The Parent-er

This weekend Erik and I were driving back from the tile store (for surely no less than the 20th time in the past few months!) and the new Pearl Jam song The Fixer came on the radio. What would it be like if Eddie Vedder had written the lyrics from a parent's perspective, we wondered. Here is our take, with the lyrics below and our music video here! Do you think we capture a bit of Pearl Jam and parenting?

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Yeah, hey, hey

When something smells, I wanna put a little diaper on it

When something runs, let me put a little tissue on it

If somethings loud, I wanna put a little bottle in it

If there’s no nap, I wanna call the babysitter then

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, call the babysitter then

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

When somethings sore, let me put some neosporin on it

If somethings bored, I wanna put a little Elmo on it

When something smiles, I wanna point my Canon camera at it

If there’s a fire, I wanna call the babysitter then

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, call the babysitter then

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

When somethings sad, let me put some hugs & kisses on it

If there’s no wipes, I wanna head right to the store

I’ll say you’re cute, I’ll make you treats

I’ll find us a way to get to sleep

I’ll make up games, we’ll dance and sing

What’s made could be a great family

Hey, hey, hey
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, makes a happy family
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Makes a happy family, yeah, yeah, yeah
Makes a happy family, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Where the wild things are

Predator daddy is a favorite past time for both Luke and Erik. Since Luke was a tiny babe, Erik has enjoyed growling and sneaking up to 'get' Luke with a tickle and kisses attack. At first Erik just used it to prove the point that this child could not survive in the wild, but it's been fun to see Luke grow into delighting in the game himself. Now when he hears Daddy's prowling noises from behind the couch, he gives joyful shrieks and is torn between crawling toward Erik (impatient for the tickling attack to begin) and crawling away for the thrill of being chased.

Their chasing antics make me laugh too, as does Erik's determination to avoid the word 'no' with Luke. The books say that Luke should be able to understand this simple command, but Erik hopes to avoid teaching him to overuse this two-letter word of toddler rebellion and tantrums. So instead of telling him, 'no, you can't chew on the laptop cord', he says 'not for you, Luke' in a very stern voice.

Erik also uses his serious voice to say 'bathroom, Luke, you need to go to the bathroom' in an attempt to jumpstart potty-training when Luke is making a present, as we call it, in his diaper. Luke doesn't yet associate this activity with the bathroom but he has managed to link it to his high chair, and it's not uncommon for this incident to interrupt our meals. Something about how Erik says this -- begging the question from Luke: why do I need to go to the bathroom? I'm fine right here! -- never fails to send me into peals of laughter. More than once I've swallowed my food the wrong way thanks to Erik's pre-potty-training. Erik is now under strict orders not to give his lesson just after I take bites or drinks!

Once out of his high chair, Luke is ever more on-the-move. He now constantly pulls up to standing and can even cruise between furniture pieces and large toys. He prefers to hold your hands and walk around the house to crawling, so I find myself spending a fair amount of the day as a baby prop or a baby spotter, trying to keep his little head from clunking on furniture. He's also become a pretty speedy crawler and is showing the beginnings of mommy clingyness. When I leave him for a moment to get something from another room, he immediately follows behind, like a loyal puppy crawling after me. Once I stop he crawls onto my feet and pulls himself up so that he's standing clinging to my legs. How can I resist reaching down to pick up the little pup!

But the bending over and separation anxiety can't dim the joy of life with our little Luke-um. I just love this stage of babyhood. When I get a picture book out, he crawls over to sit in my lap and have me read to him. He's been making the muh-muh sound for a while now and sometimes seems to associate it with me, but he certainly isn't doing that clearly or consistently yet. It's fun to listen for when that first-word breakthrough will emerge. Erik and I have been working with him on catching a little ball, and now he catches it successfully about 1/3 of the time. Erik said that he'll surpass my ball-handling skills soon, and he was only partly kidding... I better start practicing too!

