Party with Uncle Marc and Aunt Leena

After almost 2 years Luke finally met his Uncle Marc (my brother) and Aunt Leena (my sister-in-law)!  Since Marc and Leena live in Virginia we don't get a chance to see them very often.  This past weekend they dropped by our house for a visit and dinner with most of the rest of my family (my dad, mom and sister). It was super nice to see and catch up with them.  I had told Luke before he went down for his nap that we were going to have a party when he woke up from his nap.  According to Bryan, when Luke got up he said, "Marc... party."  He was very excited! What's funny is that he really has no clue who Marc is or what a "party" really is (There is a slight chance I use "party" too much to entice him to do something, or to get excited about something, i.e. "Let's party and pick up your toys"... "Let's party and eat a snack", so on and so forth).

Once Daddy brought Luke downstairs, Uncle Marc and Aunt Leena were waiting to meet him.  When Luke first came down to meet them he was a little reserved...

...But quickly warmed up:

Luke had a great time meeting them!! Thanks for the nice visit Uncle Marc and Aunt Leena!

Risky Business Meets Jerry McGuire

Enough said, right??? :)

For days now, Luke has really been into talking on his "phone."  He'll act like the phone rings, he'll pick up the Zune in his room (which he has been using as his phone) and say, "Ha-LO!!!," (which makes him sound like my late Grandpa Emery). Then he'll chit-chat for a bit, saying things like, "playing... toys... mommy" all the while pacing back and forth.  Then he'll abruptly and emphatically say or yell "BYE!"   He'll push one of the side buttons on the Zune  and "click" over to the other "line" and say, "Ha-LO!!!"  Then a very similiar process starts all over again, and he'll do the same routine over and over again, one right after another. It's been cracking me up!

For some reason Luke wanted to take his pants off today (which has also been a new habit of his) and I noticed he was doing "business" on the phone again today.  Today he was using his "real" (toy) phone and doing the same thing... Pacing back and forth, and acting like he had many clients on hold or calling him on his phone.  When I looked over at him all I could think of was Risky Business and Jerry McGuire, so I had to take some pictures :)

Luke's Top 11 Favorite Things

(in no particular order :) )

1.  Trucks/Cement Mixers/Bulldozers/Diggers - Basically anything he can roll:

 

2. Mow-Mow - That's what he calls any pushing/walker/rider toys. He imitates that he is mowing the lawn like Daddy.  He also races around through the house pushing them at speeds that would give any mommy heart palpitations.

3.  Saying "lap" and having someone hold the book as he points out the items. His favorite books right now are, "Baby Einstein's First Words" (this has been a favorite since before he turned 1) and "Toy Story Look and Find for Toddlers" - which I'm proud to say he can match all the items in the book!!! (a mommy can brag)

4.  Going to the park and finding his favorite treasure, BARK.  He'll then take the bark and stack his treasured finds or put them in a bucket (or hat - his make do bucket :) )

5.  Sid the Science Kid cartoon.  Yeah, yeah, I've heard the studies, no TV before age of 2, blah, blah, blah... But I'm sorry this is some GOOD TV!!! Lots of lessons in science. I also think there is a love triangle between Sid, Gabrielle and Mae... Poor Mae. It also gives me time to get the dishes done/lunch made and Luke absolutely loves Teacher Susie's singing - how can I deny him of that?! 

6.  Woody.  Momma and Papa (my mom and dad) gave him a Woody doll as a gift, and now he is totally enamored with anything Toy Story.  I just learned, much to my chagrin, that Daddy actually let him watch the entire Toy Story movie. He said it was a daddy/son bonding experience...

7.  Buzz.  His cousin, Jack has Buzz Lightyear. Luke loves playing with it when he comes over.

8.  Gogurt (yogurt).  Seriously Luke can pack some of this away. He would eat 2 cartons of this if I let him.

9.  Daddy's cancakes (pancakes).  His max right now is 4 cancakes... But we have to cut him off, so I truly don't know his max.

10. Music. Particularly "Lollipop" by the Chordettes and "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys.  He even has dance moves to these songs. He'll put his finger in his mouth for the Lollipop song and do that popping like sound at the right times (not kidding).  For Barbara Ann he'll sing with the song and say "bob bob bob bob ba bob ba ba... ran."

