Winter Weekend

Someone was VERY mad when we took him outside to play in the "wintry mix" that we got this weekend. After looking out the window and pointing to the "snow" for the past 2 days (which was really just a disappointing thick layer of ice), Luke was excited when we told him that we were going out in our yard this morning. However, he did NOT like the crunchy, slippery mess and would not budge from standing in the grass, all bundled up, and extremely miserable.

Someone is also coincidentally getting his bottom 2-year molars (maybe this explains the crayon-chewing incident in the last blog post), and has been generally very unhappy about life recently. I would like to have my sweet-natured, happy toddler back, but think that it may be a few more days until these teeth fully break through the surface.



Someone is tired of being cooped up in this boring old house with his parents since Friday morning, unable to leave the driveway due to the lack of road salt and plows in our area. Even church was cancelled this morning, and we've just about exhausted all of our creative ideas for toys, our pantry and fridge are almost empty, and we're all bored to tears.

Someone's Mommy and Daddy think that it's been a looooonnnnng weekend and are looking forward to 1) ice melting, 2)teeth emerging, & 3) a return to our normal (and hopefully cheerful) routine tomorrow.

True Colors

Luke ate a crayon today. I turned around for just an instant, to find him chomping on something, bright blue pieces of wax in his mouth, and the nub of the remaining crayon is his fist. I wasn't really concerned about any danger (Thank you, Crayola, for printing "NON-TOXIC" in clear, readable print on every single crayon in the box-visible even on wet, partially chewed crayon paper), and am sure that millions of children have sampled different "flavors" of crayons over the years. However, my big dilemma was how to get the blue chunks out of the grooves of his molars before we left for Kindermusik this morning. Brushing Luke's teeth had very little effect on removing the gummy mess in his mouth, and as we drove to meet Luke's peers at music class, I thought about how I may end up as the parent whose child eats paste in class, sniffs play-doh for fun, and eats worms on a dare. I guess I should be happy that he wasn't coloring on the wall today, but it was definitely an interesting parenting moment that showed my my son's (bright blue) true colors.

Under the Sea

We took a day trip this weekend to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and had so much fun! Luke is very into fish right now, and was absolutely amazed by the huge, brightly colored tanks full of sea life. Some of the displays were so enormous that the fish were swimming over our heads, and Luke called these "bah wahs" (his word for birds). He ran from exhibit to exhibit, exclaiming "Whoa!" and "Alright!" and had no fear splashing in the touch pools and petting the manta rays and sharks. Mark and I loved watching Luke take in all of the new sights, and we had such a great day!





Little Fish in a big sea.



I love the lighting (and Luke's sweet profile) in this one.



Luke proclaimed "Man!" and waved to the scuba diver in the tank.



Checking out the fish with Daddy.



Luke's favorite: The sea "neigh-neighs" (a.k.a. sea horses).



Very excited to touch the rays!


Here's a couple of cute videos that we captured:







And a slideshow of some of our other aquarium pictures (since I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to post!):

Behind the Wheel

Watch out! There's a new driver on the road!



Winnie warns Luke that texting while driving is dangerous!



Do you think Fisher Price makes a hands-free device?


Luke and I spent a few days this week feeling under the weather, so we brought in Outdoor Toy #2 (the wagon) to play indoors while we recouperated. I'm worried that my options are running out, and the kiddie pool may be next. Uh-oh!


Luke's ever faithful Elmo always has to ride shotgun!

Bits and Pieces

The first full week of the new year has ended and it is bitterly cold for South Carolina. Despite resuming our regularly scheduled activities, we are trying to stay indoors and avoid being outside as much as possible. This is an interesting challenge with an active toddler who has a lot of pent-up energy. Upon the recommendation of a friend, today I resorted to bringing Luke's Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car inside the house (usually an outdoor-only toy) and it provided hours of entertainment. I think Luke felt like he was getting away with something by riding around in his car through the kitchen, but I was pleased to remain warm and snug at home in my pajamas all day and have a happily entertained child. We hosted Play Group at our house this week and the kids literally ran laps around our first floor for almost 2 1/2 hours. Can you tell that we are all getting a bit of cabin fever down here in the south (and it's only January 8th!)?


The 4 friends attempt an escape to warmer weather!

In other news, the word of the month is CLIMBING. Luke climbs on everything now. He can climb the stairs independently (although this makes me very nervous), climbs up onto our bed and jumps on it, tries to climb into his crib (he hasn't figured out how to climb OUT yet, but we received a convertible-toddler bed rail for Christmas and I have it just waiting for the first time that we find Luke on the floor after falling out of the crib). This week he climbed onto the breakfast room table, stood on it, and said, "Hi, Mommy" in a very winsome, adorable voice as I looked up from preparing dinner in the kitchen and found him eye-level with me. Here's a photo of Prisoner 42008 scaling the gate and attempting a jailbreak this week. I realize he looks like a total redneck baby without a shirt on, but it's difficult to keep inmates dressed sometimes.



Meanwhile, Mark has been busily teaching Luke some kind of secret handshake that involves fist-bumps, complex moves, and lots of high fives. I caught a quick video of this man-bonding below:



And lastly, another shirtless video (I know, ladies, that is one hot bod!) of Luke at dinner the other night, showing off a new trick. That little kid sure makes us laugh sometimes!

Happy New Year!

We wish you a new year filled with glitter, joy, and celebration!

Happy 2010!