September 23

Parker will randomly come up to me and say, “I love you Mom.” It is always so sweet to hear, but he has started to pick up on how much I love to hear him way that. He now will use it to his advantage. Like when he makes a mess, he will preface telling me about the mess with a very guilty, “I love you Mom”. This usually cues me that he needs to tell me something more that how much he loves me. Well on Sunday, after arriving at church Parker told me that he was ‘super hungry’. I informed him that I hadn’t brought any snacks for him. He was disappointed, but then asked when they were going to do the sacrament. In my naïve motherhood I was excited that he was catching onto the most important part of the Sunday meetings. As the bread was past, I held the tray for Parker, at which he immediately grabbed the biggest handful of bread, looked up at me, and very guiltily said, “I love you Mom.” I didn’t know what to do. My initial reaction was, “Put the bread down and just take one, but Troy, in his ever awareness of germs, said, “He’s touched the bread, just let him eat it.” So Parker happily shoved the whole mouthful of bread into his mouth as I was trying to shrink into the bench.
Parker has gotten better at his bike and braking. He still, when he is nervous about not being able to stop, will ride up on the grass. He told me his logic to this, as when he falls on the cement he gets a red owie, but when he falls on the grass he gets a green owie.
I told the boys the story of the Brother of Jared the other day, and how the brother of Jared saw Christ when he touched the stones. Andrew then told me another day that he wanted to be a prophet when he grows up. I wondered what would lure him to this calling, and his response was, “I want to see what Jesus looks like, and I know that the prophet sees Jesus.”
Andrew continues to love school, and is singing all the new songs that he has learned, and showing me all the new things that he does at school. He is getting more and more confident. I used to have to walk him almost right inside his classroom before he felt okay to go into his class. Yesterday he told me that he wanted to walk to school all by himself. I told him that I needed to at least walk him onto the school grounds. And now I’m the one who is having separation anxiety as I watch him until he is inside the school doors and I can’t see him anymore.