Today Mom was hanging out with Luke while Alyce was at school. While watching a show, Luke went over to Mom, and gave her a few kisses. Mom said to Luke "I love you". Luke replied "I love you too Mommy".
Heart melted.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Not Ready For The Movies
Tonight Luke made it obvious he isn't ready to go to the movies with us. After dinner we put on Alyce's favorite Cars. It has Luke's favorite character too, Lightning McQueen. We thought Luke was old enough to sit through the whole movie. We thought wrong. About 15 minutes in Luke got up, went into the dining room, and started playing with his trains.
At least he didn't need us to play with him. I will say this. Luke is much more independent than Alyce. He is content to play all by himself without a lot of parental involvement. The only time he really needs us is when he's disconnected a section of track.
At least he didn't need us to play with him. I will say this. Luke is much more independent than Alyce. He is content to play all by himself without a lot of parental involvement. The only time he really needs us is when he's disconnected a section of track.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Finally Healthy
It's taken a while but for the moment Luke is infection free. His attitude has improved immensely, he no longer clings to Mom's leg, and is running around the house with Alyce. His appetite is has also returned as much as it can be.
Luke doesn't really eat a whole lot anymore. He isn't cranky either. We are trying to use desert as the carrot to get him to eat but it doesn't have much effect. We can be eating ice cream right in front of him and he could care less. Also we can't use ice cream to keep him in his seat either. You'd figure as little as he eats he would be skinny as a rail but in fact he is perfect. Quite the change from the past.
Luke doesn't really eat a whole lot anymore. He isn't cranky either. We are trying to use desert as the carrot to get him to eat but it doesn't have much effect. We can be eating ice cream right in front of him and he could care less. Also we can't use ice cream to keep him in his seat either. You'd figure as little as he eats he would be skinny as a rail but in fact he is perfect. Quite the change from the past.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Influenza
Our families health this winter has been less than optimal. Even before winter we were all sick for Thanksgiving. Leading up the Christmas Alyce had her bout of pneumonia. Now that we've crossed into 2012 the trend hasn't changed.
Alyce had a checkup for her pneumonia a little over a week after her diagnosis. We were happy to find out that it had cleared up however she had picked up an ear infection in the mean time. So Alyce was prescribed yet another set of antibiotics for her ears. About a week into those antibiotics Alyce got sick again and we thought it was her ear infection flaring up a bit. It turns out it was some form of viral infection. Knock on wood but she seems to have cleared out of most of that.
Luke on the other hand picked up a bug from school. This was a lot like Alyce's flu that led to her pneumonia a month prior. There was a low grade fever and he was in a nasty mood. His appetite was gone except for liquids and yogurt. We are guessing that he had a sore throat too. He came down on a Thursday night and for the next 4 days there wasn't much improvement. The worst part about Luke being sick is that he is extremely clingy. From the moment he'd wake and for the next few hours the only words out of his mouth were mommy and juice. Hearing someone say mommy 100+ times gets annoying. On the 5th day right about when we were going to call the doctor his fever broke. That was this last Tuesday and we were left wondering what to do. His mood has improved some and his eating is slowly returning to normal. We've decided to let him recuperate on his own and avoid yet another trip to the doctors office.
Right as Luke was showing signs of improvement Mom came down with the same thing. Most like obtained from Luke and his countless coughs without covering his mouth. She's still working past her symptoms but is on the mend.
I've picked up their cold and it seems to show as a sore throat. Isn't too terrible but it seems to be sticking around for a while without moving to other parts of my body. I'd say I have had the easiest run of them all. I'm sure my turn is coming soon.
I'm hoping there isn't much left out there in the way of influenza this year. I'm getting tired of paying for school only to have our kids stay home sick. Even if the rest of the winter is healthy I'm sure we have the exact same thing to look forward to next year. It's becoming an annual tradition to miss a month of school.
