fee-fie-n-g-o

We are thoroughly enjoying Pop-Pop and Nana's visit, and I'm excited that we still have a full week to go! Here's a little snippet from last night. Luke treated us to a serenade of a new song he learned at school:

There was a farmer had a dog
And Bingo was his name-o
Fee-Fie-N-G-O
Fee-Fie-N-G-O
Fee-Fie-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

favorite part of yesterday

Pop-Pop and Nana arrived yesterday for their annual Thanksgiving trip.
As I'm happily remembering yesterday, I was thinking about a little
ritual Luke and I have started. At the end of the day, I ask Luke what
his favorite part of the day was.

My favorite part of yesterday was watching Luke and Pop-Pop imitate
one another by raising their eyebrows -- up and down, up and down.
There's something so heart-expanding about seeing my little guy and my
dad connect and enjoy one another. I love how Luke loves his
grandparents.

a quick halloween pic

All dressed up and enjoying the day at the Golden Gate Mother's Group Halloween party! I joined this super-cool mommy group when Luke was an infant, and the Halloween party is a signature event: 3 bouncy houses, face painting, craft projects, continuous trick-or-treating, "spooky" music (like Monster Mash), and balloon twisting. They also had a professional photographer to take photos. Luke was a super cutie, and I also dressed up (relatively speaking) as a kitty cat.

guest post from dada

I got this "Luke says" report from Dada while I was (and still am) away:

Luke says:

• "I am sorry, but I can't have a snack with you because I need to exercise more", running back to the living room, and dancing/jumping in rhythm with the music.
• "I am not done with exercising yet, but I will continue tomorrow morning".
• "Wow, this is hard work", in between runs in the living room.

back east

I'm visiting my friend Karen for the next four days. While I'm gone, Luke will have tiny teddy to keep him company (and Dada, school and Jackie, of course!).

backseat conversation

Luke is in school with his best friend, Sophia, and because we live very close to Sophia's family, I drive both kids to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We've developed a nice morning routine: Sophia usually arrives at our house while Luke is having breakfast, her usual 3-year old antics distract Luke from any last-minute anxiety about going to school, and before walking out the door we go through our checklist to make sure we're prepared. (Mama: "Lunches?" Luke and Sophia: "Check!" Mama: Jackets?" Luke and Sophia: "Check!") Lately, the conversation from the backseat, during our drive to school, has been particularly entertaining:

Sophia: I wanna sit in Luke's seat!
Luke: I wanna sit in Sophia's seat!
Mama: [Removes the hanging monkey above Luke's car seat, because Sophia likes to grab it 1000x in a row, with requisite monkey squeaking and jingling, and this drives Mama coco loco--Spanish for crazy head]
Kids are now all strapped in, and we're driving to school ...
Sophia: What happened to the monkey? Where's the monkey?
Luke: Mama took it down. There it is! See, Sophia!
Sophia: What happened to the monkey?
Luke: Mama took it down. It was making Mama coco loco.
Sophia: Whhhhhhyyyyyy?
Luke: Because you were playing with it!

****
PS: Thanks to Grammy, Sesa and Megan for the emails to Luke! So far, we read them, but I can't interest him in responding. He seems to think email is a one-way communication. He loves the e-cards and asks to see the Halloween Snoopy card that Sesa sent nearly every day.

overheard

Luke's language, understanding and memory is so advanced these days. He keeps us laughing so much and so often! I've decided to start a new category of "overheard" to try and capture some of these little pearls. From Saturday morning:

"I don't like cereal. But when I'm a big man, I will definitely like cereal and will eat it every morning."