11. Mommy

OK- So I'm not quite sure about #11.... But it's my blog and I can do what I want :)

Privacy Please

Today Luke and I were playing in his bedroom and were on our 50th round of our game of unloading his dresser drawers. Basically the "game" Luke enjoys is to take out one article of clothing at a time. He'll put his arm through an arm hole or pant hole, look at his hand and say "hand" then pass the pant or shirt to me and say "fold." Once I've folded the pant or shirt, he'll lay it on the floor next to the dresser. After we've gone through and done that for ALL the clothes (ok- I'm exaggerating… it's "only" the top 5 drawers) he shoves the newly folded pants and shirts into the dresser drawers, unfolded. Needless to say, even though it's Luke's favorite game… it's not Mommy's :)

In the middle of one of our "rounds" today Luke suddenly goes over to his closet, which has bi-fold doors, opens both doors and steps inside the closet and closes the doors. I thought I'd hear him say "Mommy" or "open" letting me know he wants out of the closet… But he didn't. He actually stayed in there for a while (a while in toddler time is 15 or so seconds). I started to get a little concerned, thinking he could choke on the corner of the closet or something (I tend to be a bit paranoid and anxious :) ). So I said "Luke, are you OK?" I heard some grunting like sounds, silence, more grunting sounds, and silence. Suddenly the bi-fold doors open an inch or so. From the dark slit I saw one wonderful twinkling blue eye and some pearly whites from his open grinning mouth and he said very simply "poopy" (yes, that's what we call it in this house- to me it sounds a tinge cuter than all the other words that can be used- if it's possible). He closed the bi-fold door again so he was out of my site again, I heard some grunting… Then the doors opened wide and he comes out with a big smile ready to play the game again. I said, Luke did you go "poopy?" He said, "yes." I felt through his diaper and sure enough… I felt the oh so familiar feeling of a heavy load in the back of his pants…

Skater Boy – The Art of Imitation

I heard and saw the stirrings of our 22 month old, Luke, in our video baby monitor.  Yes, we still use the baby monitor and will probably use it until he leaves the house at the ripe old age of 18.  Although maybe by that time there will be monitors that can be used across cities/states for when Luke goes to College… A Mommy can dream, can’t she?  Anyhow, I went up to Luke’s room to get him up from his nap/change his diaper, etc.  Once up in his room I could hear the pounding of pavement outside of his room and tried to hide my annoyance as I realized it was likely the little boy (~10 years) outside of our house on his skateboard that had woke up Luke.   I quickly thought I could use this little boy on the skateboard to my advantage to help get Luke out of his crib.  Lately Luke has taken his time getting out of the crib after naps. He wants to run back and forth on the very small mattress for awhile and then he’ll “fall” down and say “oooopppsies” and laughs.  He does this over and over again.  Then he wants me to go get the “purpal heeeeeaaavvvyyyy” Mother Goose book, the “red eye” Doctor Seuss book, the “aaaaaaahhhhh (faking yawn)” Sleepy Oh So Sleepy book, “pajamma” and “pookie” book. It makes for a very long turnaround time in getting him up for naptime at best 15 minutes and at “worst” 45 minutes.  And on this day, it just so happened that I had a chocolate chip banana bread in the oven with only 15 minutes left on it.

I lifted the blinds and exaggerated my excitement when pointing out the window that there was a boy on a skateboard outside.   Luke squealed in excitement and yelled “up… see… up… see.”  I quickly unzipped his blue cozy sack and lifted him up to see the boy.   Luke stood on his window sill (don’t be alarmed/don’t turn me in… It’s not a Michael Jackson thing.  The window sill is actually a really big/wide window sill and I stood right behind him with my arms on his waist the whole time).  Luke was so excited to look out the window to see the boy on the skateboard.  When the little boy would jump up on the skateboard, Luke would clap his hands and say “more.”  I noticed the little boy was kind of dressed like Luke.  I asked Luke “What color are the little boy’s pants?” Luke answered… “Brown”.   I pointed to Luke’s pants and said what color are Luke’s pants… he said “brown….same!” He was excited to realize that he had the same color pants the boy had.  Then I pointed out the boys shirt and asked what color was the boy’s shirt…  Luke answered, “Blue.”  I asked Luke what color his shirt was…”blue… SAME!”  He was getting more and more excited as he  noticed he was dressed the same as the boy.  I asked Luke the color of the boy’s  hair, he said “blond.”  I asked him what color is Luke’s hair, he said “blond… SAME!”   

We stood and watched the boy on the skateboard for a while and then I noticed all of the sudden that Luke kept flinging his head back.  I momentarily wondered what he was doing and that it was a little strange.  But as I looked down, watching the boy, I noticed the boy on the pavement with his long blond Justin Bieber like locks periodically flinging his hair back out of his face.  I realized Luke was copying this boy!! He was trying to do what he was doing.  Then Luke started jumping up and down (still don’t worry- hands firmly around waist :) ) and was trying to skateboard like the boy.  I was floored… I could not believe that already, and down to the fine details like the flinging back hair, Luke was trying to imitate this little boy!  I loved seeing this and realized how much he is learning/watching/observing and at the same time it was a great reminder that he is taking in EVERYTHING right now.  So it’s a time to take advantage of this, to help him see/experience a lot of things… but also to remember that I want him to see and experience good and positive things.