Thinking of Grandpa

Dear Grandpa,
Today I am thinking about you often, and Mom says she wishes she didn't live in Canada - even though it's supposed to be one of the warmest days in the history of Januaries. I hope your surgery goes well and that when you wake up there will be a big turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes waiting for you, because from my own experience being born in a hospital I can tell you visiting the hospital will leave you hungry. I am going to play in the laundry basket with my trains today, and probably carry the cat around for a while. My schedule is just packed! But not too packed to be thinking of you. Can't wait to see you.
Love you,
Luke Stanley

He's not lacking enthusiasm

That's Derek's way of describing Luke's perpetual motion, "He's certainly not lacking enthusiasm for the task, is he?" (while Luke tries to wriggle underneath the gate with only two inches of clearance)

An object in motion tends to stay in motion...and according to Luke the flip side of this argument is: objects that aren't in motion should be!

Wow, it's ten-thirty at night and I'm just posting the blog. I'll tell you why. I didn't think I had any pictures - which is strange because I usually pick up my camera hundreds of times a day (only a minor exaggeration). But I was certain I didn't have any new pictures to share, and I wasn't inspired to write anything particularly meaningful, so I left it thinking I'd get a picture eventually. Well, I just sat down in front of the computer and realized I had LOTS of pictures from the weekend. The cat's bath, Luke's fun toilet seat (with a convenient privacy screen...ahem, for boys), and my Sunday morning tea steaming in the sunshine....dangerously within Luke's reach. I am quite proud of capturing that swirl.

Cat Plays Piano

The Quietest Time of Day

If you can believe it, lunchtime is the quietest part of our day because Luke's mouth is full of food.

Throwing out the kitty with the bathwater

We love teaching Luke to throw the ball, especially when the cat chases it and entertains him. The hard part is trying to teach him NOT to throw other things, like books, blocks, tractors, the cat.

Word Endings

Luke says, "All Done!"

Last week Luke had several days of ending words with "O". So when we had stew and dumplings for dinner and I said, "Luke eats dumplings", Luke responded with, "Luke dump-o!" and his award winning stew-faced smile. Today Luke has started a new phase, that of adding, "-em" to the end of words. While putting a toy phone in my shirt pocket this morning Luke said, "Pock-em!" And while I was buckling him into his high chair his response was to shout, "Buck-em!" And of course when we went to the bank and I told Luke "Mommy's depositing a check", Luke, sitting on the counter beside me shouted, "Check-em!"

Life with Luke is rather loud these days. He's such a good talker, and so entertaining, that I sometimes have to sit on the couch and just watch him talk and play. And when I get tired of the incessant chatter I remind myself that he won't always wake me up in the night and give me sleepy kisses. Or laugh hysterically after giving Derek's tummy one raspberry after another. Or sit on the sleeping cat and shout, "Horsey!"
Hm.
Indeed.

Gop

Luke asks for "Gop" often these days. Grapes are in fact one of his favorite snacks. Now that he knows how to open the fridge on his own, the grapes have no place to escape to and I will randomly find Luke with an entire bag of grapes in his lap munching away. Sunday morning Luke went back to his bedroom and was awfully quiet - which naturally makes a mother suspicious. I followed his trail and found him sitting behind his dresser eating grapes and reading, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". The boy certainly knows how to coordinate his reading material with his meals.
Our oven is being repaired (at least 3 weeks without an oven! we're making lots of soup) and Luke was making sure the drawer didn't go anywhere while the repair man worked on the oven.