Cat, rat, mat...cow?

We are working on spelling with Lucas this month. He has seemed more receptive to it and he recognizes all his letters, so each evening I try to spell words with him on our fridge (magnets). Unfortunately, the first night I used candy to bribe him into participation and realized the error of my ways about two seconds too late. I am going to have to nip that in the bud because I don't want him to come home from high school bitching that he has to read Jane Austin and demanding truckloads of Snickers bars as a reward (ps--I have no issues with Jane Austin and secretly hope he enjoys reading her works). So from now on--we spell for hugs and kisses (the non Hershey variety) around here!
So far Lucas has his name down, and he can recognize all the letters for "_at" rhyming words (cat, bat, sat, etc). I just suggest the first letters and we sound them out. I thought it was good to stick with similar looking words at first, and he seemed to catch on quickly. Then out of the blue he announced he wanted to spell "cow". It was funny. He still gets "m" and "w" confused too--in his own words they are both "swiggly" so how can you tell them apart? I can't really argue with that logic.

Happy Earth Day!!

I thought these pics were perfect for Earth Day. Luc's teacher at daycare is very into living green and has been focusing on it this week at school, so I went and purchased several Earth-friendly kids books to encourage Lucas to take an interest as well. He told me today we needed to "plant seeds" and refused to go to bed until we "made trees". So cute.

More 10-month pics today...

I know the hat is officially out of season, but I needed a picture of it before his noggin got too big. It was my favorite hat.

Debut of the short hair. I lopped off the bangs that were hanging in his face. Don't worry--I left the rat tail. Still have to get pics of that and document the cutting of it.

Blog Header

So I changed the blog header...I know its a little teeny-bopperish to have a "New Moon" header, but I was sick of my old one and I found this online and liked the way it reminded me of my favorite parts of book two in the Twilight series. The movie won't be released until November, but I love obsessing over it, so...enjoy cute little Jacob and the yellow porshe. And Bella and Edward of course, I just like the others better!

Ten Months Today

In some ways, it is hard to believe ten months have flown by in a blink. In others, it has been a rocky road with Mr. Alex (as I call him with a faux Russian accent...I have NO idea why I started this, but it makes him smile his oh-so-sweet grin and I love it). From the moment he was born I knew he had a drastically different personality from our first child, but I had no idea how different this path in parenting would be. At ten months we are still struggling to understand why Alex is so much more difficult...is it us? Did we do something wrong this time??? Who knows...he just seems to want to take everything at a much slower pace, so we better fall in line with him!
PT and OT are really making a difference. We have therapy three days a week right now, so he is progressing quickly. He now rolls over both ways and sits without falling over for long periods at a time. He still loves to stand and would skip crawling all together (IMO) if he could just figure out how to get from his belly to a standing position without having to work for it. He is reaching for toys with more purpose and starting to interact more overall. He has a repertoire of "words"--he says "baba" and "dada" and "tah" very regularly (no idea what tah means...I think it is his flirty word that he uses when he wants you to talk to him). He eats well, although the past few weeks he has begun being a little more selective about what foods he likes. And he adores his big brother.
He sure keeps us on our toes. And I will be happy when we no longer have any appointments at the hospital. I feel like we should buy stock in Children's. We have already been to their clinics for visits at least 20 times since his birth--and we have three more visits scheduled for this next month--an EEG, a vision test, and a return to the cranial folks to hopefully be DONE with the helmet. If I never see another doctor as long as I live, that would be okay...wait, I live with a doctor. Scratch that!!

A very soggy Easter...

