Halloween

Halloween this year brought us back to our old neighborhood as trick or treating in an apartment complex is not fruitful.  Seeing our old neighbors was a lot of fun and lots of people commented on Luke's costume.

Luke was wearing a dinosaur costume we picked up from Babies R Us.  We were in the store a few weeks ago and they were already discounting their costumes.  We were lucky enough to pick up his $30+ costume for $3 and change.  We contemplated on buying the whole lot and selling them next year on ebay.  Fall is in full swing and the temperatures dropped a little once the sun went down but Luke's costume was more than adequate at keeping him warm with its cozy material.

When tick or treating started Mom carried Luke from house to house long enough to visit our friends and old neighbors Jeff & Liz to show off his costume.  Their little girl Baby Abby was wearing a cozy giraffe outfit that she was none to happy wearing.  Sometimes you have to take fashion over function.

Mom and Luke left Alyce and I and headed back to the neighborhood party while Alyce and I headed up the hill for more candy.  At the party Luke decided that he should help out by grabbing handfuls of candy and giving them to any random person.  By the time Alyce and I returned mom had him back in his stroller as I'm sure he took too many runs at going into the street.  Not long after that we left the party for a quick stop by Grams and Papa's house and to see Trent, Lisa, and Shelby.

Monkey Joe's

Yesterday we took Alyce and Luke to Monkey Joe's for a fun evening out for Alyce's birthday. For the both of them it was their second time. The first time there Luke enjoyed himself but wasn't so sure on his feet.


This time around with the whole place ourselves Luke handled all of the bouncy houses like a champ. Also improved this time around is Luke's ability to climb up and over the slide in the kids area.


One thing that is kind of scary is that Luke is only 1 inch away from being able to ride the big kid two story high slide. I'm not sure we'll be pushing that one.

Well Now We Know

That post a bit ago talking about Luke being in a bad mood. Yeah now we know why. Tonight while brushing Luke's teeth I felt a new tooth poking through. Poor guy, that couldn't have felt good.

Mr Cranky Pants

As of late Luke has been Mr. Cranky Pants.  It started about a week ago where he'd just wine for extended periods of time.  Usually when Luke starts his whining it is his way of getting our attention and for him to get what he wants usually milk or juice.  However, in the past when we've addressed his needs he goes back to his happy self.  Now the whining continues.

Last Sunday before his sisters birthday party he was getting into that unhappy mode.  I decided it might be to our benefit to give him a "shot of the funk" as we like to call it.  A quick trip up to Walgreen's for some Children's Tylenol and after giving it to him his mood improved greatly.  Maybe he is getting some more teeth that haven't poked through or he's having some headaches.  In any case it is really annoying as his only means of communicating his unhappiness is one of the most annoying sounds a child can make.

18 Month Update

Earlier this week Mom brought Luke and Alyce in for their checkups.  Alyce was in for her 4 year and Luke for his 18 month.  Luke still continues to ride the upper end of the growth chart with a weight in the 90th percentile and height in the 80th.  At the 1 year mark his height was 95th and weight was in the 90 percentile.

• Height: 33 1/3 inches
• Weight: 29 lbs. 11.4 oz.
• Head 49 cm.

Looking at those numbers Luke is just over 4 lbs away from his sister.  Looking at Alyce's 2 year checkup her height was 35 3/4 inches and her weight was 25 lbs.  Sorry Alyce, I think your brother is going to be bigger than you.

Other than a flu shot that didn't yield any tears Luke's checkup was just fine with nothing major to report.

Six Flags

Last Saturday the family went out to Six Flags after dropping off a check starting construction on our new house.  While there we found out that Alyce was 42" tall and she and Mom left Luke and myself so they could go ride a big roller coaster.  While they were gone Luke and I rode some rides too.

Luke and I rode two rides while they were gone.  Elmer Fudd's Weather Balloons and Yosemite Sam's Tugboat Tailspin.  Before they left Luke rode the Foghorn Leghorn National Park Railway with Mom and Alyce.  All of these rides are great because they allow you to ride the rides with your kids and keep them calm so they can enjoy the ride.

Luke enjoyed the Weather Balloons the most and even helped me turn the wheel so the balloon would spin.  The Tailspin ride was also lots of fun, but I think Luke kept losing his bearings as the ride was twisting as he kept trying to focus on the same spot.

After our rides we hung out at the playground because it afforded me a good view of the roller coaster Mom and Alyce were riding so I could get some video.  But Luke, being a great kid didn't complain and kept himself entertained by watching all the kids running by.

Once we picked up Mom and Alyce from their coaster experience we took a turn on the carousel.  This time Mom, Alyce, Luke, and myself were all able to ride!  Luke really enjoyed riding on his horse and spent a decent amount of the ride looking at the mechanics of the ride trying to figure out how it worked.

