Not a Baby Anymore

I feel like a baby enters childhood on their 2nd birthday. Not an infant anymore at all. By that time, a lot of the baby chub is gone and independence is on the rise. I can't believe I have a child now and not a baby!

Luke celebrating his 1st birthday

Turning Two!!!

For his birthday, we (Jared, my friend Jennifer, and I) took Luke to Chick fil' A-- one of his all time favorite places. He had chocolate milk

and chicken nuggets.

He put the flowers to his nose...

and took a big whiff.

And then he went to the play land.

Later that night we had cupcakes to celebrate some more.

For some reason, Luke was more interested in the Chow Mein noodles than his cupcake. We couldn't get him to blow them out. Finally Jared had to do it. Once the candles weren't lit anymore, Luke got more interested in them. He bit one candle almost in half before we got it out of his mouth. Thanks to Jennifer for grabbing some cute pictures of him with his cupcake.

Yummy cupcake

Yummier Chow Mein

After a bath, it was time for presents.

Thanks for the bus, Mima and Papa!

I love my new magnetic drawing board, Grandma and Grandpa! Is that what it's called?

A big thank you to the Mayfields. I have so much fun with my new bath toys!

The Herreras gave him the cutest cowboy backpack of all time! I seriously want to hang it on the wall because it is so cute. I haven't taken a picture of him wearing it yet, but it will definitely appear on the blog as soon as I take it.

Overall the year has gone by so quickly. I can't believe all the things he's learned in the past year. Some of the biggest ones are running, climbing, talking (more words every week), using a sippy cup and fork, eating LOTS more solids, following simple directions (when he feels like it), and playing pretend ("cooking"). He is turning into such a big boy!

This week his big vocabulary burst centered around animals. He said wolf, rhino, monkey, cock-a-doo (rooster), and camel.

There was another burst of names. He says his name now when he sees himself in pictures (Yuke). And during this week, for the first time ever, he called me Stacy and Babesy. Think he wants to be just like his dad or what?

Note for Ethan

When Luke looks at your picture and says "Boy", I always say, "That's right. That's a boy." So your name has now changed to A Boy. Your name is 2 words long now. You should feel special.

Anyway, Luke saw a boy at church yesterday who looked a lot like you. He kept turning around and looking at him and shouting really loud, "A Boy! A Boy!" I wish it had been you. We all miss you. Say hi to Brenna and Taylie and Blake for us. You can say hi to your mom and dad too-- if you feel like it.

For Ethan

Ethan, Luke loves to look at this picture on the refrigerator. But when he points to it, he calls you Boy. You are the only person that he calls Boy. He's never used that word even when looking at other boys. I'm pretty sure he thinks it's your name. So, Boy, how do you feel about changing your name? Oh, and how do you think Blake would feel about changing his name to Baby? (or Beebee-- because that's what Luke calls him)

In Retrospect-- Warning: really long

There's a lot of things that we should have done differently with Luke. You know. You look back at things you did and laugh at yourself or make fun of yourself. For example, I wish that we were a little bit harsher with his sleep training so that he slept through the night sooner. I also wish that I had figured out earlier that it was okay for Luke to cry for 10 minutes while I took a shower. But retrospect lately has focused on, "WHY DID WE TEACH HIM THAT?" and then "NO REALLY. WHY DID WE TEACH HIM THAT?"

Here are 3 prime examples:

1. About a month ago I let Luke help me make cookies. He was absolutely fascinated-- and that's an understatement. After we were done fixing the batter, he wouldn't leave the bowl alone. He demanded to be held up so he could just look into the bowl. He would smile and laugh. I honestly think he would have been happy to just stare at cookie dough for hours. When I wouldn't pick him up (I had to put him down every few minutes. My arms just aren't that strong), he would cry. We had to put him to bed just to calm him down. Anyway, he now loves everything about the kitchen. Pots and pans are his absolute favorite toys. That's not such a problem. But I can't leave anything on the stove without me standing right in front of it. The whole time I'm cooking, Luke pulls on my legs screaming "Up!Up!" because he wants to look in the bowl or pot or whatever. He's tried to touch a hot burner or pot several times. Luckily, so far I've stopped him every time, but you see my worry, right? And not only am I worried but my arms ache because he constantly wants to be held up to look at a simmering soup, stare into a bowl of raw meatloaf, or whatever. I want to let him help me though. So this week I let him stir the sauce that would be used in a casserole. But when it came time to add the sauce to the casserole, he FLIPPED out. Screaming, kicking, the whole works. It totally reminded me of my dog, Casey. We can't walk her because every time we take her for a walk, she digs out constantly for 2 weeks afterwards. So the dumb dog is stuck in the house or backyard. No out and about for her. I feel like Luke is the same. If you give him a spoon and batter, you're in for it. For days on end. I'm not sure whether I should keep letting him help me or not. It's fun while we're doing it. I feel like he's learning from the experience and I know he likes it. But it also turns him into a crazy person that I can't quite deal with.

