Luke at Two

This was written on July 20, Luke's second birthday:

Dear Sweet Luke,

We love you SO much. It is hard to believe that you have only been in our lives for two years. It feels like you have always been with us.

You are such a happy little boy. When you smile your entire face beams with joy. You light up the room, and our hearts. You love to cuddle and are the first one to offer hugs and love to someone who is sad or hurt. You can be seen on many days following your big brother around and trying to do whatever he does. You often walk about ten feet behind him with a little bounce in your step. It is almost like a march. Most of the time you are carrying your "silky" and have your paci in your mouth. (You remind us of the youngest brother in Peter Pan who is always at the end of the line with his bear.) You swing your arms when you run in such an adorable exaggerated way.



You love to play. Any kind of ball will do for you. You love bubbles and balloons. You can spot a balloon from a mile away. You get very sad if you let go and it flies into the sky. You think that all cards play music and you can't understand why you can't lift a picture out of a book and play with the object. You love to play in the water. And to throw things into water. It doesn't matter what. You will throw anything in to a cup of water, a wading pool or the toilet. You like to get toilet paper and throw it into the toilet, even if someone is using it at the time.

You are scared of bees and don't like it when people that you don't know very well talk to you (unless you are in Mommy or Daddy's arms.) You are learning lots of new words and you get so excited when your "friend" comes to help you with your speech. You have called everyone "Daddy" until two weeks ago (including Jackson, his friends and Mommy). You FINALLY know that the lady who takes care of you is called Mommy. You say, "one" when you want some food that someone is eating. You can be heard throughout the day calling "Daddy" and looking all over for him. You say "see" about a million times a day and then show us a new skill or try to make us laugh by doing something silly like smacking yourself in the head. You put everything from hats to buckets to clothes on your head and walk around the house.

We are pretty sure that your development is right on target as you began throwing yourself on the ground and tantruming today. You love to torture the cat. You chase her all around the house. You throw EVERYTHING. When you are done with your food, you throw it onto the floor piece by piece. If someone offers you a snack and you have your paci in your mouth, you take it out and promptly throw it onto the ground. When you are feeling less hurried, you may hand it nicely to Mommy. You will try almost any food and usually like it even if it is something that little children do not like to eat. You like to dip your fingers in condiments and lick them off of your fingers. Your favorite meal is McDonald's chicken nuggets, apple slices and chocolate milk. You chase Daddy around the house for treats and squeal with excitement when you get one.

You are so loving and with your little brother. You always want to kiss him and hug him. You would probably drag him around the house with you if we let you get close enough. He takes up a lot of Mommy's time and that makes you a little sad. You whine a lot to be picked up and haven't been sleeping very well since baby Grant came home. You wake up very early and then sleep with Daddy on the couch or wake up early from your nap and sometimes fall asleep again while cuddling with Mommy. You don't usually take your frustration out on Grant, though. You love to listen for him in the monitor and tell Mommy when he is crying. Then you run up to his room and help. (You then run downstairs as fast as you can and try to get into Mommy's chair because you know that is where Mommy and "Baby" are headed.) You are great at throwing diapers away and often try to give "Baby" a paci. You are so proud of yourself when you help.

You are starting to really enjoy going to the nursery at church and playing with the other little children but you don't like it very much when Mommy, Daddy or Jackson leave you there. You love to go out. You carry Mommy's shoes to her often and try to put her feet in them. In a couple of weeks you will move to your third home.

You only like to watch two things on television: Baby Einstein's World Animals and Baby Galileo. You love to listen and dance to music on the television but then usually busy yourself with other activities. You love to watch home movies of yourself, Jackson or your cousin on the computer and know what button to push to watch the videos over and over. You LOVE music. You dance like crazy to almost every song that you hear. You have great rhythm and really know how to move to the music.

We could go on and on because you make us so happy. We love you SO much. Happy Birthday!

With more love than you know,

Mommy and Daddy


Here are some of our favorite pictures of you:



At your first birthday party:

Meeting your baby brother:




At your second birthday party:

First Day Nerves

Jackson began first grade today. This is the first time that he will have a full day of school. You would think that he would be nervous, but he has been saying that he is not. I, on the other hand, feel those butterflies in my gut. I'm pretty shocked that I'm nervous for him. I cannot ever remember any of my friends feeling this way. Sure, I've heard of people being sad because their child is growing up, but never nervous. I have more information than Jackson does, at this point. I happen to know that he is not in the same class with any of his buddies from last year and being with those friends is the only thing that he was looking forward to about school.

