Keeping You Busy

Dear Luke,

Staying home with you now feels like a very different job than it did a year ago! You are on one nap a day and we have a good 6 hours in the morning to fill, from about 7-1. Since it's so hot out, I've been working out in the mornings before you get up, so the time we used to do that together is now free, too. The mornings can be pretty challenging after breakfast until we're ready to leave the house. You get bored quickly when I'm trying to get ready and get our stuff together and will only stay interested in a DVD for about 10 minutes. I do love that this schedule gives us lots of opportunity to do fun things, spend time with friends, and that you take a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons! Here are a couple pics of some of our activities over the last couple of weeks...

Kicking back in the grass...

Splash pad fun...

The aquarium...

The zoo...

 Trips to Walmart...

 The library...

And lots of playdates!

We've also been to the playscapes at Chick-fil-A, Stomping Grounds, and Sugarcreek Baptist Church. It is so fun to watch you having fun with new activities. I made some edible playdough last week and bought some washable markers and fingerpaints. We may try that soon for some indoor activity ideas. :)

Love,

Mommy

Walking

Dear Luke,

You are now toddling all over the place! You waited to take your first independent steps on Fathers Day, at 15 1/2 months. I had been saying for weeks that you were really close, but not walking on your own yet. You were practically running with the walker for weeks and then we took it away since it was clear you had become dependent on it. Then, you became comfortable walking while holding on to our hands, then one hand, then one finger. Then on Sunday when I was washing your tray for lunch, you were standing at the dishwasher, fussing that I wouldn't open it for you. I ignored you, then, to my surprise, you just walked over to your magnets on the refrigerator! Since you waited awhile to start walking, I feel like you were immediately pretty confident at it. It's nice you haven't had any serious falls. In the past couple of days, you've been learning to squat to pick things up and stand back up from there, without help. You are just the cutest!

Love,

Mommy

15 Months

Dear Luke,

At 15 months...

You weigh 23 pounds 7 ounces and are 31.75 inches tall.

You LOVE to toddle around with your walker, but haven't gained the confidence to walk without it. You really have command of the walker though, and will even stand on your own while you rotate it to go a different direction. You don't really need it, but don't seem to have figured that out quite yet.

You are very attached to me. You dissolve into tears when I drop you off at church and want me to hold you much of the time. You put your arm around me when I hold you and sometimes grab on to my shirt or necklace as if to say "don't put me down." :)

You eat all sorts of foods and eat as much of it as you want. Thank the Lord we seem to be past the overeating and throwing up phase!!!

You take one afternoon nap a day when we are out and about in the morning, but it's hard to keep you entertained all morning if we have things to do at home. For now you can go back and forth between one and two naps pretty well.

You sometimes throw your lovey out of your bed. At first you just did this to see what happened when you dropped it, but it became a pattern of you expressing your discontent with us putting you in your crib and wanting us to come back in the room. We've gone through lovey bootcamp and I do NOT give it back to you when you drop it out. You drop it much less frequently now and when you do, you've figured out how to fall asleep without it. Although it does lead to lots of tears before you finally exhaust yourself.

You like to play peekaboo with us and cover your eyes with your hands. We say, "Where's Luke?" "There he is!" You love to do this over and over.

You have the cutest smile with 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom.

You approach new situations (splash pad, play date, etc.) cautiously, holding on to me to get a feel for things before slowly beginning to explore, then your curiosity takes over and you are all over the place investigating things.

I love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

Mommy/Son Roadtrip

Dear Luke,

Last week, the two of us drove to DFW together for the first time. Daddy has been hard at work on his dissertation, so I figured it would be a good time for us to get away for a change of scenery and to be with family. The trip went so smoothly and you did so very well. We stopped at a Starbucks in Hillsboro on the way to Keller for a bathroom break, diaper change, lunch for you and coffee for me (I had packed my lunch to eat in the car.)

On the way back we stopped at a McDonald's in Navasota (not nearly as nice a stop). The trickiest part was going to the bathroom because you would start to cry as soon as we got in there and the automatic flush and hand dryers scared you. :( But other than that, you were pretty content. We had about a 45 minute-1 hour stretch each way where you would be fussy, but I just kept handing you things from the front seat to entertain you. The clear cap to my lotion, a ziploc with grape stems, and of course some toys. At one point I saw you playing with my hangers that were hung up in the backseat. Not sure how you got a hold of those. I'm glad you're my little buddy and that you travel well. I look forward to more trips with you. :)

Love,
Mommy