Status Report

• weeks trav has been gone: 3
• phone conversations: 1 (15 minutes)
• letters written: countless (almost 1 per day)
• letters received: 0 (he has no time!)
• letters trav has gotten to read: 1
• times parker has been to time-out since trav left: i've lost count
• poopy diaper changes trav owes me when he gets home: at least 20 for the obscene amount that i change everyday (and that's me being nice)
  
• my mood: surprisingly upbeat most of the time...but too upset about my almost 2 year old's behavior the rest of the time

things i'm missing most about trav:

• his presence
• having someone around, company
• the way parker listens to him with just a stern look
• back-scratches--he is the best at it...he might even rival my grandma sy who gave amazing back-scratches whenever i wanted (which was usually every couple hours) and even taught me how to ask in japanese when i was teeny-tiny
• seeing him and parker play together
• snuggling on the couch while watching tv at night
• just about everything!

in other news...

on friday night we went to cool desert nights. it is a classic car show. parker had a blast looking at the old cars drive by. here are some pictures from the night:

drayson. nonni. parker

papa. parker (chowing down on goldfish pretzels)


auntie jaysh. kearyn (the sweetest little girl i have every seen!)

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things:

So, I thought that it would be fun to jot down some of Parker's favorite things right now. It will be nice for me to be able to look back on it and for those of you who don't get to see him all the time to get some insight into what makes our little man tick! Let's get right to it...here are a few of his favorite things!!!

• Word World: For those of you who don't know, Word World is one of the best shows for small children. I say this not only as a mommy...but as a teacher, too. If your kiddo has never seen it, you should check it out (CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WORD WORLD WEBSITE).
  

• Sports: It doesn't matter what sport...he is obsessed with them all. His favorite word is "balls" and if he sees a picture of a ball he will stop and say it about 10 times before we can move on!

• Books: He loves to have people read books to him. All day long he grabs books and climbs up in my lap for me to read them to him. Here are some of his favorites:

• Water: Parker loves water out of the hose, in a pool, on the ground, in a puddle, in the bath, in the shower...the list could go on and on! It could be freezing cold outside and he would jump right in and roll around.

• Movies: He loves Finding Nemo, Shrek, and so many others. Hopefully that will keep up at least until after our flights to Texas and Hawaii!

• Cookies: He will do just about anything for a cookie!

• Rice: You should hear how he says it. It is so cute. It is one of his best words! That 1/8 Japanese really comes through when you put a bowl of white rice in front of him!!!

• The Plasma Car: My sister and brother-in-law got their son Drayson a Plasmacar for his 2nd birthday. Parker loved it and cried when he had to get off of it. Needless to say, I ordered one after he went to bed that night! You swivel the wheel back and forth to make it go, so it is easier for him to do than pedal a trike. He was hilarious on it!
  

• Pushing it to the limit: Welcome to "terrible twos"...I think that terrible is the wrong word to describe it...I am going to have to get out a thesaurus to find a better one. If I come up with a better word to describe what my child can be like right now...I will let you know! I was able to talk to Travis on Sunday for about 15 minutes and one of the first things he asked was "Is Parker listening to you?" I had to laugh! I simply said NO! Sometimes he can be so sweet, but he really does like to push things just about as far as he can. It usually lands him in time-out...but he does his time and then is right back to pushing the limit 5 minutes later. He does always come and give me an "I'm sorry Mommy" hug and kiss after time-out though...somehow it makes it all worth it!
  

Gettin' His Handsome From His Daddy!

I am still not sure exactly how long mail is taking to get from us to Trav...so in the interest in him getting his Father's Day card on time we took pictures of Parks in his new shirt to send to him. I thought that Trav would get a kick out of it! If you can't see it...the shirt says,
"I GET MY HANDSOME FROM MY DAD"
I thought that it was all too fitting and my boys really are oh so handsome!

Parker is even flexing his muscles in some of the pictures...trying to one-up Daddy already!

still waiting

From the phone call I got from Travis telling me his address, he made it sound like he would get to call this weekend. I waited by my phone all day long and shouldn't have gotten my hopes up the way I did. I know that I shouldn't be surprised...but I was really hoping for a phone call.

It has been so hard to write letters telling Travis what is going on here without having any idea what he is doing there. I wish I had at least some idea of how he is doing. Hopefully this week will go by very quickly and I will hear from him next Sunday.

Until then, we are still waiting...