Photo shoot

Mommy took me to have my picture taken a couple of weeks ago. I was so super serious the entire time, I barely cracked a smile. In fact, Mommy and I waited around for a loooonnnggg time for me to "warm up," which I did a bit when I discovered some nearby puddles. Check out my slideshow:

http://annamayer.com/slideshows/Saccento_0209

Mommy would love it if you would comment with your favorite(s)!

The first real "boo-boo"

This makes me sad :(

Luke decided to climb up and pull my curling iron off of the bathroom counter on Sunday ... it was unplugged, but still very hot. He never made a sound, not a cry or anything, I just saw his poor little forehead and the slightly out of place curling iron (he had placed it back on the counter), and I knew what had happened.

I guess it is probably the first (well the first very obvious one!) of many, many bumps, bruises, cuts, burns, etc.

As you can see, it doesn't seem to bother him a bit!

Operation BBB, days #3 & #4

Day #3 brought us a 3.5 hour nap, to which I rocked Luke to sleep. He was probably extra tired from his late night hallway escapades the night before! It also brought an easy bedtime because he fell asleep in my arms, and woke the next morning at 7:30 ... not too bad.

Day #4 brought another shorter than normal nap - 1.5 hours, but an easy bedtime. After our usual bedtime routine, I laid him in bed and he sat up and wanted to chat. So, I left the room, he followed, and I returned him one time to bed. Then I shut all the lights and doors in the hallway, locked the baby gate, and went downstairs. I heard him come out once, apparently looked around and saw nothing interesting was going on, and he went back into his room and closed the door! When I went to check on him, I found him asleep on the floor ... so he didn't quite make it back to bed, but closer than the other night in the hallway.

You can see in the picture that he is laying on clothes - I set out his clothes for tomorrow since we have to get up early to go to daycare/work. I guess he checked out his outfit, and then passed out.

If this is it, we are so lucky, and Luke let us off easy! If it continues, the crib tent is going back to the store!

Operation BBB, Day #2

Day #2 brought some ups, and some downs.


First, the good: naptime was easy and, although shorter than normal (1.5 hours), still longer than the day before, and getting him down was no problem.



Now the bad: after 2.5 hours of taking him back into his room countless times - Luke laughing all the way (because this is such a fun game now!), back rubbing, trying to rock him to sleep, we finally just ignored him. We closed all the upstairs doors, locked the gate and the top of the stairs, and stayed downstairs. It took less than 5 minutes for him to drop right there on the floor:


We moved him to his bed, and he slept all night, but woke at 6:45 this morning - ugh! Not normal waking time for Luke.

I already called a bunch of stores and located a crib tent in the area - we may be going to pick it up this afternoon!!!

A Big Boy Bed!

Since the video post of Luke climbing out of his bed, there were no more attempted escapes, so we decided just to wait it out (although the toddler bed conversion kit did arrive) and see how much more time we could get out of the crib .... until yesterday.

Yesterday morning, Luke made another successful attempt to escape from his crib. He seemed to consistently get out of one corner, which happened to be the corner closest to his dresser. The bureau has a larger, decorative (and sharp!) base, so we knew that if Luke escaped without us around to catch him, he could likely bump his head (or face) on the edge of that decorative base.

Aunt Kate suggested a genius idea called the crib tent, which also happens to be very highly rated in many of the sleep books I have. However, after doing some research on it yesterday, I found that 1) the standard one won't fit Luke's crib, 2) the deluxe one costs $70+, and 3), and probably most importantly, we didn't have one yesterday! Since this would buy us some time, I am keeping it as a potential if the big boy bed turns into a big boy disaster ....

SO, we bit the bullet and converted the crib to a "big boy bed" yesterday.

I did do some reading, so I was "prepared" for what this might entail. Luke "helped" Daddy put on the new rail, and he seemed very pleased with this new bed that he could climb in and out of himself.

Naptime went okay - I cheated and rocked him to sleep and then layed him down. He slept for about an hour (as opposed to the usual 2-3), and came out happily chatting away.

Bedtime was an entirely different story. We started the process at 7:30, Luke did NOT want to sleep in that bed. After much crying, about 20 returns to bed, several failed attempts to rock him to sleep, and one try where Mommy got in bed next to him, he finally passed out around 9:00 as I rubbed his back.

We held our breath all night ....

...AND, he made it until 8:00 this morning! I heard him stir a few times during the night, but he did not get back up, and was happy as a clam this morning when he proudly marched into our room.

He is currently taking his 2nd nap in the big boy bed, and we had no crying at all. So, all in all, a pretty good transition thus far.

I'm not putting that crib front away just yet, though!

Binkies are too accessible now, so Mommy will need to put them up during the day:

Linus seems to think that this bed is just right for him! Luckily, Luke is happy to share:

Finally asleep on night #1:

I almost missed it!

Another month has flown by.

What I love about Luke at 19 months:

1) I love how you are learning how to be Mr. Manners, and saying "peez" and "dan, du" (thank you) ... and how you always still use the sign for please in addition to the word.

