Cruising right along

Here is a quick rundown of Luke's days these past couple of weeks:

On Cruise Control

Luke spends much of his days cruising around anything he can hold on to. He laps the coffee table countless times a day. He has yet to brave the open range sans handrail, but give him a couch to hold onto and he can run like the wind!

Hardhat required

He also insists on knocking down any pile of blocks that dare to stand tall. A sure way to get him to come over to your side of the room is to stack some blocks there. Get outta his way quick! He'll be on demolition detail.

Puppy Love

Luke and Cactus get along splendidly so far. Luke gets very excited when Cactus comes near, and Cactus does a good job feigning interest in the short human. She sits there very calmly while Luke attempts to pet her (mostly smacking her on the nose) and she is always nearby for mealtime to help me clean up the floor. Luke does this really fun trick where he throws his food on the floor, especially if he doesn't like the particular item. (I just love that trick, almost as much as I love the one where he smears food in his hair.) Cactus is always there for all my floor cleaning needs. Good girl.

While we are on the subject of eating, I'll tell you about another one of Luke's great tricks. This isn't new, but has become more prevelant. He picks up a chunk of food and chews it for a while, then spits it out. Then he picks up another chunk of the same food, chews for a bit, then spits it out. A big grin on his face follows, and why not, it's a good trick. Repeat ad nauseum. I try very hard not to encourage him by smiling or laughing, but sometimes I just can't help it. It is pretty humurous to watch. We have a few theories as to why he does it. One is that he is teething and the cold or tough food feels good on his gums while it is still cold or has texture. Then he spits the warm and smushy bite out to exchange it for another cold piece of food. My guess, however, is that the most probable reason he does it is that he thinks he needs to slim down his chubbles a bit, so he emplores one of the Hollywood diets of chewing food but not swallowing it, and instead spitting into a napkin. Well Luke doesn't use a napkin, but he is plentiful in the chubbles, so maybe this is why. Regardless, again, Cactus enjoys the fallout.

Atlas imitation

Luke loves to play catch with his bouncy ball. He is surprisingly good at throwing the ball, and very good at catching it as well. (By "catching it" I mean as it is rolled into or nearby his lap.) He also loves chasing the ball around the house, like a neverending game of fetch, minus the ball return. He must have learned that particular little "only fetch, no ball return" trick from Cactus. For any college recruiters reading this, let us know when you'd like to set up a time to watch Luke run drills.

I'm so confused...

Sometimes we play seemingly sneaky tricks on Luke, like putting his toys on top of the glass table while he tries to get them from under the table. It's my secret revenge for all the food throwing and smearing.

Earlier this week, Louis left for work giving Luke an assignment to successfully drop a colored peg into a hole in the hood of his toy car. He has a walker that looks like a pretty cool car and talks to you when you play with it. When he came home that afternoon he saw him slamming the pegs through the hood of the car a couple of times in a row. Friggin amazing. He dared us to try and get it on video so we did.

I must say we were amazed. The next day Louis gave him an assignment to construct an 20-sided regular polygon using only a ruler and compass. We haven't heard back from him on that one yet. That oughta keep him busy for a few days.