Jack Plays BALL!

Jack had his first t-ball game of the season....  The entire family loaded up in the cars and headed off to the fields to see him make his debut.  Luke had a great time.  In the beginning he was very focused on the game and was yelling, "TWO POINTS" and "GO JACK."  One little boy on the team quickly corrected him and said, "We don't play for points!"  And in retort Luke said, "TWO POINTS!"  The boy then gave up with a shake of his head. Here is where I think Luke was yelling at the ump for a bad call:

After a while Luke and Amelia started playing their own game... Let's call it Rock Ball.  Where they'd pick up rocks and throw them as far as they could over this little hill of grass. Then Bryan or Papa would have to go run after the rock and hand it back to them.  As far as I can tell it was a pretty nail-biting game:

At the end of the game we were all very proud of how well Jack played. He played pitcher, catcher and first baseman and he was able to catch 99.9% of all the balls thrown or grounded over to him!  He is going to be GOOD!  He also was able to hit the ball each time, with no strikes!  Derek Jeter, watch out...  Here comes JACK WARREN!!!!!!

Group hug:

Thank you, George!

Luke has finally started to take a liking to another show, outside of Sid the Science Kid. He is really starting to like Curious George.  Today's episode was about a little boy who made a sail boat that went down a storm drain.  And George and the little boy were trying to track this sail boat down.  Through their "tracking" they learned that a lot of what goes into the storm drain ends up in the ocean, ultimately polluting the water.  So at the end of the show, George is walking around picking up garbage and throwing it in the garbage.  When George picked up a piece of trash and put it in the garbage Luke said, "Thank you, George!"  Ahhh.... my little tree-hugger :) We'll have to work on getting him some Birkenstocks soon!!!  :)

Luke-atraz

Today during Luke's lunch, I started doing some dishes while Luke was eating. Sometimes I'll try to do the cleaning during his lunch, so I don't have to do it later (and let's be honest... So I can catch up on my Real Housewives show during his nap!).   I was engrossed in my cleaning and looked up from my dishwasher loading to check on how far along he was on his lunch.  I expected to see Luke in his high-chair with spoon in mouth (per the usual)... But all I saw was the back of the couch. Luke, and the chair, was gone!!   Then from the corner of my eye, I saw Luke, sitting in the high-chair, across the room.  Luke wasn't paying any attention to me and I could see that he was pumping his legs back and forth which would propel the high-chair forward and away from his regular eating place.  My little escapee...

Happy Easter!

Today was Easter and we had plans to do an Easter egg hunt.  But because of Luke's reaction to the MMR vaccine (*see below for updated on MMR vaccine) we thought it would be best to keep him indoors away from kids, colds/flu's etc. 

The Easter Bunny left Luke a green Easter Basket:

 and filled it with:

• Disney Car's Camera – It has a button that when you push it makes it sound like a real camera
• Disney Car's Car Keys – Has an alarm button, an unlock and lock button with 3 keys on it
• 2 Dinosaur eggs -  When you open the egg there are dinosaur parts that you can put together to make a dinosaur, using the egg
• Wind up chick
• Pet Egg - You put the egg in water for 3 days.  After 3 days you have a pet.  It's currently sitting on our kitchen table. Hopefully this pet is nice and we aren’t allergic (hee-hee!)
• Pull back car with the Easter Bunny in the driver's seat

Sorry, Lukie, no candy this year!! Maybe next year... or maybe the year after... or maybe the year after :) hee hee... 

*Update on MMR Vaccine...  On Friday Luke started to get a fever. Luckily the fever has stayed pretty mild, the highest has been just a little over 100 degrees.  But then he started to get a rash over his tummy, a little on his back, legs and neck and arms.  All of this I was fine with because those are pretty consistent and expected side effects,  but then he started complaining about stomach pains.  And he has been complaining about them over the course of 2 days. He'd be playing and mid-play he's come over and lay on the carpet or on me or Bryan and say, "Tummy hurts... Again" and would lay down for a minute or two, sometimes longer.  Then he'd get up again, start to play and then do this all over again. Sometimes he'd do it 5-6 times an hour, sometimes 2 times in 2 hours, sometimes every hour, sometimes he would go hours without complaining… It hasn’t been consistent at all.  But he's been doing it for over 2 days!  I've called the Doctor's and they said it shouldn't be related to the vaccine... But that I should keep an eye on it... Great...    :(  2 days and counting… (until we are out of our side effect window- or so they say!)

