Thanks, Lisa!

Aunt Lisa sent Lucas some new wooden toys. Back in April we went to Lisa's office to distract her from her charts and Lucas found a wooden stacking toy in the waiting room. He really liked it, so ever since then, Lisa has been on the search for cool wooden toys. Yesterday, a box containing two wooden toys appeared at the door - one just like Lisa's and the other just like Kate's. Lucas has been really happy playing with them - so much so, that nap time was delayed a whole hour today due to magical wooden stacking fun!
Thanks for being so generous, kind and thoughtful, Lisa! We love you.

The Pill

Lucas has been a little bit of a pill the past few days: not sleeping... going crazy... not sleeping... climbing things... not sleeping... being destructive. Before I think too many negative thoughts about the kid, I need to think about how sweet, smart, and funny he is before I go to bed exhausted and alone. (now you really feel sorry for me, huh?)

We broke out the bubbles the other night to celebrate having Daddy home for once. Lucas had a good time trying to eat them. He really eats a lot of soap - every time we play with bubbles, the wand goes right into his mouth. He also licks soap off his hands when I wash his hands, and he eats it in the bath tub if he can. Gross. Anyhow, here's Bubble Boy:
Lucas has been getting into everything lately. It's driving me a little crazy. He says, "mine, mine, mine..." and dives into the silverware drawer, junk drawer, utensil drawer, or pantry. He has managed to come away unscathed even after reaching for the Cutco knives.
Today I came down the stairs to find him happily playing with the bag of rubberbands from the junk drawer. He likes to sort things, so they were all over the floor. Then he chewed on a couple, but I don't think he ate any.

I'm going to have to start toddler proofing now. He's outgrowing all the babyproofed things because he's so tall! I really don't want to have to put latches on my drawers, but I might have to before I go nuts.
He still loves the fridge of course, and this is our current method of babyproofing there:
I guess the last naughty thing he does is climb. He loves to climb and will climb anything remotely climbable. It's a miracle we haven't had a trip to the emergency room. Yesterday I realized things in the pantry weren't quite right, then I discovered Lucas climbing half-way up "organizing" things for me. Tonight I went into the toy room while I was cooking dinner and discovered him half-way up the book shelf with a bottle of cold medicine in his hands. I had hidden it up there so it would be safe. I think he was after a piggy bank we got for our wedding. I just mentioned to Ben how dangerous the book shelf was a couple months ago... we need to anchor it to the wall OR buy something better in Buy Lots Of Stuff August.

Lastly, here's a video of Lucas practicing his colors with his spoons. He loves these stupid spoons, so I finally gave up keeping them in the drawer. Happy Friday!

The Week in Review

Just wanted to get some blogging off my plate before Lucas and I leave town for a week. Here's our week in review:

Lucas enjoys eating... this day he enjoyed wearing his hat, too.Lucas loved when Ben was putting up the crown molding - when else can he play on a ladder?

This week Lucas got all the plastic spoons and forks out of the drawer and has played with them every day. By "playing" I mean sorting.

Here's a video of Lucas eating with several spoons:

Lucas got some of our food storage out and decided it made a good seat.

Then he took a little rest on the counter.

Lucas has moved on to reading my cookbooks. I guess he's bored with his books.

And finally a funny video of Lucas pulling Ben's arm hair. He does this every time Ben reads to him. I guess it's kind of comforting.

Chairs, Chairs Everywhere!

If there's one thing I've learned from Lucas, it is to make sure you have all similar objects in groups or stacks throughout the house. After sorting said objects, move the stack or group to another location where you can sort it again. It usually works best to move one item at a time to the new location, even if the item is as small as a magnet. Some good places to put things are on Mom's back if she's laying on the floor, on various couch cushions, or behind the TV.
Here's a video of Lucas sorting some larger items:

