In good company

Last night Luke was grumpier than ever because he had only one nap during the day and it was only one hour long! But our company in the evening sure cheered him up (until they left, that is). Luke enjoyed playing with his friend Jack. Jack is just crawling and they got around the house well together, reading books playing with the central vac flip-door. They laid on the floor and clapped together, Luke gave Jack dance lessons, and they even got tandem raspberries from their mommies! What fun!

This is my new diaper bag - well, not yet. But I bought these remnants to make myself a new bag and Luke really likes the rolls to use as telephones.

Sleepingest Sleeper

Luke is about the best sleeper I've ever heard of...usually. When he's teething he is, legitimately, a little uncomfortable during the night and often misses a nap or two. But this last week we have been trying to switch from two naps to one and all of our schedules are going berserk!

With one nap a day, Luke's been sleeping much more overnight. Yesterday Luke slept 13 hours overnight, as opposed to his normal 10 1/2 or 11. My Dad said, "That's great except that you'll have to wake him up halfway through to change his pajamas - since he'll have outgrown them!". One nap a day had worked alright for a few days, but on Monday Luke had been so grumpy that I had decided to give up on this new schedule. So yesterday, instead of keeping him awake until his one afternoon nap, I laid him down at 10am and he slept for 2 hours!

When he woke up he was so happy that I figured I'd made a good decision in giving up the one nap idea. By two he seemed tired again so I laid him down for his second nap and wouldn't you know it! He didn't want a second nap. He shouted and cried and jabbered in his crib for an hour and a half before he took a little catnap (half an hour). Then of course he was ready for bed an hour early.

We certainly haven't got this new nap schedule down yet, but it seems there's no going back.

"Ba!"

Luke has an obsession. He loves balls. He sees them everywhere. When my Dad took me and Luke to the airport Luke noticed the ball on the ceiling that held the cameras and smoke detectors. When my Mom was feeding Luke peas ("Somebody has to teach him to like peas!" says she), Luke took one look at them and shouted, "BA!", which of course means "Good lord! And all this time I thought balls were just for bouncing!"

Luke loves to play with Derek's tennis ball, and loves his green Nubby ball from Neal and Cheri (all the other kids love it too, and fight over it when they come over). He has a book with little flippy doors over some of the pictures. One of the pictures is of a ball and when you open the door it says, "BALL". Luke knew the answer way before he opened the door.

Luke was given a balloon from the bank teller the other day and calls to it, "BA!" whenever he sees it still in the car. This morning I took Luke out in his new bike cruiser (baby trailer), and as we passed a big parked car he pointed at the tires and said, "BA!". And when we were in the garden Luke pointed at my hydrangea bloom and named it, "BA!" It's pretty amazing that he is associating all of these round things, even if they are not three dimensional.

Bronc Rider

Luke sits on my belly while I exercise on the living room floor and laughs and laughs when I lift my lower back off the floor. He also has discovered he enjoys riding the desk chair while someone spins it around. Luke and Levi shared a ride the other night. In the other picture Luke is mopping the floor. He takes his Swiffer mop very seriously (we no longer use swiffer, but Luke has commandeered the handle).

Brawl Report on Prisoner 62608

Prisoner 62608 was found face down on the basement floor with a split lip at approximately 7:27pm on the night of Thursday, August 13th. It is assumed he was involved in a brawl, but he refuses to incriminate any of his toys. Since found, prisoner 62608 has been shouting gibberish and rubbing his head, which we think may indicate brainwashing by his long-time rival, John Deere tractor. Until further interrogations can be made successful we are keeping 62608's lip on ice, and John Deere will stay in solitary.

waking up with bells

Luke wakes up every morning and from every nap to the sight of Fulani bells hanging from his ceiling. I think it's a cheerful way to wake up, and today when we swatted at them to make them ring his laugh was the happiest sound in the world.

Let's Get Down....To Business

Today is the day that we really get down to business. Yesterday was dishes and unpacking and gardening. Today stretches before me filled mostly with sitting here, in front of the computer, in photoshop...as does tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. That's right, there's a lot to catch up on from our trip to California and nobody's going to do it if I don't. I enjoy it, but it's a little overwhelming right now.

Here's the cutest boy in the world. We're going to go have breakfast with cousins this morning. Muffins and fruit - Luke's favorites!