Parker has become extremely affectionate recently. There have been a couple of times when I have been standing in the kitchen and I've dropped something or hit my head on the freezer door and yelled out, "Aaah." I then heard little feet running in my direction and Parker has come to me saying, "Hug, hug," and given me a sweet one. It certainly has made me feel better. However there was an incident several weeks ago when I was sitting in his room weeping over something (something silly--most of the upset was that I was upset over something so minor), and Parker came into the room and just laughed at me. That was fun, I can tell you.

Parker hugs his stuffed animals. Sometimes when I read to him a book Michael's grandmother sent--Lamb Chop's Fables: The Boat Contest, featuring Aesop's The Lion and the Mouse--Parker wants to hug Lamb Chop, who is treated poorly by Charley Horse in the story. He puts his cheek up against the picture of Lamb Chop in the book.

The other day Parker was watching The Muppet's Take Manhattan. There is a muppet babies sequence in the middle of that movie in which baby Rolf plays the piano. Parker saw Rolf, pointed to him--"Dog!"--and he said, "Hug, hug." He ran up to the television and tried to hug the tv. When baby piggie sings

"And I'm going to climb the Matterhorn, but only after all my children are born, because I want to be a good mommie too, and I'm going to always love you."

Parker hears mommie and yells out "Mommie" and runs to me to give me a hug.

Won't he be embarrased when he reads this when he's sixteen years old?

Michael and I just celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary. We went out last night and when we got home my mom snapped a picture.