18 month pictures!

Once again Aunt Karen took some amazing pictures! We went over to Lions Park and downtown Zionsville on Saturday morning and had a great time!

Sorry for the picture overload, but I love so many of them!













You can see the rest of them here: https://picasaweb.google.com/jasonandlaura.f/EditsResized?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOT05rjbr7P3aQ&feat=directlink

18 month appt

Luke had his 18 month appt last week and all went well!

He's 34 inches tall (89%), weighs 29.4 lbs (87%), and his head is 50.3 cm (98%.) Still a growing boy!

We talked alot about his eating habits and are going to change some things up to hopefully help with the picky eater. She also discussed the possibility of an allergy to cow's milk. It could be one of the causes of his eczema. They can test for it, but typically only do if it seems severe (vomiting, not gaining weight, etc.) She suggested that we take him off of cow's milk for 3 months and see what happens. I'm not looking forward to the changes this is going to mean, but am interested to see if we notice a difference.

Like mother, like son

This was me, September 1981 - which made me about 19 months old. I apparently was having a blast climbing up onto the chair and then falling off the chair - so my parents put pillows down to help break the fall.





This was Luke yesterday. The pillows were put down after the first time when I thought for sure he was going to break something.

18 months old!

18 months ... is this the point where we start saying 1 1/2 years old?

Age: 18 months

Weight: I think he's still under 30 lbs (Edited to add: we weighed him this morning, the 19th, and he was 28 lbs. Less than I thought and I'm pretty sure it means that he's lost some weight.)

Length: No idea - his 18 month appt is next week though

Size: Size 5 diapers, and a toss up between 18 month and 24 month clothes.

Hair: He had his first big boy haircut - I actually kept some of the curls. This haircut just seemed more real than the others.

Teeth: 16 teeth - the 2 year molars are the only ones left

Sleeping: He goes down at 7:30 and wakes up somewhere between 6:30 and 7. He takes one nap that is close to 2 hours.

Eating: Seems like he's a typical toddler. Staples are cheese, cheerios, yogurt, mac&cheese, and crackers. He's finally starting to eat more at daycare for lunch so that's good. For a while there he would only have his milk at lunch.

Movement: Everywhere. He has no fear. He's already had one black eye (thank you toilet paper roll holder) and has added several more bruises and rug burns.

Talking: mama, dada/daddy, ball, no, yea, wow, uh oh, cat, dog, hat, hot, hi, duck, more, Matt, rocks, water, frog, car (although his version of car is to buzz his lips.) He frequently puts 2 words together like "cat ball", "dada car", "uh oh me", "no no me." He also combines words and signs. Signs go, and then says car for example. He wants the car to go. :)

Signing: I won't type them all out, but the same as last month, plus flower and baby.

Favorite toys/activities: He likes to play in the dirt, although doesn't care to have his hands dirty. He loves to play hide and seek. The hiding part is hard for him because he gets excited and will come out from whatever he's hiding behind when he hears you. Very obsessed with sport related things and cars.

Dislikes: Will diaper changes ever leave this category? Lately we've also been struggling with daycare drop off.

Disposition: For the most part he's such a happy little guy. He loves to gives hugs and kisses, which makes me melt every time.

Other cute things about him:
*He's started squealing. He's not mad or upset - but will squeal/scream for a good 10-15 seconds. Semi-annoying at home. Embarrassing in the middle of Walmart.
*He loves to play hide and seek. The hiding part is hard for him because he gets excited and will come out from whatever he's hiding behind when he hears you.
*He plays ring around the rosey.
*Yesterday he demanded that I sit down and play next to him.
*He is obsessed with the movie Cars. We watched it one day while he was sick, and now he wants to watch parts of it all.the.time. He loves the race scenes.
*When we were at the zoo last week, he told me that the lemurs were cats, and the meerkats were dogs.
*Every night when we lay him down for bed he blows us a kiss goodnight.
*We were at a park recently and he saw a guy shooting hoops. When the guy made the basket, Luke clapped for him. On that note, he gets excited to see any sporting event on tv, will yell "ball" and then start clapping.
*He claps for himself when he finished a puzzle.

The best part of the fair ....... FOOD!!!

When you go with a group of people to the fair, and it's on $2 Tuesdays - you get to try just about everything the fair has to offer! I'm slightly embarrassed at the amount of pictures in this post, but I swear - we each only had a small bit of each item.

Here is a quick run through of the calories consumed!

Cinnamon roll



Funnel Cake


Corn dog


Pork barbeque slider ... getting hungry yet?


Chicken gyro


Time to quench the thirst - Lemonade Shakeup


Dippin Dots


"Pig" Ear - a smaller version of the Elephant Ear


Breakfast meal - sausage, eggs, biscuits, potatoes, and gravy


Deep friend Klondike Bar


Consuming the Deep Fried Klondike Bar


Pineapple Whip - one of my new favorite things!


Eating is hard work - time for a break


Deep fried Jalapeno Cheese


Grilled Cheese from the Dairy Barn


Soft Pretzel


Cotton Candy!


Luke's first taste of the amazing cotton candy


Blue Raspberry Slushy


Things that we missed this year were the Ribeye sandwich and Lamb Kabobs. Hmmm ...maybe we should go back tomorrow??

State Fair x 2

Tuesdays are $2 days at the state fair - $2 admission, $2 off of the train ticket, and lots of special $2 items. Since I now have Tuesdays off, we were able to go both weeks!

Last week, Luke and I rode the train down with my mom.




We saw lots of animals and ate tons of food (see next post) but weren't able to get everything in before we needed to take the train back. We decided that we'd go back this week!

This time we drove down, and Jason and Patrick came with us. We tried to talk Karen into it, but she had to prepare for court - I guess that was probably more important.

The first thing we did was the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit. It was so much fun! Luke wore an apron, had a little basket, and became a farmer for the day.

He started by picking up corn and soybeans. He had to have those so that he could feed the pigs and cows a little bit later.




He also got an egg from the chicken coup.


At this point, the sun was beating down on the farm so he got a Pioneer Seed Corn hat to wear.



He had to plant some seeds for the crop to grow.


After some rapid growth, he picked up the onion that he grew.


He had to ride a tractor around to check out the farm.


Picked an apple and also sheered a sheep for the wool.


Then it was time to milk the cow!


After a hard day's work it was time to cash in his goodies.


He was paid and then he got to buy something in the store - he chose a nutragrain bar - gotta keep your energy up! It's tough work being a farmer!

It really was one of the neatest things at the fair and he seemed to really enjoy it, even if he didn't quite "get" all of it.

That wasn't all we did though! Luke got to go fishing:


And drive a tractor:


And feed and pets some goats!




Both Tuesdays were great days!

I can't have a post about the state fair without mentioning the tragedy that happened there this past weekend. For those that don't know, the stage collapsed before the Sugarland concert due to storm that was coming in. Several were injured and 5 people lost their lives. It was just a tragic event and everyone involved and affected have been in our thoughts and prayers since then.

More Monday pictures

Out for a drive


Hello ... is anyone in there?




Golf lessons with Uncle Pat


Dining on the deck



Just being cute


Playing in the kitchen