Let's Talk about Luke
I'm not doing as well writing about Luke's skills, milestones, personality, etc. as I did with Jackson at this stage. I'm busier with two I guess, but that can't be it. Maybe the blog has just lost it's luster for me? I dunno. I feel like the 2 of you who read this blog, don't even know him. To fix that, I'm gonna make a list of random thoughts about Luke, at 22 months old. Yikes, he's almost 2!
- He's cute. I mean really cute.
- He's lost quite a bit of appetite. I can't help but compare him to Jackson and I recall Jackson going through this at one point too. I'm not concerned about Luke's health though. He tends to eat 2 good meals a day - usually breakfast and lunch. He's been more prone to eating small dinners lately. It's fine. I'm not really one to make them finish their plate or anything. He's been thinning out a bit, which is probably good for him.
- Oh boy, can he make some faces! I think he has the most expressive brow on a 22 month old ever. I need to take some pictures of it. It's not something that easy to describe, but you can easily tell if he's mad or inquisitive or confused just by the look of his brow - without hearing him or seeing the rest of his face.
- He's dramatic. I guess he has to put that expressive brow to use.
-He LOVES Dora the Explorer. Like loves it. Chris would probably charaterize this as Luke's biggest flaw because he can't stand Dora. Luke gets very distraught if he can't have Dora and would watch it for hours if you let him. The good thing about this fixation is that we know exactly how to keep him content for long rides in the car.
- He wears mostly 2T clothes, but he still fits in a few 24 month shorts and such. Size 7 toddler shoes. That reminds me, I better check to make sure his feet aren't gettin jammed in those. I haven't done a size check in quite a while.
- He usually sleeps from about 8pm to 7am or 7:30am. He also then takes about a 2 hour nap around 12:30pm.
- If you want him to fall asleep fast, play him some David Gray music. It knocks him right out. Especially Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
- He still loves Venus and calls her "no-nee", for whatever reason.
- He is in speech therapy one day a week. It's definitely helping, but he's still behind where he should be for his age. He can definitely say a lot more words, but I'm trying to get him to use them more consistently. There are words that I know he can say because I've heard him say it, but in the course of everyday life he's in the habit or prefers to grunt/whine and point. We spend a fair amount of time each day trying not to respond to the grunts and make him say the word. He usually tries to repeat what we say, it just doesn't always come out close. :) I'm kinda anxious to hear what the little bugger is thinking, so I'm ready for him to start talking better already!
- He's been much healthier since the tonsils and adenoids came out. He's still gotten a few colds where he was quite mucus-y, but they never developed into sinus infections like they used to. Better drainage.
- He and Jackson have started to play games together. Simple games, like chase. It's super cute since this is a relatively new development. Before, Jackson wanted Luke to interact with him, but Luke really wanted nothing to do with it.
- Of course, now that they're playing together, we're really trying to teach Luke to be more gentle. He's a brute!
- Even though he's interacting with Jackson more, Luke still doesn't like to be touched by him. He's constantly telling Jackson to "go away", even if it's something as simple as Jackson's foot touching his foot.
- He gets jealous of Jackson quite easily, as one might expect. He can be jealous of just about anything, but I think he gets most jealous anytime he sees me interacting with Jackson. Like, if I'm sitting on the couch and Jackson gets on my lap, Luke runs over and gets next to me and then tries to interject himself between Jackson and I. It's not a lot of fun because he'll step on my/Jackson's fingers/toes/belly/etc. to get in there!
- Luke is in the midst of battling separation anxiety. Of course, there's no way around it - you just have to keep handing him off to daycare/babysitters until he gets used to it.
- I haven't figured out any specific food that he'll automatically reject. But, the boy sure LOVES cheese. There's plenty of mornings where he will only eat cheese for breakfast. Not my idea of the best choice, but it works in a pinch when we are trying to get out of the house on a weekday morning!
- He's stubborn, but I'm pretty sure most nearly 2-year-olds are.
- I'm pretty sure he's getting his 2-year-old molars in. I'm to chicken to get my fingers back there because Luke is the kinda kid that will bite down while they are still in there, but he regularly has a finger or two stuck way in the back and he kinda chews on it for relief.
- Luke is quite sweet and lovable most of the time. He'll always give you a kiss when you ask him and quite often, he'll plant one on you out of the blue. I think we'll keep him!
