Random thoughts

Since I consider this Luke's "online baby book", it seems fitting to write down some of the things he's doing now so I don't forget them in the future. So, this post is really more of a list to help me remember stuff... it may not mean much to you, but they're special memories to us.

At almost 22 months, Luke is:

- easily crawling up and down the stairs without assistance. He will walk up holding on to the spindles, but only when Mommy or Daddy is there to help (I hope!).

- asking what objects are and repeating their names. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. He loves to point out every school bus he sees while riding in the car.

- dancing up a storm! He loves to "dance" around in a circle, and sometimes just keeps spinning and spinning until he gets dizzy, falls down and laughs. Recently he's been moving his arms up and down and raising his knees high up in the air. If he likes a song on the car radio, he shakes his head back and forth with a huge smile on his face.

- identifying EVERYTHING as "mine" "Daddy's" or "Mommy's". He knows the difference between his play telephone (our old phone) and our house phone. Whenever the house phone rings, he runs around and yells, "telephone!!" He can stand in our laundry room and pick out Mommy's, Daddy's and Luke's shoes... if you've ever seen the # of shoes in our laundry room, you know that's a big deal. He loves to deliver our shoes to us and say, "here you go" when he hands them over. Suppose he's trying to get us to clean up?

- exercising his displeasure whenever things aren't going his way. "No, Mommy!" More than anything right now, he seems to be testing us to see if we'll cave in when he says it... I know that in the near future, he'll dig his heels in even more when he doesn't get his way! Yikes!

- feeling a great deal of satisfaction by doing things himself. He wants to put on his own shoes, brush his own teeth, put on his own jacket, walk rather than be carried, sing the A-B-Cs, count the steps as he goes down, turn the lights on and off, and wash his hands. He even pulls the wagon out of the garage so we know he wants to go on a walk...

- taking "big steps" and talking in a low, deep voice thanks to I-I. "Helllllooooooo, I-I"

- asking for Daddy anytime Daddy isn't around. In fact, over the past 2 weeks our morning exchange has gone like this: Mommy enters the room, Luke smiles a huge smile and says, "Daddy?" Mommy replies, "Daddy's at work. Luke and Mommy are going to school." This preference for Daddy has worked out well when Luke wants his dirty diaper changed, however.

- loving his trips to the playground (he loves to pick up rocks and give them as presents. "Ear you go, Mommy"). He's addicted to being outside now that it's warming up and sleeps hard at night as a result of all the fresh air.

- acting as the "gate keeper" for Sammy. He runs to the patio door and insists on helping open and close the door for Sammy. It's his first step toward responsibility. Just wait until he's old enough to pick up Sammy's mess in the yard!

- calling me Karla, then grinning and calling me Mommy. When he wants one of us to come to him, he almost always calls us by our first name.

- pointing at the pictures on the fridge and repeating the names over and over and over.

I have a hunch this is enough for now. Tomorrow will bring some more amazing discoveries, I'm sure.