Luke Turns Two!

Weeks later, I finally have a chance to post pictures from Luke's July 23rd birthday party! Luke is my sweetheart. He's a big teddy bear of a guy. Loving, snuggly, generous, needy. He's a Mama's boy through and through. Part of me relishes this. Part of me would like for him not to break my heart with his sweet, sad cry every time I walk out of the room or insist that Steve put him in bed. One day I will miss the fact that he wants nothing more than for me to hold him while I cook dinner. Luke is two now, but still very much a baby, complete with "Elle and Nuk" which much accompany him just about everywhere. This was confirmed when the daycare called and "suggested" that he might want to hang back in the blue room for another year as the rest of the class progresses to the orange room next week. Ultimately, I had to agree and really think this is the best decision. He was the youngest by over four months last year. With the new group coming in he'll be the oldest, but only by two weeks. He never gets the chance to be the leader at home with Grayson and he won't have a chance to be a leader if he remains with his current class where he is very clearly the baby of the bunch. I think being the "big man" in charge next year will be good for little Luke. He's beginning to develop quite a bit of language. He now puts some words together occasionally. He'll repeat after me when I count to ten or repeat the alphabet. There are probably only about 5 people who understand him, so diction needs some work - but he's getting there. His new favorite past time is riding his Skuut. I'll have to say that Luke is even more adept at the Skuut than Grayson was at two so I think we're going to have our hands full here shortly. Luke also loves water. He's my water boy. And, maybe best of all - he sleeps! Luke is a breeze to put to bed at night and generally sleeps a solid 11 hours. What a blessing!

For Luke's party we just invited the family and one of Grayson's friends out to the local park. Luke gave us a scare when he fell off the picnic table onto the concrete floor and smacked the back of his head. Hard. Very hard. My doctor always says, "bumps good, dents bad." Luke definitely began to develop a bump (big one!) quickly so I was a little relieved. He wasn't himself for a while, though, staggering and not following very well with his eyes. I'm pretty sure we can classify that as Luke's first mild concussion. But he was a trooper and by the end of the party he seemed OK.

Luke super happy with his Thomas the Tank Engine cake.

On the monkey bars with Nana.

The boys in the family.

Friends in the sand pit.

Post head trauma. Nuk makes everything better.