First Day of Spring

Even though the official first day of Spring was on March 20... Seattle’s first day of Spring was Saturday, April 23^rd. More than one month after.  Seattleites woke up to birds chirping, blue beautiful skies and not one cloud in sight. It was an amazing day!  And even the temperatures were warm. I think it got up to 68 degrees!! We woke up, cheerfully, because we were so happy that our vampire eyes and skin could finely feel the warm sun on our skin.  Right after breakfast we headed outside to play soccer and blow bubbles... Because being in Seattle, how long can this weather last, right??

Weatherman is calling for rain starting tomorrow (Sunday) and lasting through Friday.  There are hopes of sun for next Saturday. But then the day after, Sunday, Monday, etc, is expected to be rainy... Oh... Joy...  L  When will our 10 days of summer get here?!?!?!

MMR - Miserable, Monstrous and Rotton

So, today was a day I've been dreading.  We took Luke to get his MMR vaccine.  We've put off getting this for as long as we were comfortable.  Bryan and I met with a naturopath as well as a Western medical doctor to figure out what would be the best course of action for Luke. Of course the medical doctor was all about getting the shot according to recommended vaccine schedule, but they also recommend getting the HIB, PC, DTAP, Rotavirus, Hep B and Flu (that’s 6 shots at one time, people!) when they are 6 months. So needless to say, I’m not 100% comfortable with Western medicine recommendations.  So we met with a naturopath to give us another perspective. The naturopath was helpful in letting us know the risks of getting the MMR versus not getting it. She also had mentioned we could wait one year instead of getting it at the recommended one year mark.  So we delayed this shot for when he turned 2.

In preparation I worked hard at trying to get his immune system as strong as possible (he's been quarantined from the park for quite some time- poor guy!). I've made sure that he is eating really good foods so his system is working as smoothly as possible (that means regular movements! Yay! Sorry – it’s important) and having his vitamins. 

When we left for the doctor’s office I was a wreck!  Most people think I'm crazy (and I partly am I know).  But it's not that I'm a wreck because I feel bad for the pain he is about to experience when getting the shot (although, don’t get me wrong… I don’t want him to feel pain), but I was a wreck because what I consider as poison/disease was soon to be injected into my wholesome and “unaffected” little boy.  And with this MMR vaccine there are SOOOO many potential side effects.  And I’m not talking the little fever, little rash, I’m talking seizures, blood disorders, brain damage.  So I just hated every minute of our drive there. I'd turn to look at Luke and he was so happy and smiley and that made it so much harder. Because I knew he trusts us 100% to keep him safe and protected from harm/sadness and injury.  So as we were going there, it was really hard for me because I didn't feel 100% certain we were protecting him from all of those things.  I knew our intention was to protect him... But the likelihood of him getting measles, mumps and/or rubella is SO slim, that I can’t say for sure it’s worth knowingly injecting him with all of those viruses that could potentially cause some of these horrific side effects.  I kept going back and forth on it.   I knew he was going to experience pain... but no one could tell us with 100% certainty that everything would be OK once he had the vaccine.   I tried to keep my face smiling and happy and tried not to show my nerves. But he is SOOO smart, I know he sensed it... Even Bryan said he could tell Luke knew something was up.

Once we were in the Doctor's office and were waiting, I got more and more nervous and panicky. I started sweating and got shaky.  When the nurse came in to give the shot she had already drawn the vaccine into the needle.  My agreement with the office is that the vaccine always needs to be drawn in front of me so I can double-check to ensure it’s the correct vaccine. I've seen too many NBC Dateline stories that have reminded us all how important that is and how people have suffered because medicines/prescriptions weren't double-checked.  Not on my watch! No, sir! I had to tell the nurse that I wanted a new one to be draw in front of me. She gave me some attitude and said this one would be wasted. I told her it's not my problem and that I wanted a new one drawn in front of me. One of the things I'm learning REALLY quickly is that your child is your #1 priority. I don't care how embarrassed something might make me, if it's something I'm not comfortable with, or I think could jeopardize something for Luke I will speak up.  So beware! :)

