Riding Lessons

Hmmm...this is an adventure. Luke really wants to ride his tricycle but doesn't want to keep his feet on the pedals. Steve and I each spent some time pushing him up and down the sidewalk today. That gets old rather quickly. Luke eventually gets off and pushes the tricycle just like we do. My feelings are torn between wanting him to learn versus not rushing him into trying something new. I'm really not ready for a little boy who wants to ride around the block while I chase after him with Andrew in the stroller, so I guess he should go at his own pace. We just took these pictures today and what a contrast to January days in the past. It's a little cool, but such a beautiful Sunday afternoon compared to the buckets of precipitation we've endured recently. I can't remember the last time we played outside on a January afternoon.

Andrew, month 4

Andrew is 4 months old and occasionally enjoys his Bumbo chair, whenever we can get Luke away from it. We had a check up recently and Andrew weighed in at 16 pounds, 14 ounces and 26 inches long. His head circumfrence was so high, it was off the growth chart.

Look, a turtle!

This Bumbo baby chair was a gift from Heather and Scott to Andrew shortly after he was born. Luke has loved it since the day it came out of the box. He tries to sit in it any chance he gets. We were hanging out, watching Little Bear one afternoon when he sat in the chair and tipped forward. He's a little bit too big and the chair stuck to him. He looked up and said, "Mama, I turtle, I turtle!" It took me quite awhile to figure out what in the world he was talking about. I have no idea where he learned about turtles, either, but I certainly admire his creative thinking.

Hooray! A snow day!

We have had all sorts of winter weather here. Steve went and bought a cheap little sled at the store and introduced Luke to the joys of sledding. There is a great hill on the golf course behind our house. I really wanted some pictures of the big event, (because I have all of these winter and snowflake scrapbook stickers just sitting in my closet, waiting to be used)! But Luke has entered this new phase of ignoring the camera, so he refused to sit in the sled and did not want to have his picture taken. He insisted that he did NOT want to go sledding, but Steve eventually coaxed him onto the hill. Most of the neighborhood kids were out of school due to the weather, and Luke really enjoyed watching them sled, too. Luke eventually changed his attitude regarding the camera and posed for me on the deck. I tried teaching him to catch snowflakes on his tongue, but that didn't quite work out. Our dog, Jake, probably loved the snow the most. He liked running around in it, eating it, rolling in it, etc. Unfortunately, the snow rained away in a couple of days and life returned to normal.

Andrew's latest trick

Steve found this delightful contraption at a garage sale last summer. Andrew is developing the tiniest little flat spot on the back of his head. (It might have something to do with how much he sleeps in his swing). Anyway, we are doing everything we can to get him up off of his back during his waking hours. He seems to like his new toy a little more every day. He sits in it and scratches at the decorations on the fabric. He isn't able to grasp anything and pull it toward his mouth, but that doesn't stop him from trying. Luke likes to play with some of the attached toys, as well. Andrew seems enamored with his big brother and his face just lights up whenever he can see Luke coming toward him.

We Captured a Smile!

I have tried several times to take a picture of Andy while he is smiling, but I'm never quite quick enough. He ends up looking dazed and confused. Steve held him up in the air yesterday and he just squealed with delight.

Christmas Day

Papa Dave and Grandma Nancy gave Luke a basketball hoop and little basketball for Christmas. It has it's very own corner in the play room and we have a good time shooting hoops. Stowe and Holly, your marshmallow gun was a big hit. Our LaRue nieces and nephew were thrilled to come over and check it out. We can shoot marshmallows from the living room all the way upstairs to the baby's room. As I'm going about my day, I often find crunchy, dehydrated marshmallows hiding in bizarre locations. On a less exciting note, I bought the boys matching jackets for Christmas, I just couldn't resist. Guess who could care less about his new jacket? Papa Dave is featured here, helping Luke check it out. We are having an actual winter here this year and Luke will at least wear his jacket when I ask him. Andy's is way too big and hasn't left the closet yet.

This year's valuable life lesson is "don't overdo it!" We just kept buying more and more stuff for Luke. He was completely overwhelmed and really only wanted to play with the first thing he opened...a matchbox car from the drugstore. Thankfully, 3 weeks later he is playing with everything he received, but we definitely need to make some adjustments in the future.

Christmas Eve

This was our Christmas Eve photo shoot...did not go as well as I had hoped. Andy was cranky, Luke didn't really want to sit still and he REALLY didn't want to hold his brother on his lap. We failed to consider the fact that Andy might be too heavy for Luke to support, so Steve's hand popped into the picture at the last minute. We finally put Steve in the picture to remedy the situation. That's the way it goes with the 2 and under crowd.