I guess the Easter bunny really hates having to hop all over the world and deliver eggs and baskets, so deep down he probably thinks its a trip that it has been piss poor weather every Easter for the last three years. I have yet to have a beautiful, sunny, non-ass freezing resurrection day with my child. Here's hoping it won't rain NONSTOP all day next year. Luckily it was absolutely gorgeous the day BEFORE Easter Sunday and Josh had the day off, so he was able to squeeze in egg dying and the church hunt. You can tell a man dressed his child for this because I would never have let Lucas wear a mustard yellow and green t-shirt that states "GATOR" in ultra big letters to an egg hunt. Poor Alex, he was all tuckered out and missed the big event.
We did manage to catch a sliver of rain-free weather just before church services Sunday morning. It literally started to drip on us as I was snapping these shots (and later thundered ominously during the actual service...coincidence or a message from above??)
Lucas had the usual bunny biscuits for breakfast. He ate the nose, eyes, and ears of the bunny but snubbed the whiskers (almond slivers) as being "weird". I pointed out he eats nuts regularly, including almonds, but he insisted they looked funny. I just thought they looked cute.
We never actually hunted eggs. I kept meaning to, but the weather didn't cooperate and Lucas seemed content with his bevy of baskets (one from the grandparents, one from Scott and Jenn, and one from the bunny), so I just decided it wasn't that big of a deal this year. Next year he will probably be old enough to demand to know why the bunny skipped our house, but for now, he let it slide.

Hunjan Wedding

We had parents night out Saturday night and attended Harjot and Lydia's wedding reception. It was really fun and really pretty. Enjoy the slidshow!

Some Bunny Loves You

No shots of Lucas as a bunny...he's just too cool for that malarkey now.

What I envisioned...

When I sent Lucas and Josh to Build A Bear to bring home a "Cute Easter Animal" this is what I had in mind... And THIS is what I got.

I ask you, is there anything football doesn't tarnish?

Visit with the LRFD

Luc's daycare had an awesome visit from the LRFD this week and luckily I was off work so I was able to snap some shots and talk with the Captain. I learned a lot myself (like small children don't usually respond to beeping fire detectors...they sleep right through them. Which actually, I should have realized from my days of living in Martin Hall in college--all those grown men who acted like boys pulling the damn alarm every Friday night waking ME up while our classmates snoozed through the whole experience....okay, back on topic!) The FD really rocked it, bringing alarms, a phone to practice dialing 911, even a locked window for the kids to practice climbing through. Then it was outside to see the main event--the engine and ladder trucks!! All the kids ooohhhed and ahhhed and were really excited to get to spray the fire hose. My kid is practically invisible in most of these shots because he was EXTREMELY shy, which is so un-Lucas like I almost didn't know what to do. I kept prodding him to the front, but no luck. He is all the way in the back of the hose shot--I can just make out the tips of his hair.

In the shot below he is about as far away as he can get without going back inside the school. Who would have figured? He kept telling me "mommy, I don't want to go on the truck." But overall I think all the kids had fun. I know I actually did. Plus, cute firefighters? Never a bad thing.

Fab Food Choices

The foods I wish my child would have learned to love:
Broccoli
Corn
Carrots
Potatoes
Asparagus (this was always a stretch I think)
or any other green vegetable

The "things" (they don't even deserve to be deemed foods) that he actually loves:
"Candy" carrots (healthy carrots soaked in buckets of brown sugar which leech away all potential for a nutritious snack)
Sushi--and not just the "soft porn sushi" as I call it (California rolls)--he eats the real raw fish and LOVES fish eggs, which he dubbed the "popping candy" (Do you see a candy theme here??) He also tried frog eggs and liked them. Gag.
"Junk" from the yellow store (aka Shell gas station) Even my three year old knows it has no allowance of daily anything besides Vitamin Sugar.
Ice chips--hey, our family Golden Retriever loves it, so why not my child?
Avocado--FINALLY a green vegetable. Too bad it is extremely fattening.
Vitamins. Yup, he could eat buckets of gummi vitamins because (altogether now) they look like candy (and Disney Princesses since Josh bought the cheapest ones.) **Disclaimer: I do not actually feed him buckets of these. I know that would be very bad. It was a hyperbole folks.
Anything from Old McDonald's. It must be in his blood since Daddy also loves visiting the Golden Arches.