2. Because I am a total IDIOT, I don't learn from the past. So this week I let Luke help me wash the dishes. I pulled a chair over to the sink and handed him a cup while I finished washing. Luke just swished the cup around in the water for a while. Then he filled the cup with water and dumped it on the floor. Whatever. Water is pretty easy to clean up, so I let him dump it a few times. But once I was done and drained the water, I realized my big mistake. Luke wasn't done. And since he'd watched me move the chair, he knew exactly how to make his fun continue. He dragged a chair over to the sink himself. Several times. And for several days. And since Luke is a master at transferring his knowledge to different situations, he's also dragged a chair over to light switches, the computer, and the vacuum. (He likes to hold the handle of the vacuum.) The morning he first did it, he touched the best thing in the house. My absolute favorite thing that he's dragged the chair over to touch is the stove. That was sarcasm. That was the thing that freaked me out the most. Because what if he drags a chair over when the stove is hot? I wanted him to know that it is not okay to drag the chair. I put him in time out, but he kept doing it. And I needed to go to the bathroom. So I dragged him into the bathroom with me and sat down. Luke promptly proceeded to open the door into the his bedroom and then open his bedroom door to get into the hallway. So while doing my thing I hear a chair scraping across the kitchen floor. I had to take a pause (This is so gross. I apologize), grab the kid, bring him back to the bathroom, lock both doors, and finish. Why, WHY did I let him stand on a chair?

Trouble

Serious Trouble

3. Jared showed Luke how to open his bedroom door. Once again: knowledge transfer. I got out of the shower to find Luke banging on the water heater because he could open the utility closet. I also found a tootsie pop in the pantry that had half of it's wrapper eaten off, the tub of animal cookies dumped on the floor, and the water bottles all over the kitchen floor. So apparently he could also open the pantry. Oh, and he locked me out of our bathroom. Luckily he wasn't inside the bathroom. He just turned the lock and then pulled the door shut. After he opened it himself. So every door in our house now has a child lock on the handle. (Except on the inside of the bathroom, although I am now debating whether or not they are needed there.)

Utility door complete with doorknob lock

I hope all this trouble is a sign that Luke is really smart. I think he must be because he is so observant. This one amazed me. Today I was preparing the diaper bag to go out. I stuck a juice box in the bag and went to get my shoes. When I came back to the hallway, Luke was holding the juice box in one hand and the straw in the other. I was shocked that he could even get the straw off the box and out of it's wrapper, but I watched him actually get the straw through the hole and then sit and drink the entire juice box! I was so proud of him! And then I was bugged because that was the last juice box and now I needed to go prep a sippy cup to bring instead.

Singing in the Rain.... Boots

Luke discovered puddles, so it was high time he got some rain boots. He LOVES them. He wears them all the time-- for two reasons. 1: he wants to 2: if he's not wearing them, he's waving them in my face chanting "shoe, shoe" and since he's not too good at waving them around, he often hits me with them. My favorite thing about these boots is that they throw off Luke's balance just a little bit since they limit the amount that his ankles can bend. Luke loves looking at the picture (Optimus Prime), but when he bends down to poke at the picture, he topples backwards. I think it's hilarious. I'm actually sad that he's getting the hang of bending down in them. But with how much he wears them, he's had a lot of time to practice.

Narcissism

Luke loves looking at himself in the mirror. Or the oven as the case may be.

If you're happy and you know it

An Electric-less Adventure

So it's been storming here for the past 3 days. Jared was hosting a get together for the policy journal members that was starting at 6:30 pm last night. I thought maybe he would cancel it since the winds were really strong all day yesterday. Luke and I just hibernated, but no. It was still on. And it turned in to quite the adventure because our electricity went out last night at exactly 6:30. It was completely dark in the house and Luke is apparently afraid of black outs. He started crying. Jared fumbled his way to the flashlights: one of which is a nifty little number with an elastic band that goes around your head. Jared looked awesome preparing sandwiches with a flashlight strapped around his noggin. Luke HAD to be holding a flashlight at all times or he freaked out. But even with it, Luke rotated between laughing at the flashlight beam and crying when he shined it into his eyes. He was so worked up that I had to rock him and sing for a while before I laid him in his bed. Even then, I had to lay on the floor in his room until he fell asleep.

During the whole party/ event the lights stayed off. We hung out for 4 hours with flashlights. It was kind of camp fire like and actually ended up being a lot of fun. I wished I hadn't spent so much time cleaning up yesterday as no one could even tell that I had mopped. But oh well. Jared's policy friends were really nice. I love how they try to include me too.

