like something a big kid would do. We’ve been doing some Pre-K work at home and you absolutely love it. Your favorite thing to do right now is color. You could color all day, every day.

You HATE the camera. With all of your entire heart. The second I pull out my phone to take a picture, you are immediately either trying to hide your face or telling me no or making a weird smile so I’ll leave you alone. Ha! You would be insanely happy if my camera shattered into a million pieces overnight. 😉 It’s SO sad to me because you are absolutely adorable and I love catching you in those rare moments when I get one of your real smiles!!

You are kind. You are very tenderhearted. You are a great big brother to Eisley and an adoring little brother to Nathan. You guys can get into it sometimes, but you are all very quick to forgive and move on. You have been such a big helper with Eisley this year as we dove into homeschooling and I’m so thankful for you! You love peanut butter and strawberry jelly. You love Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast except when you hate them and have never liked them ever. You want to grow up to be a million and a half different things. You absolutely, one hundred percent ADORE Maila and you two are constantly getting into trouble. 😉 You love to climb in my lap and you love when I hold you. You love dessert and Legos and action figures and everything and anything that is green. You are going to buy the house next door and live in it and drive a green truck when you get old. And you told me you will still come have lunch with me every day. I plan on holding you to that. 😉

I love you with all of my heart, Parker Bear! You are my precious son, the answer to countless prayers. Happy fourth birthday, sweetheart!

Love,

Mom