Alyce had a checkup for her pneumonia a little over a week after her diagnosis. We were happy to find out that it had cleared up however she had picked up an ear infection in the mean time. So Alyce was prescribed yet another set of antibiotics for her ears. About a week into those antibiotics Alyce got sick again and we thought it was her ear infection flaring up a bit. It turns out it was some form of viral infection. Knock on wood but she seems to have cleared out of most of that.
Luke on the other hand picked up a bug from school. This was a lot like Alyce's flu that led to her pneumonia a month prior. There was a low grade fever and he was in a nasty mood. His appetite was gone except for liquids and yogurt. We are guessing that he had a sore throat too. He came down on a Thursday night and for the next 4 days there wasn't much improvement. The worst part about Luke being sick is that he is extremely clingy. From the moment he'd wake and for the next few hours the only words out of his mouth were mommy and juice. Hearing someone say mommy 100+ times gets annoying. On the 5th day right about when we were going to call the doctor his fever broke. That was this last Tuesday and we were left wondering what to do. His mood has improved some and his eating is slowly returning to normal. We've decided to let him recuperate on his own and avoid yet another trip to the doctors office.
Right as Luke was showing signs of improvement Mom came down with the same thing. Most like obtained from Luke and his countless coughs without covering his mouth. She's still working past her symptoms but is on the mend.
I've picked up their cold and it seems to show as a sore throat. Isn't too terrible but it seems to be sticking around for a while without moving to other parts of my body. I'd say I have had the easiest run of them all. I'm sure my turn is coming soon.
I'm hoping there isn't much left out there in the way of influenza this year. I'm getting tired of paying for school only to have our kids stay home sick. Even if the rest of the winter is healthy I'm sure we have the exact same thing to look forward to next year. It's becoming an annual tradition to miss a month of school.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Lining Up His Toys
Luke over the past few months has taken to lining up his toys. I remember reading that kids go through phases were they do that sort of thing. He does it rarely but when he does he is very accurate with placement. He grabs all the cars he has near him, puts them in line, and always facing the same way.
On Christmas I had my camera handy and was able to grab a few pics of Luke in action.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
A New Skill
Luke has learned a new skill! He now knows that when he has to sneeze or cough he should do it into his arm or the crux of his elbow. No longer is my little man showering me with droplets of influenza with every sneeze. I'm not sure when he exactly picked it up. I just started noticing he was doing it with his most recent cold. He isn't perfect and sometimes he forgets where to deposit his sneeze but with encouragement when successful and reminders when not he'll get it.
He's done this for ages but when we sneeze he'll say "gazoontite". Super cute.
He's done this for ages but when we sneeze he'll say "gazoontite". Super cute.
1, 2, Tickle!
I like to tickle both Luke and Alyce. Seeing them squirm and hearing them giggle brightens my day. I spend the first 10 minutes of each night when I get home roughhousing and tickling the kids. Luke has picked up on this and has taken it upon himself to tickle other people. Most recently he'll let you know it is coming. He'll come up to you and say "one..... two.... tickle!" and proceed to tickle your belly. He doesn't tickle enough to laugh so I fake it. He doesn't seem to know the difference and keeps doing it as long as I respond in kind.
Kids are fun.
Kids are fun.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Dad and Luke Train Time
The week after the Coal Car was the Train Engine. This time however it was just Luke and I. Alyce came down sick so couldn't attend in person. We did get her a kit so she could still make her train. Luke and I got to spend some time together to bond in that father son way.
Like last week Luke wasn't too terribly interested in what we were doing. I did most of the assembling and I got him to help drive a few nails. Once finished he was quite interested in putting on the stickers.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Build and Grow: Coal Car
Last Saturday morning the family took a trip to Lowe's to take part in what I guess can now be called a tradition. We went to build some Christmas trains. Throughout the year on Saturday mornings Lowe's puts on these Build and Grow classes. It's a simple project for kids requiring the use of a hammer and some nails. All of the pieces are pre-drilled, go together easily, with easy to follow instructions. The best part is that these little projects are free! While I appreciate the good gesture from Lowe's I know they want to build brand loyalty plus if you can get people in a store chances are they'll buy something. So far we have yet to let them down. Every time we've gone to one of these we buy something.
