Getting taller, Mom-meeeee!!!

I was out of town last weekend attending a baby shower for one of my best friends, and left Winnie to watch over the boys here in SC. Although I was only gone for 2 days, I commented (in all seriousness) upon my return that Luke seemed to have grown taller in my absence. Mark howled at this statement, because growing up, he was often asked at church, "Did you get taller?". Even to this day, it is a joke with our friends and family that Mark keeps growing. Poor guy: at 6'5", Mark's height is often the first thing people notice and discuss with him, and Luke is already being plagued with the same conversation. We had our first Kindermusik class of the fall semester yesterday, and the other moms could not believe that Luke is not even 17 months old yet! As usual, he towered over his peers and looked like such a big boy. We're still hoping that Luke's height means a WFU basketball scholarship is in our family's future!

Besides growing physically, Luke's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds and he has been entertaining us with his new words recently. He has transformed our names from what used to be "Dada" and "Mama", to a much stronger, "Dad-deeeee!" and "Mom-meeee!" At first, it was quite adorable, but now Luke seems to use it only when whining or pleading with us. To me, it seems like a foreshadowing of when he will say, "Mom", in an exasperated voice as a teenager and roll his eyes at me in disgust. However, Luke has started giving real hugs and kisses, which melt our hearts. He wraps his legs tightly around me, will rest his head on my shoulder, and holds on tightly around my neck, staying very still and cuddly. Luke gives kisses to all of his stuffed animals, pictures of babies, and blows a kiss to Daddy as Mark gets in the car to leave for work in the morning. He also continues to surprise us with new words daily. Last night, he told me that we were eating "broccoli" for dinner, saw a "bug-a" (bug) outside his window in the afternoon, and is obsessed with feeding Winnie her "din-nah" (dinner). Of course, as first time parents, we think that our child is exceptionally brilliant to have mastered so many words already, but we acknowledge that we are very biased and every milestone still seems miraculous to us.

Kissing a birth announcement photo of a friend's baby!


A game that has elicted quite a few giggles at our house is Luke chasing Winnie with his popper toy (as you can see in the video below). Winnie skitters away from her brother as he charges at her at full speed, while he tries to push his popper into her. Poor Winnie tolerates being terrorized extremely well, but does try to retreat to the safety of her crate, only to have Luke follow her in there, where he proceeds to smother her with his "hugs" and they often end up exchanging wet, slobbery kisses.



We still have our toddler moments, but I continue to try to maintain some perspective about the occasional messes and chaos in our life. As an example, here's a photo from lunch the other day:





I unhooked the tray from Luke's highchair, and carefully placed it on the table before turning my back for one second to get a damp cloth to wipe those sticky hands. Before I knew it, Mr. Go-Go-Gadget Arms had knocked the tray onto the floor, spilling the remainder of lunch everywhere. I secretly think Winnie paid Luke to send his leftovers flying so that she could have a little snack, but I'll never know. Look how proud Luke looks as he points to his mess, as if to say, "Look what I did!"

I know that there is going to be a day in the future where my tall boy doesn't need his Mom-meee to clean up his lunch anymore, when the house will be too quiet and the "kids" no longer chase each other, and when those little legs will be too long to wrap around me for a hug, so I continue to relish it all now, one sweet, wet, loving kiss at a time!