Big Boy Bed

For the last few weeks we've. Been working on getting Luke's new room ready. His new room is bigger than his old. It was always the plan to put him in there but needed the time to get it ready. And ready it is. The hard part was yet to come. Getting him out of his crib.

All this week Mom, Alyce, and I have been building up the big boy bed. Friday night we disassembled his crib and turned it into a toddler bed. Better to rip off the bandaid than to keep the crib as an option.

When it was time for bed Luke wanted his old room but after seeing his crib was gone he accepted his new room. Mom had to put in some time to get him settled and to stay. But after a little more than a half an hour he was out. He was laying kind of weird but he was asleep none the less. When Mom checked on him later his head was half hanging off the bed. She nudged it back on and he slept through the night.

The next morning we heard him awake however he didn't come out of his room. Mom checked on him and he was playing with some trucks on the floor.

Tonight is my turn. I'm hoping there is some improvement so I can spend maybe 15 minutes and not 30.

Well Behaved Kids

Today we took Alyce and Luke to the movies. We saw The Gruffalo. A short movie based on a book of the same name.


We also went with a lot of neighbors from the neighborhood with their kids. All the kids behaved fairly well. About as good as you would expect 5 year olds to behave. But Alyce and Luke both are perfect. They didn't get up, make noise, Or need to be disciplined. In almost any situation in public our kids are the best behaved.

I have no idea why they are so good. We don't raise them very strictly or let them get away with everything. Maybe being in the middle plus them being predisposed to be good is all we need. In any case I was real proud of them.

Luke's First Movie

Today we took Luke to his first movie. It was The Guruffalo. It's a short movie based on a book of the same name.


Luke did very well during the movie. He got fidgety towards the end but he didn't talk, cry, or get out of his seat. I'm not sure he's ready for a full movie yet. Maybe it needs to be something super entertaining. We tried the movie Cars a few weeks ago and after 40 minutes he left to go play with trains.


Luke was a fan of the popcorn. It was kind of odd eating it at 10:00 am. Popcorn is an afternoon and evening food.

No More Baby Gates

Last week took down our last baby gate. We haven't needed it for a long time. Luke has been traversing the stairs for months without incident. We kept it up as a means of keeping Luke upstairs when we needed him there. Also we used it to keep the dog from going upstairs while we are out of the house.

Anyway we took down the baby gate. It had outlived its usefulness. We ended up selling it to some neighbors who have a baby that is starting to roll around. This isn't really something that even needs to be written about.  I guess I am just lamenting the fact that we don't need a baby gate anymore. Ever. We aren't going to have any more kids (knock on wood) and it's sad to see the door closing on that part of our life.

Left Handed or Right

Luke is taking his time figuring out which hand is going to be his dominant. Just today our Parents as Teachers lady asked Mom which hand Luke favored and we thought it was his left. He eats with his left and throws a ball with his left, and yet he can still use his right hand pretty good too. Tonight he was eating applesauce with his right hand with great precision.

I guess when he hits preschool and starts writing his letters we will figure out which one he'll gravitate towards. I kind of hope that he's going to be a lefty. He would have a rough time living in a right handed world but maybe just maybe he could have a future has a Major League pitcher.

You never know.

Birthday Bowling

For my birthday, way back in December, we went bowling. I thought it would be a fun way to spend the day before New Year's. We picked up a good deal at the local Brunswick where for $60 6 people got two hours of bowling, shoe rental, a pizza, and unlimited soda. We thought we'd invite Gideon and his dad to join us to make 6. We also invited them so Gideon's Mom would have the house to herself and Sylvie so she could clean for the New Year's Eve party they were hosting later that night.

To make the bowling experience as fun as we could we had bumpers setup in the lane. The bumpers keep all of the balls in the lane and out of the gutter where balls usually go when kids are bowling. Josh being an old pro at this also brought over a bowling ball ramp. This ramp will allow the kids to put the balls up high enough that the ball has some decent speed when it hits the pins. The increased speed keeps the action up and the kids interested.

Even with all of that Luke's interest waned about 3/4s the way through the first game. Both he and Gideon thought the circular ball racks would be more fun than bowling. We made Luke finish his game and after that one of us bowled in his place. He didn't seem to mind. Luke was also a big fan of the ball return. So much so that he wanted to stick his hands down the hole. We had to explain to him a few times that it would be really bad if he left his hand where it was. Luckily he did figure it out without having any pain inflicted. Normally he has to learn the hard way.

Alyce did well. We thought it was going to be just normal bowling but instead it was Cosmic Bowling. Cosmic Bowling is when they turn off all the lights except for black lights and other special effects. Add in some music and you have a party; if you're a teenager. We thought Alyce with her delicate sensibilities would freak out with the instant darkness and noise but she handled it like a champ. Even last year while on vacation she was very fragile when her environment changed. Since then she has been able to handle that stuff a lot better. It's amazing how things change and so quickly.

I Love You Too

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.