2nd Birthday

We decided to make Lukey's 2nd birthday a little more low key than his first.  He had a few great days celebrating him (although I guess that most days are like that...)

Special breakfast with train and airplane pancakes along with a new Elmo kitchen. 

 

Pincic with 2 Nana's, 1 Papa, Mama and Daddy in Evergreen

Dinner with a firetruck Elmo cake, pizza and presents.  Surrounded by family that loves him!  He at least tried the cake this year and LOVED to open his presents.  Elmo was obviously the theme of the night.  The cutest was his soft hugs and kisses for his new Elmo fork and spoon

The following day we took one of his Omaha Nana and Papas to the mountains.  We had a great time exploring, watching the train in Dillon (?) and then decided to go on another "ride" since it was his favorite part of our previous Breckenridge trip.

It really is hard to believe that Luke is already two (now more than two...) As I upload all of these pictures, I  get emotional, butterfly feelings, heart melts... you get the drift.  He's the best thing that has ever happened to us.  I try not to rush any day that comes because he is just growing up too quickly.  He has such a tender heart and is so loving.  We are so blessed.

Luke at 2:

LOVES

pickles, pickles, pickles

strawberries

ham

cheese (which is either mac and cheese or regular cheese)

milk

his doggy

hitting the golf ball with his new clubs and having the doggy try to chase him

Thomas, Elmo, "Bob Builder"

Singing and rocking at night- "Twinkle star", "muffin man", "Mama loves you"

jumping

"my park", "big park", "huge park"

outside

firetrucks

monkeys

NO's

waiting to have his milk in the morning after getting up

if anyone buckles the top part of his carseat for him

being told to stay inside if we go outside for a brief second

OTHERS

He started sleeping with a blanket and animals in his bed a little before his 2-year birthday.  Before that, there was never ANYTHING in there.  He hated blankets or anything covering him.  We started to put a blanket in there to see if he would eventually take a liking to it.  It didn't take too long.  Now it's always his "blankey" that Nana made him (which also follows him around in the morning- it gets washed a lot) and at least 1 monkey if not 4 other animals.

He's using the potty inconsistently.  In one day we had 3-4 visits which was amazing, then it slowed down a bit.  He will rarely go sit if he knows he doesn't have to or want to.  Whenever he says that he's "hiding", it means a "poo-poo" will need to be changed in 2 minutes.  He REALLY doesn't like to be around people when he's "hiding" and will scream if he sees you or will run away or hide behind one of the panels hanging in the dining room.  "Poo-poo" on the potty is not an option at all right now.  So, we're starting slow and have just incorporated Thomas stickers for a reward.  He REALLY wants one and got his first one tonight.  We'll see how this works.

When he's really serious about something, he talks with his head tilted to his left and his right upper lip and eyebrow goes up.  It's hilarious.  He'll repeat whatever he's trying to get across several times.

He's had to go in timeouts which have always resulted in screams while he's jumping in his crib trying to out.  "Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama... then Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy...".  It's a long 30 or so seconds.  A few weeks ago he threw something which happened to hit my head pretty hard and he got put in a time out. He didn't let out one peep.  It was interesting to me when he seemed to really know that he did something he shouldn't have.  We fortunately don't have to do it very often and as I'm writing this, realize that he hasn't gone back since.  That's a good feeling. When Bobby got him and brought him back to where I was the "I sorry, Mama" of course made it all better. I'm in trouble... 

The boy has some lungs!  He'll scream because he thinks something is funny or will scream because you took something away that he happened to find (scissors? Yeah, no).  It is insanely loud.  Usually, we're able to get the bad scream to stop by doing a 180 he is focused on.  Other times some of us have said "Luke, you're hurting my ears, do you want to go cry/scream in the other room?"  He'll do a sad "yeah", go in the room next to us, continue for a few minutes and then feel better.