Luke the nature-lover

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!

Two quick trips

A few weeks ago Erik caught a plane to Portland for a giant physics conference while Auntie C, Luke, and I took a road trip to southern New Mexico. Check out the contrast in our 2 destinations:

In levels of urbanization, moisture, SPF ratings, and pocket protector prevalence they hailed from opposite ends of the spectrum. I’d love to go back to southern New Mexico sometime, our scenic route through the Valley of Fires was gorgeous and hiking in White Sands National Monument felt like a shimmering dream of a distant land.

But while I love the year-round drama of the Southwest landscape, it just doesn’t do spring like other parts of the country. Erik’s pics of Portland abloom have me thinking that next year we should take a family trip to a moist clime where we can soak up some real springtime pageantry. Luke loves all things green and outdoors so we think he would enjoy it too. Grandma Nielsen has already started teaching Luke how to gently touch flowers. He complies pretty well when it comes to flowers but is much less inclined to touch Mommy’s hair gently!

Bits of ABQ springtime: Luke and his Grandma beneath the pear tree in our backyard

A loveable leprechaun + holiday parade

Happy St. Patty’s Day everyone! Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity to dress up the little guy, isn’t he cute with his four-leaf clover? I’ll confess that I just cut out the clover from felt and stuck it on his onesie with double-sided tape. But he still has it on – luck of the Irish I guess!

It’s been so much fun to celebrate holidays with our little heart-melter, and so I decided to compile a festive photo roundup here, starting with Valentine's Day '09. Since he was due on 2-12 and born 2-19, it seemed fitting to note the red and pink season of his birth even though he stayed inside long enough to allow his parents a Valentine’s date night out on the town. Can you make out the little red hearts on his sleeper?

Next we have the babe all dressed-up for church on his first Easter Sunday. He’s laughing at his bunny rabbit from Grandma and Grandpa… or could those giggles be caused by my less-than-perfect rendition of Peter Cottontail??

Unfortunately we didn’t get any pics of Luke in red, white and blue on the 4th of July. But I do love the Luke-osaur hunting for toys on his first Halloween!

What a lively little ‘Indian’ all dressed up for Thanksgiving. He was so enthusiastic about the costume that this one came out a little blurry, sorry about that!

Unfortunately I never could find the right first Christmas outfit in Luke’s size, so no Santa-suit shots coming up next. But here is the little guy in a snowflake sweater checking out the texture of our Christmas wreath.

Here’s hoping you enjoyed our little holiday parade and that you had a terrific St. Patrick’s Day. In the Irish spirit (or is this Scottish?) I keep catching myself singing ‘my bonny lies over the ocean….’? Erik’s been at a conference these past few days and Luke and I can’t wait for him to return tonight!

Spring brings projects & bunnies

Erik and I have enjoyed some mundane yet satisfying projects these past few weekends. Below you’ll see the before and after pictures of our guest room closet after last weekend’s closet campaign. I love the wire shelves and plastic bins we bought at Costco and would highly recommend them to anyone else with spring cleaning fever, but the yellow post-it notes I added as labels weren’t such a good idea. Guess what Luke’s little hands grabbed first when he saw the closet!

After a winter of mangy looking bushes in our backyard, we finally pruned our roses and other shrubs back so they’re all ready for summer blooms. With the mega-thorns that these guys boast, this was definitely an activity for Luke’s naptime! We also recently engaged in a mini round of one of my favorite past times – moving pictures and other items around our house in the continual quest for optimal placement. And we drew up plans for a terrific shoe-storing entry bench that Erik plans to build. We so enjoy little home improvement projects and love that they fit well into naptime time blocks.

In Luke news, he recently treated us to a toddler rite of passage. Erik walked into the bathroom, opened the toilet lid, and found this:

Face down in the toilet was Luke’s sweet bunny basket! Of course he called me in and I instantly realized that earlier that day when I’d followed Luke into the bathroom, the clunk I’d heard wasn’t a failed attempt to open the toilet lid, but the closing of it after a hasty bunny dunk. Would this qualify as a bunny bidet??

I wonder if the Easter bunny will pay a visit to the little guy now…

From the office to the lair and back again

Now that Luke can confidently walk around the house on his own, he has claimed a few spaces for himself. He delights in small nooks – partly for the thrill of climbing back into them and partly for the seclusion they provide. In the living room, we’ve named a windowsill behind the entertainment center Luke’s office. He often commutes back there with a toy or other item to bang on the sill and leave for later. On the other side of the room is a bit of empty space in a corner bordered by two bookcases. He loves to climb back there and play peekaboo or hide when we play chase. It’s been dubbed Luke’s lair (see left).

