Riding the Red Truck

That title sounds like some kind of metaphor for doing drugs. But in this case it's just what it sounds like. Luke is riding his red truck. He's got enough balance now to sit on it on his own (surrounded by blankets), and he's figured out how to push some of the buttons so it will make noises. The picture of the back of his head is just for you, Mom.

My son is a multi-tasker. Last night he was holding a wooden spoon in his mouth, a plastic, orange cell phone in one hand, a soother in the other hand (Cameryn gave it to him and he decided it's pretty fun to chew on), chattering away while watching the television.

Odd Assortment

Good news with the scheduling! Last night Luke only woke up once, and at 5:37! Not bad. I'm feeling very encouraged (not to mention rested).

This is an odd assortment of pictures. There's one of me and Luke, the day we took family pictures. This was a test fire to make sure we got at least one of Luke smiling. Then there's some pictures of the muddy front yard, and my dissolving snowbear, and the icy icy street. Today it's raining and the streets are like an ice rink. There are icicles hanging from every available surface - including each and every break in the siding. I saw some guys across the way breaking ice off the side of a house so that they could start installing siding. The neighbor across the street was chipping ice off his car with a shovel, and any sloped surface (like our driveway) becomes impassable with a thick sheet of ice across it.

Derek's truck is rear-wheel drive, which makes it even harder. On his way home for lunch he slowed WAY down to make a turn and still hit the curb on the opposite side of the street. Jaime came over this morning and she said just going down her driveway she lost control. When it's this icy, there's pretty much no control. You spin the tires, get the car moving, hope it stays going in the right direction and pray it stops before you hit something.

Yesterday was beautiful though. It was sunny and the sky was bright blue, and it was WARM. Which means it was right around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. We took Luke out for a nice long walk, and there's a few pictures of his rosy cheeks and nose when we came home.

Ske-dooly Update

I had a hard time picking pictures for the blog today, so you just get lots :) Luke is eating a banana bran muffin (he doesn't eat the raisins, but he tries to put them in his hair.) He takes a handful of muffin, puts it in front of his mouth and sucks on his fingers for a while, hand tightly in a fist. His hand wanders up above his head and only THEN does it open...muffin all over his head!

I thought I should update you on our progress with the schedule. Thankfully I have very few horror stories, and several positive signs of collaboration from Luke. Yesterday afternoon, after our delicious 2 1/2 hour nap, he refused to take an afternoon nap. He cried for an hour. Then he slept for 1/2 hour. But last night was beautiful. He slept from 8:30-5am. Ate, went back to sleep and I had to go in and wake him up at 8am! At 10:15 this morning when I laid him down for his nap he cried until 10:30, but I kind of think I'm figuring out that he doesn't need 2 hour naps. He needs two 1 1/2 hour naps. He wakes up and eats at 8am, noon, 4pm and 8pm, with no nap between 4pm and 8pm, and so far the evenings are really improving.

The picture above is one of the many attempts we made at keeping Luke awake on Wednesday night. It was quite a challenge. But last night was much easier, and since he's getting good naps and eating well today, I have high hopes for tonight. I am so thankful that this seems to be working so quickly. Yesterday I almost had a breakdown while Luke was crying for an hour. I was ready to give up. It is so stressful listening to a baby cry. I put the TV on, I turned the dishwasher on, I tried to keep busy. But I was still tense and tired. Finally I called my Mom and got the kick in the butt that I needed, "You've got to follow through otherwise you'll never know if it would have worked. And he won't cry forever." So thanks Mom, it really seems to be paying off!

Look What Luke Can Do!

AMAZING. Luke had a 2 1/2 hour nap this morning. And so did I.

Also amazing: this kid can stand up, and will reach for your hands to help him up. It is so endearing to be wanted.

We are a Scheduled Family

We are a scheduled family. As of today. You can be praying that it stays this way. Derek and I decided on a plan to implement a schedule that allows Luke the same amount of sleep that he gets now, but makes it more regular and fits it into the day so that I get more sleep, myself. Starting today, and until Friday, I will be working very hard to keep Luke's daytime sleeping and eating on a tight schedule. Friday night we will tackle the night-time routine, and I predict several sleepless nights. My hope is that once we've got the days down the nights will come easier.

This morning Luke woke up at 7am, but he's not supposed to get up until 8am, so I left him in his crib where he talked to himself, getting progressively louder. Finally he found his Itsy Bitsy Spider toy under the blanket (I hang a blanket over the toy so that it doesn't distract him while he's trying to get to sleep, but so that he can take the blanket off when he wakes up). I sat up in bed when I heard the toy play the song "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Luke has only ever made it play the song once or twice, and totally by coincidence.

As soon as the song was over he pulled the spider down again and the song played again! I shouted at Derek, "You hear that?!" We were so excited and proud, he had figured out the toy! I laid back down in bed hoping Luke would stay happy at least until 7:30, now that he was playing with the toy. He really gets a kick out of toys that make noise, and his enjoyment makes me waver on my "No noisy toys" policy.

I am so proud that my son is figuring out how to work complex toys. But Luke kept pulling the spider down...and the song kept playing...and then he pulled it down and the song kept playing...and playing. I was less and less proud as the minutes wore on. I remember now why I don't like toys that make noise! Finally I got up and took him out of the crib just to make the music STOP, even though it wasn't in our schedule to get out of bed for another half an hour. Let's hope we can do better with the rest of the day.

Creepy Crawling

The newest move: creeping.

This is one of the many videos I took yesterday of Luke creeping over the living room floor. All he's got to do to turn this into crawling is push his tummy up at the same time he pushes with his legs. He does them alternately, but has yet to coordinate his movements. It's so funny how he pushes his bum way up in the air. It almost looks like he's going to do a somersault and then, at the last minute, he pulls his arms up and sliiiides forward. You almost don't realize he's moving, except that I've put something out of reach and all of a sudden he's got it in his mouth!

This moving thing is most dangerous for the cameras, the remotes and the telephone which we are trying desperately to teach Luke are "not toys". He is fascinated by the things we have made off-limits. I guess that's natural.

Speaking of off-limit things, this morning while I was reading Luke scooched over the the bookshelf and ripped two pages out of my children's dictionary of rhyme before I realized what he was doing. The letter O. O.

Auntie Sarah's Star Pupil

Over Christmas, while we were visiting in California, Auntie Sarah started teaching Luke a very complex, three syllable word: banana. We’re pretty sure that Luke caught on right away and was able to repeat the word and link it directly to it’s tangible manifestation within hours, but was keeping his intelligence a secret…until now(We have yet to identify his plan for the information he’s withholding, but it’s under investigation).

A few days ago Luke looked right at Derek and said, “Dada”. That should have been our first clue that he was way ahead of the curve. But we shrugged it off, said, “it’s a coincidence” and went along with our business. Then suddenly, Friday morning Luke said the word banana. He said it clear as a bell, like he’s been saying it for years. He tossed it out like it was nothing, like he’s got a whole repertoir of words in there that’s he’s just storing up to keep us on our toes and amaze us when we’re least expecting him to bust out with a new word. Wow. He’s so smart and so with it. He likes bananas and eats them every morning with his cereal. Luke is familiar with bananas, and now he named them. He said banana!

He said it while looking at Mortimer the Moose (pictured above), but I’m pretty sure they were talking about the benefits of a balanced diet, so it all makes sense.