That night we moved Luke into the pack n' play in our room because his room is cold anyway, but without any heater is frigid. Since he won't keep blankets on himself we redressed him by adding socks and a long sleeved onesie to his sleeper.

The electricity was out until 11 o'clock this morning. Luke and I were pretty dang cold in our house by then because our entire apartment is run by electricity: heat, stove, you name it. I had on a beanie and Jared's sweats. Luke was wearing the onesie, 2 pairs of socks, his sleeper, and a jacket with the hood on. We spent the morning cuddling on the couch under a quilt reading books. I was sooooo glad the heat came on before his nap. What a crazy lot of hours.

And today when the rain had stopped and the roads had cleared, I ran to Target to update our emergency storage: candles and more batteries. After 4 straight hours I'm sure the ones we had will soon be ready to retire.

Family Date

I love family play dates. Last Saturday we went to a fundraiser "Walk to End Alzheimer's" and then on to the ferry for lunch in Surry. Luke wasn't a big fan of the walk because he wanted to get out and run. So truth be told we took a short cut and didn't do the whole walk.

Start of the walk

The highlight of Luke's day was the ferry ride. He especially liked watching the birds.

But he didn't like being interrupted for a picture.

Do I Say That?

So Luke is starting to become a parrot. Well, not literally. He's not sprouting feathers yet, but he definitely repeats things that we say. I realized how often I must tell him to stop when he climbed up on a kitchen table chair and shouted "TOP!" over and over. The crazy thing was that he used the EXACT tone of voice I use when I'm super exasperated. And today when he was throwing crackers on the floor, he started shouting "Don'T" The t is capitalized to show that he was stressing that sound JUST LIKE I DO.

Of course I don't say "cook-ie" over and over while I lick the cream off an oreo, so he does have some originality.

"I don't wear braces. Mikey wears braces."

Some things I want to remember

Luke does some adorable things that I want to remember. Here are a few of his latest:

1. When Luke coughs hard I usually pat him on the back. Now, he's started patting his chest whenever he coughs and he makes a very pitiful face to go along with the pat.

2. Luke loves to pretend to cook. He takes out my pots and pans CONSTANTLY. He gets really excited when you ask him for a taste. He'll walk over and shove the spoon in my mouth.

3. This one is not so adorable, but should be documented. You may have noticed that Luke doesn't have his binkie in any of the recent pictures. He only gets it in his bed now. But the lack thereof has made some disgusting habits. He sticks his hands in his mouth a lot and even bites them. Sometimes he has bite marks along his knuckles. Also, his sweet little hands smell like spit. Yuck!

4. Luke's new object of obsession is the garbage can. Any garbage can. When he sees one he yells "Yuck" and then runs over to it and pleads "Up, Up" so that he can be picked up and see all the trash inside. It's really one of his favorite things.

Sidewalk Chalk

Introducing the Ugliest Jack-o-lantern Ever

Halloween night, Jared and I FINALLY got around to carving our pumpkin. We didn't have any brilliant visions of what to do. So after humming and hawing around for a bit, Jared came up with the idea of making a puzzle Jack-o-lantern. We made it out of shapes that Luke knows.

The ears are definitely its worst feature.

But anyway, this was the plan.

Starting to carve

The hideous finished product. Sort of. We gave up on the not-so-star like looking stars for ears, and I cut huge circles instead. In retrospect, we should have foregone the ears. But whatever.

In order to make it into a puzzle, we kept the pieces that we carved out. Jared pounded in toothpicks for handles, and here is our puzzle:

Really disgusting, right?

But Luke liked it.

Hope you had a good Halloween!

Halloween Craft Day

Our ward didn't have a Trunk or Treat this year which was pretty disappointing because as Luke doesn't go to school and such, there wasn't anyplace for him to wear his costume.

But I really wanted him to have a chance to wear it since Megan shipped it to us all the way from Utah. So for play group last week I put together a Halloween craft day for our ward with some help from a few friends.

Amanda brought supplies to do noodle pictures. Luke tried to eat the beans but loved gluing on spaghetti.

Danielle and Laurel did face painting, but I didn't get any pictures.

Making tootsie pop ghosts

Coloring Halloween pictures

Luke's favorite "craft" was cupcake decorating. He liked the frosting...

And the sprinkles.

You've noticed by now that Luke isn't wearing his costume even though I planned this whole event specifically so that he could. Well, see the post below. That's all I have to say.

Why We Didn't Go Trick or Treating

Luke was TERRIFIED of his Halloween costume.

In fact, he ran away from me crying if he even saw me holding it. Needless to say, he wasn't going to wear it for hours at a time. Better luck next year. I'll be sure to get something without claws.