For Luke, catching with his hands is the exception as his first instinct remains tasting and chewing objects. When he's on the rug launching himself mouth-open at stuffed animals this works fine, but the other day he tried it in the tub. The mouthful of water that came along with the tasting experience caught him by surprise and brought a few wails. But he seems to have learned that lesson for the moment and has been markedly more cautious in going after bath toys since then. Thankfully it didn't lessen his love for bathtime, during the day if he gets the chance he makes a beeline for the tub, pulls up, and peers in longingly. We all enjoy bathtime more now that Luke likes to play and splash in the water. Baths also offer the added benefit of tiring him out for a good night's sleep. It feels luxurious to have him sleeping through the night so consistently, and I love walking into his room the next morning and seeing a happy, well-rested little boy smiling up at me!

PS: Here's a Halloween pic -- our little Luke-osaur in a homemade costume!

'Round, 'round, get around, I get around!

The Luke man has been ever more on-the-go these days. When we place him on the floor in the living room, he reliably makes a beeline for the toy bin (crawling), pulls up on it to his knees, and peers in! We call this rummaging, as he then sticks in his hand to retrieve a toy of choice.

Besides improving his crawling skills, he's been picking up speed in his walker. He grins wider upon banging into furniture and Erik thinks we should make bumper stickers. Here are a few of my favorites: "I brake for no one", "My other ride is Mommy", "Baby on board", "Caution: Infant driver", and "Nielsen for Gerber Baby". Luke's driving course was recently extended as we finished the final section of laminate wood installation - hurray!

His dining domain has also expanded with the exciting introduction of finger foods. Fear of the baby heimlich maneuver kept me exclusively in the puree stage for a few extra weeks, but I was delighted to discover the 'Mum-mum' rice rusk crackers that are sold at Walmart. They dissolve so quickly that choking really isn't a concern. We've since added a few other baby snacks and now we all love finger foods as well as the ever expanding variety of pureed foods that I keep adding to our freezer in portion-size cubes for convenient thawing.

Luke has added a new game to his repertoire: classic peek-a-boo! He initiates it himself, pulling a blanket up in front of his face and beaming at our exclamations when he lowers it. My mom visited recently and she loved his peek-a-boo, and she also began to teach him to wave, kiss, and identify eyes and noses. I hadn't even attempted any of these, but she truly has a gift for teaching children! I've tried to continue where she left off and we think he may have even waved and kissed on command a few times (identifying facial features definitely seems like a more distant goal). Below is a picture of what we think is his version of an air-kiss. He only does air-kisses, kissing against your skin or blowing it off his hand add way too much complexity!

A week in the wild

"Is that the baby from Angel's Landing?" A couple asked as we wound between hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park. After just a few days camping and hiking in Utah's parks, it seemed that Luke had become a little celebrity. He had indeed traversed the Angels Landing trail in Zion the previous day and now was being recognized in a park several hours away! It must have been his young age for such a daunting hike and of course his unmistakable cuteness (or cries!) that made him memorable. I loved having a celebrity baby, but it did make me wonder if we were overly ambitious in our hike selection. Were we reckless parents?

My guilt was assuaged the next day when we met a couple who were also hiking with their son. We crossed paths on the most strenuous hike of our trip and they seemed happy and responsible. Maximus was almost exactly Luke's age and we let the two babies greet each other and compare hiking carriers. All things considered, hiking is pretty well-suited to babies. Luke enjoys being outside, new sights to study, and eventually falling asleep in a hiking pack. The real question was, is it reckless for Erik's shoulder muscles? Luke wasn't as comfortable in the backpack carrier and so Erik mostly held him in the much less ergonomic front carrier.

Nonetheless, we continued to explore the park the next day, this time with a watery route. The 'Narrows' trail follows the winding Virgin River as the steep faces of Zion Canyon close in from either side. Soon the river fills the entire base of the canyon and you are forced to wade through it. At times the cold water rose as high as our waists, but Erik held Luke high and dry and didn't slip and fall in (like I quickly did). It seemed that the sounds and sights of water pleased the little munchkin and his smiles, giggles, and gleeful kicks made it clear that this was his favorite hike.

We were visited on the narrows trail by ravens and songbirds overhead and two adult mule deer and a fawn. Because of the narrow river passage and soaring canyon walls, the deer swam through the river right next to us. On another trail we encountered a much smaller and rarer local resident - a tarantula! I expected a tarantula to be a frightening sight, but actually the brown hairy fellow looked rather peaceable and intriguing as he slowly crossed the trail in front of us.