I think that I have figured out why I am feeling this way. When I was in elementary school, I loved it. I loved everything about school and I was good at it. I'm pretty sure the only time I got a grade other than an A from kindergarten through sixth grade was in handwriting. All of the teachers loved me. Toot-toot. (That is me beeping my own horn.) I only got in trouble once in all of the years that I was at Hyattsville Elementary School. I was pretending to tie my shoe in the third grade so that I could keep talking to my friend without being noticed. It was quiet time in the cafeteria and I got busted. Mrs. Bacon made me sit on the stage (with all of the "bad" kids.) I was so embarrassed and sad. I probably looked like I was going to cry and she said, "Don't turn on the water works." My principal came by as we lined up to go to where ever the bad kids go instead of recess. Mr. Stoffa was SO tall. From my puny viewpoint he seemed like a giant. I loved him, though. (On St. Patrick's day he wore a tuxedo with tails that was completely green.) Anyway, he saw me in that line and told Mrs. Bacon to let me go. "She's a good one", he said. (It is amazing how vivid that memory is because I don't remember very much from back then. I guess it really made an impact.)

My worry for Jackson is mostly because he is a boy. I have only two sisters, no brothers. My experience with the other half of the population has been fairly limited. Before I had boys, I thought they were just...crazy. Well, I still think they are. I thought that most of their stereotypical male behavior was just because they were behaving badly. Now, after becoming very well acquainted with the male gender, I realize that these alien creatures are just different. They are louder, they are WAY more active and they think gross things are quite interesting (i.e. insects or beating each other) or just plain hilarious (i.e. making your underarm toot). Here is my calm first grader ready to go to school and see his friends. (He didn't ride the scooter to school, he just wanted it in the picture. We have to drive now that we have moved.)



My hope is that Jackson's teacher has boys of her own and that she won't label this normal male behavior as "bad" the way I may have before I became immersed in it. Barrington and I had a long talk with Jackson last night about being nice to other kids and being appropriate at school. Barrington also gave him a father's blessing.


Ultimately, I know Jackson will do well. He seems to be well liked. True, he can be VERY active, loud and precocious, but he is a pretty nice six year old. He can be very sensitive to others. He is polite. He needs to get back to school because he is just plain bored at home and as he learns he will be greatly excited and feel like he is accomplishing something.

He changed his tune as we entered the parking lot and saw massive amounts of cars parked everywhere, even on the grass. It really was a scene. There were even parents who let their kids ride the bus and then drove to the school to wait, cameras in hand, taking pictures as the kids exited. When I asked him if he was nervous he said, "no". But by the time we got to the corner he had progressed from that to, "I am freaked out, terrified AND think I'm going to throw up!" Here he is waiting in Mrs. Held's classroom. Note how the expression has changed.



Luke also started preschool for the first time today. A friend from church who stays at home with her kids and has a degree in early childhood education decided to do a little school at her home for six of the kids from church. Luke already knows the kids from the nursery at church and for the price, I really couldn't say no. Having a couple of hours with just Grant will be nice and just might help me to stay sane. Luke is such a cutie. He only cried twice at school today and walked right out pulling his new Car's backpack all the way to the car.





Daddy was nice enough to take some pictures before he left for work. He didn't have time to be in one himself, though. (He thinks that it is SO important to be to court on time, go figure.)



Grant didn't start school today, but he was thrilled to check out all of the action.

What I've been doing...

The last time that I posted anything that required more than 10 minutes of my time was nearly 7 weeks ago. Since SO many of my readers and friends have been heartbroken and bored without a new post to read AND have been using every last moment of their time to find out if I am still alive, I thought I would fill in one of the blanks. (By the way, when I say SO many of my readers and friends, I mean my sister, Kim.)

You may remember the saga of our landlords deciding to foreclose on their home. (I'm sure I will get around to posting the ending of that nasty tale at some point, but not today.) After 5 months of looking and 8 houses falling through in one way or another we FINALLY found another house that we both like well enough to rent and the owners actually choose us. (Boy will they be sorry about that choice after they see what three crazy boys can do to a place.)

As you might imagine I have spent the last 7 weeks packing, moving and BEGINNING to unpack. (Oh yeah, and taking care of the 3 month old. AND doing my best to ignore the other two as much as possible until the 2 year old has a meltdown or the 6 year old dumps sugar all over the kitchen floor.) Even though I had a lot of help with the packing process, (My lovely mother even came out to hang with the kiddies.) I ran out of packing time and ended up throwing things in GROCERY bags just to have something in which to carry them. That doesn't make for a very organized life once said bags are at the new place unlabeled.

Also, I had no idea how difficult it would be to find the time to get the house unpacked and in order while caring for a very young baby and the other guys, as well. Some days I get nothing accomplished. And other days, just when I have gotten a box or two unpacked and feel like I am making progress, I look the opposite direction and see mounds of dishes or laundry that need to be done. Or, someone gets a weird rash and we have to waste our day at the doctors office only to find out that we ALL have Strep throat. (Is my life glamorous or what?)

I have, oh-so-many, posts to write and past events to chronicle. I really have missed blogging and have, often, "written" posts in my head while we are walking to the park or setting up for the yard sale. I'm going to try my best to fit it in among the chaos, which had better be cleaned up before it snows and we need the garage for our cars. Right now, this is what I'm dealing with: