My friend Parker

Today we had a meeting with the Relief Society presidency and the activities committee for planning our ward's Christmas party. My good friend Aubrey (the head of the activities committee) has two little boys, the oldest is a three year old named Parker. Parker in some ways is a lot like Ethan- he runs. Aubrey has had to chase him many times through the neighborhood. However, he's getting older and doesn't run off as much any more.

Today at our meeting (Aubrey hosted) we sat around in the living room in a circle. Aubrey had pulled out some kitchen chairs for every one and Parker immediately sat on one of them and patiently waited for the meeting to start. 

Of course it wasn't long before he got distracted when more kids came over. Anna, about two years old, showed up with her mother and wandered over to Parker's dry erase board and proceeded to mess up Parker's picture of his family (it was scribbles). Parker was really upset by this. He ran over to the board to stop Anna. I, sitting next to the board, asked Parker if it was ok if Anna added to it. He gave me this pure honest look and said, "that's ok." 

That's what I love about Parker. Despite being a very typical three year old boy, he is incredibly kind. He does have his moments where Aubrey has to start counting, but when ever he's paying attention to you and focusing on you he's very dutiful. Probably more so with other people who aren't his parents.

I first met Parker about two years ago, give or take a few months. His brother not born yet, and he an anxious toddler who had a whine in his voice that you couldn't understand. I couldn't help but giggle every time he talked because his normal voice was so whiny and I had no idea what he ever said. But, I could understand when he whined my name and said, "friend!". Yep, from the very beginning Parker thought of me as a friend (most definitely conditioned by his mother to think this) and every time he sees me he's very excited and always says, "hi Gretchen!" 

When we have kids I so badly want a girl. I could care less about having boys, except when I hang out with Parker. If I have a boy I hope he's as sweet as Parker is. We colored in his coloring book together once. As an artist I'm a super perfectionist and that even means with crayons. Something about coloring with Parker was completely different. I let him control where I colored and what color I used and I had complete fun letting go and just scribbling! And of course with Parker there was a bit of destruction to the coloring pages by the time we were done.

Parker does have his bad moments, and I have witnessed many! But, spending time coloring with him reminded me when I was little and my mother dedicated many hours to making sure as little kids we got to do many crafts. There are three girls in my family so we created many sand art, jewelry, keychains and many other very girly crafts. 

This is one reason why I want so badly to have a little girl, so I can do these fun little things with her. Of course if I do have a boy there are so many crafts that I've never even heard of that I can do with him too! But, for now I'll get joy out of coloring with Parker.

This week Parker learned how to use the peddles on his tricycle. When I came over for the meeting. He showed me his bike and told me he could ride it, and he was so proud. 

Parker has lots of friends, little ones and big ones. Parker is an incredible little boy. And I'm very glad he remembers who I am because I've had kids who forget who I am. But mostly, I'm glad he's my friend.