To better enjoy the park and economize, we camped in Zion for our week away. From our campsite we could take in gorgeous vistas and plug in the two essential electric devices that traveled with us -- Luke's shushing machine and a coffeemaker! The little buckaroo took pretty well to camping and very much enjoyed visiting with his grandpa and Aunt Colleen who flew out to join us in Utah. Erik and I agree that Zion is the most majestic part of God's creation that we have yet to see, and we would love to go back one day when Luke can more fully enjoy it and travel the trails on his own two feet!

For more pics from our trip click here. There are a few videos on the last page of that gallery.

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!

Menacing motorboat?

Minor hunger pangs strike, scooching across the floor isn't going fast enough, or sleepiness starts to set in, and... what is that I hear??? B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-uhhhhh!!!! The motorboat noise!

Luke has somehow gravitated to the blowing-through-your-lips motorboat noise in moments of frustration. The context tells us that he's trying to communicate. "Hey! I'm not happy. Come fix this now!!" But it's hard to take demands seriously when they sound like a little motorboat. Fortunately, his use of this noise for whining doesn't detract from his delight when we make the sound. He smiles and laughs gleefully when we do it, and especially when Uncle Travis does his version. For Luke though, eventually the motorboat frustration crescendoes into real cries and yells, which are much more effective at prompting the service he desires!

Another favorite Luke-ism is his second game. In the first game that Luke latched onto, he repeatedly looks at you and then hides his face when you smile at him. In his second game, he sits on the floor and leans back toward you until he falls on your leg. Then he smiles as you make a funny face at him and sit him back up. Once seated he immediately falls back again and loves to have the sequence repeated. I don't know who enjoys his games more, him or me!

Finally, I want to give an update on his teething progress for all of you who have feared for his well-being with a little piranha-tooth in his mouth. It has now been joined by a second bottom tooth and we think the top ones aren't too far behind. The razor edges don't seem to cause Luke pain, but the other night it was cute to see him sucking on the edge of his high chair, as if his pureed squash hadn't been quite enough for dinner. Later when I was wiping the chair down I noticed what looked like caked-on baby cereal in that spot -- aha! I thought, he must have been sucking on food there after all. But when it didn't come off, I looked closer and saw that it wasn't food. The marks were gouged bite marks! I wonder what other furniture our little puppy will be chewing on next.

Speaking of our home, we are thankful that the end of this stage of re-flooring is in sight. Today we moved our appliances back in from the garage, after two weeks without laundry, dishwashing, oven, or even kitchen sink capabilities! We just have a little flooring left and need to finish the edges. We don't know how we could have accomplished the job without the help of our dream team of flooring and baby charming pros, Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen and Uncle Travis! Here's a pic of Luke giving them a smile of approval and appreciation for their instrumental help in installing the lovely new floors for him to play on.

Buckaroo with bite!

Luke's first tooth arrived this morning! Of course I knew it was coming -- his drool deluges and nonstop gnawing never let teething slip too far from mind. But nonetheless it astonished me to look in and find a scraggly white protrusion from his cute little gums. Once the shock settled, it was interesting to check out this new development and even inspired pride in the little guy for hurdling a difficult milestone. But I miss the total little baby gummyness; the scraggly tooth just looks so out of place. And what a sharp ridge it is! I hear that this helps it to cut to the surface and that use will dull it. In the meantime it must be uncomfortable on his tongue and upper gums. Maybe if he keeps up the gnawing he can speed up the dulling process!

At the moment, the babe is sleeping off this latest accomplishment against all odds. Erik is using a demolition hammer to remove mortar that previously held tiles to the entryway floor -- just a few feet from Luke's bedroom! We turned up his shushing machine and placed pillows at the base of his door, and somehow Luke is snoozing away. We are almost finished with renovation stage 1, removing the flooring in our entire house except for the bedrooms and bathrooms. The result is that the whole place feels like a garage, with concrete floors and empty space. Meanwhile our garage is looking like a storage unit, filled with our furniture and kitchen appliances. As the re-flooring project looms larger and larger in the scope of work it requires, we're thankful for the reinforcements that are on the way. Erik's parents and brother arrive tomorrow, and plan to help us move forward with installing tile and laminate wood. We can't wait to see how it turns out and to have our storage unit back to a garage and our garage back to a home!