Sigh.

Answered Prayers

So I have been praying for something to come along and I am happy (OH SO FREAKING HAPPY) to announce I have a new job--I am officially the Store Manager of the Charlotte-Russe opening soon. YIPPIE!! I just got the offer today and was so giddy I think I actually squealed a little on the phone with my new District Manager. I will officially give my notice at my current job in the morning (wish me luck with that...my dragon boss probably won't be pleased...or then again maybe SHE will be just as giddy to be getting rid of me! Who knows?!?) and start my new position in about three weeks. If you haven't shopped at Charlotte (as we affectionatly call it) here is the website so you can check it out: http://www.charlotterusse.com/home/index.jsp
Trendy clothes for cheap. I'm all over that. And hopefully this new job will give me more opportunity to balance my work/home life peacefully!

Flower Child

Sometimes simple things make the neatest pics.

Cousins

Lucas had a blast hanging with his cousins while in Shreveport. It's been a little over a year since Nana Sandy's death, but I know she is looking down from heaven smiling at her grandchildren--don't they make a sweet pic? this one is for Aunt Tara--she speciafically requested a photo of all four together. Good call!!

Norton Art Gallery

We finally managed to time a trip to Shreveport when the azaleas were in full bloom and it was beautiful everywhere in town. But Norton Art Gallery took the cake--for years they have planted massive amounts of spring flowers and it is truly a sight to see. We went early Sunday morning and already there were lots of people wandering the gardens taking advantage of the great photo opp. Lucas was a total ham and enjoyed "posing" for pictures (HIS definition of posing which involves making lots of silly faces and equally horrible noises. He is SUCH a three year old right now!!) Alex was a little less cooperative--although I managed to get a few cute ones excluding the one above which just makes me laugh it is so bad!! I will have to do a whole album with all the pics I shot on this one outing (I guess I could do a combined Wye Mountain/Norton album and title it something cheesy like "the flowers of Spring" album).

Uhhh...really?

In an attempt to get Lucas to stop sucking his finger (see previous post) Josh had a rather interesting conversation with Lucas tonight.

Josh: You better stop sucking on your finger. You might get worms in your belly.
Lucas: (brow furrowed) Worms?
Josh: (somewhat untruthfully) You played in the dirt and there are worms in the dirt. So when you suck on your finger they get in your belly.
Lucas: (very matter-of-factly) That's okay. I'll just poop them out in the toilet later daddy.

A swing and a miss for daddy. Lucas is cool with worms in his belly if it means extended finger sucking time.

The Finger

Some people have a favorite blanket or stuffed animal to comfort them. Grown ups listen to soothing music (or really loud thrashing music depending on the mood), watch a certain movie, or partake in a certain beverage to help alter their mood. Lucas is a finger-sucker. Oh, he has a blanket (called "mat") that he loves, too, but his favorite calming behaviour is to pop that second finger in his mouth and suck away. As an infant he was addicted to his pacifier and I worried that he would never give it up. At eighteen months we went cold turkey and just took it away. I expected drama and tears and weeks of resistance...and instead he just calmly said "No paci?" and proceeded to begin sucking on his finger. This is actually worse, because you can't take his HAND away--his finger is there all the time, whenever he needs a little comfort. Sometimes I wish I derived as much satisfaction and comfort from sucking on my finger, but sadly it just isn't socially acceptable for adults to walk around nursing a digit.
I have no idea when he will give this habit up. We have tried subtly and blatantly to begin the separation, but so far he is resisting. For now, it soothes ME to see him so calmed by this behaviour. It is sweet and endearing and tells me he is still just a little boy.

This one just made me laugh...

We are back from our minication in Shreveport-more pics of that to come, but for now...this was one of my favs. Isn't he just a mess? That hair is getting way too long (he's got a bone-e-fide rat tail in the back!!) but I can't bring myself to cut it yet. And we do live in Arkansas, so he's expected to be a little bit country, right? =)