Wrapped around his finger...
Boy does this kid have his family wrapped around his finger. Every day the kids say, "Mom, I Love Lukey!... He's so cute... He's so happy... He is the best baby in the whole wide world..." And Chris and I would have to agree. We are enamored by him and who wouldn't be with all those sweet little faces.
Luke at 9 months old
It's been a while since I journaled about Luke... so for our sake more than yours... here's what Luke is up to these days...
- Loves to stand up to EVERYTHING... the kitchen cupboards, the couch, the ottoman, the coffee table, any book shelf, the kids beds, the wagon, his crib, the bathtub faucet and my legs... always.
- He has just started walking around the coffee table but is still slow. It's much faster to get down, and crawl at lightning speed over to the other end and then stand back up.
- He used to love going to bed. Just give him a soother and his light blue fleece blanket and he'd roll over, snuggle his blanket up to his face and go to sleep. Not anymore... now that he stands he immediately rolls over, pushes himself up and stands up... and screams at me. He is not happy. Sometimes I go in to lie him back down but usually I just let him cry it out. After a minute or two he realizes it's bedtime and lies down himself. Always on his tummy with his little butt in the air. He still loves his fleece blankets.
- He loves to hold my keys. Babies always love keys. Every time I get him out of his car seat he grabs the keys I'm holding in my hand and holds them for me until we get into the house. Tradition.
- He loves his bottle. He was my earliest weened baby... thank you Europe trip... and my only baby on formula. (Holy cow - I don't know how everyone affords this!) His ears have been trained... and the second he hears me shaking his bottle he crawls straight for me, sits up on his knees, flexes his muscles and shakes his fists, grunting like he's so thirsty he's going to die. Ok, well not always is it this dramatic... but close.
- He grunts all the time. Total little boy sounds. So cute.
- He actually hugs me when I get him out of his crib. He grabs on tight like we haven't seen each other for ages. I love it.
- He loves Baby Einstein movies. As soon as he hears the intro music and sees that colorful little caterpillar toy come onto the screen he is hooked.
- He is so wiggly. It is tough to change his pants. He's just all over the place. He usually rolls over and speed crawls away naked while I'm wrapping up his diaper. Daddy is smarter than I am and usually gives him something to play with so he's distracted... but then you wouldn't see his cute little bum crawling away from you!
- His favorite toys so far are Ryan's pokemon figurines, his BYU cougar bear, his bath toys, the little people toys in his room, the plastic animals on his book shelf and all kinds of balls.
- He plays peek a boo with us by hiding his head below the couch and then popping up... (It's so cute and he loves it!) He claps his hand, waves bye-bye, says 'Dada', says 'oh', and tries to 'throw' his little basketball (he does it pretty good and gets so excited about it when we all clap for him).
- Naturally he is starting to get into everything. His favorite places are the DVD cupboard and the cupboard under the sink where he pulls out the dishwasher soap. Someday soon we might have to move some stuff but as for now... I'm ok with him playing with the DVDs. It keeps him busy and only takes a minute to clean up!
- He wears 12-18 month size clothes. He's 6-12 clothes are just too tight and have been since the beginning of the summer. He only has about 10 shirts... I just bought him two more... so he wears everything he has once a week. When the fall weather starts (late November) then I'll go shopping again!
- He looks exactly like Ryan but he has Emily's eyes.
- The kids still LOVE to take care of him. It's one of the things they most look forward to when they get home from school. (Me too! Sometimes I say... "Ok, your first after school job is to play with Megan and Luke," and they cheer!)
- He constantly has a few bruises from all of his standing up and falling down. A couple weeks ago Luke fell down our 15 hardwood stairs and landed on the tile at the bottom. Needless to say the whole family was quite panicked... especially Ryan who broke down in complete sobs. Ironically Emily had left the upstairs gate open when she came down to hand over the little pieces of chalk that "Lukey would choke on". When we heard his scream and came running he had a bloody nose and mouth but after cleaning him up and a trip to the hospital for a CT all he had was a swollen lip and a bruise on his head to show for it. It seems he is made of rubber. Good thing.
- From that trip to the hospital we learned he is now over 20 pounds... not surprising.
- He loves to walk with us holding his hands. He is starting to try to balance and walk with only one of our hands too.
- He loves to be outside. Loves it. Loves the trampoline with the kids, the baby swing on our playset, crawling around on the grass, playing with balls... everything. When we take his high chair out and eat on the patio he is so much more mellow. It's just fun to be outside.
Why sit in a wagon for a picture when you can kneel, crawl, stand, push and practically drive it?