Luke seems to be much more comfortable on rides than Alyce is.  He is definitely more of a daredevil than Alyce ever has been.  Just another example of how two siblings can be so different.

We're Moving

Our family has big big news!  We're moving!  The story leading up to this point is a long one.  I haven't commented on any aspect of it up to this point because we weren't sure it was going to happen.

All of this started last February.  Mom and I decided that it was time to look for a bigger house.  We were fitting into the one we had well enough but there were certain aspects of our current house that we wanted to change.  So we put in a contract to build a house, however there was one problem we hadn't sold our house.  So we quickly got our house on the market with the hopes of it selling quickly.  We had showings, and showings, and showings, and showings but no contracts.  Then in early September we finally got a contract and so began the process of moving out of our house.  Last weekend we moved out.

While the new house is being built we need a place to live.  For the next five months the family is living in a 2+ bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor without a fenced in yard.  By 2+ the kids have bedrooms but Mom and I are living in the loft of the apartment.  Being on the 3rd floor without a fenced in yard at the moment is annoying but taking the dog out at 7:00 a.m. mid January will be brutal.

Today we cleared the final contingency and gave our deposit to the builder.  Ground will be broken sometime this week and our new home will be completed hopefully by the end of January.

House

Alyce and Luke have discovered that cabinets make fun houses especially now that they're almost empty!

Bedtime

Luke's bedtime routine is about as easy as it can be at the moment.  When it finally comes time for bed we follow the usual pattern and by the time the pattern is done he is ready to go to sleep and never gives us any grief.  Sadly it will only stay this way until we get him into a big boy bed and then there will be reading books, singing songs, and all the craziness of a toddler out of his cage brings.

One of my favorite things to do with Luke on the nights I put him to bed is to play catch or fetch with him.  Our choice of ball is kind of weird though.  After I change him into his overnight diaper and pjs I am left with used diaper.  After I put him to bed I dispose of it downstairs.  To keep it out of the way I wrap it up real tight and it looks and feels like a squishy ball.  Well at some point it became routine to use that diaper ball to play catch with.  It's persisted for so long that when Luke sees me wrapping up his diaper he gets all excited.  Luke is getting pretty good at throwing.  I think he might even be better at throwing than his sister.  One item of note is that Luke seems to be favoring his left hand when it comes to throwing.  Most everything else he does with his right but throwing is not one of them.

Luke is now climbing into his crib.  The brand of crib we have, a Babee Tenda is pretty cool in that built into one of the sides of the crib is a door that swings open.  It locks closed and requires an adult to open but it is pretty awesome at helping kids transition into a big bed.  Now that Luke is advanced enough to go up steps and any other obstacle we are now letting him climb into bed for himself.  He goes willingly too.  After brushing his teeth, he walks into his room, looks at the gate, and looks at us.  After he climbs up and in rolls into his favorite position (on his belly with his butt up in the air) he watches us as we wish him a good night and exit the room.  Most nights that is the last we hear from him until 7:30 - 8:00 the next morning.  We are blessed to have a kid that goes to bed so easily and stays there.

Lovies

Luke is very into giving affection as of late.  His form of affection could be described as a hug plus but we just call it "lovies".  A lovie is a special sort of hug that when he comes up to you, he opens his arms, leans into you, wraps you up, and snuggles in all nice an cozy.  A lovie can be quickly but usually they linger for a few minutes.  Mom and I are a big fan of lovies and very much enjoy getting them before he runs off to bed.

Luke also attempts to throw in a kiss sometimes but his efforts are pretty clumsy.  He knows that a kiss involves your mouth and leaning in but when he tries to do it he usually ends up eating your nose.  Hilarious, wet, but hilarious.

Siblings and Friends

Luke is growing up.  No longer is he a blank slate just learning the world.  He is now his own person with his own personality and it is a good one.  One neat aspect of him growing up is that he is now able to play with Alyce.  At first it started off with Alyce and Luke fighting over the toy the other person had at the time.  Then it advanced to Luke taking whatever Alyce was focused on and running through the house keeping it away and giggling.  Recently we pulled out an old toy of Alyce's that has gotten the two of them to play together, the cardboard bricks.

We gave them to Alyce for her 1st birthday and they were very helpful teaching her gross motor skills like picking up and stacking things.  Luke is quickly learning the same.  What is neat is that at times they work together to build up a tower, that they then knock down, and having a great time in the process.

A few weeks ago while we were out at Sam's Wholesale getting cases of green beans and discount pizza Alyce and Luke showed me siblings don't always have to be at each others throats.  While eating pizza and hot dogs Alyce and Luke shared a set of cute sibling hugs.  In the pictures we took it looks more like Alyce is strangling Luke but he was definitely giving her some "lovies" too.

Seeing the initial glimpses of what brother and sister life looks like gives me hope that Alyce and Luke will be friends as well as siblings.