She got a new vaccine and drew the vaccine into the needle in front of me.  Bryan was busy keeping Luke occupied, but I was getting more and more sad as we were getting closer to the point of no return.   Then, because I had already checked to make sure the vaccine was the correct one, I turned my full attention on Luke. I could tell he knew something was about to happen.  The nurse lifted up his pant leg and he looked down to see what she was doing and I said, "Lukie, baby, look at me... Just look at me... You’re OK... Your OK.." Then the nurse pulled away and I wasn't even sure she had done anything because the whole time Luke had been looking straight at me and his face didn't change expression at all.  Then a couple of seconds after she pulled away, Luke scrunched up his face and let out a cry.  I was expecting it to be so much louder, and it wasn't.  Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a harder cry... But one that told me he was OK. And it wasn't that bad. But, funny enough, that is when I started to cry.  I didn't wail out or anything, don’t want the Doctor’s thinking I’m that crazy and calling in the CPS or anything.  But I got really choked up and my eyes filled up with tears.  At that moment Daddy said, "Lukie you did SOOOO good. Give me a high-five." And through his tears and mid-cry, he gave him a high-five.   Then Daddy handed Luke a small Buzz figurine that we brought to surprise him after he got his shot.  Luke grabbed it from his hand and immediately tried to push the buttons on his arms (his cousin Jack has one where you can push the buttons and it lights up).  Luke said, mid-cry again, "Buttons... light-up?!"  This made me laugh, through my tears... Poor little guy... His parents had only gotten him the cheapy one.  But my Mom and Dad are getting him the cool button, light-up one...  I just haven't told them which one to get him yet.

As we left the Doctor's office, the Doctor asked me if I'd like a rubber ducky (the one they give the kids who get shots).  And to be clear, she asked if I wanted it for ME... Not Luke.  She noticed I had been crying.

Let me just say this... I'll be SOOOO happy when we are past the 8-14 day window of side-effects.  14 days and counting....

Mamma Mia!

Luke saw a man throwing/spinnng pizza dough at PCC a few weeks back.  I told him he was doing that to make pizza (which Luke has never had).  Today Luke picked up the lid of a Christmas tin we use to store some of his toys and tried to throw it and spin it up in the air. While he did this he said, "Pizza!"

2 Year Check-Up

Today we had Luke's two year check-up at the doctors. He did SOOOO well. He didn't cry at all.  Both the nurse and doctor were surprised and impressed.   The nurse told me, "He is so cool!  Most kids start screaming their head off as soon as they see me." I was so proud of him! 

During the visit, Luke kept talking to Doctor Lindsey and telling her stories of barns, towers, cars, taxi's, etc.  He really wouldn't stop talking.  She was super impressed and she said, I quote , "You guys... He is bright... I mean REALLY bright!" Ok... I might have added the exclamation mark but she did emphasize the REALLY.  I know our friends/family have said things like that to us about him before, but when the Doctor says that to you, then you KNOW it's not just us/family/friends being biased :)  During the check-up he was talking so much that Doctor Lindsey handed him a pen and paper to quiet him down so we could ask our questions and she could talk with us. :)

 Here are his "stats" from his 2 year check-up:

Height: 38 inches - 97% percentile
Weight: 32.9 lbs- 90% percentile
Head circumference: 50.1 cm - 75-90%

Luke isn't a baby anymore... He is a little boy.  Correction... A big boy! To put this into perspective... The stats listed above were pretty much his cousins cousin, Jack’s stat when he was 3 years, with the exception of Jack was a couple of pounds heavier.

I also thought since we had Luke’s 2 year check-up, this would be an opportune time to highlight some of his milestones:

1. He knows all of his colors.  Actually he has known this for at least the past few months.

2. Has a memory of an elephant!  He'll tell me stories that happened a long time ago... I'm talking things that happened months ago and he can "explain" in Luke language what happened. For example, just the other day he told me, out of the blue, how he sat on Santa's lap and Santa gave him a piece of chocolate and that the chocolate melted in his hands when we got into the car.  TRUE story... This is Luke's version of the story:
Santa...  Lap!  Beard!!!  Candy!  In hand.... Orange hand.... Messy. Car!

