99 things about Parker, my July 99'er

99 things about Parker… in celebration of his 6th birthday.
1. His whole name is Charles Parker Jensen
2. He is named after MY father.. Charles is a family tradition
3. His due date was July 4th,
4. He was to be born one year to the DAY that my grandmother died.
5. He missed that mark – came 2 days later.
6. I swear sometimes he is my grandmother reincarnated.
7. He is my first born son.
8. He is exactly like Steve in many ways.
9. He’s a perfectionist.
10. He is very soft hearted.
11. He is extremely kind and gentle with me!
12. He can ride a two-wheeler.
13. He can swim almost 50 yrds freestyle!!
14. Today, he swam 25 yrds of Butterfly!! (I can’t even do that!)
15. He adores his brother.
16. He can go from loving Matthew to wanting him dead and gone in about ¼ second!
17. He gets himself dressed and clothes put in the hamper.
18. He cannot tie his shoes, but keeps on trying!
19. He can add anything – including regrouping.
20. He can subtract with borrowing.
21. He wants to learn multiplication.
22. He did not inherit this love of math from either of his parents!
23. He weighs 56.5 pounds.
24. He is officially too tall to play on the play structure at Burger King (48” is the max)
25. He wears a size 6-8 in clothes and a size 4 shoe.
26. That’s BOYS 4!!!
27. God help me if he grows into those feet! At least I can always hear him coming!
28. His favorite color is green.
29. His favorite sport is basketball (after his dad!)
30. He is extremely good at swimming.
31. He’s had lessons daily at our city pool this summer.
32. He’s also been taking tennis lessons this summer.
33. He took Karate during the school year and earned a white-belt-purple-stripe.
34. He can throw and catch like no one’s business!
35. He clearly did not inherit my lack of any athletic talent whatsoever!
36. He is very excited that there’s a baby growing in mommy’s tummy.
37. He is unusually interested in my breasts and why he does not have them too… (ugh!)
38. He makes his bed and cleans his room. (Not daily, but when asked or when my mother is coming over!)
39. He finished his thank you notes from his birthday without me hounding him for weeks and weeks! (Another trait he could have inherited from me!)
40. He is tremendously excited to go to first grade.
41. He is angry that Matthew cannot go with him!
42. He still cries when he is frustrated.
43. He is getting demanding and whiney.
44. He has the most amazingly acute vision, and from the car window can see planes that are 7 miles high!
45. He knows every make of truck out there, and just about every car.
46. He will tell you his dream car is either a Ford F350 Douley, or a Hummer.
47. I have no idea where he gets his taste in cars!
48. He’s had this obsession with moving vehicles for about 1 ½ years now.
49. He is surprisingly competitive.
50. He is mot competitive with himself.
51. He loves to win.
52. He can be a spoiled sport if we let him.
53. He asks very astute questions about life.
54. He is interested in Bible stories.
55. He gets mad at us if we don’t go to church!
56. He is loyal to his friends!
57. He will tell you that his best friend is Andrew, and they share the same birthday.
58. He has not been around Andrew for nearly a year now.
59. He will remember the smallest details of things I would have sworn he’d forgotten!
60. He swears that he remembers being in the womb, and did not want to come out on the 4th of July because all the fireworks would scare him!
61. He is very independent.
62. He can get himself a bowl of cereal in the morning and a glass of juice.
63. He will NOT spill a drop, even with a full gallon of milk!
64. He has lost three teeth, two on bottom, one on top.
65. The bottom teeth are coming in.
66. He looks very strange to me, still, with his upper tooth missing!
67. He needs a haircut!
68. He may just end up with David Letterman hair – can’t do a thing with it!
69. His new idol/mentor is a lifeguard at our city pool with the same name of Parker.
70. He is very trusting and will (rather rudely) come and drink from whatever container is in front of Steve or me.
71. He loves to snuggle.
72. He loves to play teacher for his brother.
73. He has Matthew up to 8th grade in the “Parker Academy”
74. He loves Looney Toons and Bugs Bunny.
75. He will still watch Barney if its on…
76. He thinks the “S” word is STUPID and will tattle on anyone who uses that word, even me!
77. He loves to sing and make music on our Clavinova.
78. He can carry neither a tune nor a beat!!!
79. He tells me that I am beautiful and wonderful and the best mom he’s ever had!
80. He talks to his little brother in utero.
81. He is mad that we are not naming the new baby Mark.
82. He likes to take pictures.
83. He took an entire roll of pictures of his feet.
84. He remembers our trips to places like Florida and DC and will describe details from both trips.
85. His favorite part of our trip to DC was seeing Ford’s Theatre.
86. He knows that John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln.
87. He says JWB was a bad man.
88. He won’t let me kill bugs in his presence because I might be taking away a family member.
89. He believes very strongly that all creatures have the bond of family that we do.
90. He loves the show Zoom.
91. He makes up Fannee Doolee’s daily.
92. He wants to help me cook.
93. He wants to “babysit’ for the puppy.
94. He knows his grandfather is dying.
95. He loves to make up stories.
96. He writes them all down on paper.
97. He draws the illustrations, too.
98. He is the one that showed me that there is no love greater than that for your child
99. He makes me thankful every day he’s here that I get to be his Mom!