nicknames

When I was pregnant, Luke's nickname was Little Boots. It's still our favorite, and most treasured, name to call him. Increasingly, though, I have a long list of nicknames for my favorite guy:
pumpkin pie
munchkin
munchkin-arino (which he loves to be called)
silly boots
sweetheart
little man
baby boots
monkey boots
funny boots
*AMENDED TO ADD:
snuggly bunny
munchkin pie
bonhomme (gentleman, in french)

And, my thought for today: I am trading my To Do list for a To Be list. To be lazy, to be spontaneous, and just plain To Be.

play amongst yourselves

Please feed our panda:

guilty secret

Luke's been a little bullheaded lately (not sure where he gets that
from -- clearly can't be my genes). Last night, he woke up around 11
and didn't want to go back to sleep. Dada had just returned from 3
days away and was also eager to snuggle. So Dada did the forbidden --
and brought Luke into the big bed. My guilty secret is that I totally
loved having our sweet smelling little man snuggled between us and
waking up to his cute rendition of Dada's travels (Dada airplane fly).

storytime

It's a video kind of week.

Please join us for storytime with Luke: a lovely story about Thomas the Tank Engine. For Luke's fans who don't speak French, "hibou" is an owl. Luke now understands three languages: English, French, and Spanish. While most of his spoken words are English, some are French and he tends to mix the French and English. He also speaks Spanish to his nanny.

more crack for dada

shout-out to dada

Dada, this one is for you. We miss you! Come home soon!

toys, milestones & interests

We are all finally on the mend. Tonight is the first night that Luke hasn't woken up every 45 minutes, which likely means a good night's sleep for me (yeah!). I was talking to Pop-Pop and Nana this evening and sharing some of Luke's new abilities and interests. This also got me thinking about the types of toys that Luke really enjoys and where he's at, in terms of toy "age levels." Some random thoughts:

• Trains rule. Luke spends about 70% of his playtime in train-related activity: playing with his train set, reading about trains, pretending his food is a train, building trains out of his blocks, asking to ride the Little Puffer at the zoo ...


• He's very good at fine motor skills, and has easily mastered the 2-year old chunky puzzles. I'm having a tough time finding puzzles that are still large and chunky, but are more challenging for him to complete. He loves his puzzles, building towers or trains, snapping train tracks together, and anything, really, about spatial relationships.


• He loves drawing, finger painting, and play-doh. He can draw a circle and a straight line, and knows all of his colors.
  


• He loves animals, and particularly his Schleich animals, which he puts on his blocks so they can "ride the train." Going to the zoo is probably his #1 favorite thing to do. He can name most any animal that you can think of, and probably some you can't think of (like iguana and armadillo).


• He continues to "read" voraciously. He has upwards of 100 books, and can pick out any book by title. His favorites rotate, and right now, he's obsessed with a set of Thomas the Train board books I bought recently (Go Train Go, Stop Train Stop, Crack in the Track, and other exciting adventures). We spend at least 1-2 hours every day reading, although in about 10-15 minute blocks of time (i.e., the toddler sized attention span).


• Making music has become less interesting for the time being, although Luke is still a snazzy little dancer. He has also mastered the two word phrase, "encore song," mixing French and English but still getting the point across. Play it again!


• When outside, Luke loves to blow bubbles. We now have an industrial size container of bubble juice. The water table continues to fascinate as well.


• Luke can identify 2-3 letters (N, K, and often X), thanks to the foam bath letters and Dada's patience.


• As when he was a baby, Luke adores being outside. Dada taught him this very funny trick where Luke will grab the bars of the decorative gate outside our front door and yell, "Lemme out!! Lemme out!!!" This past weekend, we took a gentle walk in the Canyon and Luke adored riding on Jean-Max's shoulder's and laughed at the birds perched in a bush.
  

Here, in a snazzy iPhone format, is our running wish list of toys to delight the little man:

bummer

I got the bug, too.

July 7 update: I've now had 4 long days of aches, pain, congestion, wracking cough, and gunky nose. Then, this afternoon, a confirmation of pinkeye (courtesy of Luke's share care partner). Not only am I Very Sick, but I'm also Very Grrrrrrr.

July 10 update: Still sick, and now Luke is getting sick again. How I spent my summer vacation: covered in Vicks VapoRub.

back to reality

Mama was missed. My poor boys got sick while I was away, and I returned home to two feverish sniffly congested guys. They were very glad to see me. Luke snuggled and snuggled and stuck to me like glue. Dada immediately took to our bed, and in between naps and a long, solid night of sleep, he declared that Mama is never allowed to leave again.  For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed my carefree days on the Cape with my bestest girlfriend, and I was also happy to be home and happy to be so clearly needed and wanted. My boys are the best.