ICE

This is officially the first correct word you say. You say it with such care. Making sure to give each letter a sound, so slowly. IYYYCCCCCE. Sometimes you whisper it to me, because you know if you talk in your inside voice as opposed to yelling, you get what you want. And you always want Ice. If I want you to do anything, I just bribe you with ice. :) I guess it's the small things in life that make us happy.

The small things like you saying "Ice."

I have never worked on colors and shapes with you. We did today. You knew red right off the bat, and circle and star without me helping. It's crazy how much you pick up on without me knowing. I've got to work more with you I guess!

Daddy seems to think it's time to potty train you. I was on my way to do hair when I got a call from you and Daddy telling me you poo'd in the toilet! Since then, you've gone a few more times. It's pretty funny to see Daddy's techniques he taught you! As soon as you sit down, you press on your tummy to help "push" things out! You also go number one quite frequently. I guess I'm just not ready for you to grow up. :( I'd rather keep you as my baby forever.

I thought I was just going to talk about Ice, sorry to include all this toilet talk. Someday you'll potty train your kids, and maybe your Dad's "tips" will help you with your kiddos! :)

*and one more thing, I'm not sure I ever mentioned. This happened when you were 15 months or so.
We were saying our nightly prayers together in your room. Your arms were folded, and eyes tightly closed. I prayed that you would grow healthy and strong, after which you released your reverent arms, raised them in the air and flexed your muscles for me!

More recently, you have been going to bed with your glow worm we call "baby". You make sure to fold his arms during prayer time as well. What a wonderful example you are to your little baby.

OH. and it's your 21 month birthday today. :) Happy Birthday!

I love you, Groobs!

hugs & kisses,

"mommy"

Oh, Lucas.

You make me smile.
At 19 months, you still have yet to attend nursery without me. When you turned 18 months,(the age you are able to attend nursery) you were sick. The following week, I was sick, the week after that, we were in Missouri. The week after that was conference! I anticipated you turning 18 months for so long, just so I could attend my own church classes. Well, my regular relief society attendance will be put off longer, I'm sure. You just don't want me to leave you. Today, you were fine for an hour. After that, you were ready to go home, and I think you thought I had left you for good.

The truth is, I love being with you, too. I do miss my classes, and need to attend them, but as long as you want me, I'll have you. :) You are the youngest in nursery. The others are quite older and talking. It will be a challenge for you and the teachers due to your lack of communication, but you'll learn soon enough.

Here are some recent things you've learned:

• You get out and put away your milk for me
• Open doors for me
• In addition to what you already know, You now say: hi (hiyyyyyyy) wake up (daay bu) up (bu) cheese (eeeeese)
• You skip like crazy. Aunt Kristi asked: does he ever run like a normal child? She quickly learned the answer to that. You can run and you are fast. You just like this new skipping thing.
• You are learning to play baseball. When Papa watches you, he usually has the Mariners on. The other night, he was putting you to sleep. You were almost asleep in the rocking chair. The game was on and Papa changed the channel. In a split second, you went from asleep to aggressively grabbing the remote and trying to turn the game back on.
• You still LOVE Carter. Uncle Jeramy brings him over JUST FOR YOU. You cry when he leaves. You eat his dog treats with him, you play basketball with him, you take him for walks on his leash (I guess I should say he takes you for walks) and just recently, you BATHED with him. BLECK. That was Uncle Jerm's fault. He said the "B" word (bath) and both you and Carter ran to the bathroom. You both wanted baths!
• You consistently climb out of your crib. 
• You pretend you are sleeping when I get you out of your crib.
• You repeat everything I ask you to say in your own way. The tone and syllables are usually spot on, but it is still in your very own Lucas language. 

I love you so much!

hugs & kisses,
"mommy"

sleeping baby

I settled down tonight. I got nothing on the checklist done that I needed to do after I put you down. In efforts to accomplish at least ONE thing, I picked up a pile of toys and quietly carried them down the hall to your room. Daddy was studying in the room across from yours. As I opened your door it caught his attention. We both drew our eyes to your sweet face pressed gently up against your crib railing. Time stopped as we both stared, expressionless. I could tell that at that moment we shared the same thoughts:

• That your sweet face is OURS. It's literally a mixture of US.
  
• You are growing WAY too fast.
• Your laughter, smile, scowl and the way you wait for us at the window each time we come home are the very things that keep us going.
  
