Updates on Parker

Parker is by far my most fascinating child. He thinks differently than any child I have met. He is innovative and gets really passionate about things he is interested in. He has recently started 2nd grade. I had the pleasure of chatting with his teacher and she said that she caught Parker day dreaming and here is how that conversation went....

Teacher: Parker I need you to pay attention please.

Parker: Oh sorry teacher I was just thinking about helping others and saving the environment. I am concerned that your recycling garbage can is behind the other one and so many kids are putting recyclables in the regular can. Can you move this one out in front of the other so kids will think about it before they throw things away?

Teacher to me: How can you be upset about that kind of dreaming.

Parker's new obsession is saving the environment from trash that should be recycled. He wears a Wal-Mart grocery sack around his shoulders like a cap as he speeds around the neighborhood collecting plastic bottles and discarded cardboard. He brings this home to show me and is in complete awe that people will not pay attention to the fact they are 1, littering and 2 that they simply wont recycle. You may be thinking that Steve and I are fanatics about recycling but we don't have a city program and are not required to recycle in our city. Parker is really upset about this and gets after me for all sorts of garbage that I throw away that could easily be recycled. So Steve and I decided that we will get bins and start being more green for the sake of our eight year old. He still has his "calling" in church as being the garbage man and after the block of meetings he collects all the garbage's from the rooms into large bags and takes them to the dumpster. He takes great pride in hard work. He absolutely can't wait for it to snow and even interrupted his baptismal interview, no doubt day dreaming about shoveling, to ask if I was going to purchase a certain snow shovel he wants. This boy can shovel for six-seven hours without getting bored or tired. He earned close to $70 last winter in tips from people who have snow blowers and he got to their driveway before they got a chance. He is one boy I am so curious to see what he does with this wonderful, interesting personality. Now to explain a few of the pictures I chose. This pic with Parker and Dallin eating watermelon. Parker thought that it would be easier since Dallin wanted to share that he could suck the juice out. Nice thinking Parker. Parker recently turned eight and he insisted on a pumpkin pie for his birthday cake....like I said Parker is not your traditional kid. Last but certainly not least Parker's prior "rickshaw" on his bike has morphed into the "bullet train". He has taken bungee cords and ropes and connected anything with wheels (including a push broom on the end) to make a bullet train street sweeper. It is incredibly loud and he draws people to their windows as he drives cheerfully around the neighborhood and is happy to give eager kids a ride.