Puddle All Gone

Luke has mastered essentially two signs, one for more which also equals "yes" and "please" and the other for open which also equals "all gone." It kind of comes as a shrug...very cute.

He also has a new love in puddles. After the late week rains here, everywhere we went, he was pointing and grunting longingly for each puddle we passed. Lucky for him, the puddle at the end of the driveway was still there when he got to play outside on Saturday. He ran right to it, and stomped in it for a good 10 minutes (leading to some very cute video which I'll edit and try and post soon). Happy as a lark!

Imagine his disappointment when by Sunday, the puddle was gone, and despite going to several of the other driveways to find out if it had appeared there instead, he kept making the "all gone" sign. I think that I may have to get creative with the hose and reinstate the puddle from time to time for him this summer, at least after I've gotten his shoes off!

Is It Really Too Much To Ask??

It should be noted that this is going to be a bit of a vent, so feel free to skip this entry. In fact, Mom, since you've heard this, you can definitely skip it. I feel like I have been so incredibly bombarded from every direction with people trying to sell me something. Every other day, someone is knocking on our door telling us we need pest control, new siding, water filtration (because apparently we're all going to get cancer from the water and BPA). And, now, let's just add the dentist to that list. Is it really too much to ask that I can just go to a dentist, have my teeth cleaned, get told to brush more, identify the cavities that need to be filled, and be on my merry way? Now I have to endure a sales pitch on a preventative cancer screen, flouride treatment, and teeth whitening?!?!?! I think I'm going to have to keep searching for a dentist, which is turning out to be worse than pulling teeth. Ba dum ching!

Happy Mothers' Day!

My dad found a really sweet thing about moms...

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be-

I had a mother who read to me.

from The Reading Mother by Strickland Gillian

Luke's Big Adventures in Florida

After an unforgivably long absence, I'm back to blogging! We had a roller coaster of a few weeks, mainly based on fears over layoffs at Mike's company, and I didn't want to subject my faithful readers to a whole lot of unnecessary whining. But, things have turned out to be okay. Mike survived the layoffs and even though I interviewed for a contracting position in the midst of this and toured day cares, I didn't end up being the one selected. So, for now, life is as it was..and oh yeah, we went to Florida to visit the Buccieros!


This is Luke and his instant best friend, Duncan. They were a total duo the whole visit!

Making faces with Aunt "T"

Reading Goodnight Moon with Ashley

And, after all that, all it took was a cuddle with Bear and a little jet engine noise and he was out cold!

L-O-L-L-I-P-O-P

Luke got to try his first lollipop last night, courtesy of the barber shop where Daddy took him for a trim. Actually, it started out that Daddy was going to have the lollipop and Luke decided he wanted to give it a try. He did figure out pretty quickly that he wasn't supposed to "eat" it, and then proceeded to get so much enjoyment out of sticking it in Mommy's mouth and then Daddy's mouth that eventually, it didn't matter that this wonderful piece of sugary goodness was his. He giggled and giggled about it as he raced between us. Ironically, Luke's favorite song as a newborn was a Girl Scout song that spelled the word, L-O-L-L-I-P-O-P.

Life in general has been hectic for us. More than I have the time to blog about right now, but I have been interviewing for a contractor role. It's gone very well so far and they've asked me to come back for a final interview next week after we get back from Florida. It's a very big decision to try going back to work and there will be a lot of change for all of us.

In the meantime, some additional fun pics from the last few weeks

Happy Easter!

We tried the Pavlovian approach to egg-hunting. Worked great the first time I hid a few eggs around the house with Cheerios in them. Easter Sunday, not so much. The great outside world is just way too exciting to hunt down eggs, even if Grandma Ellen did put fruit loops in them. Not even sugar enticed my kid. But what a great weekend we had with Grandma and Grandpa and at least the remote concept of the Easter Bunny!

Adults are Sooooo Confusing!

I find it very cute when Luke is trying to figure out what I'm talking about. There are some basic things he definitely understands:

• upstairs = time for me to climb like a monkey on the stairs
• ba ba = that fantastic and utterly wonderful thing with milk in it that makes me sleepy
• outside = the really super cool place where I get to slide and pick up rocks
• kitty = the thing whose tail I love to pull
• bath = time to get Mommy and Daddy wet

And, he understands where his shoes are (generally stored up on a shelf). We kept them out of reach so that he didn't put them in his mouth, as he's prone to do with just about everything else. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why we put them up on the shelf in the family room instead of the gated-off mud room. Oh well...maybe it's so that he can point at them and give me something to blog about, right?

So, I greatly confused him the other day when I told him we had to go and get a tissue to wipe his runny nose. He runs into the other room and pointed up at his shoes. When I tried to clarify, he just starts stomping his feet and pointing more desperately. In the end, we wiped his nose AND put on his shoes.