Luke is One!

This adorable little man-cub has officially been in our lives for an entire year.

His fun personality and strong opinions are coming out more and more. Luke isn't what you would call an "easy" baby. He is extremely busy, active, and destructive, and he can be quite demanding and even defiant, but some of the things about Luke that make him a handful are the things that I love about him.

This little boy is just full of life. He never stops moving and is constantly exploring and learning new things. He is curious about everything and it is an amazing experience watching his mind work as he figures things out.

Luke is very independent, insisting on doing things himself and making his opinions and wants very clear. Given the opportunity, he will take off down the aisle or even out the door in church leaving Jeff and I in the dust and he will do the same in just about any public building or at the park. And yet, at home, it is not uncommon for him to cry if we walk out of his sight for a few seconds. It seems that he is not afraid to venture off on his own, but he wants to be in control. He wants to be the one to to leave us behind.

It can also be fun to watch Luke express his strong opinions and desires. Of course, it can be a pain when he becomes particularly demanding or defiant, but I enjoy watching my little guy express his feelings and communicate with us. It is adorable and hilarious watching his tiny little self trying to intimidate us or force us into doing what he wants. He has a lot of confidence in himself despite his size.

One of my favorite things about Luke is his sense of humor. He makes us laugh constantly with his silly antics and the best part is he laughs at himself because he knows he's being funny. His little belly laugh is one of my very favorite sounds. He thinks people (especially kids) running, jumping, and falling are particularly hilarious. Last night, we went for a walk near a skate park and he could hardly breathe, he was laughing so hard at the skateboarders zooming by and doing tricks.

A few other facts about Luke:

• His One Year stats: 
• Height - 32.7 in. (>99% and officially half my height)
• Weight - 23 lbs. 2 oz. (78%)
• Head Circumference - 48.1 cm. (94%). 
• He's a BIG boy and in the past 3 months, he has grown 2.2 inches and gained 2 lbs. 7 oz. Crazy! I think it would make more sense to tell a weed that it is growing like a Luke!
• Luke loves to draw and color and for some reason, likes to change the marker or pen from hand to hand between each mark he makes.
• He recognizes several words, but doesn't seem to understand what we are asking when we ask him to say a word. Instead of trying to say it, he will start looking around the room for that object. Some of the words he understands and knows how to find are ball, llama (his stuffed llama), light, Daddy, Mommy, 'num-nums' (food), teeth (he opens his mouth and touches his teeth when you ask him where they are), nose (points to that too), no (shakes his head to protest things we are trying to get him to eat or do), yes (nods his head when he wants something), hi (he waves when we ask him "Can you say hi?"), and there are probably a few more, but I can't think of them at the moment.
• He still isn't walking. His personal best is 6 good steps, but he still prefers to crawl.
• He has become more and more "OCD" lately. He loves to do things over and over again in exactly the same way and the same order. (e.g. take object #1 out of the cupboard, take object # 2 out of the cupboard, shut the cupboard, open the cupboard, put object #1 back in the cupboard, put object #2 back in the cupboard, and repeat, again and again.)
• Luke is an extremely picky eater. We can't guarantee that he will eat any one food, even when he is clearly hungry. He seems to love one thing and then refuses it the very next day. There are a few foods that he will almost always eat (currently, pizza, grilled cheese (but american cheese isn't good enough for him), Eggo waffles without syrup, apples, pretzels, gold fish, honey comb cereal, chocolate, maybe a couple of others), but like I said, there are no guarantees.
• He gets really frustrated when he can't figure out how to do something. Clearly, he already holds very high expectations for himself.
• He loves to fit things together, put small thing inside of bigger things, stack things, etc. He is a little engineer, just like his daddy.
• Even though he doesn't talk much, he is a pretty good little communicator. He has a very expressive face and he gives us looks to let us know what he is thinking or feeling. He shakes his head no and nods his head yes. When he wants us to help him with something (e.g. open a bag of food, help him drink a water bottle or his sippy cup, turn on a toy, etc.), he hands it to us and then sits back and waits expectantly.
• He likes to do something similar to the Hulk's "Hulk Smash" when someone is lying on the floor next to him. He raises both arms high above his head and then brings them down with a thump on the person's chest.
• He loves to play peek-a-boo, chase, be chased, brush his teeth, turn faucets on and off, play in the water, snuggle stuffed animals and soft blankets, pet real furry animals, walk while holding someone's hand, throw things, smash things, rip things, drink lots of water, climb up stairs as fast as he can, and be outside.
• He can be shy around strangers, but he mostly just loves people and loves when they hold him and interact with him.
• He gives the BEST tight hugs.

We celebrated Luke's birthday a few days early with a party in California, but here are a few pictures to document his actual birthday ...

Sleepy birthday boy snuggling with Daddy in the morning. Lately, he insists on bringing a blanket with him when he gets out of his crib in the morning or after a nap.

A little later in the morning, I took the birthday boy to Denny's via bike ride to redeem his free birthday Grand Slam.

Our awesome waiter brought Luke some Goldfish to snack on while we waited for our food. Of course, that's just about all he ended up eating. I don't know how a kid could not like Denny's buttermilk pancakes!

A mouth full of Goldfish

Happily people watching

I think a few people at Denny's were probably feeling really sorry for the poor single mother by the time we left. Let me explain: 

     - I forgot to wear my wedding ring, so I appeared single.

     - I had just thrown my hair up into a pony tail and I didn't bother changing out of my old t-shirt and shorts that I had slept in or putting on make-up before biking out there.

     - It probably looked like I was trying to dine and dash when I grabbed Luke and all of our things after we ate and walked to the restroom in the back of the restaurant and almost forgot to take the bill with me. Our waiter looked a little concerned and asked it he could do anything else for us.

     - I couldn't leave our awesome waiter a tip on my credit card because using the coupon made our bill $0 and therefore void. He probably thought it was because I didn't have any money.

     -A few old ladies walked out of the restaurant right after us and looked surprised and concerned when they saw me loading Luke into the bike trailer and unlocking my bike to ride off. They probably thought we were homeless or at least that that was our only form of transportation.

It was a fun day, even though I probably enjoyed Luke's birthday breakfast more than he did.

And finally, here are a few pictures from a day or two after Luke's birthday...

The day after Luke's birthday, we met Jeff for TCBY during his lunch break and then walked next door to Bookman's. The kids corner had a few toys. Here is Luke as a triceratops.

It was hard to get the mask on straight with Luke resisting so much. Poor tortured boy.

And here is what Luke would look like with an impressive afro.

Jeff was cleaning the Jeep when Luke woke up on Saturday morning (4 days after Luke's birthday). I snuggled Luke up in his blanket and we went out to pay Daddy a visit ...

"Naps are for Sissies"

 

Later that day, we took Luke to Sears to have his one year photos taken. We got a really cute 8x10 of Luke and we didn't pay a dime. Here are a few of the pictures the photographer took:

 Our 8x10 is of this picture.

Our sweet, funny, crazy, intelligent, active little boy may not be "easy," but we think he is just perfect the way he is (except for the picky eating thing). Even on days when he is completely wearing me out, I am still so happy to see his cute face and hug and squeeze him when he wakes up from a nap. He truly brings so much joy into our lives and we love him to pieces.