Having a Good Time

Warning: This video is loud so before playing you may need to turn down your volume.


The crazy thing is, he's having fun! He's smiling and every now and then he laughs, then he does this weird gaspy thing (which has made him gag once or twice because he's gasped so hard), and finally this: screeching to sound like I'm torturing him. He did it in the restaurant the other morning.

Before I had kids I would have been annoyed with a kid making that kind of noise in a restaurant. "Geez, teach your kid some manners!" Now it's just part of life, and I'm not embarassed when Luke is screechy. I don't even notice when other people's kids are loud. Luke has broken me in nicely, I guess!

Sweet Heart of Mine

I can't get this song out of my head, "Sweet Heart of Mine". It's from the Music Man. The barbershop group sings it and it just keeps going round and round inside my skull like those electric signs in Times Square. Yesterday and today we've actually been singing songs with "Ba" in them, because Luke has been enjoying that sound. So we sang Ba Ba Black Sheep and Barbara Ann (by the Beach Boys).

Luke has started playing peek-a-boo with me. I wish I had this on video, but all I had was my camera, so you get pictures of him pulling the towel up and then tossing it down and smiling at me. He has also started picking up tiny things, like crackers or bits of bread, and clumsily passing them from hand to hand. When reaching for the bread in one hand he often mistakenly grabs his own fingers and then pulls and pulls with his hands over his head getting more and more red in the face with frustration because the bread won't come, until finally he releases both hands and the bread falls in his face.

Breakfast Out

This morning we went out for breakfast with Jaime, Helene and Michelle (Derek's cousin). Luke sat in a high chair and ate pancakes, hit the table with his spoon, and played with Shredder (the stuffed dog that Tyler brought). The only down side to the outing was the fact that it was scheduled for 9:30 - Luke's naptime. He was one tired boy by the time we got back in the car at 11:00. He fell right to sleep in his carseat, and is now napping in his bed.

Is This a Routine?

I think we have struck gold here. I think this is what most people call a "routine". Just when I was about to go crazy with the madness of it all, something clicked and things began to run smoothly.

Luke is now going to bed at eight o'clock and sleeping until four a.m. He wakes up at four, eats, and goes back to sleep until eight a.m. At eight he nurses and then we play until nine. At nine we have breakfast (he eats cereal and banana). Nine-thirty is naptime and we get an hour and a half nap(but since I've had such a good night sleep I stay awake and actually DO stuff!). Eleven o'clock Luke wakes up and we run errands or play. Noon is lunch time (Luke eats some vegetables and apple sauce), then he nurses and we play for another hour. One-thirty is another hour and a half nap. I get lots done because once again, I don't need a nap! When Luke wakes up we start making dinner, he sits in his high chair and plays with crackers and bread or his sippy cup. He snacks while I cook, then he nurses and takes a twenty minute nap around five o'clock. At six we all eat (Luke has more vegetables, bread, and some fruit for dessert). Then we visit with Derek and eight o'clock is bathtime, nursing and bed!

I'm told that his schedule shouldn't undergo any huge changes until around the nine month mark. It's SO nice to know what to expect day to day. I guess we can't predict everything, but so far, so good.

My Kid Likes Garbage

On Saturday we had the whole family over to take individual family's pictures and Cameryn was NOT having a good time. She just didn't want to have her picture taken. So after much screaming and coaxing we decided to try bribery. I gave Jaime a fruit bar and Cameryn munched on it while I took pictures.

A little while later Jaime went into Luke's room to make sure Cameryn wasn't getting into trouble back there and when she came out Jaime looked concerned and said, "I don't know where you keep those fruit bars, but it looks like Cameryn got into them. There's several wrappers on the floor in Luke's room." There seemed no way around it; I was forced to admit that I horde garbage for my son.

Luke loves how those wrappers crinkle and crunch. While Derek and I sat in the living room last night I looked around and all the toys were neatly in the toy box, but I counted two fruit bar wrappers, one baby wipes wrapper, two mismatched socks, and several toys that have labels hanging off of them (He loves petting the silky tags) scattered on the floor. It's really not worth buying toys. This kid likes garbage.

Cold Days

We had a little breather, but now it's very, very cold again. Here is Luke in his jacket and toque. He also has toasty warm Emu boots!

Four days in a row my car said 29 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning when Luke and I ran to the grocery store the car said -5 Fahrenheit. It's much harder to get around when it's this cold. For starters, Luke has to be bundled up really really warmly. And then there's stupid cold factors like the fact that the car door wouldn't latch closed because it was frozen, and I couldn't open the trunk to put the groceries in because it was also frozen shut. Luke's new carseat exposes him to the cold more than his infant carrier, and this morning while I was putting him into the carseat he spit up on the latch, but before I could wipe it up it had frozen! Yuck.

Since I was just going across town I knew the car wouldn't warm up, so I got out on the highway and drove a bit before heading into town to run my errands. I was about to express to my Mom how cold it is here by saying, "It's freezing cold!" and then I realized it's not. It's WAY colder than freezing cold!

There is a beautiful side to the winter, though. When it warms up like this and then freezes again we get gorgeous icicles. Last night the wind blew and blew and stirred up all the little ice particles, and this morning the air was literally sparkling, and when the sun came up we had little rainbows hanging in the air everywhere. It was truly magical! It was too cold to take my camera out to get a picture of the rainbows (the battery freezes up), but here's some of the icicles.

Field Trips

The other day Luke and I went to the post office, and since he's in his new car seat I have to take him out and carry him in with me, wherever I go. I really had my hands full trying to address and mail four letters, pay the postage and keep the squirmy guy in my arms. Finally the lady behind the counter offered to take him and she gave him a tour of the entire post office - even the back where they sort the mail! He had a wonderful time and was asked to, "please come back, you can be postmaster anytime!"

Then yesterday we went to Altona to visit Gramma Penner (Helene's adopted Mom, sorta...long story for another time). She is going to be 98 on February 22nd, and she's still doing fantastically, in fact she just started using a walker! She really enjoyed meeting Luke and said, "I love all the little children and would take them home with me except *sigh* they all have mothers of their own", which made us all smile and feel loved. Luke was chilling on her bedroom floor for a while and several residents and nurses were drawn in to adore his chubbiness. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon.