Sunshine

I probably shouldn't be doing this right now. I should probably be packing up the kitchen or folding laundry or sorting through my file cabinet. But I found a little list I wrote on a scrap of paper that were things I wanted to remember about Luke at this age and I'm scared to death that I will lose it in the move (I've lost and found it about 5 times in the past week). So I will rest easy once these things are documented. Forgive me if this just ends up being a huge explosion of random thoughts.

fyi: Luke doesn't wear glasses, he is just playing with grandpa's

First off, Luke's 'Blues Clues' phase is pretty stinkin' cute. I found his "Handy Dandy Notebook" the other day and he actually had written on every. single. page. There had to be at least 150 pages full of some kind of mark! He's always looking through it as if it really contains some important stuff.

The mascot for the school that Luke attended is the wildcat (I think?? That is what it looks like). Anyway, one day we walked into Luke's school and there was a giant paw print on the rug in the entryway. He stopped dead in his tracks and exclaimed, "Mom look! A Clue!" It actually did look exactly like Blue's paw print. My little guy is SO observant.

Unfortunately we have been watching a lot of Blues Clues around here lately (he is going through a big Joe phase). I'm promising myself it will be cut back greatly when I don't have so much on my plate. But he has been learning some things from it which is cool and sad at the same time :) For example, he totally knows that yellow and blue make green. And the other day he made a playdough interpretation of Joe: (drumroll please)

I love that he insisted on putting squares on his shirt. Only the Blues Clues faithful will get it. His eyes and nose got a little smashed in and he oddly enough has three arms. But I was impressed!

It finally became apparent to me today that Luke has been watching too much' Blues Clues' because he came up to me as I was scrubbing the baseboards and said,

L: "Mom, I'm going to college".
Me: "What? I'm going to miss you! How about you wait until you're 18 to go to college?"
L: "Okay". "Hey Mom, you can go to college with me!"
Me: "Deal"

There you have it folks! Let the record show that Luke formally invited me to go to college with him. I will show him this post when he is 18 and remind him of our agreement! I'm pretty sure he only knows about college because Steve from Blues Clues went to college. He probably wants to go hang out with him.

I recently discovered that the secret to getting a good smile out of Luke is to ask him to "laugh" instead of "smile". Works like a charm!

Word of the year around here: WWWWWWAHHHHHHHIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE?

 Translation: "Why?"

Luke asks 'why' all the time. Most of the time I'm happy to answer because it forces me to talk about things I would never think of explaining and it's good to fill his mind with lots of vocabulary. But sometimes it drives me crazy! Especially when I'm telling him that something is not allowed or he can't have something he wants. Then he asks 'why' over and over and over again until I have no more reasons to give and I just want to run out of the house screaming. But I'm trying to be patient. Because this is a really cute stage and I want to enjoy even the annoying parts. Interestingly, I'm not sure he totally knows what 'why' means because sometimes he misuses the question or asks 'why' and has no interest in listening to the answer.

Luke has been helping me with some moving preparations. He is great at filling holes in the wall.  

Playing with the boxes has been another one of his favorite pastimes.

Here he is before a recent haircut. People always give me a hard time about cutting his hair, but really?! Don't you think this is a little ridiculous?! (p.s. this is the expression I get when I ask Luke to 'smile")

After:

By the way, he is about 50% potty trained. After all that hard work I've put into it the last few months (with NO success...not even once!) I sort of gave up since we were about to move. Then one day about three weeks ago he told me he wanted to go pee on the potty. He did. And ever since then he has been potty trained as far as peeing goes with only 1 or 2 accidents total. I guess you really do have to wait until they decide to do it. Even if you have to wait until they are almost 4!

I think Luke had a little crush on this girl. Can you tell? She likes to pick up rocks in the dirt and look for bugs too. There is no faster way to Luke's heart. It might also be because they have similar hair and were born 2 days apart. She also plays hard to get....very good at paying no attention to him at all sometimes. Smart lady. She just moved away. Sad day. In these pictures they were bandaging up their 'broken' limbs.

One rainy day, Luke decided that a towel would be sufficient shelter from the downpour. I decided to just let him follow through with his little experiment.

He got pretty soaked.

So then he decided it was time to break out the moose hat. Have I mentioned how fun this age is!? I love watching him wonder about the world and think up his own interpretations/solutions.

We've been using up old wrapping paper (that I don't want to move) by taping it to the floor and letting Luke color on the back. He comes up with great stuff. He draws train tracks and people and writes his name at least a few times. He also likes to draw 4 candles on his birthday cake. He is very excited about turning 4 on his birthday.

This is Luke:

This is me:

He still is the pickiest eater of all time. 

He was so mad he couldn't even LOOK at me!

How could I???

If I remember correctly, I think I put butter on his waffle. I torture him I tell you!

One time I was trying to convince Luke that something was going to be good.

Me: 'Luke is this yum, yum, yum!'

L: 'No, it's yuck, yuck, yuck!'

Without missing a beat! He is a clever little imp.

Another time  Andrew was saying a prayer and Luke started fake snoring. I promise we don't teach him these things! 

Of all the things I will remember about Luke at this age, one thing is certain. He is sunshine on a cloudy day.