We think Luke’s first clearly repeated word was actually a phrase. He says it less often now, but for weeks he never tired of pointing and asking what’s that?, even if it was the same object over and over again. Lately he’s been delighting us by expanding his verbal repertoire. We probably like his animal noises best: ‘a-a-a-a-a-a-a’ for sheep, ‘sssss’ for snakes, “b-b-b-uhhh’ for bees, and a few times he’s done a ‘rarr’ for lions. But his happy chatter is still mostly gibberish to us. Can anyone translate ‘hataah’ or ‘daba’?*
And while he’s only said it a few times, he always has his ears peeled for the word outside. Just hearing it will send him rushing to the door, ready to jam himself through in case we try to slip out without him. And when he wants to ‘ask’ us to go outside he usually just whines at the back door, but sometimes he opts for a much more endearing strategy – holding up his shoes and/or hat with a plaintive look in his eyes.
As soon as he’s out the door he starts collecting sticks, rocks, and these long dried-out pods from our trumpet vine. The third item is Mommy’s favorite, as its potential for Luke injury seems to be marginally lower than the other two. Today this wonderland included the rare puddle or two and it didn’t take the little guy long to find them and soak up all their wet muddiness with his freshly-washed sweater. And you don’t even want to hear about the silly boy’s appreciation of dirt flavor, especially potting mix! You would think that after several mouthfuls a child would realize that dirt’s just not so good for eating. It makes me feel a little less complimented when he particularly likes a dinner I prepared!
Even when Luke has been brought (kicking and screaming) inside, we enjoy watching for birds from the back windows and rushing to the front one when we hear a big truck. The past two Monday mornings we started what I hope will be a weekly tradition. I took Luke out in his stroller while the garbage trucks were moving through our neighborhood and we followed one as its big mechanical arm picked up trash bins and emptied them into the giant truck. You should have seen the size of this kid’s eyes as he took in the spectacle!
Thanks to lessons from his grandmothers, Luke now warms our hearts with open-mouthed kisses on the cheek and happy high fives. All on his own, he recently reinvented a few outdoor watering pipes and some small holes in a metal pipe cover as a shape sorter – thin sticks go in the small holes and medium-sized rocks go in the larger holes. I’m not sure this game is too good for our trees or sprinkler system, but it’s just so cute to see him intent on it that we haven’t discouraged it yet. Last night, he capped off his recent spurt of backyard firsts by climbing to the top of his little slide on his own. He looked so proud of himself, and we feel the same way. You’re a fun one, Mr. Luke!!
*According to dictionary.com, daba is “a Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad” – maybe what we need is a Daba dictionary!
In May we envisioned quiet summer weekends awaiting us for the month of June, a slow start to a mostly low-key summer. However as it turned out, we’ve enjoyed three trips this month, all filled with lovely sights, fun time with friends, and relaxing togetherness for our family of three. First we joined in on a last-minute trip to Pagosa Springs in southern Colorado with some ABQ friends. They daringly asked us to join them for their four-night stay at a 3-bedroom suite after having known us for only a few weeks! We hoped that none of our idiosyncrasies would cause them to regret that invitation, but eagerly agreed to come along anyway. We were glad we did as it proved to be a wonderful time, growing our friendship with this fun couple and their three sweet girls. We also loved the charming town of Pagosa Springs:
