A few months before he turned two, Luke had 99% given up his paci. Then he turned two, which was followed by the week that I still swear he was possessed by the devil. He was also teething, and not sleeping, so we gave him his paci back at night in an attempt to stop the madness. Fast forward 2 months to now, and he has been sleeping at night and naps with it. Which was all fine and dandy, until he woke up this morning and it was like this:
He nearly bit it in two, which meant it was time to say bye bye to the pacis.
We watched a video about Elmo saying goodbye. He colored a box and packed the pacis in, to send to a baby who needed them. After watching it, Luke seemed on board with the whole thing.
He colored the box:
Packed the paci's inside, every single one, all by himself.
And carried it outside to leave for the mailman:
When it came time for bed he didn't even ask for it! He went right to bed - so far so good! To celebrate we're going to get his room down in all of his car stuff! He's had the twin bed with the car bedding for a few months, but we hadn't done the rest of the redecorating - that happens this weekend!
My mom and I took Luke to see Sesame Street Live this weekend. It was so great! Luke wore an Elmo tshirt, an Elmo hat, and took a stuffed Elmo. (The funniest part about all of this, is that we do not watch Sesame Street. Yet he knows (and loves) Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie ... )
They had a free play zone area at the beginning, with several different scenes from Sesame Street.
He didn't want to cooperate for this one with Grandma.
They also had a coloring area where we met up with one of my friends (Emily) and her daughter Olivia. We weren't sitting together, but it was fun to have our kiddos play for a bit beforehand. (Although really, they just ignored each other. C'mon - they were about to see Elmo!)
During that time, Cookie Monster, Zoe, and Ernie came out and did a song for everyone. Luke was a little unsure at first and then just wanted to know where "Is Elmo?" Meanwhile, I got emotional and cried the entire time (which, if you know me, isn't all that surprising. It was just something about being there with my mom (who took my sister and I back in 1986) and my son.
Finally it was time to get into the theater! The show itself was great - the characters were great onstage and the music was catchy. Luke was interested in it and laughed and when Grover couldn't fly he would say "Oh no!"
He has a small bit of time when he got cranky and just wanted his blanket and Nemo, but Grandma bought him an Elmo light wand thing, and that perked him back up. (Spoiled little guy!)
Luke loves going to the park and we recently found a new one. It has an awesome winding sand pit, a great play structure, and some other fun surprises (like dinosaur fossils!)
And just for fun - two other cute pictures.
We were out eating and he was making crazy faces. This was actually on Easter - Uncle Pat showed him how to use his new golf clubs.
I have a hard time believing this was Luke's 3rd Easter. I also thought it was funny when I put these picture together - his pjs from last year and this year were so similar.
We started the weekend by decorating some eggs, which was fun, but really, Luke thought the plastic eggs with candy in them were cooler.
The Easter bunny came to visit our house overnight!
He brought a Thomas lunch box, side walk chalk, Mickey Mouse underwear, Mickey bubbles, Toy story silverware, a rocketship plate, and dinosaur tattoos - whoa.
The bunny also hid some eggs around the house - Luke loved looking for them.
He thought that maybe the bunny hid some under the fridge.
He was by himself in the living room for awhile after finding the eggs, being very quiet. We went in and saw this:
Then I tried to get a posed picture of him in front of the door - I thought these were so cute! Later we had brunch at our house with Jason's family and then dinner at my mom's in the evening. It was a wonderful day!
We (or rather my mom) picked up Luke a tricycle at a garage sale a bit ago - he loves it! He's figuring out the peddling thing, but will then give up and want to be pushed.
And no tricycle would be complete without an awesome Cars helmet and horn.
I'm not sure if I'll continue to do these every month, but it is nice to go back and look at, so we'll see.
Age: 25 months old
Weight: +33
Length: Over 35 1/2"
Size: Size 6 diapers during the day. Shoes size 7. We seem to be skipping 2T shirts - 3T fit better length wise. Shorts are 2T. Pajamas (if 2 pieces) are 4T - they just fit him better in the torso.
Hair: It's getting a big longer, and while a bit crazy, I love it.
Teeth: I think we might have all of them, but can't really check.
Sleeping: Great, we are so very blessed here. He goes to bed at 8pm (in his twin bed) and gets up when we wake him up at 7:15 during the week, or after 8am on the weekend. Naps range from 1 1/2 hrs - 2 hours. I hesitate to say this, as I don't want to jinx anything, but he has never climbed out of his bed, unless we're in there to get him up.
Eating: Making progress! In the last week he has eaten (and seems to like) mashed potatoes, cheese sandwich, and strawberries. He loves those strawberries! (You know, the sames ones that he hated 2 weeks ago.) He drinks out of a regular cup now and hardly ever spills. As he reaches for the glass he sometimes says "2 hands, be careful." They teach him well at school.
Talking: He is such a talker. He comes home everyday and will tell us what he did that day. In this video he told me that his best friend is Josh, he and Josh ate cookies, juice, water .... and leaves. Oh, and the dinosaurs also ate the leaves. (He actually told me all of this unprompted on the way home, but to get it on tape I had to prompt him a bit.)
Favorite toys/activities: Dinosaurs, playing outside, and puzzles. He loves doing puzzles, the jigsaw kind. 12 piece puzzles are the best for him - he can mostly figure them out himself. 24 pieces are more difficult and he needs help. He has a few 12 piece ones that I think he's memorized and he can knock them out in less than 90 seconds. Don't believe me?
Dislikes: Leaving playdates, coming in from outside, leaving the park
Disposition: So very happy. He had a week of being possessed by the devil around when he turned 2, but has luckily grown out of that.
Other things about him: * He is very independent. "Luke do it." "My do it." Unfortunately Luke can't do things like mow the lawn, use the weed eater, or drive a car. He struggles with this. * He is a little tattle teller. When he gets hurt, he tells me "who" did it. Most of the time this is something like the "sidewalk." He came in the kitchen crying the other night and told me that his lip hurt, followed by "daddy did it." Turns out daddy washed his mouth off after dinner. * He knows different dinosaurs! He can accurately pick out and tell what is a T-rex, triceratops, and stegosaurus. * The poor kid can't eat popsicles. He licks them, which takes too long and they melt. We tried the ones the push pop ones (that you buy in liquid form and freeze) but he just wants it all out of the plastic.
We had such a fabulous time on our trip to Florida. We all drove down this year (Luke and I flew last year) and while it's not something I would want to do every week, it was worth it for the time we had down there.
The weather was fantastic, aside from the very first day when it rained. We spent every single day at a pool (there are several at the resort) and while Luke was a bit tentative at first, he was jumping in like a pro by the end of the week. We went to Downtown Disney one night and I think that was the highlight of the trip for Luke. There is a restaurant called T-Rex with a lot of life size dinosaurs. His eyes got so big when we went inside, "Mommy, dinosaurs!!" We walked around several times and he fist bumped many of the dinos.
Here are a few pictures and then a link to the Picasa albums with all of the pictures and videos from the trip.
There are some super cute videos here (and more pictures of course!) Florida vacation album
