The Four(ce) is With Luke

Each day I have a conversation with my son Luke.

He tells me he’s a Jedi.

He tells me he’s a Wookiee.

But he’s quite insistent that he is not a Wookiee Jedi.

Why?

Because he’s never seen a Wookiee Jedi in any of the Star Wars movies.

Luke turned four and his knowledge of Star Wars scares inspires me. He can make Star Wars jokes. He can quote lines of dialogue. And he loves to point out errors in his Star Wars books (of which there are plenty).

But Luke’s abilities this past year have not just grown in relation to Star Wars. He’s a lot better able to carry on a conversation. He can tell stories and jokes. He can clean up after himself. He’s going to school every day and he likes it. For the most part.

I hope this next year is a good one for him. And that he eventually gets to see a Wookiee Jedi in a Star Wars movie.

The Birthday Luke’s Been Waiting For

Don’t tell my son Luke this, but his third birthday is today.

He’s keenly aware of the fact that he’s three. It’s just, according to him, he’s been in birthday mode for a few weeks. It all started a few weeks ago, when we were talking about birthdays and telling him his birthday is coming up, to which he replied that that day was his birthday. That led to him repeatedly singing “Happy Birthday” to himself. In an effort to have some fun with him, I told him that day was my birthday and started to sing to myself. He promptly cut me off, looked me in the eye and said “Happy birthday to not you.”

Every time since then, whether it was in a restaurant where the wait staff sang to a customer or at the zoo where we passed someone telling a kid happy birthday, Luke has told me that that day was his birthday. I’ve dreaded/anticipated the follow-up, him going up to the person and giving them a “happy birthday to not you,” but mercifully, that hasn’t happened. Thankfully, he’s kept that to just me. So it makes me feel special.

Anyway, happy birthday, Luke!

Happy Birthday Luke!

With Luke turning two, I’ve noticed myself comparing where he is now to where Hope was when he was born. This isn’t a bad thing. She was only two months older than he is now and they’re similar in a lot of ways.

She was starting to put together sentences. He’s stringing together words. She was very aware of people and places. We can’t go anywhere with Luke without him pointing out the nearest set of train tracks.

And just as interesting as what they have in common at this stage, what’s next for him is just as exciting. Right after Luke was born, we started potty training Hope. This is definitely something in Luke’s near future. And every day, he’s becoming more and more of a little boy. It’s been a fun two years, but what comes next is even more exciting.

Luke turns two.

Luke, I am Your Tom

LukeI’ve written before about when both my children first started using the word “dada” to refer to me (for the record, Luke used it a lot sooner than he did “mama”).

Luke would be turning 20 months tomorrow if February was like other months (but it doesn’t so he’s stuck at 19 months). His language keeps growing. The Civee and I estimate he has about 100 words. And I am two of them.

Recently, Luke will see me, come up to me and go “Dada…Tom. Tom. Tom. Tom.” And he’ll repeat the use of Tom for a while. It doesn’t bother The Civee or I at all (there are probably worse things he could call me). One of the important parts of speech development at this stage is communication. And knowing multiple names for something is a good sign.

Now if only I could get him to start using a King in front of that Tom.

Dinnertime Stories With Hope

Hope has graduated from asking for stories to telling them.

Her stories entertain everyone, including Luke. Tonight, we were having ribs for dinner and Hope started telling a story about mastodons (her favorite thing at the Ohio Historical Society Museum). I wasn’t able to record the first part (which started with “once upon a time”), but here’s the rest of it, until Hope gets distracted by some ribs. But then Luke chimes in with a song, which inspires Hope to sing too.

Oh, and usually dinnertime at our house doesn’t look like Medieval Times, but hey, we were having ribs.

Happy Birthday Luke!

I did something rare today: I watched TV news around dinnertime. The weather people were talking about the storm that hit Columbus last June 29.

I’ll always remember that storm, but for a reason other than the storm and the damage it caused. While the storm was at its height that afternoon, Luke was being born.

The rest of that day was a blur. In fact, the 12 months since have been a blur. Luke has grown, and is now doing typical toddler things: eating on his own, laughing, playing with his big sister and walking. His walking has improved so much in the past two weeks that we’ve had to re-childproof our house.

At least we’ve had the practice of seeing Hope through these stages to help us with Luke. Having two is a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun.

So happy birthday, Luke. It’s been a fun year.

Keeping Up With The Kids

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.

And not because there’s been nothing going on. There’s been a lot happening. The Civee and I have been trying to keep up with a three-year-old and an almost-one-year-old who are growing every day.

Not only are Hope and Luke growing, but they’re also doing new things all the time. In the past few weeks, Luke has started walking. Just like with Hope, when he knows the cameras are on, he won’t walk. So this is the best I could do, a video of Luke pushing a bike all the way across Little Kids Space at COSI:

Hope is also going through all sorts of new things. She’s starting to like music other than Weezer (okay, she’s always liked songs by musicians other than Weezer). Ever since my guest DJ stint for CD 102.5 last month, she’s been really into Steve Burns’ Mighty Little Man. Here she is with her rendition of the tune:

We’ve been spending a lot of time outside this spring, especially now that the mosquito defense system is active. Hope has been helping out in the garden and has been a great help with our strawberries. Last year, I thought we had a lot of strawberries. But this year, there were a few days in a row where we picked more than a hundred each day. It got to be so much that we just stopped counting.

I should mention that Hope picked most of those. She’s getting to be very helpful. But probably the best thing about her and Luke growing is they’re growing together. Now that Luke has a personality and can move around and react, they’re starting to have a lot of fun with each other.

Sure they’re cute together, but I think they’re going to be trouble.

 

 

Luke Knows Who I Am

When a baby starts making noises every now and then a noise will sound like a word. Aww-duh sounds like all done. Baa will sound like ball. And a burp can easily be confused for the word burlap.

But over the past few days, Luke has consistently made a Dada sound. While looking at me and smiling. While waving as I walk in the room. While clapping.

I think it’s safe to say that I am his favorite word.

The Civee has done a lot of great work with Luke, taking care of him at all hours of the day while he’s been sick. But I haven’t heard many M sounds.

I guess I’ll have to work with Luke on some of those M sounds.

Swing, Swing

Last weekend, the weather was amazing. Very spring-like. This weekend, the weather is not any of those things.

Here are Hope and Luke from last Sunday, Luke’s first time in  swing. I think he had fun.