Luke lightning -- coming soon?

A sorely undervalued consideration in choosing a baby's name is the nickname-ability factor. Like many other expecting parents, we didn't consciously make this a priority. But we happened to select what I must say is a 5-star name in the nickname-ability department. At home, baby Luke goes by a rainbow of variants, each expressing a different mood or facet of personality, his or ours. Some favorites include Luke-a-duke (energetic, punchy), Luke-osaur (fearsome), Luke-aroo (cute), and Luke-opotamus (heavy, immobile). The adjective 'Lukan' is also useful, as in 'Lukan super smile', 'Lukan swamp gas', 'Lukan laugh', and 'is this the Lukan cup?' (the cup of water Luke backwashed in). I also find that Luke inserts very nicely into songs, such as 'La-la-la-la-la Luke-O!'

I'm not sure if this aspect of his name will serve him quite as well in middle school, but the foundation of fun, creativity and self-esteem that it provides now will surely outweigh any future bumps it might bring. Moreover his Uncle Jack, whose name is a 5+ in nickname-ability, was accepted into a terrific college with an essay about the 53 nicknames that have been posted on his facebook page. Nickname-ability is an investment in a child's higher education!

These days we need to be beefing up our selection of locomotion nicknames as it seems the little man is on the cusp of mobility. For more than a week he has been persistently lifting himself up onto his hands and knees. He rocks forward and backward and has even begun to inch his knees forward too. The hands seem to be the sticking point, perhaps his arms are weaker than his legs or they hold more of his weight? We are watching his efforts closely though, eager to catch his first-ever crawling!

Bittersweetly, I'll be away this weekend on a women's retreat with ladies from our church. It will be refreshing, spiritually, socially and physically I'm sure, but I'll miss my Luke-a-love. He better not do any of that first-time crawling while I'm gone -- maybe Daddy should intervene if he gets too close!