Parker - age 7

Activities: I think Parker's favorite thing to do is play in the backyard with our neighbors. There are usually between 5 and 10 kids (age 7-10) in our backyard every afternoon. Parker loves to swing and play kickball or baseball. He also enjoys jumping on the neighbor's trampoline. He works really hard to get his reading, piano, chores & homework done so he can play outside every afternoon. We contemplated letting him play baseball this fall but it didn't work out with some of the other things we have going on. He wants to play flag football in the spring. He still also loves to play computer and video games when given the opportunity.

 Piano: Parker just started taking piano lessons. He seems to enjoy practicing and is working through his books very quickly. He rides his bike down to lessons and coordinates with the other two on who is going to have which time. It is nice that all three of them have this "chore" in the afternoons now.

Chores: Parker is usually the first to get all of his chores done. He is very focused and will work continuously without stopping until everything is done. Some of his chores include: setting the table, unloading the dishwasher, washing dishes, putting away laundry, cleaning bathrooms & folding clothes.

Reading: Parker is reading and finishing small chapter books this year. He only reads the amount that he has to but seems to enjoy reading nonetheless. He is reading Magic Treehouse and Cam Jansen books right now.

Food: Parker loves to eat. He loves eggs. He will scramble his own or eat hard-boiled ones that I have made. He LOVES ice cream! His favorite food that I make is chicken enchiladas. He loves heating up frozen chicken taquitos as a snack. In the last year he has decided that he likes shrimp. He will eat my shrimp tacos but is still picky about some things I make. It is difficult to get him to eat fruits and vegetables.

Sleeping: Parker is usually the first to wake up on the weekends. He still doesn't really sleep in. I rarely have to wake him up in the morning as he and Caden are getting up to an alarm clock. He goes to bed between 8 & 9 every night although sometimes I still think he could use an earlier bedtime.

School: Parker is in 2nd grade this year. He has two teachers this year - Mrs. Brewer for language arts and social studies and Mrs. Scriven for math and science. He thinks they are strict and doesn't seem to like them quite as much as his past two teachers. He rides his bike to school almost everyday with Allie and Caden, gets good grades, and comes home happy.

Quirks: Parker is a funny guy! He often hears things wrong and then says something funny related to what he thinks we said. This year for Halloween he decided to be Harry Potter again but was also thinking about combining HP with a Ninja - Ninja Harry Potter. He ran around with his HP glasses and an old Taekwondo uniform one day.