He has also discovered the hideout potential behind doors. This morning when Erik followed the L-man  into our bathroom, he found Luke triumphantly clutching the face soap pump dispenser. Once Luke saw Erik headed his way, he made a beeline to the door and wedged himself behind it, clearly hoping to evade soap confiscation. It’s so fun to see the little guy explore his world and repurpose pieces of it for play!

Commuting in to the office

First playtime at the park

Now that he’s a one-year-old kiddo, I thought it was high time that we started visiting our local park to let Luke play. This afternoon’s exploratory trip was mostly a success. Luke loved the park; he quickly warmed up to the baby swing, the slide, and was thrilled to walk around on the platforms and spin the attached toys. I was impressed by the general cleanliness of the equipment, the sturdy, tall-sided basket-swings, and I’m a big fan of the clever double slides that allow Luke and Mommy to safely descend side by side.

I was also struck afresh by what a wonderful location we live in. We arrived at the park after a fifteen-minute walk along quiet roads. On the way we passed an elementary school, which offers another interesting outing – Luke loves to walk by at the end of the school day to see all the kids pass by, the cars going and coming, and the lines of children loading up the big yellow buses. Just past the park is Costco, another fun, frequently-visited destination we visit on foot. What a blessing to be so close!

The unfortunate part of our park outing was that I didn’t realize that the temperatures had lowered and it was quite chilly outside. Luke didn’t seem cold to me while we were out, but looking at the high of 43 for the day and thinking about how long we were out for, I think I should have had more layers on him. Sorry little guy! I’m afraid I inadvertently benefited from how wiped out he was from the cold and play; he took three naps today!

I see many trips to the park, longer naptimes, warmer dressing, sturdier shoe-wearing, and maybe even new park friends in our future! 

Birthday boy!

Our little bambino turned one on Friday and what a blessing it was to celebrate the joyful year we’ve been given with him. We are ever amazed at the playful, busy, inquisitive, social, and more-and-more adorable little person he is. We still swoon at all his precious little sounds, expressions, and antics. Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen flew out to visit us for the week and Luke loved being the center of four adults’ attention. Papi and Generational-Name-Yet-To-Be-Determined Ferry didn’t want to miss the occasion either, so they skyped in with their own birthday cake, candle, and song for the little boy.

All things considered, the L-man was much more laidback than we anticipated when it came to his bday cake and hat. After some initial resistance, he actually left the hat on undisturbed for an extended length of time, giving us plenty of time to snap festive pics. He certainly enjoyed his cake and consumed the majority of a piece. But he ate it with considerable calm and restraint given that it was his first sustained exposure to chocolate and intense sugar! In the photo above, you can see him take his first bite in his cute smock-bib, our little numero uno.

As it turns out, the little guy’s gift roundup tended toward the ambitious side for a one-year-old. His big presents were Duplos, an outdoor playset, and a bike! He really is such a fortunate little kiddo that he has just about all the wonderful baby toys needed anywhere except a daycare, so it made sense to choose ‘to-grow-with’ toys. Erik and I have already had a lot of fun building with the Duplos, and Luke enjoys banging them together and putting the box on his head. We all laugh when Erik calls the box’s clear lid a ‘baby riot shield’ – Luke is modeling it for you to the left.

Luke’s new-to-us playset gives our yard a little more color and a family feel. Luke hasn’t quite managed to climb up on it by himself yet, but he’s quite close to making it onto the first platform and it’s fun to send him down the slide.

We’re also excited about the clever design to Luke’s new green machine – his Strider running bike! Instead of pedals, the two-wheeled bike is propelled Flintstone-style by Luke’s two legs. At first toddlers just hold the handlebars and walk, but over time kids learn balance and can zoom along by pushing off while sitting on the seat. We were inspired by several impressive videos on YouTube and so we envision Luke eventually riding it around our house’s quiet cul-de-sac, as well as on paths around the city during family bike rides. But first Luke’s legs need to get just a little bit longer – he can barely touch at the moment!

We are so thankful for our Luke-a-love and treasure each day we’re given to play and learn and grow with him. God bless you in the year to come, sweet little boy!

Click HERE for many more bday pics!