Baa, Baa

Well, you'll have to just deal with a boring post today. Since this blog kind of acts like a journal (and a grandparent notifier) I just wanted to update it with the latest happenings of all things Lucas.
Lucas is an awesome animal caller. I bet some day Uncle Rob will need to take him on a hunting trip to attract all the animals. He can bark like a dog, baa like a lamb, quack like a duck, and roar like a tiger. He also moos and mews, but they sound kind of the same. My favorite is the baa.
He still doesn't talk, but maybe he'll be a Dr. Doolittle or the Dog Whisperer or something. Actually, I think he might have said "shoes" last night, so that's good. We like shoes.
Lucas continues to get into things on a regular basis. He is getting into the drawers in the bookcase, where I keep some new baby things that could be used as gifts. Today he got out some of the new baby things and put them in the toilet. I guess they are his now.
Lucas is getting good at prayers before dinner. He folds his little arms before each meal, so I even say prayers with him at lunch and breakfast, too. He lasts for a few seconds.
Lucas still enjoys throwing his food on the floor when he gets bored. The best is a nice mix of vegetables because they offer more artistic freedom than just plain peas. Sometimes I think he throws his veggies so he can eat them off the floor.
I no longer oppose the 3 second rule. I now encourage Lucas to eat off the floor - MY floor. Today he ate about half of the veggies he threw on the floor after lunch. He just crouches down and puts them in his mouth like a little monkey, one after the other.
Lucas sleeps like a champ in general. He manages to sleep between 11 and 12 hours at night - 8:45-8:30ish. Except for this morning when he woke up congested at 6:45. It made for a trying afternoon since nap time was shifted up two hours.
Lucas still LOVES books. He will sit for a long time and go through book after book. The best is when he makes the animal noises while he reads his animal books.
Lucas is still the world champ of sorting and stacking. I just give him things that aren't even toys, like plastic cups, oatmeal containers, rolls of paper towels, and Gatorade bottles. He moves them around the kitchen in different formations. We clean up several times a day.
Lucas continues to be very physically active. This kid has always been fast - crawling, walking, and now he's running a bit. Sometimes he's not watching where he goes and he runs into a wall. Apparently his dad did the same thing while watching his own shadow... Wait, some of us witnessed a similar event last year at the park. It was a sad day when Ben ran into the fence trying to catch a frisbee.
I guess that's it for now. I can't believe how fast Lucas is growing. He is so smart and I'm always amazed at the things he understands and at his funny sense of humor. Oh, I love that kid.

I'm still alive, really.

Aloha,

I have officially been away from home for three weeks, one day, and 7 hours. I will go back on Wednesday so Ben can remember who we are and hopefully he will get to eat something besides microwave burritos (aside from what he eats at our friends' houses - thanks!)

Tonight I found out that I have been making a grammatical error (and you know I hate grammatical errors) for the past 16 months. My sister, Lisa, told me that when I write about Lucas and his posessions, I am supposed to use an apostrophe-s, not just an apostrophe. So, I've been saying Lucas' ball, etc. for over a year. Oops. The only case you use just the apostrophe in a first name is in the case of Jesus. Interesting, huh?

She did say that there are probably exceptions in rule books somewhere, so I shouldn't feel too dumb...

That said, if you wish to see some of Lucas's updated pictures, go here.

Lucas has grown and learned so much in the past three weeks. Last year, Lucas got two front teeth for Christmas. This year, he got four teeth for Christmas (his canines)! Now we only have a couple more sets molars to go and we're done with teeth!

Lucas has also really started to love animals. In Arizona he got to meet Riley, Ben's aunt's dog. He also got to see the duck pond. He was quite scared at first, but then tried to climb into the pond feet first like he goes down the stairs. He even started saying a new word that sounds a lot like "dog" or "duck".... we think it might be a German word. But, I think it is the word for all things not human.

In Albuquerque, Lucas was excited to see Nala and Oscar again. They weren't quite so excited to see him. We have made it two weeks without any bites - just a couple growls. Lucas has learned to be careful with the dogs and not poke them in the face. Last week Lisa was giving Lucas a bath and they heard Oscar walk down the hall and Lucas said, "Oska." I didn't believe her at first, but now he says it quite often when he sees the dog. (Ben isn't a fan of Oscar, so he wasn't happy when I told him this...). I now hear "Oska" and the German dog word much more than Mama.

Oh, and Lucas finally did his first sign! I've been trying to get this kid to sign for ten months. Now he'll do the sign for "all done" when he wants down from his high chair. Next we'll work on "milk" and "more."

Lucas has some fun toys to play with here (toys way older than me). There's a pretty cool Tonka dump truck, a doll crib, and a little set of wooden beads and a big string. He enjoys playing with the beads and has started to string them onto the string with some help. And of course, Lucas's favorite activity is the sorting, stacking, and organizing. Lucas has emptied every single drawer in my parent's house, and several drawers in Ben's parent's house. He loves it.

I was supposed to go home last Thursday, but stayed longer because Ben had work to do in Austin and I didn't want to go home and be alone while Ben worked. The first week home after being with my family is always really hard - the empty house, doing all the work by myself, etc. Here I have about 6 assistants to help with watching Lucas and it makes for a nice break. And the great thing is that they really enjoy playing with Lucas... and instead of being a chore, bath time is a really FUN time.

The good news is that my sister showed Lucas some pictures on the computer tonight. He got really excited when he saw Ben, so he still remembers him! Ben and I have wondered before how long it would take him to forget one of us. I said he'd be over me in a week, but now I know that's not true. He misses and loves his daddy very much. We'll see you soon, Baby!

Grouping, Stacking, Moving, Organizing

I was a really nice mom this morning and let Lucas in the pantry, which is usually off limits. He had a great time taking all the food out and moving it around. He made a huge mess, but it was worth the time that it kept him occupied. Lucas loves to take things, put them in a pile, stack them, move them to a new place, and stack them again. He's so silly.