3. We play acting classes... I say, "Show me happy" and he'll make a huge smiley face.  I say, "Show me sad" and he'll start fake crying. I say, "Show me surprised" and he'll show a face with an open mouth of surprise.  I say, show me scared and he'll put his hands out to his sides as though they are shaking and make his face look fearful.  I say, "Show me mad" and he'll put his hands out again and then make a growling face and noise.

4.  He loves to sing! All of those songs that I sing to him he has started singing along. He can't sing them on his own... But he sings parts of them with me.

5.  He can go pee-pee on the potty before naptime and before bedtime almost all of the time.  We are still working on poopy... But he has been going into his poopy places (downstairs closet- sorry guests, and his upstairs bedroom closet) for the past couple of months. So I think we are definitely getting close!

6. He can count 1+1 = 2.  He'll point to one item and then try and find the second item and say "one... TWO... Same!"

7. He can match up pictures to items in books. For example: (take picture of match up book)

8. He can draw trees (Ok.. So what if they are orange vertical lines that he calls trees? Details!)

9. He can sing the ABCs with me. He doesn't get all of the letters yet... and doesn't sing them on his own. But he is getting there.

10. He can count to 5... And sometimes he can count all the way 9. This isn't very consistent. But he has done it every now and again.

11.  I would say the BIGGEST thing I am impressed by and am having the most fun with are his verbal skills. I can truly have conversations with him and understand what he is saying and what he wants.  And I’m pretty sure he can understand most of what I’m saying.  And all of this is through using words, not pointing/grunting/throwing fits… It’s by him (or I) using words. I can't say I'm too surprised... In this house, with two big talkers like Bryan and me he has to learn to talk soon... Otherwise we'd never hear him over our talking :)

Double Fisting!

I already can tell Luke will be eating us out of house, home, car, bed, clothes (yikes!), coffee tables and anything else that costs $$$.  He loves his food and truly can't get enough of it.  Anytime I ask the doctors if this is a problem... They say, "Let him eat." He'll let you know when he is full.  And I always tell them, "I'm not so sure about that." I don't think I've ever had him tell or show me he is full. He may slow down a bit... but he always wants more. 

Case in point... Because one spoon wasn't enough... He needed two so he could optimize his time and feed himself faster :)

Scared Me Too... Tortured Artist AND Mirrors!

Lots of funny things happened today. So I'm going to write about each one of them in this one blog entry.

Scared Me Too:
Today Luke found his mow-mow again. It hasn't been used too much lately. So he dusted it off and took it out of its temporary retirement.  And since getting it out again, it's clear he's gotten a lot bolder with the mow-mow. He doesn't generally ride it too much anymore, unless standing on it and trying to push it at the same time counts. He'll try and ride it backwards and he really still likes to push it.  But the type of pushing he does now is very different from the slow walking pushing he used to do.  Now he grabs on to the back handle and pushes and runs as fast as he possibly can.  Generally I'm "OK" with this but lately he's started running around our kitchen island doing this at lightening speeds. 

Today he was running SOOOO fast around the kitchen island that he looked like those cars that are racing away from cop cars in the movies. You know the ones... Where they are zooming down the street and then suddenly the car will break to turn around the corner, or go through and alley to hide from the chasing car. And it's like the car zigzags as its turning.  OK... So picture this, Luke was running alongside one side of the island, like he was a Maserati racing in the Grand Prix and then when he came to the end of the island he suddenly, and at full speed, tried to turn.  Luke was still holding on to the mow-mow as it careened off the floor and was airborne and yet he was still running at full force.  He came really close to losing his balance and sliding right into our cabinets... I said, "Luke, slow down... You are scaring me!!!"  He replied, "Scared me TOO!"

Tortured Artist:
Before naptime today we headed upstairs to play a bit before naptime.  Luke wanted to play in his room, with his Turtle night light.  He started singing our Turtle songs, Green, Blue Moon and Orangie... I started to join in and sing with him and he told me to "STOP!  Lukie sing it." (now I know how Bryan feels :(  )  So I stopped singing and Luke started singing the songs.  The only problem was without me singing he didn't know all the words... But he did know some.  So then he started getting frustrated as he was singing.  His singing turned into singing/screaming (think: Adam Lambert - American Idol contestant 2010).  Then he started getting more frustrated and threw himself, facedown, on the ground trying to remember the words all the while singing/screaming.  I was calmly sitting in the rocking chair watching all of this and asked, "Lukie, are you a tortured artist?"  He replied, "YES!"