2) I love that when I go to get you at daycare, or in any setting with other kids, you are always the "sharer" of the group. Now, I know this won't always be so, which is why I am loving it so much now. When other kids are hitting, screaming, or wrestling over something, you are happy to just give it up and find something else to play with.

3) I love that you haven't had an ear infection this month! (knock on wood)

4) I love how much you love to be sung to. It is the sweetest thing. Before bed we always rock, but if we rock and I sing, you will sit and listen and listen.

5) I love how you are growing up, even if it means more disaster prevention for Daddy and I (i.e. the new lock on the front door)

6) I love that your vocabulary expands every day, and you often repeat things that we say. This month you learned some important names, "Lie" (Linus), "Brook" (Brooklyn), and "MelMo" (Elmo). You often will nonchalantly walk past the sliding glass door and say, "Hi Brook, Hi Lie."

7) I love that you love buses, trucks, cars, planes, and (of course) trains. A "transportation sighting" can stop you right in your tracks as you look, point, shout, and wave bye bye to it.

8) You crack me up when you say "whoa" or "uh oh" or "oooh" ... those words are just too cute coming from you.

9) I love that you absolutely love our story time before bed. Almost like you know how special it is to me. When we walk into your room for bed, you make sure to remind me that you would like a "boo" and then you pick out your favorites (and I always throw a new one in the mix to keep things interesting).

10) I love that you are coming out of your shell at music and gym class, running around, dancing, singing, but always looking back just to make sure that Mommy is still there ... and of course, I am!

"Dance with Elmo"

He may look cute ...

...sitting in the big boy booster seat at the table while out to dinner, BUT...

...most of this meal was NOT a pretty sight (Michael's facial expression is telling in that 2nd picture). Food and utensils flying, whining, banging, wiggling, pushing, crying was the scene in actuality. I believe that toddlerhood has most definitely arrived.

I'll think we'll be investing in a babysitter for dinners out from now on!

The Little Gym

My new favorite place to go is gym class. As Mommy promised last week, here are some pictures from our visit there today. Mommy says that it is much harder to take pictures there than she anticipated ... with me running around and climbing everywhere, she is really busy making sure I don't hurt myself!

The balance beam is my fave:

I'm learning how to swing on the bars:

Lots of space to run free:

Ball time - we practice throwing, rolling, kicking (and I like trying to sit on it!):

I can't wait until next week!

Tubby time

Almost every night I throw a fit about going upstairs to get into the tub. BUT, once I'm there, I remember how much I have always loved my bath. Right now some of my favorite tubby toys are my squirt trains. I love lining them up along the side of the tub and pretending - so fun

Here are a few shots from the other night, as you can see, Mommy was having fun with her fancy camera and focusing on different objects.

We knew the day would come....

...and apparently it's here.

So, after nap today (to which he took his matchbox car - did you see my previous post?), Luke was playing in his bed, driving the car along the sides of the crib and saying, "zoom, zoom." I thought it was really cute, so went to get the video camera. Here's a bit of what I caught ... and then what happened.


Guess we'll be ordering that toddler bed conversion kit NOW!

Welcome to February!

Mommy has given me a break with the camera in the last week or so. She's sad about this ... I could care less. So, this post will be picture-less, but she promises to have some more photos coming your way VERY soon (I'm sure!).

Here's what I've been up to:

- Talking up a storm! I talk everywhere I go. Mommy & Daddy don't always understand me, but I try anyways. Mommy says that she can't believe how quickly my vocabularly is growing and that I have at least 1 new word every day!

-My favorite book right now is most definitely:

We read this book a few times every day. I love pointing out the freight cars, counting the trees, and making the dog sound (woof, woof). I can also show Mommy where the bus, red car, blue car, and purple car are!

-Santa brought me my current favorite toy, the Thomas wooden train set. Mommy & Daddy especially love it because I sometimes even play with it independently so that they can get some stuff done!

-I continue to be a super picky eater ... this seems to drive Mommy & Daddy crazy :)!

-I learned how to open the front door the other day - yep, and Mommy found me out in the driveway in my pajamas (a lock/latch will be going on the door this week!)

-I can almost climb out of my bed ... it won't be long and Mommy is NOT looking forward to this new endeavor!

-I love my matchbox cars that were in my stocking, and sometimes I sleep with them

-I still love playing outside and will suggest that we go out there at any opportunity. I especially love riding in my blue push car.

-I started a class at the Little Gym last week, and I just love it! I had my 2nd class today and I enjoyed running, jumping, walking the balance beam (I like the high one, not the low one for the babies!), and tumbling on the mats. Next week Mommy will take her camera so that she can catch me in action and share it with all of you.

-My ears seem okay for the moment - yay!

-We went shopping for some new shirts last week because all of my onesies were too small! I'm growing like crazy, mostly in height. I'm wearing 24 month shirts and 18 month pants now.

-Not a day goes by where I don't spend at least some time dancing and singing.

That's the update from here. Happy Tuesday!