All About Luke

If this blog has been around when Meryt was a baby, you would have read about every breath she took. Fortunately for you, I didn't start until Meryt was a toddler. Unfortunately for Luke, I didn't spend much time here during 2011. My memories for him are recorded elsewhere. They are recorded, which I am thankful for.

A teacher friend of mine is constantly reminding me not to compare Luke and Meryt. I try so hard not to, but...I compare them all the time. This post isn't a comparison, but more a chance for me to record exactly what our little miracle boy is like.

Luke is A.L.L. B.O.Y. There is never, not a single time, when he sits and plays with his toys. Meryt and I were going to read Luke 2 and do the nativity story with Luke. Oh, how fun we thought that would be. Hahaha...hehe. We ended up chasing Luke around, trying to recover the characters. Luke thought this was a hilarious game.
Evidence #1:

Luke is tremendously strong willed. If he wants to get to something, he will find a way to do just that. I was sitting at the computer and refused to give Luke whatever it was he wanted. He crawled around the chair, climbed up and reached over the back of the chair.

Evidence #2:

Luke is a complete Mama's Boy. He wants my attention all the time. He LOVES to be held and would sit on my hip, mostly content, all day. There are many times I resort to carrying him in a carrier--win/win for both of us!

Evidence #3:

Luke makes a game out of everything. H was putting the lights on the Christmas tree. Luke watched for a few minutes and realized that the end of the string of lights was moving around. He would chase the string of lights, trying to crawl and grab them at the same time. (We're convinced he's part puppy.) He finally grabbed the end of the strand and immediately put a bulb in his mouth.

Evidence #4:

You don't believe me? Here...a closer look. (No child was harmed in the process of collecting this evidence.)

We make the hanging of the first ornament a really big deal. Luke was too young last year to participate in this tradition and we weren't sure exactly how to handle it this year. Meryt would never tolerate Luke being allowed to take this special honor "from her." Yet, we needed a way for it to be somewhat fair. We decided that each child would have a "first ornament" and that it would be a special ornament to them. Surprisingly, Luke did a great job hanging his ornament.

Evidence #5:

Luke is a complete flirt, but does not like strangers to touch him. He doesn't like to be left in the church nursery. He sometimes cries when I leave him at his "school." I was a bit apprehansive when we went to see Santa. Luke, in true Luke form, shocked me. He was totally into Santa. He checked him out and then looked back at us.

Evidence #6:

Luke doesn't sit still. He's always checking something out. He isn't walking yet, but he can crawl faster than most of my students can run. One minute he's right beside me; the next, he's almost all the way up the stairs. We tried to take a few pictures at the beach (notice the birds behind Luke to the left).

Evidence #7:

Oh! Wait! There are birds behind me?!?! And off he goes.

Luke LOVES to play rough. Most of the time, the rougher, the better. He LOVES to be bounced around or tossed into the air. He loves to be wrestled. He just loves to play. Everything is a game.

Evidence #8:

Loving the teeter totter. Meryt shook it as hard as she could and he just died laughing.

Then we discovere the slide. Oh, the glorious slide! He wanted to do the slide over and over again. He would laugh and giggle so hard as he came down. He's even progressed to coming down the slide by himself, to his complete and utter joy.

As high as his "highs" are...his lows are as "low." He has the most delightful laugh you've ever heard...and the most irritating cry. (Keeping it real...just keeping it real.) He's one complete package of extremes. And we couldn't love him any more. He is truly our miracle boy.