The project last week was the middle "coal car" car of the train. We kind of forgot about the caboose the week before and by the time we tried to register the only store with openings was 30 miles away. Alyce had built a caboose the year before so it wasn't a huge loss to miss that one. Once we got to the store and found where they were doing the builds we got our project pack, aprons, hammers, and safety goggles. They let the kids keep the aprons and goggles too. Alyce was wearing both items. Luke, didn't want much to do with them. He was too small for the goggles. That being said he really did need a pair as he kept encroaching on me and the hammer. I almost conked him in the head twice.
Mom helped Alyce and the two of them did a good job. Alyce hammered in a nail until the easy part was over then Mom would finish off each nail. Alyce also helped reading the directions and finding the piece for the next step. Luke on the other hand lost interest after the first few nails. He tried to use the hammer but his swings were pretty wild and only hit the nail a small percentage of the time. After that he moved on to playing on and around the boxes nearby.
When both cars were made it was time for the Christmas stickers. Both Alyce and Luke were very much into that. Alyce did all of the stickers herself with Mom helping with the alignment. For Luke I had to pull off the stickers and get them started. Once started he'd finish them off by pressing the stickers down.
When finished they pushed the cars all over the place having a great time. When we got home we took the new cars and added them to the existing train. They fit perfectly and behold we have a really big train! We are going back to Lowe's a week later to make the engine. Luke needs to start his own train rather than freeloading off of Alyce's.
The project last week was the middle "coal car" car of the train. We kind of forgot about the caboose the week before and by the time we tried to register the only store with openings was 30 miles away. Alyce had built a caboose the year before so it wasn't a huge loss to miss that one. Once we got to the store and found where they were doing the builds we got our project pack, aprons, hammers, and safety goggles. They let the kids keep the aprons and goggles too. Alyce was wearing both items. Luke, didn't want much to do with them. He was too small for the goggles. That being said he really did need a pair as he kept encroaching on me and the hammer. I almost conked him in the head twice.
Mom helped Alyce and the two of them did a good job. Alyce hammered in a nail until the easy part was over then Mom would finish off each nail. Alyce also helped reading the directions and finding the piece for the next step. Luke on the other hand lost interest after the first few nails. He tried to use the hammer but his swings were pretty wild and only hit the nail a small percentage of the time. After that he moved on to playing on and around the boxes nearby.
When both cars were made it was time for the Christmas stickers. Both Alyce and Luke were very much into that. Alyce did all of the stickers herself with Mom helping with the alignment. For Luke I had to pull off the stickers and get them started. Once started he'd finish them off by pressing the stickers down.
When finished they pushed the cars all over the place having a great time. When we got home we took the new cars and added them to the existing train. They fit perfectly and behold we have a really big train! We are going back to Lowe's a week later to make the engine. Luke needs to start his own train rather than freeloading off of Alyce's.
Monday, December 12, 2011
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Tonight I shared with the kids a Christmas classic, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. We watched the show created in 1966 based on the book of the same name. There was a remake a few years ago but I like the old classic better. I couldn't find this version of the show on broadcast TV so instead I found it on YouTube.
I grabbed both kids, put them on my knees, and pressed play. They were enthralled. Alyce and Luke laughed at all the funny parts and were a bit concerned as the Grinch was stealing Christmas. When it was all over they seemed pleased that the Grinch was with the Whos. Alyce said that her favorite part was at the end when the Grinch was having dinner with the Whos.
Having watched the show as an adult the theme shines through; that you don't need presents or decorations to have Christmas as long as you have each other. A pretty good theme even if it took me 33 years to figure it out.
I'm a Jumping Bean
Luke has been flexing his sense of humor every now and then. His most recent antic is saying "I'm a jumping bean!" and then jumping up and down in place.
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