Mirror Mirror in Your Eyes:
Today at dinner Luke was eating and then started looking at me.  He looked directly into my eyes and had a very intense look in his eyes.  Then he started waving and said, "Lukie in there"... "Hi Lukie."  Then he said, "Mirrors."  I realized he saw himself in my eyes or more specifically... my big black pupils.  My eye doctor has told me I have unusually large pupils... But good grief... Didn't realize they'd work as a mirror for my son! :)

Free Style

Tonight, before dinner, we took Luke outside in the garage to practice on his tricycle again.  Bryan put on some music and Luke took a few rounds around the garage (we couldn't go outside- because it was raining - AGAIN!).  After a few rounds, Luke got off his tricycle and started walking around and trying to get into things he's not supposed to... Weed killer, mole poison (you know... Safe things like that :( ).... We were trying to distract him when suddenly an upbeat song came on the radio. For some reason Bryan started dancing and started acting like he was an aerobic Zumba dance instructor.  It was hilarious.  He would yell, "Put your hands up, put your hand down, step side to side," and on and on (if this Microsoft thing doesn't work out for him I really think he has found his calling in Dance Aerobics. He had some great energy and his coaching was very motivational). I started following his work-out commands and then Luke started following.  So they we were... All 3 of us standing in a circle in the cold, weed killer, mole poison garage - Dancing. We had to be a site and I wish SOOOO bad we had a picture of this.   Then Bryan stopped with his commands and yelled, "FREE STYLE."   And so Bryan started doing some "free style" dancing, as did I... But the funniest part was, so did Luke. I have NO idea how he knew what that meant.  But he didn't skip a beat.  As soon as Bryan said "FREE STYLE" he started dancing around and going in circles and wiggling his hips and of course puffing out his lips - like any white boy would do!  Then when Bryan started calling out the aerobic commands again, Luke made his way back to the circle and started following the commands. Too FUNNY!

Finger Lickin'

Today I was reading some books to Luke and before I would go to the next page he would stop me and then lick his pointer finger and turn the page with his newly wet pointer finger.   Two things cracked me up about this:

1.  How did he know to do this?  Who did he see who did this and to which books?? Which leads me to #2...
2. This book, as well as most of the books that we have within his reach, was a board books :)  Licking the pointer finger doesn't really work all that well or help in turning the pages.

It was so funny to me though.. Because I fast-forwarded several years and pictured him doing this when he was older and studying. And here he was, age 2, taking that act so seriously. As though it was very important to lick the finger in order to turn the page. :)

Pot O' Gold!!

Today we saw a beautiful double rainbow outside of Luke's window.  It was truly amazing. I swear it was so bright and then as it curved down and disappeared behind some houses itlooked like a huge pot of gold was gleaming up from below. Luke enjoyed looking at it as well.... That was until we kept trying to take his picture with the rainbow behind him. Then he was over it. But luckily we were able to get this one picture in:

Ridin' on my CYCLE!!!

Okay-- 22 days after Luke's birthday we FINALLY gave him his birthday present from us! I know- we are terrible parents!  Bryan worked on putting it together this morning and after Luke's nap we told him we had a surprise outside.  After he woke up from his nap, I bundled him all up (since it's another rainy day in Seattle... grrrrr... where is Spring?!).
Luke and I headed downstairs, opened up the garage door and Daddy quickly told us to shut the door as he was in the middle of vacumming. He told us to wait inside and he would tell us when we could come out.  So we wait:

And wait...

And wait...

Poor Lukie... He was SOOO patient!! Finally we got the green light to go outside and go for a ride:

He doesn't yet have the hang of it... But we are working on it!!! (don't worry - right after this we went to the store and got a Toy Story Helmet :)

Ridin'... In the Laundry Basket

I just thought this was funny.... This morning, when I got home from exercising Daddy and Luke were playing upstairs with the laundry basket.  For some reason Luke was really enjoying sitting in the basket and having Daddy push and pull him back and forth, back and forth.... And this went on for some time... Because when I went upstairs we switched off.  Bryan went downstairs and I stayed upstairs and pushed and pulled him in the basket. This game got kind of old fast... But he still looked SO DARN CUTE!