{Luke Happenings}

The kiddos and I are still sick, so Luke has to stay home from school and we are trying to keep everyone happy and fever-free.  In the effort of distracting myself from the incoming teeth and runny noses, I think I need to give some updates on Luke since it has been a while. So here goes...some little tidbits that I want to remember about Snoop-A-Luke:

1.  We took Luke to this restaurant the other week that has a playground with outside seating.  We love this place because we actually get to eat and he enjoys running around.  There were several other kids playing on the equipment and there was a dad who was sitting towards the end of the slide holding up his iphone trying to get a video of his child sliding down.  Well, Luke looks up as he is sliding down and sees the dad with the phone and immediately screams, "cheeeeeeeeese" with a big goofy grin.  I guess I take too many pictures of him with my phone because he think everyone is trying to!

2.  Luke is all boy.  Lately when he plays with his trains or cars, he has them crash into each other.  I don't know where he learned it or maybe he just was born knowing, but he rams them into each other and says, "craaaaaaaasshh".  He draws out the word for some reason.  How do boys do this from the beginning??  I guess it is the same with girls loving to play with a doll and knowing those mothering tendencies.  It is so neat to watch what makes them tick.

3.  He loves to hold my hand.  Probably my most favorite thing right now.  He will say, "mama, mama, hand" and hold out his little paw for me to grab.  We hold hands and walk around the yard, we hold hands in the car, when lying on the couch together and when he is sitting in a high chair at a restaurant.  I love it. 

4.  Television.  It has become a big problem for Luke.  He would watch it all day long if I let him.  He loves Thomas the Train but has recently been into Pixar and Disney movies like Cars, Rio and Ice Age.  It is nice to hear something other than that darn train!  But television is creating all sorts of problems.  He has issues when it is time to turn it off and he can throw a mean trantrum.  He asks for "thomas" or "birds" or "cars" all day long.  He tries to steal my phone because he knows how to look up Thomas episodes on youtube.  It is so hard to constantly be battling him.  And that is what it feels like -- a constant battle.  For a long time, we cut out all tv except for about 30 minutes in the evening.  It made a huge difference.  Then we had Ben and once he got out of the I-can-sleep-through-anything stage, I had to use television to distract Luke when I would nurse or try to put Ben to sleep.  If I don't, Luke walks in and talks and talks and talks and wakes Ben up.  It is frustrating and I am struggling finding a balance.

5.  Luke is still obsessed with the dogs.  He will take Chloe's face and grab her nose with both hands like he is keeping her mouth closed and kiss her right on the lips.  She is less than thrilled.  Sometimes he just body slams into them.  He thinks this is hysterical.  He gets in trouble for this (poor puppies), but it never quite keeps him from doing it.  Hmmmmm. 

6.  Trains are still the toy of choice.  He has 25+ Thomas the Train characters and he knows everyone by name.  There can be two the same color and look identical except for a little number and he knows they are different and what their names are.  He has to bring at least one or two trains wherever we go, to naps, bath and bedtime.  His most favorite ones are James, Gordon and Duncan.

7.  Luke loves to pull all the pillows off the couches and gather them together so he can jump on them -- from off the couch or coffee table or chair.  It can be quite dangerous and after he was hurling himself across the room one day, I looked at Chat and said, "We are going to end up in the emergency room with him a lot, aren't we?"  He also likes to climb all over me or around me or sometimes through me it seems.  As he does it, he always says, "Sorry mama!" (in a very happy voice) while in the action.  Or sometimes, "Sorry baby!" when Ben is in my lap and he throws himself over us.  He knows!  Oh my goodness, he knows what he is doing.  But he thinks a good old "Sorry!" will do the trick.

That's it for now!  I hope we are all on the mend here in the next day or two.  I am not sure how much more sickness and teething I can take!