Happy HALF birthday, my sweet boy!

Luke is 2 1/2 today - where in the world did the time go? It doesn't seem possible that we ever lived life without him. He brings so much joy and love to our lives (and, as with any two year old, teaches us to have patience and constantly reminds us that we have so much to learn about parenting!).

Luke, here are just a few of the things that I love about you right now:

I love how each day you become more and more of the big brother - helping Mommy change Mia's diaper (you always hand me the "medicine" and powder), expressing concern at her "boo-boos" (her umbilical cord stump requires you to inspect its progress several times daily), asking where your baby is, singing to her to calm her when she is crying. The way that you are adapting to this HUGE change in all of our lives is just amazing to watch.

I love your long hair right now - it's just too cute and, although difficult to tame some mornings, I can't bear cutting it right now.

I love how opinionated you've become (WELL ... sometimes I love this). You have an opinion on quite a lot right now, even down to which couch Daddy and I sit on! You are definitely your own little person.

I love that you have a friend who you just ADORE at school. Jadyn is your favorite and you talk about her often. You love her page in your class book, and will tell us that you love her. My sweet boy, you have great taste for a 2-year old, by the way, because she is just as cute as a button!

I love how you are so loving and are able to express your feelings to the people who mean the most to you. You tell us that you love us so often, and I am forever grateful for that.

I love to hear how much you know. You continue to be very interested in letters, and know most of them and many of the corresponding sounds. You are able to count really well now to twenty without missing numbers (usually), and also have one-to-one correspondence when you count. You still love puzzles and get better and better at them all the time. It's just incredible to watch you learn.

I love to hear you say new things, things that I had no idea you knew anything about. The other day you were sitting with Mia in her crib and we had just put up the mobile that you found in the closet. You turned it on and told me that it sounded like a rainforest. I had no idea that you even knew what a rainforest was. And, after being away from you for two days while I was in the hospital with Mia, I told Daddy that I felt like you were forming longer, more complex sentences than when I left. I have no idea if that's possible, but it certainly seemed like it.

I love how you like to play with Linus and Brooklyn. Brooklyn will just let you do anything to her - she loves all of the climbing and attempts to ride her. Linus tries to play, but you tend to take over his toys, throwing them for him and then getting them yourself!


With all of this goodness also come some challenges. Our biggest challenges at two and a half are:

Bedtime - we have taken a huge turn for the worse with bedtime. It takes you SO LONG to fall asleep. Some nights you can stay awake in your room for up to 3 hours after we've put you to bed. We have even tried laying with you to keep you in bed, but this doesn't seem to help - you just can't get your body to rest. We're going to be exploring some possible solutions to this in the coming weeks - here's hoping that we can find a way to help you get some more sleep.

Potty training - we have made so much progress, and you are really good at "holding it" if you are thinking about it. However, we are still the ones always suggesting that you use the potty. The number of accidents is way down from when we started. You wear regular underwear when we are at home, and a pull-up for school or when we are out. You are so close to being completely trained, so we're just going to keep working at it.

Eating - you continue to be pretty picky. You take FORever to eat a meal. I often make you a smoothie with all sorts of good, healthy stuff in it because I know that you are more inclined to drink a meal than to eat one. Your favorite meal right now: McDonald's chicken nuggets and a milkshake - not exactly healthy :)!


Luke, I love you more each and every day and we feel so grateful and blessed to be your parents. Thank you for being YOU.