• We want another, but could we possibly come up with something as perfect?
• You're so darn cute.
  
• Though you seem to be turning into this BOY, you will always be our baby.

We love being parents. We love you. We love everything about you.

Goodnight, Sweet Groobs.

hugs & kisses,
"mommy"

The Latest on Lucas

You say:
Cow says, Fish says, Dog says, Cat says, Lion says, Elephant says, (my fave) Monkey says, Sheep says, Duck says... and last but not least, Mommy says - in which you shake your finger at me and say "no no no". You also say Thank you - "Do Doooo", Papa - "bah-bah", Dadda, Grandma -"ummmaah", Momma and all done - "aduhhh".

You sign:
airplane, please, thank you, milk, all done and your wave is perfected. When you're ready to leave somewhere, you just start waving which always embarrasses me. It usually happens at someone's house when you're done visiting.

You sing: (mostly hand motions)
Itsy bitsy spider, The wheels on the bus and the rock-a-bye song you made up. :)

You still nap 2 times a day. Sometimes you get by with 1 - but you are MUCH happier with 2.

You continue to Jump, dance, and best of all... Summer-salts!

You are starting to be a bit clingy, which is good and bad. Today, I was doing hair and you came in, pulled on my apron until I was eye level with you, looked me in my eyes, grabbing the top of my apron and tried to take it off. You clearly wanted me to be done doing hair and spend time with you.

I love your independence. You strut your stuff right into the kitchen, open the fridge and tell me exactly what you want. It's usually an egg, shredded cheese or milk. You also can open EVERY door at your convenience. I just know you're going to run away!

I love you, punkin-ator.

hugs & kisses,
"mommy"

One of those days

We just changed the time of church from 9am to 11am. I thought it would be better for you. I think 3 hours of anything is hard on little guys your age. Sunday was hard today. We're working on getting you warmed up in nursery so you transition well next month. I think you'll do great. I just worry that there's no kids your age. You have natural attendancies to do things like climb, throw, or steal your neighbor's snacks. These things are only magnified by tiredness. (which you were today) The other children in nursery are a bit older and understand consequences more, so they tend to listen better. I'm sure you'll get there. Nursery has 2 rooms that are separated by a curtain divider. One room (which kids are not allowed in) stores all the toys that are not being used. The other is where nursery takes place. Somehow, you figured out how to open the curtain and insisted that you have the toys on the other side. (which included a bright, shiny slide and a rocking horse) Who wouldn't want those? After unsuccessfully trying to explain that you couldn't have them, you threw a fit. We ended up leaving the nursery for a little walk. Which you also didn't want. You ended up hitting me in the face. The sad part is, you have a fantastic memory, so I'm sure next time we go to nursery, we'll face the same battle. When you start to communicate a little better, things should get easier. I'm sure there will always be something for me to worry about though. :/ I know you don't mean it when you hit, you're just trying to get your point across. As a Mother, I'm learning patience more and more each day.

Lucas, I want you to know I love you. I love the sweet humming that you do while I sing to you. I love your soft and chubby cheeks. I love your cheesy smile. I love your giggle. I love your glare. I love your excited *gasp* that you do at anything and everything that is the slightest bit interesting. I love the way you pray. I love the way you watch the sacrament being passed with such curiosity. Today, you even said "Dada" when Daddy helped bless the sacrament on the stand. You did your absolute best in trying to get his attention. You are learning reverence, but I'm afraid tiredness took over today. I'm sure we'll have more days like this, and I'll continue walking you through the church when we do. I just hope next week you let me tune into at least one hour of church.

Thanks for putting a smile on my face at the end of a tiresome day for the both of us.

hugs & kisses,
(tired) "mommy"

Dear Lucas,

Please stop crawling out of your crib.

hugs & kisses,
"mommy"

Take THAT.

Last time I bathed you, two little brown floaties joined you in your bath. NICE. This is one of those motherly responsibilities where if I don't clean up, no one will. It was up to me to go fishing. bleck! In order to do so, I needed to get you out of that nasty water. I took you out, still naked and wet, I set you on the bathroom floor. What happened after this, you ask? PEE. You pee'd all over the bathroom floor.

It was almost as if you were saying, "take that, Mom, and THAT."

Well Lucas,

Take that.
...a nice little picture for your future girlfriends to feast their eyes on. I guess you could call it revenge. :) I love you!

hugs & kisses,
"mommy"